Canon HV20 + Intensity + 35mm adapter
 

I am sure by now everyone has seen the press release on the HV20. To sum up... full 1920x1080 resolution, 24p mode, and HDMI out. Assuming that the HDMI is outputting uncompressed video if this was coupled with the Blackmagic Intensity board this could make an insane setup (for the price)

I know its tough given that the HV20 isn't out yet, but I am wondering if anyone here has used the Intensity board. On the specs it does not say that it supports 24p, only 720 60p and 1080i. That is also assuming that the HV20 is actually throwing out real 24p, or is it a pulldown hidden within a 1080i signal? My thought is to throw a good 35mm adapter in front of this thing and make a small embedded computer with either 2.5" raid, or flash raid setup along with the Sheervideo codec and you have an uncompressed HD 24p setup.

Your thoughts?

I was very interested in the HV20 writeup. I can almost guarantee it won't need an achromat (at least in our application), can be easily mounted upside down on rails, and if my A1 is any indication, will have great images too. I'll almost certainly be picking one up as a b-cam/tape deck.

I was thinking about it yesterday and honestly it would not be too difficult to mount upside down as you said, but it could also be mounted at a 90 degree angle with a mirror as well and achieve flip-mirror for an optical correction to the adapter! It might look kind of funny, but it would be do-able. My hope is to mount an embedded PC on rails as well and make a full rig, so having the camera sideways would not increase the width of that type of rig too much.

I think it will be quite a killer combo for the price and compact too. Noise in low light will possibly be an issue but not much when scaled down for 720p delivery

T

I'm not sure why you would do this. The image is fully corrected once you turn the camera upside-down.

Wow, you're right, that makes me feel pretty stupid. On the upside, upside down will be much easier than upside down and sideways!

Intensity + 35mm adapter + viewfinder - bang for the buck
 

I've been looking into this too. I think the 35mm adapter will definitely be a good idea. Not so sure about the Intensity - remember that the footage will probably have gone from 1920x1080 -> 1440x1080, then stretched out again to 1920x1080 before it hits the HDMI port, so you will lose that advantage.

For the cost of, say, a SFF PC with storage, you MIGHT better off spending it on lenses for your 35mm adapter.

Of course, if you don't go with the Intensity, that brings up the question of having a higher quality viewfinder / screen... there are 3 ways to go:
1. get a pro HD monitor (overkill, anyone?)
2. use one of those car screens! Eg you can get a 7" transreflective 800x480 (that is, "1.1 million dots" for those counting R,G,B pixels separately ;) monitor for under $700, or if you forsake daylight viewing, $250 or so...
3. use DV Rack on a laptop for focus check (but remember there is a 1 sec delay)

Anyone else thinking the same way? Let's chat about this more and pool knowledge.

By the way, if you're going with Intensity, consider that the beta versions of Cineform support it. Also, you have Blackmagic's high-quality JPEG codec. So those are two higher-than-HD compression options in case you don't want to build a RAID array.