[Lonnie Juli]

Carmen,

I have an HDX-SDI that I am using with a Sony VAIO i5 Notebook and Premiere CS5 under Windows 7 64 bit.

The box works really well as long as you meet the system requirements. It needs Premier to record. There is no stand alone capture without the Adobe program. It does everything MOTU says it does.

I called MOTU tech support for some help and they were fantastic. I would certainly recommend the HDX-SDI and MOTU in general.

Good Luck,

Lonnie

Lonnie Juli
Brooklyn, NY

[Lonnie Juli]

The internal processing in the 100 and 200 series cameras is different. If you like the 100, you’ll love the 200.

Lonnie

Lonnie Juli
Brooklyn, NY

[Lonnie Juli]

Michael,

I really like my HD200B. It’s not perfect but it does all sorts of things well.

I have the 17×5, not the stock 16×5.5. These fujinon video lenses are constant aperture. Wide open at the zoom limit yields very shallow depth of field.

The lenses can be hard to find for rental and are pretty pricey to buy. A good auxillary lens may be a better option.

The bayonet is not the same as your still lenses. There are mechanical adapters that allow still lenses (Nikon and Canon) to mount but be aware that a 50mm lens is not wide angle on a 1/3″ chip. It’s roughly the equvalent of a 350mm lens on a 35mm still camera.

The flip function is for use with DOF adapters like Brevis, Letus and Redrock Micro. It allows you to use 35mm lenses for “real” 35mm depth of field. The flip function negates the need for a prism or flip module. Take a look here for my setup: https://www.cinevate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3054

You can use the HD component outputs for 4:2:0 uncompressed video. A component (analog) to HD SDI converter is pretty useful.

I use Anton Bauer Dionic 90 batteries. With a firestore and tape I get about 3 – 3.5 hours per charge. The Trimpac sold in the JVC kit will give about half that capacity.

The earpiece comes off but it makes a dandy place to lean your cheek when you lower it. The camera has two headphone jacks to make things easier.

The audio meter and just about everything else are available in the EVF and on the LCD. Both the EVF and the LCD are pretty good but remember that the entire camera costs less than some pro viewfinders. Realistic expectations, please!

The audio input controls are just behind the lens on the left side and are easy to reach. There are also auto settings for each channel when you are really stuck.

There are two mic sensitivity settings and there seems to be plenty of gain in the preamps.

People who don’t spend too much time on line can actually find others like themselves and make babies.

Stuck pixels are common to all these types of cameras, no matter who makes them. JVC provides pixel masking as part of the camera’s service menu and publishes the instructions on how to make the fix.

The HDV tape format omly support 720p. The firewire port (on the “B” model) has an 1080i output that can be recorded on something like a firestore. It’s up-rezzed from the 720 x 1280 imager but it’s really very good.

The 24p has that certain look. Don’t shoot at fast shutter rates (small angles) and it won’t be jumpy. It’s one of those “you either like it or you don’t” things. The 60p looks great and so does the 24p in my opinion.

We’re getting to the end… I hope.

The HD-200B does not have great low light performance. There is 18dB gain available but grain and noise do show up. There are slow shutter tricks that work for slow movements but I just add more light and make believe it’s the good old days.

I’m not an FCP user. The only issue I have with my editor is that the Time Code doesn”t always get through. I still use a hard slate so it’s a minor issue for me.

HDV compression is short-GOP at 6 frames.

The camera handles like a dream and beat some Sony 1400 and 1500 series 2/3″ HD cameras in side by side viewer tests. The 200B has no Time Code or genlock in and out or built in SDI like the 250 but the 250 can’t do 1080i via firewire. The HD-200B is for field aquisition and the 250 is more for a studio environment.

There is even an adapter that allows Sony SxS cards to be used with the 200B.

I record in 720p to tape and firestore and use the tape as archive/backup only. The firestore is dumped to my editing system and I am ready to go. The firestore made for this camera records HD as FCP .mov files for Apple folks and as .M2T for the rest of us.

As long as low light sensitivity isn’t your highest priority, I would recommend the camera highly and I would recommend Lisa Gualtieri at EC Professional Video in NYC as a dealer. They have been great!

Whatever camera you decide on it will be the person using it that makes the most difference.

Good luck,

Lonnie

Lonnie Juli
Brooklyn, NY

[Lonnie Juli]

Or maybe it’s just your capture settings.

Unless the zoom is sticking (and you’d see that in the viefinder) this sounds more like a capture or playback issue. You may want to manually zoom the lens while looking through the viewfinder to see if there are any problems with the elements shifting due to mechanical issues. Try this with the camera in different orientations to be sure that gravity isn’t a factor.

How are you capturing the video and how are you playing it back? If the GOP is long or the keyframe distance is too big you may be seeing “jumps.” Also, it is possible to zoom too quickly for your frame rate just as it’s possible to pan too quickly.

I would also check the shutter again by engaging and disengaging the shutter. My 200B once told me the shutter was off when it was actually set to 1/2000 second. I’ll never get those three minutes of my life back.

Cookes are lovely lenses but that wouldn’t really be a practical solution to your current problem. Lenses do fail and require repair but I always assume that the operator (me) screwed up until I have checked all the options.

Good luck,

Lonnie