Sony XDCAM HD -- various topics

[Thierry Humeau]

Originally Posted by Peter Newsom

One thing I've noticed in the demo F350 that I'm using is vibration, especially through the tripod handle. It is actually severe and distracting. I can physically hear in from the camera as well. Is this normal? Makes me wonder if it will show in the pictures.

I notice it most when there are clips have been yet to be recorded(freshly formatted disk). Is it hunting for a clip? On my shoulder, I don't really notice it.

Depending on where the camera is writing on the disc, you occasionally can feel a bit of vibrations but these have never affected the picture.

Thierry.

[Scott Cantrell]

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TapeWorks is a dealer for most of the case manufacturer's in the market. TapeWorks noticed CamRade products last NAB 2006 when CamRade first displayed their product line here in the US. CamRade is based out of the Netherlands. Due to the quality of their product line, and the fact that TapeWorks can provide CamRade's Product line to the client for less $$$ than some of the competition, TapeWorks has been fully supporting their line. If you are interested in seeing the quality of their products, then please visit us at NAB 2007 this year as CamRade and TapeWorks Texas Inc will be working the show! You can locate us in booth # C7817

If you require a Free NAB Exhibit 2007 pass, please contact TapeWorks and we can provide a VIP Pass Code to you!

For more information on CamRade, visit www.camrade.com or http://tapeworkstexas.com/camrade1.html
You can also contact TapeWorks Texas Inc toll free 866-827-3489 and one of our sales representatives would be happy to assist you!

I hope to see you in Vegas!

Best Regards,
Scott Cantrell
TapeWorks Texas Inc - HDVinfo Sponser
866-827-3489
scott@tapeworkstexas.com

[Peter Newsom]

I have noticed a bit of a flicker across the monitor screen,(sort of like a dropout) when playing back an edited(in camera) group of sub-clips out of the SD video out. It happens to the current clip playing when the camera begins loading the next clip into it's buffer(I can hear the disk assembly grunt as it gathers the next clip). Anyone seen anything like this?

It doesn't do it if I play from the main clip list, only the a sub-clip list and it mostly seems to occur on clips that are heavily trimmed. The camera I am using is a demo F350, and I doubt that it has the most recent firmware.

Is there a way that I can determine which version it is running?

Peter

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Peter Newsom

Is there a way that I can determine which version it is running?

I don't recall how to display the version on the earlier firmware, but if you pull up the clip menu from the thumbnail display, look for clip lock and clip delete functions. These are only present with the newer firmware (version 1.56 or later).

In fact, if you have the newer firmware, there will be a ROM Version menu page in the Maintenance menu.

-gb-

[Bob Buruchian]

We need a shooter in Cincinnatti, OH for next Thursday (18th) and 1/2 a day on Friday for PBS documentary.

Write back ASAP, Thanks

Bob

[Rene V. Santiago]

Hi folks, I keep getting error 34 trying to import highrez from XDCam file tansfer i've checked all the settings but still wo'nt import does that happen also on export? Cheers!

[Mark Fassett]

Well, just thought I'd report on my experience... I just received my PDW-F70 deck, which will sit two rooms away from my edit bay (in the studio control room). I would rather not deal with sneaker net, so I decided to try something.

I purchased a Gefen firewire extender, which allows extending firewire over fibre.

I put the deck in FAM mode, connected everything up... and it works like a charm. I only transferred a couple of things so far, but works perfectly.

...just thought you would just like to know.

[Greg Boston]

Thanks Mark. I was also thinking about bringing the camera online via firewire and marking it as a shared drive so that it would be visible to my network. If you are good at setting up VPN, this could possibly used for remote access to the files over the internet.

-gb-

[Jay Lee]

Was curious if anyone knows the dynamic range of the F350 in stops. I'm trying to do some apples to apples comparisons in terms of latitude. How does this compare to the other cameras in this price range?
thx

[Tim Allison]

We've looked at all of the HD formats out there, and we keep coming back to XDCAM as the best fit for us. The work flow is outstanding, and potentially looks even better with FCP 6. XDCAM also allows us to physically put footage on a shelf, and that ability to easily archive is very important to us.

However, Sony kind of "muddied the water" this year at NAB by announcing their coming 2/3" camera line. I was told that the image block of the new camera will be the same as the high end HDW-F900 cameras. Also, the 50 Mb data rate sounds very enticing as well.

Most people on this forum seem to be very pleased with their XDCAM gear. I strongly suspect that the new camera will NOT be as feature rich as the F350. Sony got through NAB without going into a lot of detail about the specific "bells and whistles" on their new camera. But the raw specs....larger pickup chip, increased data rate, increased resolution, recording at 4:2:2 instead of 4:2:0, increased recording time on dual-layered media...sound really good.

What are the general thoughts....will the MPEG HD 422 cameras be worth the wait?

[Steve Connor]

Don't forget they will probably cost a lot more too. I think the 2/3 inch camera sounds great, but the 1/2 inch cameras are incredibly good value and the PQ is excellent. It's accepted by a lot of broadcasters already and that is only going to increase as the HD changeover continues.

I agree about the workflow, having your disks on the shelf is a great comfort!

[Stuart Brontman]

I posted a similar question on the general HDV section, but wanted to be a bit more specific with the XDCAM-HD users...

I've got a client that needs some HD footage shot of a controlled environment explosion. This is NOT for broadcast and does not need to be of that caliber. It does need to be usable though for trade shows etc... shown on an HD monitor.

The questions I have are as follows:

1) Will XDCAM HD be able to handle the brightness of the explosion better than 25 mB/sec HDV cameras?

2) What would be the best approach with XDCAM footage in getting 1/5 to 1/10 speed slow-mo. I assume high shutter speed, but what else? Software manipulation?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Stuart

[Greg Boston]

Answer to #1 is yes. Simply because you have a lot of manual control over the image and you have larger sensors with higher dynamic range than current HDV offerings.

Answer to #2. You can overcrank to 60P in camera, then playback at 24P which is 2.5x slower. To go down as far as 1/10 or 1/5, you'll have to do additional work with software.

-gb-

[Thierry Humeau]

when editing xdcam hd material on xpress pro without a mojo, does it playout a downconverted signal through the computer firewire port? in other words, what are the monitoring capabilities other than the composer monitors? with a mojo, do you get realtime downconversion to dv25 through Mojo's DV out? iam using a MCA a drenaline and am not sure what xpress pro abilities are in this.

thierry

[Peter Corbett]

Does anyone know if the new 2/3" has a model number. Just trying to do a search on it for for more info.

Peter