Another look at the EX at DVinfo.net

Simon Wyndham · September 7th, 2007, 02:26 AM

Didn't get to use it as much as Alister or Nigel, but here's my impressions anyway.

http://www.simonwyndham.co.uk/xdcam-pmw-ex1.html

Michael Mann · September 7th, 2007, 02:45 AM

Thanks a lot, Simon, for your excellent review. And great to get informed about the following:
"Other features include ... SDI out for recording full 4:2:2 1920x1080 footage. Note that this is true 4:2:2 and is not upsampled ...".

Piotr Wozniacki · September 7th, 2007, 02:53 AM

Thanks Simon! Can you tell us what sort of a zoom control can it use?

Simon Wyndham · September 7th, 2007, 02:54 AM

Thanks Michael. As with all current articles on the camera it is based around a pre-production model (in fact it is was a pre-pre-production model). Some things may be slightly different on the final camera. One thing I hope they keep are the extensive setup menus. On the camera I looked at they were every bit the equal of the full size cameras!

Piotr, I'm not sure what type of zoom control it can use at present. I should have asked when I had the chance, but there were so many other things and such a short amount of time. Alister or Nigel might be able to tell you as they were allowed to use the camera for a number of days.

Piotr Wozniacki · September 7th, 2007, 03:03 AM

After the brochure, and now the first impression reviews from Alister, Simon and Nigel - I'm almost sold on this little marvel.

The only 2 things that I'm still in doubts about are:
- will it work with the chepaer, non-Pro Express Card
- will it *somehow* make use of the lanc controllers I have, or something else but not very much more expensive.

Michael Mann · September 7th, 2007, 03:09 AM

Mee to, I am tempted so sell my A1 on eBay right away.
Simon, do you have a demo frame grab that you could share? Would be much appreciated.

Simon Wyndham · September 7th, 2007, 03:17 AM

Alister and Nigel have screen grabs since they got to use it more extensively. From what I have seen though the pictures are superb. I am left wondering if next years NAB will see an update to the 350 that has similar CMOS chips in it!

Will the cheaper Express cards work? Hmmm, sort of. We messed around with one to see if it would. The camera threw up all sorts of errors making it a hassle to do so, but it did record footage onto them. The proof in the pudding will be when the final camera is released as to whether these errors appear on the final production version.

Michael Mann · September 8th, 2007, 01:08 AM

Simon, do you happen to know whether the cam has a (2 second or so) pre-recording buffer? That would come real handy for any kind of snapshots.

Guy Barwood · September 8th, 2007, 02:29 AM

I remember reading somewhere over the last 24 hours that a pre-record bufffer will be enabled after release with a flash firmware update. Don't quote me on that though.

Simon Wyndham · September 8th, 2007, 02:46 AM

Guy, you are correct. The pre-record cache will be enabled in a firmware update.

Piotr Wozniacki · September 8th, 2007, 02:51 AM

Simon,
It comes as a surprise to all that the HQ mode is NOT really XDCAM HD, in fact (being 1920x1080@35Mbps VBR, rather than 1440x1080@35Mbps). Does Sony have a name for this format? Also, pumping this much more info into the same bandwidth - won't it result in encoding probs?

I have mixed feelings about two differences vs the standard XDCAM HD:

- the MP4 wrapper
- the above mentioned "better resolution"

Could you comment?

Michael Mann · September 8th, 2007, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

The pre-record cache will be enabled in a firmware update.

Sounds great, thanks.

Simon Wyndham · September 8th, 2007, 03:07 AM

Piotr,

I don't think the extra resolution will be a problem. Remember that 35Mbit/sec is VBR, and on the current XDCAM HD models the average bitrate for the vast majority of shots is nowhere near the top rate. I think that the only thing that will happen is that XDCAM EX will just have a higher average bitrate than the current XDCAM HD cameras.

The format is just another form of XDCAM HD. The MP4 wrapper is nothing to worry about. It is a sensible decision considering that Adobe haven't supported XDCAM. Getting the footage into Premiere will be a major factor in having large takeup for the camera.

My only gripe is the transfer to XDCAM disc with PDZ-1 etc downsampling to 1440. To be honest though I do not think that Sony will leave it at that. They have their work cut out for them with all of this and the other equipment they are releasing, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they work in a new 1920 backup to XDCAM disc at some point in the future after they have overcome their current workload.

Guy Barwood · September 8th, 2007, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

The pre-record cache will be enabled in a firmware update.

Which is great in two ways. 1st the obvious of getting the feature, but 2nd, firmware updates will be end user based. For firmware updates to the likes of JVC HD series you have to return it to a service centre, so last century....

Piotr Wozniacki · September 8th, 2007, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

My only gripe is the transfer to XDCAM disc with PDZ-1 etc downsampling to 1440. To be honest though I do not think that Sony will leave it at that. They have their work cut out for them with all of this and the other equipment they are releasing, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they work in a new 1920 backup to XDCAM disc at some point in the future after they have overcome their current workload.

Who knows, maybe by the time the PDW-U1 drive writing is enabled, it'll include the full 1920x1080 format.

September 7th, 2007, 02:26 AM	#1
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Another look at the EX Didn't get to use it as much as Alister or Nigel, but here's my impressions anyway. http://www.simonwyndham.co.uk/xdcam-pmw-ex1.html

September 7th, 2007, 02:45 AM	#2
Michael Mann Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kelkheim, Germany Posts: 375	Thanks a lot, Simon, for your excellent review. And great to get informed about the following: "Other features include ... SDI out for recording full 4:2:2 1920x1080 footage. Note that this is true 4:2:2 and is not upsampled ...". __________________ Michael

September 7th, 2007, 02:53 AM	#3
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	Thanks Simon! Can you tell us what sort of a zoom control can it use? __________________ 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 7th, 2007, 03:03 AM	#5
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	After the brochure, and now the first impression reviews from Alister, Simon and Nigel - I'm almost sold on this little marvel. The only 2 things that I'm still in doubts about are: - will it work with the chepaer, non-Pro Express Card - will it somehow make use of the lanc controllers I have, or something else but not very much more expensive. __________________ 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 7th, 2007, 03:09 AM	#6
Michael Mann Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kelkheim, Germany Posts: 375	Mee to, I am tempted so sell my A1 on eBay right away. Simon, do you have a demo frame grab that you could share? Would be much appreciated. __________________ Michael

September 7th, 2007, 02:54 AM	#4
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Thanks Michael. As with all current articles on the camera it is based around a pre-production model (in fact it is was a pre-pre-production model). Some things may be slightly different on the final camera. One thing I hope they keep are the extensive setup menus. On the camera I looked at they were every bit the equal of the full size cameras! Piotr, I'm not sure what type of zoom control it can use at present. I should have asked when I had the chance, but there were so many other things and such a short amount of time. Alister or Nigel might be able to tell you as they were allowed to use the camera for a number of days.

September 7th, 2007, 03:17 AM	#7
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Alister and Nigel have screen grabs since they got to use it more extensively. From what I have seen though the pictures are superb. I am left wondering if next years NAB will see an update to the 350 that has similar CMOS chips in it! Will the cheaper Express cards work? Hmmm, sort of. We messed around with one to see if it would. The camera threw up all sorts of errors making it a hassle to do so, but it did record footage onto them. The proof in the pudding will be when the final camera is released as to whether these errors appear on the final production version.

September 8th, 2007, 01:08 AM	#8
Michael Mann Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kelkheim, Germany Posts: 375	Simon, do you happen to know whether the cam has a (2 second or so) pre-recording buffer? That would come real handy for any kind of snapshots. __________________ Michael

September 8th, 2007, 02:29 AM	#9
Guy Barwood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 423	I remember reading somewhere over the last 24 hours that a pre-record bufffer will be enabled after release with a flash firmware update. Don't quote me on that though. Last edited by Guy Barwood; September 8th, 2007 at 03:16 AM.

September 8th, 2007, 02:46 AM	#10
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Guy, you are correct. The pre-record cache will be enabled in a firmware update.

September 8th, 2007, 02:51 AM	#11
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	Simon, It comes as a surprise to all that the HQ mode is NOT really XDCAM HD, in fact (being 1920x1080@35Mbps VBR, rather than 1440x1080@35Mbps). Does Sony have a name for this format? Also, pumping this much more info into the same bandwidth - won't it result in encoding probs? I have mixed feelings about two differences vs the standard XDCAM HD: - the MP4 wrapper - the above mentioned "better resolution" Could you comment? __________________ 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 8th, 2007, 03:07 AM	#13
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Piotr, I don't think the extra resolution will be a problem. Remember that 35Mbit/sec is VBR, and on the current XDCAM HD models the average bitrate for the vast majority of shots is nowhere near the top rate. I think that the only thing that will happen is that XDCAM EX will just have a higher average bitrate than the current XDCAM HD cameras. The format is just another form of XDCAM HD. The MP4 wrapper is nothing to worry about. It is a sensible decision considering that Adobe haven't supported XDCAM. Getting the footage into Premiere will be a major factor in having large takeup for the camera. My only gripe is the transfer to XDCAM disc with PDZ-1 etc downsampling to 1440. To be honest though I do not think that Sony will leave it at that. They have their work cut out for them with all of this and the other equipment they are releasing, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they work in a new 1920 backup to XDCAM disc at some point in the future after they have overcome their current workload.