DVCPRO Tapes

[Will Hanlon]

What kind of tapes do you guys use in the HVX200? The manual says just to use AY-DVM63PQ or AY-DVM63MQ, but couldn't you use Panasonic AJ-P66M DVCPRO? Can it take the large DV tapes?

720p can be recorded in DVCPRO50, right? Could you record 720p in DVCPROHD mode? Would that be pointless since that is meant for 1080?

[Daniel Epstein]

Will,
The camera only records mini dv sized tapes. The only speed on the tapes is DV 25.
The P2 slots can record any other frame rate the camera has. 720P DVCPRO HD is Varicam format. 1080HD is another flavor of HD which Panasonic supports with this camera but not the Varicam (yet).
720P cannot be recorded in DVCPRO 50. It is 480P or 480I but not 720. The smaller number is the way things are designated. IE 1920x1080 is referred to as 1080, 720x480 is DV. DVCPRO50 is also 720x480 but with different data rate and color.
As for whether 720P is pointless that is a whole can of worms you don't want to get into.
Unfortunately we are in the digital age of TV and there are now many different frame rates and sizes. Depending on how you are delivering your product you may run into problems using 720p versus 1080i and vice versa.

[Barry Green]

Will, I'm not sure you understand how the formats work.

The camera supports recording in standard definition, and in high definition.

For high definition, all recording is done in DVCPRO-HD, at either 720p or 1080 resolution. 720 and 1080 are both valid high-definition systems, and the DVCPRO-HD recording format supports both.

In Standard definition, you have the choice of DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, or DV. All of those are standard-definition recording formats.

The tape only accomodates miniDV.

[Will Hanlon]

I'm sure I don't understand.

So if you're going standard definition, why choose DVCPRO50 over regular DV? Is there any difference in quality or no?

The only way to record in high definition is to use the P2 cards? Or a FireStore drive that isn't out yet? Or firewire it into your laptop?

Don't they have DVCPRO-HD tapes?

Thanks for your help guys. Any chance of an HVX book, Barry?

[Vincent Rozenberg]

Originally Posted by Will Hanlon

I'm sure I don't understand.

So if you're going standard definition, why choose DVCPRO50 over regular DV? Is there any difference in quality or no?

DVCpro50 has twice the bandwith of standard DV (and DVcpro 25, for that matter), so better image quality. But the tapedeck only supports standard DV.

The only way to record in high definition is to use the P2 cards? Or a FireStore drive that isn't out yet? Or firewire it into your laptop?

What I know al 3 the options you're mentioning.

Don't they have DVCPRO-HD tapes?

The do have them, but the HVX200 doesn't support that.

[Barry Green]

Originally Posted by Will Hanlon

So if you're going standard definition, why choose DVCPRO50 over regular DV? Is there any difference in quality or no?

Oh yes, there's a very nice difference in quality. DVCPRO50 gives you twice as much color resolution, and much less compression. DVCPRO50 is a direct competitor to Digital Betacam. It's the highest-quality standard-def recording mode on the HVX.

The only way to record in high definition is to use the P2 cards? Or a FireStore drive that isn't out yet? Or firewire it into your laptop?

All those will work, as well as firewiring into a DVCPRO-HD tape deck.

Don't they have DVCPRO-HD tapes?

Yes they do. And a DVCPRO-HD tape deck costs about $30,000. The Varicam records to DVCPRO-HD tape. That's one thing about P2 that's so revolutionary -- now we can get the exact same codec and same format, but without needing the $30,000 deck.

Any chance of an HVX book, Barry?

It will be announced soon. Working on the final draft, then it has to go to the printers, etc... so not imminent, but very soon.

[Pete Tews]

To learn more about the hvx200, read the guide that panasonic publishes...

here's the link:

http://panasonic.biz/sav/p2/guidebook_e.html

[Will Hanlon]

Okay thanks guys. Definitely sounds like using tape is pointless if you want to take advantage of DVCPRO50 or DVCPROHD with this camera.

[Scott Auerbach]

At the risk of mentioning the obvious, if you do shoot miniDV, remember that Sony and Panasonic tapes are NON-interchangeable, and should never be used in each other's equipment.

[Peter Jefferson]

first ive heard of this dude...

if u mean non interchangable as in format interchange, then i agree, unless its DV your shooting in... but for actual tape use, i use MQs on Z1s without any problems, in fact IMO they perform better than the Sony "pro" tapes...

[Matthew Groff]

Originally Posted by Scott Auerbach

At the risk of mentioning the obvious, if you do shoot miniDV, remember that Sony and Panasonic tapes are NON-interchangeable, and should never be used in each other's equipment.

Fortunately this is not as obvious as you think. At this point the conventional, safe wisdom is either shoot strictly with one brand or use different brands all the time. There are, however, many people that will say it does not matter. It certainly does not make a difference if you use X brand tapes in Y brand cameras and vice versa.

best,
mg