HVX-200 Demo DVD – video looks funky in spots

[Häakon]

None of the current promotional DVD material for the HVX was shot with an HVX. The footage of George Bush was only meant to be a visual example of a place that P2 had been used, not that it was P2 footage itself. As far as I know, it came off of a television broadcast. I don’t know what camera was used to shoot the product shots of the HVX, but the artifacting you are seeing could certainly be a result of the DVD compression process and have nothing to do with the camera that shot it. Anyway, it’s irrelevant because none of it is HVX footage. The DVD has been provided to be purely informational; a new one will be released with HVX footage when a final working model has been completed (~November 8).

[Jan Crittenden livingston]

The George Bush footage was SD and supplied by New York 1 to start with and basically went along with the script but was not an indicator of the camera at all. I mean think about it when was the Republican convention?

The rest of the artifacting I blame on the DVD compression. It was shot with a VariCam and the orignals do not have the artifacts that you see. As Haakon said, there will be a third DVD pressed and I will ask them to see if they can yous a different method in the compression.

Hope that helps,

Jan

Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems

[Randall3]

I quess one quality of a great DVD on a HD camera would be clarity.

Take a look at some of the Apple footage from their new Aperture site.
https://www.apple.com/aperture/profiles/?burbridge

It’s amazingly clear (and large) for a internet stream. (Looks like about 15fps)

In contrast the Windows Media version on the HVX-200 DVD is running at a 5 meg rate and still doesn’t look as good.

I assume the footage in the Apple movies on Aperture was shot with a Varicam. It is simply outstanding.

[Paul Harb]

So if those images were shot with the Varicam and 2/3 inch CCD’s, imagine what compressing to DVD will do to images captured with the 1/3 CCD’s of the HVX200…..say it isnt so…..

Paul

[Graeme Nattress]

Could just be bad compression for DVD – it happens.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Blub06]

Make it a box set!

Chris

[Steve Freebairn]

It is almost assuredly h.264 which would explain why it looks much better than the DVD footage.

[Amadon Amadon]

I ‘m in the first order stack for the 200 from Fullcompass. But I am a bit spooked about the fact that there is NO indication that the camera can produce good footage — not to my knowledge anyway. I have yet to hear ANYONE, not even a single panny rep, reporting ANYTHING about ACTUAL picture quality. We can see on the ad DVD that the Varicam takes good shots — but of course we knew that. What about the 200? All we have to go on, thus far, so late in the game, is pure theory. I’m wondering WHY a camera like this seems to have had NO beta iterations, no test shots available.

One would think if the camera was close to market, AND could take credible pictures, Panasonic would have been keen to show some stuff. If for no other reason, to create maximum pre-interest and pre-orders. Here’s my question: Why not?

Perhaps the camera has some serious problems the poor engineers are still struggling round the clock to sort out? Or, maybe the camera IS already in final form, BUT its video product is too poor to impress either video buffs OR potential reviewers? In the latter case, it would make marketing sense to keep things under wraps. But I, for one among many, hope THAT’S not the case.

None of the above may apply. It just worries me, a guy with bucks on the line, that the camera is expected soon, and there is ZERO to show of it. Again, Jan: WHY?

Thanks for your excellent contributions on this site and others. You’ve been quite helpful and patient in steering people thorugh the woods. I hope this post ain’t outta line. Thanks again. Amadon

[Graeme Nattress]

No camera manufacturer puts out footage before the camera goes on sale. I did, however see some HVX200 footage today, but it was just shot in the conference room where the Panasonic people were learning about the camera, and the footage was about the size of a postage stamp in an avid window on a laptop 🙁 But I guess we’ll be seeing footage very soon now. Now, some people have seen early footage, and although it was not of anything interesting, they did seem to think it didn’t have any obvious nasties… It’s probably only a matter of weeks now before we can actually get our hand on one of these and see what it’s like.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Barry Green]

Thousands of people have seen footage from it. It was shown at the various ResFest events around the country. The footage was 1080i-only, and wasn’t of any compelling subject matter (primarily some still-life stuff shot in front of some challenging materials, and also some handheld shots that Jan took out the window of her Amsterdam hotel during IBC), plus people have been able to shoot footage with it live on the floor at a few shows.

Many people have reported their opinions of the footage, and they’ve been very, very, very positive. And that was just off the 1080i-only prototype. Jan’s said that Panasonic US is supposed to receive a fully-functioning “engineering mule” version on November 8th, which will probably be used to generate some web-releasable footage.

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