V1 vs JVC HD series

[Jiri Bakala]

I would be interested to hear people's take on the comparison of the V1 and the JVC HD series. I am not looking for opinions on the form factor, rather strictly image quality and ease of post-production in HDV.

[Sean Lander]

Me too. With this camera coming out I'm very interested to hear what people think about it compared to the JVC. I will be doing some tests myself if I can can my hands on a V1. Going to take the HD201 out for a test drive soon.

[Sean Lander]

OK well this afternoon I went down to Sony had a play with the V1. Form factor for the record is very much like the PD-170. Though it's better balanced as they have moved the grip up the lens.

Image quality was truly amazing. I have read many favourable reviews but to see it on a true hi-def monitor was impressive. The default settings are a bit awful and the first thing I would do if I got my hands on one is set up a picture style with sharpness switched almost off.

As far as workflow goes, I live in a PAL country so this camera is shooting at 25p. Although it is really putting down the same frame on both fields of 50i. (This is apparently why they use the CMOS chip instead of a CCD) So setting up your non-linear device (I use Final Cut Pro) is easy as it is just treated like a normal 50i HDV video.

In the NTSC world I imagine things will not be as easy. Interestingly it would seem that there are two versions of this camera, one for PAL and one for NTSC. Unlike the Z1 which can do both standards.

[Marcus Marchesseault]

There is no difference in workflow in NTSC-land. The 30p is put into a 60i stream. With the right editing software, even the 24p in the 60i stream can be extracted.

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Marcus Marchesseault

There is no difference in workflow in NTSC-land. The 30p is put into a 60i stream. With the right editing software, even the 24p in the 60i stream can be extracted.

Unfortunately, at this point neither FCP nor Avid Liquid can do this. Those beta testing the new Avid likely know the answer concerning Avid.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Steve Mullen

Unfortunately, at this point neither FCP nor Avid Liquid can do this. Those beta testing the new Avid likely know the answer concerning Avid.

And NDA precludes those betatesting the app from commenting until RTM

[Jiri Bakala]

Sony claims that the 24/30p streams recorded to tape as 60i could be edited with any application that can edit 60i HDV. I tried it with FCP and it worked, with Avid I didn't have much luck. If the program is produced for television (web, DVD, etc.) is it even necessary to do the reverse telecine and convert the stream back to 'real' 24 or 30 fps?

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Jiri Bakala

If the program is produced for television (web, DVD, etc.) is it even necessary to do the reverse telecine and convert the stream back to 'real' 24 or 30 fps?

Not always. For example, going to HD DVD I used a 60i stream because I know the applicaion accepts 60i. So it plays -- edited -- on an HD DVD player just like it does from a V1.

Of course, so does 720p30 and 720p60.

[Tip McPartland]

Steve,

How do you go to HD DVD in the here and now? Have you found a burner? AFAIK, the half-height and laptop Toshibas are OEM only and the Lite-On doesn't seem to be out yet, can you please bring me up to speed on the burner situation?

I bought my current workstation from a small vendor who I'm sure could get and install the OEM Toshiba, but it's only single speed. Do you know much about the Lite-On or perhaps a another and better hardware solution?

Also curious what application you're using to author and burn. I'm using Roxio DVDit Pro HD for Blu-ray and have gotten it working quite well, but would like to know what is the equivalent product for HD DVD.

I remember going to Fry's Electronics several months ago and saw Blu-ray and HD DVD media on sale. Amazing that they were selling blank HD DVD discs with no burner yet available at that time, I didn't really know what to make of it.



Tip

[Jiri Bakala]

Getting back to the topic - the image comparison;

I find that the colour reproduction of the JVC is not as close to reality as the SONY. My office wall paint is a shade of green/yellow (don't ask) which turned out to be a great testing ground not only for SSE but also for colour realism. The HDxxx trully struggles with that whereas the Sony is pretty darn close (out of the box with daylight preset WB). When white-balanced, it gets even more accurate.

When it comes to fringing and CA, I find that the V1 is better at the far end of the zoom where it maintains clearer picture and relatively little CA but at the wide end there is more fringing than with the JVC stock Fujinon lens.

Has anyone done more comprehensive testing of the two cameras side by side? Again, I am not talking about form factor and such, strictly image quality.

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Jiri Bakala

I find that the colour reproduction of the JVC is not as close to reality as the SONY.

I think you are right -- Sony has managed to get the V1's color to match "reality." I compared the HD250 to the V1 and found about an extra stop of lattitude in favor of the V1. The V1 also has very very little CA.

[Tip McPartland]

Steve,

Might you please tell us how you're recording to HD DVD? I'm way curious.

Tip

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Tip McPartland

Steve,

Might you please tell us how you're recording to HD DVD? I'm way curious.

Tip

I'm recording red laser 720p and 1080i discs that plays on HD DVD players. I use an average 25 to 27Mbps with either AC3 2/0 or 5.1 audio.

[Tip McPartland]

Steve,

Very cool. Thank you for solving that mystery.

I'm actually getting good BD-RE playback on the Panasonic player now with the Roxio DVDit Pro HD and the Sony burner.

I'm getting fully functional menus and very nice picture quality. Doing some experimenting to see what video formats to feed the Roxio software for best pic and quickest burn.

Thanks again,

Tip

[Ron Little]

Steve what software are you using to author your disk?