Sony releases PMW-300 firmware v1.20

[Andrew Smith]

Jack, I don't believe the camera itself supports 1080/60p or 50p.

Andrew

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

If the long GOP options lack 1080/60p, then it won't be worth it for me to get a 300.

I read somewhere, and I think it was re-quoted on this forum by someone, that a Sony spokesman had stated that the PMW-300 chips were incapable of outputting 50/60p at 1080.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Jack Zhang]

Alright, my EX1R has at least another year of non-obsolescence. When the PXW-X280 comes out though, (with 1/2'' 1080p60 capable chips) that's when I move on.

[Geoff Tirrell]

Hmm,

So it looks like the new version for the 400 is out down under as well but we can't get it from the sony us website. Can any of the long time ops here tell me if it is the same software or if I should avoid touching builds released to other countries.

Geoff

[Glen Vandermolen]

Originally Posted by Geoff Tirrell

Hmm,

So it looks like the new version for the 400 is out down under as well but we can't get it from the sony us website. Can any of the long time ops here tell me if it is the same software or if I should avoid touching builds released to other countries.

Geoff

Yes, I'm very interested in this information.

[Andrew Smith]

You really should proceed with extreme caution here. Installing firmware from 'down under' will probably require you to rotate your shot footage 180° in post, prior to editing.

Andrew :-D

[Dave Sperling]

I'd heard in the past that the delay in firmware showing up on the US website is usually caused by the US tech guys giving it an extra QC/test cycle before posting it.
So it's probably not an issue -- unless there's a problem with it. So it depends whether you think the extra test time is worth waiting for...

[Andrew Smith]

In all seriousness, I think the real testing would happen before Sony in Japan issues a new firmware. The one version of a model comes out of their factories, and the firmware upgrades would apply wherever you are in the world.

Not that I am too worried, being a PMW-300 owner on the latest firmware that delivers XAVC functionality as a free upgrade.

Andrew

[Meng Li]

If Sony fails to release a perfect firmware upon its release, it would be a millions of bucks of loss. So I wouldn't be surprised, and would almost be delighted if I find such a thing, then I would be happy to short sell some Sony stocks at some point, grabbing some money into pocket while being able to vent my anger at any of their uncooperative staff for bricking my machine. isn't it good? :p

The other problem I could think about, is that the largest XQD-S card is only 64G, 2 slots only makes a 2-hour recording in total. I searched online but did not find any of larger ones. Will any manufacturers launch any of those later?

[Andrew Smith]

Yes, this would give support to the notion of larger card capacities. You can get 128GB SxS cards, but it's triple the price ... which is probably why nobody in Australia stocks them.

Much better to have two of the 64GB cards as you can hot swap between recording slots, and have an assistant shunt the data from one card as you are recording on the other.

Andrew

[Brent Kaplan]

Do SXS pro + cards work with Pmw-300

[Andrew Smith]

I can't imagine why they wouldn't. They are practically the same card, but with higher read and write speed capacities, as well as a better guarantee on the read/write cycle lifespan of the card.

Andrew

[Paul Cronin]

Just checking prior to loading v1.20 in my new PMW-300 tomorrow that there are no bugs anyone has found? Running smooth in XAVC?

[Andrew Smith]

I've been shooting on XDCAM 50Mbit only since the upgrade (not having the need for XAVC yet). Humming along beautifully as far as I can tell.

Andrew

[Brent Kaplan]

I was shooting today in around 100 degree weather and I got my first high temp warning, camera recorded fine but boy did it get hot.