XDCAM vs. P2

[Lars Wikstrom]

Hi, I can tell you the things I was looking for in a camera to replace my DVCAM PD100a. 1. Was compressed HD Sine I didn’t want a massive raid to support 120 megs a second. 2. worked both in HD and SD

HDV cameras worked but I had 2 problems with that. The HDV signal was laid down to the same mini DV tape and the same 25 mega bits as my mini DV camera!!! I tell my friends imagen 25 mega bits dv tape is equal to a Mini Cooper car. Shooting DV is like putting 4 people in to this car. HDV is trying to squeeze something that is twice the size in HD (8 people) into that same car since it is still 25 megabits. and I am not a fan of GOP compression I like every frame to be it’s own image and not rely on the frames around it for it’s information.

I also think Cannon dropped the ballon there new HD camera it’s eatehr the HDV super compressed format or the switch and nolw you are uncompressed (120 megs per second ((supper masive raid)).

Panasonic got it just right. 100 mega bits for the HD. 4:2:2 color space where HDV is still 4:1:1. The more I use this camera the more I am liking it. I just put together my first 30 second commercial with this camera and I noticed right away how much bringhter and colorfull this camera is using the better color space.

I would stay away from MPEG capturing cameras unless you are going on vacation to shoot home videos. DVCPRO 50 /100 is a better way to go and will hold up better under the editing and re rendering knife.

This is at least whet I was looking for when camera shopping.

good luck,

-Lars

[Blub06]

I will offer an opinion regarding the question of P2 vs. XDCAM, not cameras. The cow published a magazine which had a review of the new Sony XDCAMHD, WOW! Its a good place to start if your asking about XDCAMHD cameras.

I worked with XDCAM (never P2) and I was extremely impressed. I didn

[Noah Kadner]

Slight correction on capacity. On 720 24pN you get twenty minutes on one 8GB P2 camera. So with two loaded in the HVX you get 40 minutes.

-Noah

[Mike Most — account bouncing, bad address]

Are you comparing recording formats or cameras? The fact is that right now, the only P2 based HD recording camera is the HVX200, a $6000 prosumer unit. The XDCam HD camera is a professional unit, with professional interchangeable lenses, a bigger form factor, and bigger sensors – and a considerably higher price.

If you’re comparing currently available products, you’re not comparing apples to apples.

[Nigel]

Not compairing cameras, simply compairing formats, P2 and XDCAM as in workflows.

[Nick B]

Why not rent then you can see what works for your set up.

[Nigel]

I’m after other peoples findings for now.

[Noah Kadner]

Good suggestion Nick. Iman- surely it’s worth a few hundred rental dollars before you plunk down as much as $30K. Or at least speak to some dealers and get some demos. Obviously both P2 and XDCAM HD work fine and you’ll hear pundits for both. But what matters most is what you personally need.

Noah

[Eleventy]

We had to decide between XDCam and P2 a few months ago.

It all depends on what you want to use it for:

If it’s for news, or anything which has/requires a fast turn-around, don’t doubt, go for P2. The main drawback of XDCam, is that it is painfully slow to edit: all images have to be imported, just like capturing from betaSP. Sony promises import speeds up to 5.5x realtime DV25, but in reality typical import speeds hover around realtime( you can get up to 4xrealtime if it is a 1 hour long clip, but 10 seconds shots drop it down to 1x or 2x realtime). And forget about the proxies: only some NLE’s support them, and quality is borderline: it is impossible to see if a shot is in focus or just out. Also, finding a soundbite with proxy-audio will drive you nuts. So, in fact, there is hardly any speed advantage over capturing BetaSP. P2 on the other hand is lighnting fast: you can edit directly from the cards, so no importing/capturing time. Edit the piece and get it on air. Afterwards, after the rush, you have to achive to some medium. Or, when using a central storage, import speeds are much faster: we have achieved sustained speeds of 13x realtime DV25. A 30min card takes less than 3 minutes to copy.

If its for long form( documentaries,…), you can choose either. The problem with P2 is that it requires everybody to complety rethink their workflow. You can compare it to press photographers who changed to digital camera’s a few years ago. In the beginning nobody believed that a memory-card would be workable( “too expensive to archive those cards”, “too fragile”, ….). The nice thing about XDCam, is that it’s ‘comfortable’: we all know ( and hate) the workflow of logging and capturing footage before starting to edit.

We went with P2, and never looked back.
If you need more info, mail me.

eLeventy

[Darren Kelly]

I only recently made the same comparison – P2 won.

There are other P2 camera’s aside from the HVX200. There is a DVCPRO50 camera that also shoots to the P2. I’m not sure if your comparison has to be in HD or not.

I choose P2 for a few reasons. One was cost. While the camera cost didn’t phaze me at all, what did was the media reader. Sony wants between $11K and 20K for a deck to read what is in essence a modified blueray disk. They are also selling the Playstation 3, which is Blueray for around $500.00 this holiday season. Seems kinda unfair to charge 20-40X for the same media. Also Panasonic has a soon to be releasd Blueray Recorder that will sell under $1K, so I’m not so keen on the price from Sony.

XDCAM is an MPEG 2 based capture method. I just finished with that with a 2 year love hate relationship with HDV. There is no “Fun” way to edit it. I’m not a proxy guy, I don’t know alot of people who like doing that. While the XDCAM adds more data than HDV, it’s still somewhat smaller than DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD (100). SO I like that there is more data.

We decided instead on the P2. While I could afford a standard def P2 camera, I liked the image off the HVX, and instead bought 2 of them, cards, readers and a firestore.

Good luck in your quest.

DBK