Well actually, that's what the DVinfo forums are all about. Just read through any any of the forums and you find lots of discussion of usability. But the shootout was a chance to go beyond the subjective part and, under Adam's supervision, put each camera through a "torture test" and collect data for later analysis.

I also have to agree... if you're going to spend thousands on a camera then a trip to NYC would really be worth your while. Most people know somebody with a spare couch somewhere within a commuting radius ;-) Or make it a vacation, take the family to a Broadway show! If nothing else, just experiencing B&H is something you must do someday.

If and when I happen to be up that way, I will definately stop in. At this point, it ain't gonna happen. Getting ready to buy a new house, car, equipment, etc., and the cash for a trip isn't there. That is why I'm reading all these posts again and again :)

Pre- or Post-CBS?

That's what kept me from getting the HD-100. Well that and crappy Final Cut support.

Originally.

BUT NOW I'm sitting here with a HVX-200 AND a HD-100. The HVX is going to go - but not because it's horrible. Actually, it produces some very pretty stuff. I think both cameras can "outpicture" the other camera in different instances. In the end it came down to the reality that the JVC feels better in my hands and I like shooting it more. I'm left eye dominant and I could easily move the viewfinder over. I'm much faster at focusing it. My background is more 35mm still cameras. A DVX user might feel the EXACT OPPOSITE. And I hope he buys mine. :-)

Really, it IS like guitars AND cars... as a guitar player myself I know you can sit in the store and play 50 of them and like 2. The next guy over will like 2 also - but not the same 2 you like.

@Kevin
(If you rent the $8K lens for the HD-100 it goes to 11)

Indeed it does. Our charts from the shootout will illustrate.

I'm glad you were there Nate. One thing I learned from my own testing is how easy it is to change a couple settings and really alter picture quality on both cameras.

When I see a shootout like this I now think to myself "do these guys really know each of these cameras well enough to squeeze the best out of them?". Sounds like you guys had good representation for all the cameras.

Nate, I'm with you
 

I think your point is well taken that each person needs to make a decision based on their projects, current equipment etc. etc.. I for one like have solid data and impartial (as far as it can go) impressions of the different products to base my purchase decisions on. There's plenty of marketing hype out there to support the different factions.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everything stacks up and I'm glad that the post workflow is part of the consideration. I was curious though on the fact that the test video appears to be based on the uncompressed live output from the camera rather than off of the recording media of each. While in some cases, that's a great option to have, I can see most of the time, raw video will be ingested via the tape/DVD/card. Am I right about this aspect of the test?

I'll also be interested to see how the NLE companies respond to the different formats, I guess NAB will help tell that story. I'm especially interested to see how Avid works with these cameras. I can see Mike Curtis will have the FCP crowd well covered.

Finally, add my name to the list of people appreciative for the time ande effort the whole team put into this. It's a much needed resource for our whole community.

Jay Lee
Lee Media Group

Hi Jay,

Actually we did BOTH. Adam and I were very keen on looking at the native recordings of each camera so he has the original dumps from the HDV cassettes, P2 cards and XDCAM discs. Mike Curtis handled the uncompressed capture portion. Remember this was a three-way deal between Adam Wilt, DV Info Net and HD For Indies and we structured it so that everyone's goals would be satisfied. You're hearing about the uncompressed stuff because that's what Mike is blogging about on his site, that part of our shootout was his baby. But rest assured that another primary goal was to do this with the native recording media too, and we certainly did that. It's just not part of what Mike is covering. In typical uber-blogger fashion, Mike has proceeded full speed ahead with his own feedback so that's what you're hearing about right now. Adam will be closely examining the native recording media and that will be the primary thrust of his print article coming soon for DV Magazine. Lots of entities involved in this thing, it was as comprehensive as we could make it.

Thanks for your nice comments, they're much appreciated! Hope this helps,

So, did you have a "video villiage", like the DV mag's shootout? That was quite a collection of equipment, and must have felt like being a kid in a candy store.

I think we are probably straying a bit off topic, but definitely pre-CBS... Though some of the new stuff isn't too bad (Custom shop, etc). I

More like 'video city'. And just being in the well equipped Omega Studio facility was like being in a candy store. ;-)

-gb-

Just out of curiosity (and the fact I'm too lazy to look right now!), how did they capture the uncompressed out of the HD100?

That's a Mike Curtis question, I think he covered that on his blog, if I can find the exact entry then I'll post the link here. Have you read through all of his stuff? I linked to most of them in the other Shootout thread in this forum.

Well, I kinda know too because I did all the connecting :-) Mike was the connector oversee-er, I was the connector labor :-)

The HD100 was connected to a Mac G5 with a Kona2 (or 3) card via component and an AJA HD-10A analog to HD-SDI converter.

We had exactly 6x the amount of capture hardware the Burbank test had.