Sony Z1 and FX1 various questions 2004 - 2005

[Douglas Everett]

We have a simple five (5) cam shoot in Dublin for a single day between Mon 12th to Sat 17th.

We need SonyHDV--- HDV-Z1 or HDR-FX1 with experienced operators. We prefer NTSC. Several will be on sticks. Audio will be separate from the sound board.

Please email me directly with rate and availability.

douglas@concertshooters.com

[Brent Marks]

What can capture m2t files from the Sony HDR-FX1 for use in Vegas6?


Kind regards...

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Vegas can capture m2t's on it's own, if you're using Vegas 6. There is also CapDVHS. Visit the HDV portal on the VASST site to download it (free) or you can also Google for it.

[Jesse Stipek]

I am planning to make a film with my HDR-FX1, and I was just in to see if anyone can help me out as to how good I can get it look. I could have bought the 100A if I wanted, but I thought the HDR was the next wave, and if I did proper editing and got good tutorials on how to make an FX1 film actually look like film, was to ask some of you guys.

My current editing solutions are as followed:

Adobe Primiere 1.5
SONY Vegas 6.0 w/ DVD Architect 3

PC Specs:

Pentium 4 CPU 2.66 GHz
1 GB RAM DDR
nVidia Geforce FX 5700LE 256MB
180 GB Hard Drive Space

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Jesse,

The topic of how to get a "film look" from a video camcorder has been so popular around here that we devoted an entire forum to it. Take a look through all of the discussions there and you'll find loads of helpful information. The link is:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=34

[Leigh Hanlon]

I've recently come across some opportunities to sell stock video, and although I can get some great images with my Canon GL2, the HDR-FX1's HD would obviously be an advantage. I'm considering pulling out the plastic and getting the HDR-FX1, but before I do, I'd appreciate some feedback from current owners.

One question I have is regarding the FX1's audio. I've read varying reports about whether it's all that easy to manually set recording levels -- something I've come to rely upon with the GL2. Is this manual feature well implemented?

The HDR-FX1's lack of XLR inputs isn't necessarily a problem for me at this point, I've managed to work around it with the GL2. How do you FX1 owners deal with external microphones?

I hadn't considered making the jump to HD just yet, but I just upgraded to Final Cut Pro, which has the capavility, and being able to offer native 16:9 footage in HD to the stock market strikes me as being good business.

Does this thinking make sense?

Leigh

[Jerry Waters]

I just finished the DV Film class in Austin on shooting video for transfer to film. The two day class was worth the money but if you can't get to the class I highly recommend their book "Shooting Digital" by Marcus Van Bavel - about $25. This guy taught the class has made two feature length films, been in festivals plus transferred many video projects to film. He covers all aspects of filmwork from a good understanding on the HDV compression process and what a good program does with it (like Vegas), creating DOF and what processes you can and can't do for good transfer. I was looking for the best workflow for editing that could produce a good DVD and a good film later. I got what I was looking for.

[Jerry Waters]

I've used Womble for a couple of years to cut mpg2 files and splice together without reencoding (as in recording TV shows and cutting out commercials without losing quality). After trying several things to play back m2t files (MPEG-2 Transport ) quickly, I dropped one in Womble and was surprised to see I could not only play it but cut it quickly, splice a couple of shots together and almost instantly have a rough cut to show talent or a client. (It wouldn't be good for a final version because it could cut on a reduced information frame whereas a program like Vegas would fill all the infomation in. But was it still HDV?)

So I wrote Womble tech, "When Womble cuts an m2t file and saves it, does it save as m2t or something else? And if something else, what?" The reply was intersting:
1. The "Automatic" setting will save the edited project as MPEG-2 Transport, if the main content of video is MPEG-2 Transport.
2. Otherwise, you will need to explicitly select the output format as MPEG-2 Transport from the "General" page of the Export window, after selecting "Custom" for the export template which is the same as "Automatic" except that the export job will not start right away.
3. "m2t" is not in the list of export file name xtension, but you can change it by hand, also in the "General" page. We will need to do a better job in terms of preserving the file name extension for the export file.
You can expect this change in the next upate.

Some of you might find this useful. If you want to try it, you can download a free trial at www.womble.com
Both their programs handle m2t.

[Paul Cascio]

How much should I expect to pay? Where do I buy it?

Thanks

[Joel Corral]

what kind of results can i expect from using the skintone detail settings?

should i use them?

my subject is always complaining about how much detail the camera shows. so i was wondering if using skintone detail would reduce facial wrinkles and blemishes by reducing contrast?

or how does it work?

thanks

joel

[Yung Mah]

I have a HVR-Z1U, thinking about buying this controller, anyone used one? good, bad points, or should I get a Varizoom?

Thanks

[John M. McCloskey]

Had a field producer I work with last night call and during playback in VCR mode looking at LCD screen of camera he said when he presses play to review video he shot that only a blue screen with time code rolling shows on LCD screen. When he presses play and holds down the fast forward or rewind the picture shows up on the LCD screen, but when he presses play by itself he only gets a blue screen with time code rolling. He was shooting in HDV mode and using sony digital master tape. There is video on the tape but only shows up when fast forward or rewinding in play mode. Any suggestions on whats going on would be greatly appreciated.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Check the playback mode in the menu (sorry, my camera isn't here right now). There are options to play back as DV, HDV or auto. If it's set to DV and you recorded HDV you would have a problem, however an error message should appear on the screen telling you the format is wrong.

Other than that, I can't think of anything. Is he sure that the camera is set to VCR mode and not camera mode? That would be a problem also....

[Jim Rog]

Hello

Can someone advise me of what is the best carry case to get for the FX1? iv looked at the LCS-VCB but a bit over priced in my opinion for what it is, so if anyone can make some suggestions for a different case that would be great.

Thanks

[Boyd Ostroff]

This topic has been discussed at great length already. Please see the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=39573