New camera/formats for the station

[Steve Eisen]

I will tell you to do your research. It all depends on what you are shooting. I own a couple of DSR-300’s and have been shooting with a full-size camera (Beta SP, Digi Beta, 3/4″) for 20 years. Your initial instinct would be to go with the XDCAM HD format. It shoots both DVCAM and XDCAM HD on a $30 blue laser disc. The F330 starts at around $15K and the F350 25K, that is without lens. XDCAM HD codec is long GOP MPEG 2. The camera produces beautiful pictures, if in the right hands. read the workflow here:
https://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10014/docs/FCP_XDCAMHD_whitepaper.pdf

Panasonic’s DVCPro HD format is another way to go. The HVX-200 (baby varicam) is very versatile. It can shoot in miniDV, DV50 and DV100. Within those formats, it can also shoot at 60i, 30p and 24p at 480, 720 or 1080. In addtion, it can shoot at variable framerates. Not bad for 5K.
Here is the workflow for the HVX-200
https://www.rainbow.gr/markets/pdfs/Video/FCP_Workflow_HVX200.pdf

My personal advise on HD aquisition would be, If I was just shooting, I would go with XDCAM HD. I am also an editor. When it comes to editing, time is money. I would hands down edit with the DVCPro HD codec over the XDCAM HD codec anyday. That is why I would recomend the HVX-200 or soon to be released HPC-2000.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Shawn Bockoven]

Good information.

Thank you,

Shawn Bockoven