XDCAM review coming up
 

Showreel will be getting hold of the F350 XDCAM HD this Thursday. The test will be published in our first US edition, which will be launched at NAB. If anyone has any particular queries, email them to our editor Steve Parker (steve@showreel.org), and he'll pass them on to our tester.

The magazine will be available on several stands, which I'll let you know about closer to the event. If any US-based folk would like to receive a free copy of the US issue, drop me a line at denise@showreel.org.

All the best

Denise
Publisher
Showreel magazine
"tomorrow the world"

Hi Denise,

Or alternatively they can ask me direct. I'll be happy to answer any questions about any issues, or anything anyone might particularly like me to test out with the camera. :D

Xdcam Hd
 

Thanks Simon.

Maybe Wayne, I don't know, maybe we are more on the creative-enthusiastic side...

Or ...working "in vacation mode"! :)

Your ideas about extracting 3d information from the way the image is focused, or about re-focus the image, sounds very interesting, but also difficult to me. You might discover some serious limitations if you go deeper in practice but nevertheless you might find some very useful applications. My theory is that wherever you dig, you *will* eventually find gold in research, as long as you keep digging. That's the beauty of research, it's like "what do you want to discover today?"

I would suggest you to try simulate your ideas (these or others) to a level that is self-proven and then you could easily demonstrate and attract sponsors or other people that would be interested to help you. Or simply try to implement them to a degree that proves the theory.

By the way, the coincidence is that I'm almost close to finish developing a 3d related device -though in a different area (but unfortunately I can't tell anything about this right now).

Sorry about being *a lot* off topic. I will try to balance my post(s) a bit, by saying that I am going to buy an hdv camera soon and I wish it was the XDCAM but unfortunately a) it's currently out of my reach b) I need it in a few days, so I'll have to go for a less wonderful one, maybe Z1 (trying to decide).

Anyway, I'm very interested about the review.

There has been a hold up with the F350, so the test will now be with the F330 instead. However it is being supplied with a Canon 2/3" HD lens and the 2/3" lens adaptor, along with the F70 deck. So anything any of you guys want me to look at specificially just give me a shout.

I thought of a few things that I would be very interested of:

1. How many *linear* stops of latitude is the F330 capable of (with a linear gamma curve if one exists, or with a compensating technique to get the same result).

2. A snapshot of a standard res chart performance (that's original! :)

3. An *in-lab* test to the limits, for chromatic aberration at full wide angle (preferably measured than subjectively observed) including a comparison with another well known HD lens.

4. What is the drop of resolving power (definition) from the center of the lens to the sides at full wide angle with large aperture (preferably a curve).

5. The lux rating for sensitivity.

6. How sensitive is the camera to vibrations/movements during recording. Is it easy, rare or impossible to reach the threshold where the recording performance will be noticeably affected? (eg the recording duration would be very much decreased or worse, so can anyone record inside a fast motor boat in a wavy sea? Will then the recording duration be the same or ...halfed? )

7. And of course, is it *totally* safe to record on the optical disc?


Thanks.

The innovators lot:
 

Warning: Unless you are interested in innovation, say with Digital Cinema cameras, new lens adaptor for HD XDCAM etc. You might want to skip most of this.

It does have limitations, you can't expect the same precision of sample as compared to raw data, but it does real 3D depth and some direct surround. Enough, I think, to be very useful. It is not very complex, the procedures needed are easy enough, the maths for them is not, but it is very procedural, and lots of it (processor intensive). This is limited on todays processors, but things like the "Sea of Processors" Chuck Moore's scheme, Cell, Clearspeed (that AMD now is in talks with for a co processor) Ambarella (a hundred or two SPARC processors on one chip) and future GPU's and Processor In Memory, make this very possible. You want to see something that really consumes power, I understand that Intel has some sort of resolution upscaling scheme that takes 100 hours per frame.

A credible idea is a credible idea, it is provable logically and these are self evident enough to those logical/smart enough to perceive it (and we are talking about seeing and feeling down the design curve for obstacles, twists and turns from the start) who are welcome on the ground floor. There is a lot of knowledge/and understanding, of the factors that goes into this, of course.

About working on ideas, I have some real ideas I am working on, like the VOS system. Unfortunately, some other ideas have to suffer and get left behind, some I have posted here for prudent people, but where. I am only able to work on a few of them because of sickness. I can work with people on these ideas, design them, and guide the implementation process. Much like an architect, or good garden landscape designer, will earn his living from designing and guiding, rather than building.

The problem is that I am a very sick disabled person, I have a number of health problems that go up and down like a yo yo, but usually below good health. I am seriously trying to get my health up so that I can implement and accomplish the things I want independently. Because of these problems, I am no longer athletic, often I can do little constructively but think/design, read, and not even that sometimes, but thinking, analysing and understanding are my strong points, and best talent, and I still deliver.

What you say about implementing and marketing ideas, I need help in this area because of the health problems. It is not as simple as it seems, and very costly, plus 150 pages of professionally written business/market analysis/plan, and very tricky, because of the requirements Intellectual Property laws. Most people that "invent" something really new, that don't have the money, and team, fail, and for armatures the figure is very high. Most can't even get a business to take it on, I think. It is one of the worst forms of business endeavours to get into, and I advise people to stay away. Usually, a lot of work and money goes in before you hit a result. There are cheap strategies to get a buyer, but I still need to work with people.

That's interesting, in my VOS design I have come up with a very simple and economical, alternative 3D strategy to use a small fraction of the processing power and near photo perfect results. Even though I keep notes on the various solutions to the problems, it is not due to be implemented until generation two of my OS. You could implement it in a FPGA (or two) and beat most modern graphic cards. What 3D area is yours in?

The simple, economical, approach is what I use most often for solutions. Actually, the more complex form of my 3D starts to remind me, a bit, of nurbs (through I am unfamiliar with them) but faster.

Hi Ken,

I will do my best to accomodate your requests. Although I can answer wuestions 6 and 7 right now as I have owned one of the current XDCAM's for over a year now.

These cameras are actually more robust and resistant to vibrations and shock than tape based cameras. There is absolutely no effect on the picture whatsoever. In fact when Sony ran their torture tests with the system the Digibeta camera actually unthreaded its tape when they were on a powerboat that performed a 360 degree spin. The XDCAM was unaffected. Heat and humidity is also not a problem with this system.

It is totally safe to record to the disc. I have never lost any footage, and the only people I know who have lost footage have found out that they muddled up their discs and subsequently found the one with their footage on it!

XDCAM has a very sophisticated file recovery system as well. So for example, if you managed to accidentally open the protective case cover and damage one part of the write surface of the disc, the XDCAM system will do its best to recover all the footage that is on the unaffected parts. The discs are very well protected to begin with though so this scenario is very unlikely.

I agree but, It's just that I like the feeling of *Prove first and let-them-beg-you-for-the-details after* tactic. :)

If you have health problems and still "deliver" as you say, then I have to congratulate you for your creative persistence and enthousiasm, I'm sure you beat most of the other "athletic" types...

What's that?

Then you are totally justified to prefer being the "architect" instead of the builder. If you are interested commercially you should think of the easiest way to spot and attract "builders" as well as sponsors. Maybe a specialized forum would be ideal for this but it needs a good strategy.


Hehe, "near photo perfect results" from a new kind of 3d engine is the theoretical result from another idea I left behind a couple of years ago but it is scheduled to be continued in about six months from now if everything goes well...

Stereoscopy.

Oh no, did all my notes leak to the internet ??? :)

Thank you Simon, I'm looking forward to read the results.

Although other technologies are getting better and cheaper day by day, it seems that sony can offer now the most economical way of unlimited storage that is also efficient and reliable. If only they released a camera in hdv price range with the same recording ability, they would be ahead of the competiton for at least two-three years...

Power consumption? Which I believe to be quite high in the first XDCAMs, at least compared to comparable tape cameras.

And smaller discs were originally promised (8cm), any sign of them, or the cameras being able to accept them? For some usage I'd happily trade off running time for being able to pocket media - as is now easily possible with DVCAM.

F350 power consumption
 

I have been running the F350 for about 3.5 hours continuous using Sony BP-GL95 batteries. That is primarily HDSDI capture so the disc is not spinning much.

The 330 is rated at 31w while the 350 is rated at 32. So far it does appear to be needing less juice than my current SD XDCAM. However it should also be noted that the SD XDCAM's have now been updated to use less power.

A mystery "blank" as the forum software chops out the quote of what I said. I hope they revert to fully quoting what was said, it is difficult to have to put everything back in, so it is easy for people to follow conversations. Then you can decide what to chop and keep.

VOS, Virtual OS, like JAVA, I independently started work on it around the same year Java (OAK) and Taos started, which is earlier than most people realise.

Hmm, you missed the bit a chopped out. But, I have had some false starts with people that just seem to want to do nothing or have designs on "milking it". Once they realise that I want a formal business agreement (that doesn't allow for much milking, but profit instead) and standard IP disclosure agreements, it seems to weed them out. Unless you have the money to plock down to hire an engineer instead, they seem very reluctant to prioritise working on a project, don't matter how part time, little effort, or little money involved. Something of something is worth more than 100% of nothing, especially if the something is worth millions of net profit. Entrepreneurs, are another trap, real sharks this time, they can get 90% of everything for their investment, and you basically do "ALL" the work, and get chucked out in the end, as they take their place as "King of the Hill" of what they didn't have any idea of what to build in the first. In reality, their actions are like depending on finding somebody at a disadvantage to exploit. Depending on idea and circumstances, risk can be reduced, and I don't believe they should get as much for low risk projects where even 50% would reap tens or hundreds of times their investment. I believe in more equitable profit sharing, and for some simple high risk things, like the 3D extraction, I would agree to loss the 90%. But as you can see, and probably know from experience, trying to do it yourself, start a business on it, is very difficult in these areas. It is better to find an existing business as a buyer, which is my intention for a number of things. Quiet frankly, there is not so much money to be made from 3D, because big market players are already dominating on slim margins, and the number of IP, requiring massive capital investments to compete against. With 3D tech like I'm talking about, you could easily compete and beat them, if you had a budget in the billions, so licensing is best. But just IP costs, over the key markets, are very significant.


The VOS, could have hundreds of "claims" on it and associated developments (because this involved improving OS and related technologies, like 3D, compression etc). Because of the great cost, and lateness, I am considering forms of open-sourcing/freeware etc after I have finished the design, maybe even donating it for a donation. So it is important to let other ideas slip. It is far better than Linux, and comes from deep work based on ideas from alternative processor technology areas that I have been involved with (Misc by Chuck Moore, who now holds key patents in the IC industry and is involved in a major new processor company, Intelasys, but more comprehensive) it is revolutionary.

We are wasting tens times the complexity and sacrificing many times the speed in the way we are doing present computer technologies. Most is wasted because of inadequate design in throwing out product, and that is the most important space.

Believe me, that is the start, there is a much more profitable alternative use for it. In my system reality perfect rendering requires many times more processing power, probably still a fraction compared to professional rendering systems. But it is sort of so close to reality anyway, that hopefully people won't be able to notice the difference without accessing it, it should seem almost normal, that is more than you can say for consumer 3D systems, at a small fraction of processing and complexity.

Sorry for the sparseness, I can often not say much about things I work on, because I simplify/streamline them to much. I usually find the best solutions are alternatives that people missed/or didn't get around to looking at (something that often works, if a solution looks way to complex for the problem, then your probably going down the wrong path).

Nope, I clean roomed a lot of it.

Been thinking of contacting an old Uni friend about it, but I don't know how good his skills are, particularly with the non 3d area.


;), been following this for years, they aim for 1.6TB for a disk:

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/27/in...dia/index.html

I'm sure cheaper versions will be available in the next year or two.

This reminds me of one design for a new way of doing tape, able to store many times more than any disk format, with much more durability and reliability than any tape format, and a simplified player mechanism almost as cheap as disk. I was thinking that I should approach Sony with it at some cheap price, some time. Development would not be too complex.

Anyway, this is probably more on topic, but off topic, then we need to be here, you are welcome to contact me by email.