Various questions about Panasonic DVC and DVX
 

http://66.78.26.17/~reli/24P/index.html

Mirror host additional DV clips?
 

Hello All,

I've also been working with Chris to post a number of DV clips - all told about 190MB - that correspond to the frame grabs I had put up previously: http://homepage.mac.com/crf1973/dvx100

They should be coming online soon, but in light of the traffic the clips posted this morning brought on, I was hoping to preemptively solicit anybody interested in mirroring any of the clips on their servers?

If interested please let Chris or myself know.

Thanks,
Clayton

email_claytonfarr@hotmail.com (remove 'email_')

Comparison to JVC...
 

I have a JVC GY-DV500. I'm frothing at the mouth over the DVX100 and trying to decide if I can afford to buy one outright or if I'll have to consider selling the JVC.

What am I giving up on the JVC by switiching cameras? Obviously the chip size, but how big a visual hit is that? Any opinions?

What else justifies the retail price differential of the JVC?

I'd love to hear informed opinions on this one...

Thanks in advance...
Love the bords...

Michael

MORE 24p/30p/60i Clips available for download
 

Hello All,

Thanks to the generosity, time, and bandwidth of Chris and Jeff here are some more clips from the camera (preproduction unit seen last month) - 24p standard, 24p advanced, 30p, and 60i:

http://www.dvinfo.net/panasonic/reports/farr

Not as pretty as birds on the beach, but at least something more to add to the mix. ;)

Best,
Clayton

BTW - Also, if anyone can still help with mirroring these to lighten the load, please pass it along to Chris, Jeff, or myself.

email_claytonfarr@hotmail.com (remove 'email_')

Best Prices on Batteries?
 

Anyone find better prices than B&H for batteries? B&H is out of stock of the highest capacity batteries anyway...

How to Use "Marker"?
 

How does the "marker" function work on the DVX100? What do those percentages mean that are displayed? How should they be used for setting exposure on this camera? Thanks.

DVX-100 In Commercial
 

Don't know if this has been mentioned on here, but I recently saw a children's McDonald's commercial on TV that had a DVX-100 in the shots.

Ronald and some children are in front of a video store dancing in front of a camera on a tripod which happens to be the DVX-100. It switches between shots of them on the video monitors and a slow zooming shot from behind the DVX-100 into Ronald and the dancing children.

I'm sure that they used a different "Pana" camera to shoot the commercial, but it was interesting seeing the DVX-100 featured there... =)

New DVX100/ PD150 comparison article
 

Just got the link from the other forum, maybe some of you know it already but for those who dont know

http://www.lafcpug.org/review_dvx_pd150.html

DVX100 sensitivity
 

DVX100 is specified with an impressive F11/2000lux sensitivty figure. I never saw this (and don't believe this) with am 1/3"CCD camera. Did somebody verify this? And what is then the S/N figure for this cam?

Gavin Paget Dullard compares the MX350/MX500/DVX100
 

I sold my trusty MX300 as to upgrade to the MX500. Went down to my local store {TasmanAV in Melbourne} and compared the MX350 {which is heavilly discounted in an effort to sell back stock} and the MX500. After viewing both images on a studio monitor I have the following to report.

1. The MX500 having a 1/6 Chip is darker under low light with both cams @ max apertaure and no gain. Under studio light I could tell no difference between the two images. Although the Sales rep was trying to tell me the MX350 looked slightly better, ie. so he could get rid of MX350 stock.

2. The MX350 having 12X gets alot closer than the MX500's zoom.

3. Impressed with the MX500 true 16:9 image when compared to the MX350 16:9 - it looks sharper, as I expected.

4. I was very lucky in that I was able to see unoffically the new AG-DVX100. It is not yet released in Australia untill march/april. Strangly it was a NTSC and not a PAL model {Pal cam will be 25P and not 24P}. I was able to compare the MX500 with the DVX100 - the MX500 was blown out of the water!!! The image looked like it had originated from a studio camera used by the big TV networks. Again strangly the 30i looked sharper than the 24p. The 24p looked very strobe like, with a definite flicker. This might have been the result of the monitor [however it was NTSC/PAL compatible].

5. I was told by the rep that the DVX100 will be the Canon/SonyDV/DVCAM killer, as in their opinion it has the better image of all 3CCD camers in this range, including the cannon XL1s, sony PDX10p.

6. One very strange observation of the DVX100 is that a camera of this expense [will be approx. $8,000 Australian} does not have true 16:9. It only does black bars top & bottom!!!!!!! It does not even stretch the image like the MX300/MX350 !!!!!! This is either a major oversite or it's to prevent Panasonic being hurt in reduced sales of it's more expensive broadcast cameras. Because if the DVX100 had true 16:9 {like the MX500}, then why would you want to spend anymore money?

NB, the MX350/MX500/DVX100 were two at a time hooked up to a switcher box and pointed at the same image and then switched back and forth for comparison. All were set on auto exposure/white-balance/focus .

Note: a new review of the UK NV-MX500B can be seen at the following:

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/review/11/14/2428.html

What are some good low-light settings?
 

Can anyone recommend some settings that will optimize the DVX100 for low light situations? I just recently shot footage of a band playing in a dark club, and with the iris fully open, the picture quality was not bad. Still, I was wondering if there were any secret settings that would make the image better? There are a lot of image adjustment options in the DVX100 that I don't fully understand yet. Will setting the gamma on "high" improve detail in the darks? Should I always keep the shutter speed low when shooting in low light?

Seperate external controls for AV - TV modes?
 

Hey Pan users,

I've purchased a GL2 and am regretting it somewhat as the controls for Iris (aperature) and shutter are controlled by the same dial. This arrangement has been problematic for me as I'm used to the seperate control layout of the XL1S (which worked perfectly)...my problem is that I'd prefer to shoot in Manual mode but would like to be able to change Iris and Shutter settings on the fly while rolling video- is this possible with the DVX?

My GL2 is only 2 days old and I can return it back to B&H and put in the cash difference for the Panasonic.....I'm very happy with the video quality of the GL2- just not the control setup......can anyone here confirm, Shutter and Aperature (Iris) can be controlled simulataneously on the DVX with different knobs?

If so- i'll have one tomorrow.......thanks guys.

Mack Warranty for PAL versions
 

Mack offers a warranty on the PAL version, for those looking to import the PAL version to the USA. I asked them for a price quote.

I'm finally getting ready to buy, finally!!! And I want the PAL version for a variety of reasons.

Sony will soon offer an optical disc DVCAM camcorder
 

Sony announced it will show at NAB both a new recording media and a new digital format. The optical media consists of a 12-centimeter (5-inch) rewritable disc in a protective cartridge. Blue laser technology for recording and playback allows much higher-recording capacity and bandwidth than possible from red laser. The optical system will offer the choice of recording video with the DVCAM codec at 25Mbps or the MPEG-2, IMX codec at 30, 40 or 50Mbps. A single disc holds 90-minutes of DVCAM material -- or 45-minutes of MPEG IMX material recorded at 50Mbps, 55-minutes at 40Mbps, and 75-minutes at 30Mbps.

The new optical system records both a high-resolution original, and a frame-accurate, low-resolution, MPEG-4 version called a proxy. Using the optical camcorder itself, you'll be able to mark "good" shots using a picture-stamp storyboard displayed on the camcorder's LCD monitor and play them back seamlessly. From the camcorder, users will be able to transfer the proxy information to laptop editors or back to the studio at up to 30 times faster-than-real-time.

Sony's two new optical camcorders capture high-quality pictures with three 2/3-inch EX HAD image sensors and 12-bit analog-to-digital converters. Features include loop/interval recording using a built-in cache memory. Further information on these camcorders will be released at NAB.

test avi (divx codec used) deinterlaced and 3:2 pulldown removed
 

Here's a small .avi file I made from a clip with dvx100 while driving around town. You need divx (www.divx.com) codec to watch it. It's highly compressed, but it's deinterlaced and runs at 23.976 fps with 3:2 pulldown removed. Used virtualdub to encode.

http://www.tentimesnothing.com/tentimes/street2.avi