Proofs in the pudding. Do you see a difference? HDCAM SR perhaps, but I'm ****ed if I can see a difference between common all garden HDCAM.

*Theory* says that the Long GOP codec should be inferior. Practice is another matter however.

Haven't looked that closely at them side by side, but I'm sure you're right, there's probably not much in it to the eye.
I know there's a lot of good things being said about AVC-I though, especially the 10 bit nature of it, that's why I'm going to hook the new P2 Portable to my 700 and see how it looks. Main difference apart from 10 bit vs 8 bit is the ease in getting 60P to conform to slomo in Cinema Tools, doing it from XDCam involves a ProRes or other I Frame transcode first which takes ages and degrades quality to some degree.
Steve

Actually, the Power HAD-FX CCD on the PDW-700 is likely sharper than the F900. As a matter of fact, Sony recommends to tune the detail to -20 on the 700 to equal the detail level of the F900. Also, the 700 record a full HD raster (1920x1080) vs. (1440x1080) for HDCAM.

Thierry.

F800 - 700 in sheep's clothing
 

From what I have been gathering, the F800 is simply the 700 bundled with all the software. The F is to designate Cine-Alta status which is 23.98 as a factory standard. What is unclear is wether or not the offspeeds at 720 will be a software upgrade on the 700.

Everything else is exactly the same, a 700 is sheep's clothing.
Or shall I say, lets see next week.
Cheers guys

PDW700 vs. F900R
 

We just did a 13 camera shoot using several EX1/3s, F900Rs and a single PDW700. The 700 won in every category, except not doing 23.98.

I'm in New Zealand and we shoot 25p so 23.98 is not a big one so easy to spare the expense. I have done a few US jobs and they were happy to get it in 30P. I would consider upgrading it should it be the case.

I do love this camera, it actually has the digital zoom in this software round and works a treat. I have enabled it on my return button.. no kidding has completely changed how I shoot.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to read into that, since the 700 I tried seemed to be overly sharpened out of the box to the point where some of the edge halos were objectionable.

To do a proper comparison we would need to know what the base level of both cameras really was.

I agree Simon however running the detail off which is about the equivalent of minus thirty I found had questionable results... especially when downconverting and going to air, even in HD. Having said that many ops here are finding that a better image so it is a bit of a preference.

Out of the box, agreed, its a bit harsh.

Here is the link to Sony's press release for the PDW-F800 camcorder and PDW-F1600 VTR.

Sony Electronics News and Information

Thanks Ivan. Confirms variable frame rates for slomo, so I wonder if you'll be able to get an upgrade to the 700 to give it VFR too?
If not I'll be livid having bought the 700 and now having to go through hoops in post to get the 720/60P into slomo.
Anyone know if this'll be possible?
Steve

Possible I would say yes, but willing to that's another question.

Next week we probably know more.

Official Release!

Sony Electronics News and Information

Assuming it has an LCD, I seriously hope that the LCD is at least equal to the EX1 in resolution. I know of no professional large format camera with a built-in LCD as good as the EX-1/EX-3. Although I own an EX-1, it strikes me as a bit odd that this is still the case. I've given up on Panasonic LCDs, but why does Sony not make this happen already since it's their component?

Some more information from Sonybiz.net on the PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 camcorder.

Sony : PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 Camcorder launched : Belgium

A camcorder with the specs of the 800 has been on the cards for a while. I wouldn't be surprised though if the VFR thing was an additional board. The 800 just strikes me as the 700 but with all the optional extras as standard, and a price to match.

One interesting thing though was that they mentioned the ability to record proxy files to a USB device.

Not a chance. It'll be exactly the same body as the 700, including the bloody awful LCD! Quite why they didn't put the one from the EX on the side of it I don't know. It drives me mad when a camcorder that will cost £30k or so comes with a screen that is inferior to a model that costs six times less! Although having said that I know the reason why. If they did put a better LCD on it then less people would bother upgrading to the 3" colour viewfinder option.