Barry Green
Forum Replies Created
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No the fields aren’t the same — if they were, it’d be de-interlaced video, not progressive.
PsF is Sony’s way of recording a progressive-scan image to an interlaced tape system. They segment the frame into fields and record them as fields. With PsF they run the tape slower through the camera, so it’s basically a 50i recording that’s slowed down so it records 48 fields instead of 50. However, the image data is from a genuine, pure progressive frame… there’s nothing interlaced about the original image. It just gets split into two fields for recording purposes, and can be reconstituted into a progressive frame when editing.
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There’s a “reset” button you can press, which should set all the camera settings back to defaults.
If you’re talking about the scene files, you can change any one of them back to its initial/default state by scrolling to the bottom of the menu and choosing “init”.
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I agree that the PAL version will be better for European and other PAL users.
I don’t think it’s overall “better” because:
a) I don’t know for sure that 50i DVCPRO-HD is actually 1440×1080; I haven’t been able to get any confirmation on that.
b) 24p is better for American/ATSC broadcasts, and film transfers, than 25p is. 25p is ideal for European uses, not ideal for American/NTSC/ATSC uses. Obviously the 50i version would be better for European users.
c) even if the European version turns out to be 1440 instead of 1280, you’ll have fewer overall frames (which would be where the tradeoff comes in; more pixels in fewer frames vs. more frames with fewer pixels.) It’s not “better”, it’s different.
There was much hullabaloo over whether the Z1 was “better” in 50i mode than in 60i, since the data rate was constant but there were fewer frames, meaning potentially less compression per frame. However, everyone I have heard of who’s tested it has come back saying “naw, no difference.” Reason is, the 50i camera uses a GOP of 12 frames, vs. 15 on the 60i camera — which makes the 60i camera get more efficient compression over the course of a GOP. So it netted out about the same.
I expect DVCPRO-HD to perform similarly — 50i or 60i will likely be a tossup. However, I do look forward to testing it and comparing it in real-world circumstances to see if there is any noticeable difference!
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Yes it will be real progressive, and it will be handled the same way as 24p and 25p are handled on the DVX and SDX and SPX cameras. You’ll get genuine 1080/24p carried within a 1080/60i stream, or 1080/25p carried within a 1080/50i data stream.
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Consider it clarified: definitely, unquestionably, 1080/24p and 1080/30p and 1080/60i.
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[wildmangoose] “They advertise that it will do HD/DVCPRO/DV. Does this mean that it will do HDV and DVCPRO HD as well as sd.”
It offers three leves of recording:
DV (and DVCPRO25), which are two formats that record the standard 4:1:1 or 4:2:0, standard-def, 5:1 compression signal that we’re all familiar with. DV is a recording format that’s about on par with BetaSP as a recording format.
DVCPRO50 is a much higher-quality standard-def signal. DVCPRO50 has twice the color sampling (4:2:2) and about half the compression, so DVCPRO50, as a recording format, is almost Digital Betacam in quality; DigiBeta is just about the highest-quality standard-def recording you can get, and DVCPRO50 is “right up there” with it.
Then there’s high-def. The HVX doesn’t use HDV, which is a low-color-sampling high-def recording format designed around MPEG-2 and the limitations necessary to get it to fit on a $4 tape. Instead the HVX uses DVCPRO-HD, which is a frame-discrete compression system with twice the color sampling (4:2:2), and is the same recording format used in Panasonic’s $70,000 VariCam and $43,000 HDX400 high-def cameras. As a recording format, DVCPRO-HD is far superior to HDV.
Unique to the HVX200 is that it can record both formats of high-def, both 1080 and 720. Almost every other high-def camera out there makes you choose, either 1080 or 720, but the HVX lets you do both.
Of course, those other cameras are already on the market as well, whereas the HVX won’t be on store shelves for another six months or so.
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I think what they’re asking for is an SPX800 with DVCPRO-HD added to it. A reasonably-low-cost, 2/3″, P2-based HD camera. They want better lenses and chips than the HVX’s 1/3″ set, but at a lower-than-VariCam price tag.
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https://www.matrox.com/video/support/ds/software/codec/home.cfm
I found that after posting the MainConcept post above; should have returned here to clarify that. Yes, Matrox has a free codec, and it does work with Vegas! It’s only a codec; it doesn’t include capture or export capabilities. However, with P2, that becomes irrelevant. You may still need to use something like the Focus File Converter to convert the P2 card’s files into Vegas-editable .AVI or .MOV or whatever, but then you should be able to fully edit DVCPRO50 material in Vegas, right now.
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Vegas could edit DVCPRO-50 material if you got the MainConcept DVCPRO-50 codec. I think they charge $349 for it. (or, if anyone else wrote a DVCPRO-50 codec, Vegas could use it).
For importing and exporting to tape, you’d need some sort of capture utility. But with P2 that step is eliminated, so you can just copy the files off the P2 card and edit them directly.
So the answer is basically, yes, Vegas can edit DVCPRO50 — but as things stand now, you need to buy the MainConcept codec in order to be able to do it.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
[dave] “Is the P2 dvx200 expected to be supirior as an sd camera to that of the z1?”
The HVX200 should be a substantially superior SD camera than the Sonys, for several reasons. First, it includes DVCPRO50 recording, which gives you 4:2:2 color sampling and much milder compression than DV. If you haven’t seen the differences, check out https://www.eleventy.org/dv-en/. The HVX, when recording in DV50 mode, should provide the finest recorded image possible on a 1/3″ camera.
Second, the HVX will be capable of variable frame rates, something the Sonys can’t match. You can shoot at 60 progressive frames per second (or any frame rate that the camera supports, from 4 to 60) and then downconvert that footage from the P2 card onto the miniDV tape. So for DV projects you’ll have full variable frame rate capability too.
And you’ll get the best chroma keying possible in an under-$10,000 camera, since the HVX will offer full 4:2:2 color sampling in DVCPRO-50 mode (as well as in high-def DVCPRO-HD mode).
Plus, the HVX includes genuine progressive scan in 24p and 30p, in DV and DVCPRO50 modes. If you want the best, most well-rounded, most full-featured standard-def camera, the HVX will be it.
[dave] “Is it expected to hadle motion much better? “
Yes, most definitely, if talking about HD mode. The motion issues arise when recording in MPEG-2 format. The HVX doesn’t use MPEG-2, it uses frame-discrete compression that never suffers motion-related artifacting.Keeping apples to apples, however, the Sony cameras, when in DV mode, will exhibit identical motion rendition as the HVX would when it records in DV mode, at the same frame rate. DV is DV, and motion rendition would be the same (except, of course, that the HVX would be able to shoot genuine 24p and 30p, plus downconverted 720/60p, as well as 4:2:2 DVCPRO50, which are things the Sony couldn’t).
[dave] “We don’t forsee a lot of hd use in the near 2 year term with the exception of the odd trade show.”
Again, the HVX is ideal, offering SD today and a migration path to HD (through P2, firewire streaming, forthcoming firestore-type devices, and potentially other types of recording). If you do little HD work now, but plan on a lot more of it in a couple of years, you can use the by-far-best-featured SD camera today, and take advantage of plummeting P2 card prices by the time you need HD capability.
The one area where the FX1/Z1 have a commanding advantage over the Panasonic is: they’re available now. The HVX won’t be on the market for another six months or so. If you need something NOW, and you need HD NOW, then the Sonys are the only game in town. But if you’re content with your PD150 for now, and it’ll do the job for you for the next six months, you may be very pleased with the HVX for your purposes — it sounds to me like you’re the ideal candidate for one.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a)