Barry Green
Forum Replies Created
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Well, there’s video tape and then there’s data tape. Do you need specifically one or the other?
For video tape, DVCPRO-HD tape is what you’d want, and you can get a firewire-enabled deck that will let you stream the video straight from the camera to the deck, or from a computer to the deck. Figure $25,000 and up.
For data tape, any kind of data tape would work, such as DLT, LTO, SAIT, etc. Anything that’s used for backing up computer data would work, losslessly. Data tape drives are a lot less expensive, maybe $1500 to $5,000 or so.
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[David Davidson] “100mb/sec to an Ipod? Ipods can handle that data rate over firewire?”
I’m sure it can’t, no. But we’re not talking about streaming live video to it, we’re talking about using it to offload the contents of a P2 card onto. And for that process it’s a file transfer, which can take as long as the ipod needs it to.—————–
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[David Battistella] “You just have to make sure enable hard disk use is checkd in your ipod preferences and it can still stoe music, play it back and store data too.”
Maybe. Probably not though; I’ll have to try that. See, the HVX formats the entire hard disk and destroys all partitions on the hard disk. It then allocates a new partition for each card that you offload to it. It’s not like a simple file copy, it’s a major thing and I doubt the ipod would cooperate with that.
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You can, although if you can’t if you want to continue using the ipod as an ipod. The thing is, if you want your ipod to continue to function as an ipod (meaning, a music player etc) then no, you wouldn’t use it for storing HVX footage. If, however, you don’t mind formatting the hard disk in the ipod, then yes it definitely can work as a P2 offloading drive.
So as long as you have a complete backup of your ipod on your computer, and as long as you’re using one of the older ipods that has a firewire connection (vs. the newest, which only have USB2) then yes, you definitely can use the ipod to store HVX footage. Just be aware that while it’s storing HVX footage, it cannot be used as an ipod, it can only be used as an external hard disk.
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[hopperHD] “Secondly, is 1040i on its way out. It sounds like the 720p is the more versatile format and much more desired for television.”
1080i is currently the broadcast format with the most stations. NBC, CBS, PBS, and cable stations like TBS and InHD are all 1080i. 720p is the format used by FOX, ABC, and ESPN.
However, that’s in America. In Europe the EBU has formally endorsed 720p for today, with an eventual goal of 1080p. They want nothing to do with 1080i (although they did say that they recognize that 1080i broadcasts would happen, and that they won’t do anything to prevent that). The one thing the EBU made clear is that they would like to exterminate interlacing from Europe’s future.
In America, the ATSC endorsed six formats for HDTV broadcast: 720/24p, 720/30p, 720/60p, 1080/24p, 1080/30p, 1080/60i. Interesting to note that five of those six are progressive, only one is interlaced. Equally interesting to note that a majority of broadcasters who are currently broadcasting in HD chose 1080i anyway.
So 720p is common, but not the eventual end. 1080i is more common, and is also not the eventual end. 1080/60p is what we’d all like to see.
As for the HVX, it shoots and records all six formats endorsed by the ATSC, as well as the formats endorsed by the EBU (excepting 1080/50p & 1080/60p, which pretty much no camera supports).
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Okay, here’s another caution about the CitiDisk — apparently a careful reading of the specs may lead one to believe that it does not, in fact, stream HD. Other boards are reporting that it sounds like it can only capture DV, and that there is no provision for live capture of HD. Instead, the HD functionality they present is actually only for use when offloading the contents of a P2 card.
I looked through the page briefly and couldn’t determine one way or the other, but I didn’t try too hard either.
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[Nik Manning] “So can I record 720p at 24 frames per second to a hardrive solution like the firestore model coming soon”
Let me take a stab at this. There are multiple recording formats. Yes you could choose 720/24P mode, and record that to the FireStore. However, the firewire output will be 720/60p, with frame flags and duplicate frames inserted to round the sequence up to 60fps, just like the VariCam does.
You can use a post frame-rate-conversion utility to strip-out & discard the duplicate frames, returning you to the native data sequence.
That’s for general firewire. The thing is, the HVX also has a 720/24pN mode where it records just the 24 frames onto the P2 card. That mode does not get output via firewire.
If you record 720/24p mode (“over 60”) on the card, you’ll get one minute per gigabyte. If you record 720/24pN mode on the card, you’ll get two and a half minutes per gigabyte. Presumably the Specialized Communications CinePorter hard-disk recorder will allow you to record the 24pN mode as well, since it connects via the P2 card slot.
If recording the firewire output, that output will be “over 60” mode. If whatever device that captures the file just records it as it’s received, then you’ll also get one minute per gigabyte. Perhaps there’s the possibility for “smart capture” where the drive could parse the incoming data, determine whether it’s a duplicate frame or not, and discard duplicates; in that case you’d only record the pure 24p frames. But that would be a question for the people making the capture device.
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For clarification: it outputs every mode it’s capable of shooting in: DV, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO25, 720p DVCPRO-HD, and 1080 DVCPRO-HD.
The only mode that doesn’t stream to the firewire is the “native” mode 720p footage: 720/24pN and 720/30pN. All other modes (including 720p “over 60”) do stream over the firewire. You can absolutely positively use video capture or firestore or whatever to capture streaming content in 480, 720, or 1080.
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[shooter] “To clarify, you’re saying put the AC adapter on the camera and that will charge the internal battery? Didn’t know the internal battery was rechargable.
How long is this battery supposed to hold a charge? I never use my AC adapter.”Yes, plug in the AC adapter and leave it there for about four hours and the internal battery should be fully recharged. It holds its charge for quite a while, several months I believe.
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“broadcast quality” is a squirrely definition to pin down. Both are capable of excellent results, that’s for sure. But DiscoveryHD will not accept Z1 footage, or any HDV footage AFAIK.
1080i and 720p are two different modes of HD. The Z1 only does 1080i. The HVX does all the modes supported by the ATSC high-definition broadcast standard: it does 1080/24p, 1080/30p, 1080/60i, 720/60p, 720/24p, and 720/30p.
The HVX does basically everything the Z1 does, and an awful lot of things that the Z1 doesn’t. The Z1’s main thing is that it records its version of high-def onto a $4 tape, and the HVX doesn’t. If you need an hour’s worth of recording on a $4 tape, and you’re satisfied with the HDV quality and the attendant limitations that come with it (no variable frame rates, no 720p, etc), then the Z1 may make sense. But if you can work with the P2/FireStore/CinePorter workflow of the HVX, then you’ll get everything the Z1 offers and a whole lot more.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db)