Sony will soon release 3CCD HD camera for under $5,000!

This page has a picture. This is going to be freakin awesome!

Sony HDV Picture


And official press release...

http://www.sony-europe.com/PageView.do?site=odw_en_EU&page=PressReleaseDetail&section=en_EU_Press&pressrelease=1079021485605

 

That centered viewfinder will be a pain. Otherwise, good show.


EDIT: "This is the biggest news in the camcorder industry since MiniDV came out. No one will question Sony's dominance in the camcorder industry, and their announcement of a 3 CCD HD camcorder for the prosumer market will certainly shift industry dynamics."

My. Ass. How much you think she got paid to say that?

EDIT 2: Wow, cool idea for the screen, though. Still wouldn't use it, but it prolly looks really pro.

 

Cool!
Now I have something to look forward to using with the Media Studio Pro HDV plugin someday.
For now it's just back to the (suddenly little) GL2.

Have fun.

 

It looks nice, but I'll be waiting for the XL2--there's supposed to be an announcement within the next month. Also, I don't want any of that fake HD junk. It does some kind of weird compression to get to 720i on miniDV.


I'm not sure what the exact amount is, but actual HD has too much data per second to be recorded to an average 7200RPM hard drive.

I'd be fine with a digital betacam.

 

Am I missing something or is this camcorder going to compress in MPEG2 ?

That new placement of the LCD screen reminds me of video assists, nice touch.

 

Yes, it's MPEG 2. But at a high bitrate. So I wonder how well it will key green/bluescreen.

Zap, can you guess as to how well it will key? You're technical savvy and all that stuff.

 

The real reason I, and lots of other people, weren't too interested in that JVC that came out a while ago is because of the compression used to get the data to fit on a MiniDV tape. This one looks to be doing the same thing, but I'd be interested to know if, and by how much better it's handling this task.

 

Veeeerrrrry interesting.

 

Honestly, what can we expect? What they're saying is that they're magically able to cram 720 lines of resolution onto a format that only supports 500.

Now, if they came out with a new miniHD, or something to that effect...

 

Well, I talked to a couple of guys who use the JVC camera, and they were able to get decent greenscreen keys. And that camera only has 1CCD. This one has 3CCDs.

Also Ryan, MPEG2 compression in this camera is 3 times higher than a DVD, and has a more efficent architecture, so I don't think you will notice any artifacts while just playing back standard footage. Also, Adobe will be supporting the format soon, so After Effects and Premiere should support it. The camera records in 4:2:0, so I don't see how it can be any worse than 4:1:1.

My only concern is keying. However, if it turns out that it can key well, then I just might talk to my professor about getting this thing.

 

I really hope this is better then the JVC-HD1. I saw some footage from it and it sucked. First, it totally lacked color. Secondly, it was very artifact ridden. I have gotten better results with a 1CCD 1/4" 480i camcorder.

 

It may be a higher resoulution camera, but in the end its still just higher resolution video. My aesthetic tastes demand the look of film, which is what I usually shoot on. If I have to shoot on DV, Pansonic's AG-DVX100 (the DVX100A was just released) is more my style. HD shoots in progressive, not interlaced, and Panasonic's 24P shoots progressive, which has more to do with how the footage moves and looks than resolution. Ultimately I need to see some footage, but quite frankly I'm not too excited about it. Same goes for Canon.

-Laker

 

I knew last year that Ulead was working on HDV support, and seriously considered the JVC when I was camera shopping in November and December.
I mainly avoided the JVC was due to the single CCD and just plane bleeding edge that it was on. I really want to see what other companies will be doing in the next few years.

Now that the software support has been released, it's cool to finally hear about new cameras coming out. I'm happy with the decision to "punt" and just get the GL2 for now and save up for when HDV has more hardware choices available.

I would suspect that keying has the potential to be at least as good, if not better than DV. DV compresses all frames the same way, regardless of content, where as the HDV codec can selectively compress. Should be pretty easy to compress a frame that's got a lot of non-moving blue in it, right?? We'll probably just have to wait and see what happens when these cameras are out in the hands of people ready to push their limits.

Long story short, these cameras are definitely going to be worth keeping an eye on.

Have fun.

 

That is pretty interesting. I have the DVX100 and am quite pleased with it after having spent much time considering between it, an XL1, or JVC's HD camera. I decided against the JVC because of the single chip and too many users who seemed just 'okay' with its results. No to the XL1 was largely because it's aging technology (also in hopes of the XL2 having come out before I'd had to make a decision ) and went with the DVX because of the 24p (which, with minor tweaking through DVFilmMaker and some added contrast and color balance, looks amazing, in my opinion).

It is nice to see Sony taking a new step. The VX2100 was a half step, in my opinion, as it wasn't anything entirely new. Of course for us filmmakers this new camera may or may not be what we'd like... after seeing 24p footage I can't imagine doing anything else but it'd be great for Sony to get a bigger foot back in the Prosumer market for indy filmmakers.

~DK~

 

lol wow Dezion-Karr I'm in that exact same situation right now.... was gonna go with xl1s, but was hoping the xl2 would come out in a month or so (yah right) Now I'm really considering a DVX100, because of the good comments I've read from DVX100 owners. Think taht's a good idea still? I've heard if you "mess" with it enough you can get some awsome results? Thanks for any help.

Now to add something relating to the actually discussion. For some reason I'm weary of these HD cameras... I have a feeling that their being pushed out of the door before their ready, is that just me (not the mention the fact that I don't have enough money for one) or does anyone else feel the same?


*EDIT* btw, does anyone think its a bad Idea to buy a new camera like the DVX100, if "Sony, JVC, Canon and Sharp all agreed to produce camcorders under a new standard called HDV" or is that too far away to worry about and I should go ahead and get a DVX100 or Xl1s?

 

Here's another article

I guess the decision to buy now or wait depends on what you've got now. If you've got a good prosumer or better camera already, it might be worth waiting and watching for a little while.

If you don't currently have a more than a single CCD consumer cam ... well, personally, I decided to go ahead and get at least <i>something</i> to work with. I'll be content with the GL2 for a couple years and just rent high-er end gear if I ever really need it until more manufactures have gotten products into people's hands and we can start reading how these things all perform in the "real" world.

Have fun.

 

Skepticism,on my part,due to the (apparent) fact that this new Sony is MPEG-2 just like the JVC.And the fact that it is 3 CCD,as opposed to JVC's 1 CCD probably isn't going to help matters much, nor will 30p because Sony already has the VX2100 out which has both of those features.And 30p is just so yesterday as the advent of the DVX100 has proved to more than a few indie filmmakers.
On the flip side,Panasonic really doesn't feel the need to jump into HDV waters just yet-not with so many sharks still swimming in there.If Panasonic does go in that direction,in all likelihood,they will seriously rock the boat(again) by introducing a combi 24p/HDV camera.In addition,they will most likely start the end of tape hassles by having either large capacity flash cards or a hard disk recorder as part of the cameras architecture,thereby rendering mute the problems of MPEG-2 comp.

I really wouldn't get all puffed up about this HDV cam just yet,if ever.

 

I think that it's awesome that a camera like this is coming out: It's in the right direction and puts us one step closer to mainstream (afordable) HD cameras.

I won't be getting one though: Empty pggie bank.

[image=http://www.stanthiele.com/music/images/piggy-bank.jpg]

 

Um, am I the only one that misses out on the point? What the heck is 3CCDs and why is it so good???

-KNick

 

I think you are the only one that misses out on the point.

 

Wow, thanks, that really helps.

-KNick

 

3CCDs helps provide better color information. 1 CCD systems use grids of RGB pixels and interpolate color.

MPEG2 compression in this camera is 3 times higher than a DVD

Pixel: Do you mean the data rate is 3 times higher than a DVD? I'm not sure how much better that is... HD signals have approximately 4x the number of pixels, thus the bitrate per pixel is actually lower than the best DVDs can offer... and I've seen enough MPEG-2 compression artifacts to be disillusioned with the CODEC. Why aren't they switching to MPEG-4 yet? Blimey... pseudo progress if you ask me.

-Spiff

 

Wow, cool. That camera looks ****in' kick-@$$ anyways.

-KNick

 

I think that I'll wait for the XL-2, or if I grow extremely impatient, I'll get the Panasonic. Right now I have the VX2000, and it supplies enough quality for now, but for the paying gigs I want something new.

 

Honestly, what can we expect? What they're saying is that they're magically able to cram 720 lines of resolution onto a format that only supports 500.

We've been over this before.

DV is a *dumb* compression. By design, so "dumb" it could be implemented in realtime cheaply on-chip in a consumer camcorder of 1995 chip design complexity and processing speed.

The DV data stream (i.e. raw bitcount-to-tape) is 25 MEGABIT. That is HUGE. The best DVD you ever owned topped 9 megabit and that is only in bursts, 6 megabit is the max sustained bitrate allowed on a DVD going "by the spec".

Now a good mpeg2 compressor, in hardware, getting a whooping 25 MEGABIT to compress to? NO PROBLEM!

And even mpeg2 is a DUMB compression by todays standard.

Can you imagine what a 25 megabit WMV file would look like? The mind completely boggles.

So trust me, the tape drives are not the problem. On the contrary, re-using this is a GREAT idea since it will make the camera more cost-efficient (and backwards compatible modes will exis too!)

/Z