[Steven Bradford]

We’ve had this camera for about a month. It really is impressive, even if you’re final output isn’t HD. The downconverted image is truly spectacular for a camera at this price point. It’s not as good as our Cinealta HDCam, but as Adam Wilt recently wrote, all these new little HD cameras are far more than half the camera at far less than half the cost.

The lens is a sticky issue. I also tested the older 16x manual over the weekend (reported on that over in the HDV forum) and if anything, that lens is better than this new lens.

I’d buy from a local dealer, since everyone is giving pretty much the same price, and my experience is that local dealers have no trouble matching mail order. This is probably the only way to get the camera without the 20x lens. I’ve been informed by my dealer that it is possible after all, but it’s not something that’s going to appear in the normal catalog listing for awhile. But you don’t have to wait for the HD manual zoom, you can use the existing lens now. You’ll lose still frame capability is all. (The new camera depends on the lens having a mechanical shutter for stills work).

We’ll be ordering the Body only from now on.

Steven Bradford
Collins College
Tempe Arizona

[Steven Bradford]

Actually I’m more amazed by the fact that HD edit systems cost as little as scopes.

But anyways, you might want to check out the new LCD 17″ monitors from Panasonic, which I believe have built in Scopes, and are under $3500.

https://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=94264&catGroupId=14625&modelNo=BT-LH1700W&surfModel=BT-LH1700W

Steven Bradford

[Steven Bradford]

How about less than $40?

Here’s one– It says the platform is universal– seems cheap enough to try, and if it doesn’t work, you could return it, since it’s from a mac supplier, and they claim it’s universal platform.

https://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail.asp?dpno=520452

If you don’t want to have to stick the card in the back of the machine, I suppose you could get a Magma PCI Slot expander.

Steven Bradford

[Steven Bradford]

Here’s one– It says the platform is universal– seems cheap enough to try, and if it doesn’t work, you could return it, since it’s from a mac supplier, and they claim it’s universal platform.

https://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail.asp?dpno=520452

[Steven Bradford]

Glad to hear that. It’s been a long wait.

Steven Bradford

[Steven Bradford]

Well, for one, it leaves capturing HD material direct from a FW800 equipped camera or deck completely out of the picture. While you could have a SATA accessory card for your HD RAID, You’d also need a FW800 card for your DVCPro HD camera.

Steven Bradford

[Steven Bradford]

And it’s going to be difficult to add a FW800 port, as it doesn’t use PCMIA cards, but the new PCI express 34 cards. Has anyone even been able to find any cards available in this new standard?

Steven Bradford