DV qualities of the XDCAM EX at DVinfo.net

Aidan Wynne · September 2nd, 2007, 08:10 AM

I asked a similar question over on the Panasonic P2HD forum when I was thinking of going with the HVX200, that was until storage media costs told me to wait a bit.

With the XDCAM Ex I'd want it for DV shooting so will be interesting to see how that format is catered for next thursday at the launch.

I want to futureproof when I ungrade my desktop next year by getting this camera (or 2).

Vaughan Wood · September 2nd, 2007, 07:45 PM

I believe this camera will only shoot in HD.

I guess we'll all find out this week.

Cheers Vaughan

James Huenergardt · September 2nd, 2007, 11:23 PM

Even though it may only shoot HD, I believe Cineform will support this camera, so converting to SD would be an easy process.

Also, if there is firewire, it may have some sort of downconvert like the Z1U and other Sony HDV cameras.

Just a guess though, but I'm pretty sure Cineform will be supporting this camera.

Aidan Wynne · September 3rd, 2007, 03:43 AM

Thanks for the quick response lads.

As time is money as they say all of us strive to cut the minutes on various conversions from camera to disc etc.

Which version of Cineform would be needed in these circumstances.

I know this is all a bit premature before thursday.

Guy Barwood · September 3rd, 2007, 07:43 AM

Surely it will have a DVCAM/DV mode? The data rate to the cards would be exactly the same. Sometimes/manytimes we just don't need HD and who wants any extra post production work?

Piotr Wozniacki · September 3rd, 2007, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy Barwood

Surely it will have a DVCAM/DV mode? The data rate to the cards would be exactly the same. Sometimes/manytimes we just don't need HD and who wants any extra post production work?

C'mon, downconverting on the fly is no extra work, really. I wouldn't be surprised if there was no DV/DVCAM mode on the EX, but certainly expect the HD->SD conversion capabilities; what's the firewire for, after all? The mainstream (i.e. HD) workflow is file based, anyway...

Brian Cassar · September 3rd, 2007, 07:59 AM

I'm not sure wether I'm going to ask a stupid question - but if we were to downconvert on the fly wouldn't that mean that we need to capture footage in real time (like HDV)? Wouldn't we loose the beauty of tapeless acquisition and file transferring? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Piotr Wozniacki · September 3rd, 2007, 08:09 AM

I mentioned downconverting on the fly while capturing in "the old way", yes - but assuming the EX cannot operate in SD, thus cannot write SD files to the card - the "beauty of tapeless acquisition" wouldn't apply then.

Guy Barwood · September 3rd, 2007, 08:17 AM

Yes that is my point, why would I want to shoot to Flash media only to have to capture in real time via firewire. It should be like the Z1 and support both PAL and NTSC SD. it really should have some form of 20Mbps MPG2 SD 4:2:2 mode but I won't hold my breath for that...

The 330 etc can shoot in DV mode so I can only hope we are fussing about nothing.

Peter Jefferson · September 3rd, 2007, 08:42 AM

Why not simply import the HD footage into an SD project?

Its a no brainer guys.

Aidan Wynne · September 4th, 2007, 11:58 AM

In just two days time we shall know all lads.......am surprised nobody has put up a virtual countdown for the launch on here and elsewhere......really exciting time!

James Huenergardt · September 4th, 2007, 01:13 PM

Yes, I've been waiting since NAB 07 for this announcement. It's a VERY exciting time.

Peter Jefferson · September 5th, 2007, 12:04 AM

Forgot to mention the scaling to colour sampling change, that by scaling down to SD from HD, you end up with close to 4:2:2 colour. That and the fact you've got room to re-frame and zoom... a double bonus in my book.

Matt Davis · September 7th, 2007, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaughan Wood

I believe this camera will only shoot in HD.

In the EX1 brochure, there's mention (under 'a wide array of interfaces') of SD-SDI, SD Component, S-Video and composite. So there's got to be some down-convert circuitry in there somewhere to get SD from an HD camera.

But like the HVX, there's no 'ingest' stage to do the on-the-fly conversion so I guess you get what you shoot, and it's down to the NLE to downconvert. So I guess there should be a SD shoot option...

However, I couldn't find mention of the 18 Mbps XDCAM mode which would be useful for those of us who film long presentations and conference content.

Guy Barwood · September 7th, 2007, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Jefferson

Why not simply import the HD footage into an SD project?

Its a no brainer guys.

In theory thats fine, in practice that is usually a lot of wasted time rendering and unless you pre-render everything to SD you will also get a lot less RT performance from having to work with a HD source file even on a SD timeline.

In summary, when you only ever need SD for a project (and the clients arn't paying enough for the extra workload above) why would you want to shoot in HD?

September 2nd, 2007, 08:10 AM	#1
Aidan Wynne Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: EIRE Posts: 29	DV qualities of the XDCAM EX I asked a similar question over on the Panasonic P2HD forum when I was thinking of going with the HVX200, that was until storage media costs told me to wait a bit. With the XDCAM Ex I'd want it for DV shooting so will be interesting to see how that format is catered for next thursday at the launch. I want to futureproof when I ungrade my desktop next year by getting this camera (or 2).

September 3rd, 2007, 08:09 AM	#8
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	I mentioned downconverting on the fly while capturing in "the old way", yes - but assuming the EX cannot operate in SD, thus cannot write SD files to the card - the "beauty of tapeless acquisition" wouldn't apply then. __________________ Sony PXW-FS7 \| DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive

September 2nd, 2007, 07:45 PM	#2
Vaughan Wood Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 278	I believe this camera will only shoot in HD. I guess we'll all find out this week. Cheers Vaughan

September 2nd, 2007, 11:23 PM	#3
James Huenergardt Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA Posts: 513	Even though it may only shoot HD, I believe Cineform will support this camera, so converting to SD would be an easy process. Also, if there is firewire, it may have some sort of downconvert like the Z1U and other Sony HDV cameras. Just a guess though, but I'm pretty sure Cineform will be supporting this camera.

September 3rd, 2007, 03:43 AM	#4
Aidan Wynne Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: EIRE Posts: 29	Thanks for the quick response lads. As time is money as they say all of us strive to cut the minutes on various conversions from camera to disc etc. Which version of Cineform would be needed in these circumstances. I know this is all a bit premature before thursday.

September 3rd, 2007, 07:43 AM	#5
Guy Barwood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 423	Surely it will have a DVCAM/DV mode? The data rate to the cards would be exactly the same. Sometimes/manytimes we just don't need HD and who wants any extra post production work?

September 3rd, 2007, 07:59 AM	#7
Brian Cassar Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Malta Posts: 306	I'm not sure wether I'm going to ask a stupid question - but if we were to downconvert on the fly wouldn't that mean that we need to capture footage in real time (like HDV)? Wouldn't we loose the beauty of tapeless acquisition and file transferring? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

September 3rd, 2007, 08:17 AM	#9
Guy Barwood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 423	Yes that is my point, why would I want to shoot to Flash media only to have to capture in real time via firewire. It should be like the Z1 and support both PAL and NTSC SD. it really should have some form of 20Mbps MPG2 SD 4:2:2 mode but I won't hold my breath for that... The 330 etc can shoot in DV mode so I can only hope we are fussing about nothing.

September 3rd, 2007, 08:42 AM	#10
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	Why not simply import the HD footage into an SD project? Its a no brainer guys.

September 4th, 2007, 11:58 AM	#11
Aidan Wynne Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: EIRE Posts: 29	In just two days time we shall know all lads.......am surprised nobody has put up a virtual countdown for the launch on here and elsewhere......really exciting time!

September 4th, 2007, 01:13 PM	#12
James Huenergardt Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA Posts: 513	Yes, I've been waiting since NAB 07 for this announcement. It's a VERY exciting time.

September 5th, 2007, 12:04 AM	#13
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	Forgot to mention the scaling to colour sampling change, that by scaling down to SD from HD, you end up with close to 4:2:2 colour. That and the fact you've got room to re-frame and zoom... a double bonus in my book.