Originally Posted by Alister Chapman (Post 1812123)

To move to 4K required a new codec for Sony. Mpeg2 can't do 4K, H264 didn't have a standard 4K profile until very recently. So Sony needed to come up with a new codec which they did in XAVC. XAVC has a large degree of future proofing. It can do almost any frame rate, it can be I frame or long GoP, it can adjust it's encoding structure on a frame by frame basis and include that information about how the frame was encoded in the metadata so the decoder adjusts correspondingly.

But 4K requires you to record 4x as much data as HD for a similar quality image. The bigger you make an image when you show it, the more important it is to keep artefacts to a minimum. As 4K is aimed at big screens, artefacts that might have been tolerable in HD may be objectionable on a big 4K screen. So, if you want to play in the 4K swimming pool your going to have to be prepared to drown in the 4K data. To put things into some perspective, when the EX1 was launched an 8GB SxS card cost $800 and held 22 mins. A 64GB T series XQD card costs $350 and will hold up to 25mins of 4K 25/30P XAVC (approx 250Mb/s - 300Mb/s).

Originally Posted by Ron Evans (Post 1812163)

At least for the FDR-AX1 that I am interested in is now on the Canada Sony site . There is however a lens spec difference I have seen repeated before though this time it is in the same document !!!! The features info states lens as 31.5 to 630, the spec section says 29.5 to 590 (this is the spec for the NX5U ) !!

Cannot find any info for the PXW-Z100 on the site yet.

Ron Evans

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman (Post 1812123)

To move to 4K required a new codec for Sony. Mpeg2 can't do 4K, H264 didn't have a standard 4K profile until very recently. So Sony needed to come up with a new codec which they did in XAVC. XAVC has a large degree of future proofing. It can do almost any frame rate, it can be I frame or long GoP, it can adjust it's encoding structure on a frame by frame basis and include that information about how the frame was encoded in the metadata so the decoder adjusts correspondingly.

But 4K requires you to record 4x as much data as HD for a similar quality image. The bigger you make an image when you show it, the more important it is to keep artefacts to a minimum. As 4K is aimed at big screens, artefacts that might have been tolerable in HD may be objectionable on a big 4K screen. So, if you want to play in the 4K swimming pool your going to have to be prepared to drown in the 4K data. To put things into some perspective, when the EX1 was launched an 8GB SxS card cost $800 and held 22 mins. A 64GB T series XQD card costs $350 and will hold up to 25mins of 4K 25/30P XAVC (approx 250Mb/s - 300Mb/s).

Originally Posted by James Hobert (Post 1812180)

Any idea if when this camera gets the XAVC-S update, will it record 1080p60 (50Mbps I think I read somewhere) at 4:2:2 10bit? Or will it drop it down to 4:2:0 8bit?

Originally Posted by Rajiv Attingal (Post 1812194)

New low cost N Series cards are coming. Check the link below

Sony Updates XQD Cards for 4K Video Capture Speeds

Rajiv

Originally Posted by Glen Vandermolen (Post 1812224)

According to the article, the N cards are only good for the "consumer" FDR-AX1.
But if you update the Z100 with the lower bit rate codec offered next year, perhaps they can be used?

Originally Posted by Matt Davis (Post 1812225)

There's 3 types of XQD card: N, H and S (Normal, High and Superhigh?)

The N series write at 80 Mbits per second, read at 125 Mbits per second. The H series read and write at 125 Mbits per second, and the S reads and writes at 168 Mbits per second.

So, yes, XAVC-S on the N cards, XAVC on the S cards (and I'm sure there will be others over time).

Originally Posted by Matt Davis (Post 1812255)

Hmm, there is such a thing as 'too much' caffeine.

Originally Posted by Matt Davis (Post 1812225)

There's 3 types of XQD card: N, H and S (Normal, High and Superhigh?)

The N series write at 80 Mbits per second, read at 125 Mbits per second. The H series read and write at 125 Mbits per second, and the S reads and writes at 168 Mbits per second.

So, yes, XAVC-S on the N cards, XAVC on the S cards (and I'm sure there will be others over time).