American Chopper (DiscoveryHD looks alot like CF24

[Joel Corral]

Well I was watching American Chopper on discovery HD and a few clips looked a lot like CF24. There was a ton of resemblances that look like the FX1/Z1 hard not to make me wonder. Anyone have any insight? The entire look of the program looks like the FX1/Z1.


well i just did research and found that it is shot on a Panasonic AJ-HDC27F. the cool thing is that like i said there are a lot of resemblances.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

If you want to see some CF30, watch "Mythbusters" which is often on right after American Choppers. They've been working with a Z1 recently.
Also next week you can see CF25 on "JAG." (CBS) The helicopter/gunship scenes were all shot with a Z1 on full auto. Auto focus, auto expose, fronted with a beta Chrosziel mattebox and follow focus, handheld over the gunner's shoulder.

[Davi Dortas]

Do you know the episode name of the JAG show? I will try to download it off BitTorrent when it becomes available and share with everyone here the screen shots of it.

[Dylan Pank]

Davi,

you may not make many friends here by offering to illegally download and then distribute copyrighted material. Plus (in the spirit of the old Groucho "I'd never be in a club that'd have me as a member" gag) the quality would be pretty terrible if it's distributed over the 'net (low bitrate, DivX compression, lower than SD resolution).

If anyone with legitimate means of recording the show were able to put up frame grabs for the purposes of evaluation for compare and contrast, a case could be made that such a thing would be covered by fair use.

[Dylan Pank]

<<<-- Originally posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle : If you want to see some CF30, watch "Mythbusters" which is often on right after American Choppers. They've been working with a Z1 recently.
Also next week you can see CF25 on "JAG." (CBS) The -->>>

Douglas,

Any idea what percentage is being shot on the Z1? I heard at The Video Forum at a presentation by the BBC (relating to co-producing the sequel to The Blue Planet documentary with Discovery and NHK) that Discovery HD would not accept anything less than DVCproHD (which they consider better than HDV) HDCAM or 35mm for 90% or more of the production. HDV and super16mm could only be used for B camera stuff or otherwise impossible to shoot material.

There was even the point made that some long lens stuff would otherwise have been rejected were it not for the fact that it was never-before-seen material.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

I'll set my DVR to record the show - I've got an HDTV (1080i) and also HD cable. The recording should be pristine.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

The episode is shot on a blend of Arri (35mm) Sony F900, and the Z1. The Z1 segments that I'm aware of constituted 7-8 minutes of the show overall.
Davi, I already have the footage, as it's part of a film-out experiment that someone is doing in conjunction with JAG.
I don't know the EP# for this one, but it is the third week of Feb, so this coming week.

Delivery to b'cast is HDCam. This is one of the reasons that CF25 was chosen, it looked best while mating to film and 900 footage.
It's no big thing at all to take this cam and use either uncompressed outs to HD/SDI converter and spit it out to HDCam either pre or post edit. During Sundance, I converted several pieces last minute to HDCam for projection and/or broadcast.
Last night was the debut of this cam to film out as well, and lemme tell ya.....This don't look like no Michael Moore documentary film out.
X'ferred to Premiere filmstock, this simply is stunning. I'll have a story on the subject soon.

[Heath McKnight]

I think American Chopper has been shooting on the F900 or VariCam since last year when they had the cousin come in to work and almost caused the show to jump the shark. I noticed it looked like 24p telecined to 29.97 and downconverted. Though on Discovery HD, it's in 1080i HD! YEAH!

heath

[Joel Corral]

Heath,

it is shot on Panasonic's AJ-HDC27F, read what i read from

http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/n_monster_cars.shtml



News: by John Merli


Monster Cars, Choppers Cruise Into HD
Discovery HD Theater expands its 1080i offerings


BOSTON

Imagine your custom-made chopper with the DDCC/Diamond Chassis, the polished S&S 113-inch engine (with ECR), an Accessories Unlimited Chrome Six-Speed transmission, Fat Katz fenders, Arlen Ness Radius controls, the CC/Vintage Stitch seat, an exhaust by MGS Cyclone, that Legend Air Ride suspension system-and, of course, the custom 3D Metal Glo paint job by MNK Custom Works.

Now imagine displaying your chrome-laden hog in HD.

This summer, Discovery Channel started offering two of its most popular programs-"American Chopper" and "Monster Garage"-on Discovery HD Theater for an initial run of at least 20 episodes each. "American Chopper," a reality-based show, follows the various business and social activities of a colorful, sometimes contentious father-son team who build custom-made motorcycles in their own shop. The hour-long program is being shot in 1080i, and stars cycle shop founder Paul Teutul, Sr., and chief designer Paul Teutul, Jr.


GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Craig Piligian, executive producer of Pilgrim Films & Television, said he's glad he took the technological leap into HD with "American Chopper."

"Our viewers expect a lot, we know that, and although it's always that extra expense to leap up to high definition, we found it's sure a lot more affordable than before. We're finding the new [HD equipment] in the field is a lot more compact-the lighting, too-and everything looks just great," he said.

Piligian made a special point of checking all the dailies that were coming in from the HD shoots and it didn't take long for him to take note of "what a major difference it makes to incorporate 5.1 surround sound. The audio is really great. It can make a huge difference with the final product. Every time you enhance the look, the structure, and the sound and feel of your show, you're attracting more viewers," he said.

A production crew from Moody Street of Boston is shooting "American Chopper" with Panasonic's AJ-HDC27F, a variable frame-rate DVCPRO HD camcorder that's also compatible with PAL and other international formats. (Pilgrim's analog shows are aired worldwide.) The camera can convert both 1080i and 720p to 1080p/24, serving as a "universal master" from which 25 fps PAL and other TV formats can be derived.

The variable frame-rate capabilities, incidentally, may produce a bit of nostalgia: The variables can emulate the "undercranking" or "overcranking" techniques of traditional film cameras by using various speeds, and can produce other familiar "cinematic" effects as well. Frame rates are adjustable within 4-to-60 fps and shutter speeds from 0.8 percent to 97.2 percent. It's becoming apparent that with each new enhancement of digital recording and post-production software, the ability to mimic the effects of "film" continues to be highly desirable among producers.

[Heath McKnight]

VariCam.

heath

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Hey all, I watched "JAG" the other night on HD. I think that I can tell which shots were of the Z1 - overall, it matched the other footage regarding the 16x9 nature. But, the footage looked quite artifacty (new word) - anyone else see that? It seemed like they dumped the footage and didn't do it correctly. It definately looked compressed.

I tuned in about 8 minutes late, so I didn't catch the helicopter shot. Anyone else see the show??

[Greg Jacobson]

I tuned in about 8 minutes late, so I didn't catch the helicopter shot. Anyone else see the show?? -->>>

I thought that show was on this week. You sure you saw the right episode?

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Greg, I've never watched the show before so I'm not sure if it was the right one or not. But, it was JAG in HD for sure. I'll have to re-DVR it for this week..