No one is saying "what" will be different. I suggest two capabilities. You have suggested a third.

Moreover, I opened two possibilities:

1) Less SDHC functionality -- which you have confirmed is what currently exists on the EX1/EX3.

AND/OR

2) The desire by a shooter to have recordings made on SxS simply because they feed into a well understood XDCAM EX workflow. It may be that even if quality and functionality are equal, some will spend the money to have "XDCAM EX SxS" recordings.

I'm only asking questions that we need answers to because they go directly to the issue of workflows.

As a freelancer in addition to owning and operating my own video production "house", this is an important ability. Rather than trying to explain to clients what I can record to SDHC cards, I can offer them an industry standard format that they understand. Keep in mind that there is an XDCam EX "VTR" (DDR?) that outputs VIDEO, not just a file. For my broadcast clients, this is a field leveler.

Thats all I needed to know. Mayonnaise jar I keep under my bed, prepare to hold part of my pay check for the next few months.

I agree -- the ability to deliver a format that has wide acceptance ON media that's well understood is certainly worth $1000. No hassles about "HDV" or "ProHD." Just say SxS.

And, no issues of Sony vs JVC either. :)

For other's of us -- there is no need to spend the money because all we want is high-quality footage at the lowest possible cost. In fact, for those of us that have been using other SDHC camcorders we are used to working with "clip-based" timecode.

Which brings us back to the "old" days:
When you showed up with a Sony BVW507 dockable head, no one looked to see if your dockable recorder was Sony or Ampex. You said Betacam, they got Betacam, they edited Betacam. Unlike VHS-C: "well, it's VHS tape, but in a smaller case. You'll need an adaptor to play it... oh, and you can only get 40 minutes on it. Did I mention you need an adaptor? Actually, no, I don't have one you can borrow. I actually don't need it for my workflow and I'm not sure where to get one or which brand to suggest".

While I certainly haven't made an exhaustive study, all the Ampex Beta equipment I've seen just had the Sony label pried off and Ampex written in in crayon. Well, maybe not but it was clearly a Sony product.

Really? The Ampex stuff I'm used to seeing extended a good 2 inches over top of the body, whereas the Sony branded stuff was nice and sleek, because THAT makes a difference in image quality... <laughs>

I'd be interested to know if you get a DEFINITIVE answer on the Ampex branded stuff...

Still not definitive but, from wikipedia...
"Ampex, Thomson SA and Philips each sold rebranded OEM versions of some of the Sony VTRs and Camcorders at various times in the 1980s and 1990s. Other than nameplates, these models were identical to the Sony models."

But yes, JVC cameras were largely compatible with Sony decks--though I think they needed an adapter--JVC decks slapped right on without. Same with Ikegami, I believe.

Has anyone had a play with this camera yet?

Yes. See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1010873-post140.html earlier in this thread.

We'll put up a review shortly.

Ampex vs Sony Betacam
 

Andy is definitely right. It's just re-badged.

We have an Ampex CVR22 standing around, but the operating manual says "Sony BVW 22P"

And our BVW 75P has a manual saying "Ampex CVR75"


Looking forward to the review of the JVC 700 !

The HM700 looks to be causing quite a stir.

I have not seen anyone on this thread mention anything about importing to Premiere on a windows based NLE. Does anyone have any input on this?

The JVC press release and other forums I have read online refer to using Apple and FCP. One article even started "One must be married to FCP...to use the HM700"

Did JVC alienate us non apple people?

The two extensions available are .MP4 and .MOV. These of course are just containers for the XDCAM EX codec which is the only codec the HM700 records in. You can write XDCAM EX in the .MOV container to SDHC cards on a out-of-the-box HM700. If you want to write .MP4 you will need to add the KA-MR100 SxS module that unlocks the ability to record .MP4 to SDHC or SxS.

It isn't really native to FCP since you can download the free open-source Perian XDCAM EX codec for Quicktime and play these files on any mac. For Windows Vista or XP you can use XD Decode codec for Quicktime to work with XDCAM EX .MOV files. I still have to test this myself but the EX1/3 camp seems to give this software a thumbs up.
BTW the "MXF" indication on the engineering sample of the HM100 will likely change since the recorded container was still MP4.
XDCAM EX is used no matter what the bitrate. However the firewire port on the camera will output a HDV stream if you are using 19Mbps for 720p or 25Mbps for 1080i.

xml files are also included for each .MOV clip that contains all of the meta data including timecode. Presumably you can just import these xml files and relink them to the converted media.
XDCAM EX aside, Sony's EX series doesn't really have any ergonomic similarities to the HM700 or the lens selection, but they do use 1/2" chips instead of 1/3". There are pros and cons to everything. JVC representatives will chime in when Chris or I send an email request for clarification but they don't sit around all day watching our forum!

JVC licensed XDCAM EX from Sony which uses the MP4 container. XDCAM HD uses MXF. I'm sure there is an easy way to move from one container to another, I just don't know specifically. Avid MC3 does support XDCAM EX as does Premiere Pro CS4.

It certainly is confusing but the benefit of Sony's success with the EX series cameras is that it is in the NLE manufacturers' best interest to support XDCAM EX.

It should be around 2 hours on a 32GB SDHC card using 35Mbps. It is a Variable Bit Rate codec so that time may extend if the material is "simple."
It would be reasonable to think that because there are no technical limitations. It seems to me that this is simply a condition of JVC's XDCAM EX licensing agreement with Sony (who also just happen to manufacture and sell SxS media.)

Occam's Razor at work! That would seem to be the most logical explanation.
I think you've discovered a typo in the spec page. The 1440x1080 spec is there to provide backwards compatibility with HDV (via firewire.) I don't think it is officially part of the XDCAM EX spec so that is why it is Quicktime only.

And so will the HM100/700.

Not ProRes. XDCAM EX codec is used whether the SxS adapter is attached or not.

Exactly.

We're not laid back about our press coverage. In fact I can guarantee no other publication will have as in-depth coverage of the HM700 as we will or asks the questions we do. Unfortunately analyzing footage, making sense of our many photos of the internal menus, testing the formats across platforms, waiting for technical confirmation from JVC and writing an in-depth review spanning 5 pages (without the photos) takes a few days. Chris is in the process of formatting my article for the website, inserting movie files and pics and uploading. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

I've been told that the CCDs are once again 1280x720 but the red channel is offset horizontally and the blue channel is offset vertically allowing more than 900 TV lines of resolution (full 1080P.) We'll have source footage available shortly.

The HM700 will downconvert to DV NTSC or PAL via firewire (something the JVC HDXXX cameras are not capable of doing.)
Keep hoping. 1/3" is well established with JVC and Mpeg2 isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
The HM700 (and HM100) have full control over the TC generator. You can preset the TC and record in FREE RUN, REC RUN or REGEN just like a tape based system. The other neat thing about the HM700 is that you can record in Continuous Clip mode which will append each new clip to the last giving you one big clip at the end of the day (split in 4GB chunks for Fat32.)

Not at all. That is simply confusion based on JVC's press materials that tend to "beat around the bush" with regards to the format.
It's been discussed quite a bit already in this thread but here are the basics again (just so everyone gets it.)

The codec used with the HM700 is XDCAM EX at bit rates up to 35Mbps.
The wrapper/container used on a new "out-of-the-box" HM700 is Quicktime .MOV and it can be written to SDHC cards.
The addition of the KA-MR100 SxS module will allow the ability to write XDCAM EX to SxS cards in the MP4 container, but will also unlock the ability to write XDCAM EX to SDHC cards in the MP4 container.

Premiere Pro CS4 natively supports XDCAM EX MP4 files. I downloaded the trial and imported them easily. It seems that XD Decode will allow you to import XDCAM EX .MOV files on a PC but I am in the process of testing this.

On the Mac you don't even really need FCP installed if you download and install the open-source XDCAM EX codec. This even works with Sony's XDCAM Transfer software.

is the HD SDI output 10bit 4:2:2 or still 8bit?