XDCAM HD Footage

[Hse Kha]

Anyone know if any sample clips are available on the internet yet???

Since they are MPEG-2 I guess they will be easy to view on a PC like HDV clips. Or not? I read that they don't use a transport stream (m2t) but "elementary streams" - is that MPEG-2 (mpg) files?

I'd love to see how these 1/2 inch chip CCDs compare to the 1/3 inch ones.

[Chris Hurd]

Please read the press release... there's a copy of it here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=58618

This camera isn't even shipping until March, so the answer is no, there isn't any downloadable video yet.

[Ronan Fournier]

Hello,
As I said in another post, I went to the Sony Roadshow, two days ago, in order to see the XDCAM HD on a wild screen (Ruby videoprojector).
Pictures were maybe a bit better than HDV but far away from the awesome HDCam footage we saw just after that... The Canon zoom lense were not good at all (a lot of chromatic aberations). It was desapointing for me.
So for the moment, PDW 350 is like a Canon XL H1 which records on a Bluray disc...

[Hse Kha]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

This camera isn't even shipping until March, so the answer is no, there isn't any downloadable video yet.

Kaku had the Canon XL-H1 footage a month or two before it started to ship and there is also now footage of the cheap Sanyo HD Camera which won't ship until March either, hence my question...

[Chris Hurd]

Oh, you mean Kaku, as in Kaku Ito, the guy who is always the first to get the gear and who always posts the first video clips to DV Info Net? Well, that's different! Kaku could probably manage this, but I doubt if anybody else can. That's why I answered the way I did above.

[Scot Olson]

On the Sony HDCAM HD Site near the bottom left is a link to movie titled Overview Video Hi-Res.

It is a very compressed file but contains a fair amount of footage shot with the F330.

My Sony rep is scheduled to demo one of the new XDCAM HD cameras for us on February 9th. With any luck I might have a few clips straight from the camera following the demo.

[Chris Hurd]

Scot, if you can do that then you'll be our new hero. Welcome to DV Info Net,

[Hse Kha]

Any update? Would love to see actual footage from this format..

[Jerry Matese]

Does anyone have the details on this new flavor of 35 mbs MPEG. Is it a shorter GOP than standard HDV. Also is the HD-SDI output uncompressed HD 1080 4:2:2? Does the variable compression actualy compress 720p less vs 1080i and take advantage of the full 35 mbs?

[Michael Devlin]

The SDI output conforms to SMPTE 292M, of course. However Sony has told me that the CCD/DSP image is only capturing 4:2:0. The 4:2:0 signal is then interpolated to 4:2:2 to produce the SDI output.

Since we have an HDC-X300 (which has the same 1/2" CCD and image processing) Sony suggested we test the SDI output using the X300. We ran a number of tests including some green screen shots. The X300 SDI output definetely acts like you are effectively getting 4:2:0. Pulling a clean matte is difficult and it is virtually impossible to eliminate edge crawl on green screen shots. Certainly our Canon XL H1 performs better for any kind of post processing (chroma keying, wire removal, etc.).

I have still ordered the PDW-F350, and I am looking forward to its arrival at the end of the month. Like all cameras it has strenghts and weaknesses.

[Simon Wyndham]

However Sony has told me that the CCD/DSP image is only capturing 4:2:0. The 4:2:0 signal is then interpolated to 4:2:2 to produce the SDI output.

That would tally with my experience of SDI from one of my colleagues PDW-510P. There was an improvement in picture quality because of far less compression. But there wasn't enough difference to pursuade me to get the SDI card for my camera.

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Scot, if you can do that then you'll be our new hero. Welcome to DV Info Net

Any update?

[Scott Webster]

Sony NZ and Panavision NZ did a combined roadshow recently with projected Z1, 350 and HDW-750 material.

All material was dubbed to HDCAM SR and played out through a SRW1 into a Sony VPLVW100 projector.

IMHO there was not a dramatic leap from the Z1 footage shown and the 350.
Certainly not the leap that was immediately apparent when the HDW-750 material was shown. Maybe a specific HD 1/2" lens would lift the performance.

Obviously viewing conditions were not ideal and it was a montage cut for the roadshow. Variable frame rate footage looked good.

Originally Posted by Scott Webster

IMHO there was not a dramatic leap from the Z1 footage shown and the 350.
Certainly not the leap that was immediately apparent when the HDW-750 material was shown. Maybe a specific HD 1/2" lens would lift the performance.

Sorry my non-native english.. Did you say «lift down» comparing with the HDW-750?

Or «lift up», that is, it was presenting with a 2/3" lens maybe SD? (because there isn't 1/3" to that) and with a specific HD 1/2" lens (according its CCD) would it perform better? Is it that?

[Scott Webster]

Originally Posted by Leuname Ereh

Sorry my non-native english.. Did you say «lift down» comparing with the HDW-750?

Or «lift up», that is, it was presenting with a 2/3" lens maybe SD? (because there isn't 1/3" to that) and with a specific HD 1/2" lens (according its CCD) would it perform better? Is it that?

In the footage that shown there was not a large shift in pq between the Z1 and 350 camera. Certainly not the difference between the HDW-750 and the other 2 cameras.

But...this was projected footage off what is basically a high end home theatre projector.

The XDHD 350 shot with a SD Canon 1/2" lens. The Z1 is 1/3" fixed and the HDW750 a 2/3" Fujinon HD 22x.

AFAIK there has been no info released on a 1/2" HD lens line up for the XDHD Cams(?)