My New HM150u
 

I just picked up a new HM150U and Samys DV & Edit in Los Angeles tonight.

I really liked my HM100, but so far I love the 150. All the little things I wished for are now fixed, like
Zoom speeds, display markers, interval recording, remote control, Iris wheel, more user buttons!

I will do some video tests tonight and tomorrow with the HM100 and the HM150 and report back.

Background: I like a cleaner, noise free image rather than a ultra sharpened image.
On my HM100, in 720p mode I use detail -6. In 1080i I use detail -4. If you look very closely at the images you will see slight noise around the edges of things.

I hooked up the HM150 to my 50" plasma TV via HDMI. I did this alot wiht my HM100 to see how the settings affected the picture quality.

WOW! On the HM150, at 0 or "normal" the image has much less noise that the old -6 or -4 settings. I am not seeing any of the "mosquito" noise I used to. The image as much less "shimmering" (edge enhancement artifacts). Much smoother looking image.

Also, the detail settings are more subtle on the HM150. -10 to +10 change the picture, but not nearly as much as before on the HM100.

So far so good!

Re: My New HM150u
 

Hi Andy, just a few quick questions regarding the new HM150, how smooth is the iris dial when adjusting the iris (i.e. can you see any noticable shifts in the picture) and how smooth is the zoom rocker (any shifts in speed?)

Furthermore, how does the low light footage compare to the HM100?

Cheers,
Mark

Re: My New HM150u
 

The iris dial is a little touchy. You have to roll it slowly or you can go from F2.8 to F8 quickly.
I can now adjust it better, but I still tend to close the iris too much.
As you turn the dial, the Iris goes from 2.0 to 2.5 to 2.8 to 3.2 etc. in steps and you see the image change as you move the dial.

Low light is the same brightness, but it seems there is a little less noise.

A few bumps in the road
 

Update on the detail settings. Today I did some more tests. The image is a little cleaner, but not a whole lot..

The new fold out screen is differnt. So far, I don't think it is as good. The fonts are much smaller and hard to read. On the other hand, can see lots more menu choices and more info.

The color on the screen shifts a great deal based on the angle you view the screen. Very difficult to judge exposure or color.

5600k default setting: I think there is something wrong with this unit. When I select the 5600k setting, everthing looks very green, espically compared to my HM100. This is with both Kino Flo lights and daylight! Manual white balance works fine.

First Frame Grabs
 

Here is a frame grab. Quick and dirty shot during afternoon, in my kitchen.

HM100 1080 30p -3 Detail
HM150 1080 30p -0 Detail

Note less noise on HM150. I have the color, gama etc at standard on both Cameras.

Re: My New HM150u
 

Looks like there's also less contrast with the 150 which is quite evident when comparing the Titans fridge magnet in Andy's frame comparison.

Re: My New HM150u
 

Thank you guys for sharing your first feelings... Very useful to me. I sell my gy hm 100 and I must buy friday at last a XF 100 or HM 150... Any advice? Take care

HM150u and XF100
 

I had the same decision: XF100 or HM150 I spent the last to months researching.

I do lots of sports, action shots (in boats, cars, dune buggies etd) and shoot 720 60p almost all the time. The HM100 is a REALLY good 720p camera, an OK 1080i camera. Now the HM150 is subtlely better at both 720 and 1080. The HM150 has less noise, flatter image that can be tweked as you like.
Plus the new manual buttons and controls are great.

The CCD's made the final decision. I rarely get to set up a shot on a tripod, and shoot mellow scenes.
This is the last CCD Prosumer camera (around $3000) left. I really do not like rolling shutter skew or jello-cam

If you like sharper images, and don't do a lot of action, then the XF may be the thing for you.
There is a good review/test of the XF100 at Slashcam.com
Look closely at the 1200lux image. XF is sharp, but a bit noisy. XF in low light is not that great either.
XF100 4:2:2 50 mbit is great, especially if you will be color grading your footage a lot. I just do basic color correction

Re: My New HM150u
 

If somebody has both the HM100 and HM150, could they take some photos of them side by side please?

Pictures of the camera
 

If you want a picture of the camera, go to the JVC pro site. There are many Pictures of the camera.

If you want samples of video shot with the HM150, I posted one simple screen grab so far in a previous post.

Re: My New HM150u
 

As I said I'd like to see a comparison pic thanks.

Re: HM150u and XF100
 

Hi Andy!

This is my first post in the DVInfo forums.

I just returned a Sony NX70U for many reasons (I will post a new thread with all the gory details). I am now torn between the Canon XF100 and the JVC HM150. I'm leaning toward the JVC because I just can't afford the CF media, and I don't like MPEG-2, even with the 4:2:2 space.

I have a question that is prompted by the NX70's horrible chromatic aberration on the edges of the frame at full zoom. Lens quality is the most important factor! Could you please be so kind as to post a frame-grab of a high-contrast scene shot at full zoom with the HM150?

Here are samples of the problem on the NX70U. Perhaps you could approximate the shooting conditions - bright daylight of a sporting event, and night-time city lights in the distance.

Index of /temp1

Thanks!

Steve

Full Zoom CA
 

I looked at your samples. I see it clearly.

See the attached example with the HM150, there is some CA at full zoom on the left side. (click on the image for full resolutiion)

Any camera in this price range, heck even on cameras that cost $6-$7k like the sony EX1r, Panasonic HPX371, will have CA. The HPX has special circuitry that minimizes CA with special lenses, but there is always somce CA.

If you get a XF100 let us know and post some samples.

Thanks.

Re: My New HM150u
 

Wow, thanks Andy, that was fast!

Yes, I see the CA in your shot, pretty much as bad as the NX70. Arrgh.

I read about the HPX anti-CA circuitry, impressive. But, I would think this is more a function of the optics. I've been an amateur astronomer for 45 years, and I know that proper coatings and lens element design can pretty much eliminate edge CA. But yes, one pays more for such optics.

What I don't understand it WHY Sony was able to produce the HDR-CX550V in 2010, with far less CA than the successors (the CX700V has the same optics and "engine" as the NX70.)

Ripping my hair out in big-fisted chunks of purchase indecision.

I have another question, if you could be so kind.

Sony cams ship with a utility called the Sony Picture Motion Browser, which is used to transfer the contents of the recordings to one's computer, as well as extract frame-grabs, trip clips, and view videos.

I just looked at the raw contents of an SDHC card that I used for a medium length shoot where I recorded continuously for about 45 minutes. When PMB imported the recording, it created a 3.66 GB file on my computer (Windows 7) named 20110317173355.m2ts. (note the nice naming format of yyyymmddhhmmss ). That imported, assembled file was built from from two raw files, 00264.MTS and 00265.MTS, located on the SDHC card in G:\PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM . 00264.MTS was created on the card on Thursday, March 17, 2011, 5:33:55 PM

The Sony camera can't save a clip file on the card that is bigger than 2 GB, which is the limit of the FAT file system that is used by SDHC cards. So, during long recordings, the camera is forced to create a succession of 2 GB files. All those files together comprise the entire recording, from the time you press the record button until the time you stop.

When editing the full recording, it would be problematic to have to drop multiple, separate files into the timeline just to assemble the full recording. There also might be problems with the transition from one 2GB subclip to the next. This is why the Sony PMB has the smarts to merge all those 2 GB subclips together into a single, large file. That file, once it lands on the computer, can be played with any player, not just in the Sony PMB - for example, VLC plays them fine. The single, large file can also be dropped into an editor such as Vegas. It can be moved and copied at will without worrying about the smaller, raw files that were used to create it.

So, my question is: does the JVC come with a utility that has the ability to stitch together all the 2 GB "raw" files on the SD cards into a single file on the computer, where that single file can be moved, copied or viewed? I don't mean just a way to see the assembled sub-clips in a viewer, I mean does the utility actually create a single, large, merged file that will persist even when the viewer/utility is not running?

Thanks!

steve

Clip Utility
 

I think is JVC supplies one, but not sure. I never use it or tried it.

I use Premiere Pro CS5 and it "joins" the clips virtually so they apprear as one.

I know there are free utilities on the net that will join the clips.

Hope this helps.