[Peter Ward]

I own an HD110–I like the JVC cameras just fine. But I don’t think they are the best choice where one needs to be shooting a lot of motion (which I presume is the case when choosing to shoot 60p). Even in HD 30p my 110 is prone to ‘breaking’. I can only imagine it gets much worse shooting HD 60p since this is a constant bitrate codec. (In my opinion you are better off with an unbroken SD image than an HD image that noticeably broken–at any rate in either case resolution is being effectively lowered.) Contra the ProHD 200’s, the EX1 is variable bitrate and the in case of the HVX there’s no interframe compression to begin with so breaking is never an issue. This isn’t a question of numbers, its a fundamental technical limitation of the design of this particular codec and recording system (E.g. AVCHD performs almost as well as HDV at half the bitrate).

Peter

JVC HD110U
MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2GHz
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4

[Peter Ward]

Hi Tim,

In HDV mode ‘PAL’ is no big deal and you don’t even need a PAL camera–just shoot in 25/50p and use the appropriate timeline in your NLE.* In DV mode you’ll need a PAL model, and all of the same implications apply as would with any miniDV camera. I would advise against mixing 25/50p material with 30/60p material, however, as the framerate conversion can sometimes produces weird effects.

*One caveat: shooting 25 or 50 fps (in any formant including film) in a country such as the US were the mains power (AC) is 60 cycle can result in lights appearing to flicker–you’ll have to adjust the shutter speed to eliminate this; in general, reducing the shutter speed should solve the problem. Of course, you’ll be able to see this in the viewfinder.

Best,

Peter

JVC HD110U
MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2GHz
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4

[Peter Ward]

Hi,

I’m not sure how the HVX200 arrives a 720p60, but I suspect is superior to the way it’s done on the HD200. Apparently the JVC runs the tape at the same speed regardless of whether you’re shooting at 30p or 60p. This means shooting at 60p you’ll only get half the information per frame than at 30p. I.e., because of the higher compression applied, you’re not much better off shooting 60p in HD on the 200 than you are shooting 60p SD on an HD110. Because the HVX200 does not use tape it can, in theory, increase the bitrate while shooting giving the camera true a ‘overcrank’ function. At any rate, this is the case on the Sony EX1.

Best,

Peter

JVC HD110U

[Peter Ward]

Hi Paul,

Of cameras in the the HD7 price range, I would take the Canon HV20/HV30 over the JVC or any other alternatives. The HD7’s low light performance is abysmal, its image is noisy, color come out very artificial and the TOD files can be a nightmare to bring in to an NLE. The only advantages of the JVC, apart from looks, are having a proper focus ring and focus assist. Otherwise, there is little to recommend the camera. And the Canon has headphone out, a miracle on consumer camcorders these days!

If you do still choose the camera, or any other lacking a headphone jack, there is a workaround:

a stereo level meter to amplify the signal*

and

an RCA to mini adaptor to connect the RCA audio out cables from the camera to the level meter**

Otherwise you can connect headphones directly to the RCA line out, but chance are the levels will be too low to be useful.

Best,

Peter

In case my HTML doesn’t work, here are B&H SKU’s for the parts you’ll need:

*SIVU150
**HOYCSMM2RF

Just go to bhphotovideo.com and enter the SKU’s in the search field.