3 types of V1, which one do you write about?
 

A wish to all posters, about the HVR-V1

Would you, whenever you write V1 also write what type of V1 your writing about?

There are now 3 types around:

V1 U (NTSC-land)
V1 P (Pacific)
V1 E (PAL-land, Europe)

volki

The V1P and the V1E are practically identical - only differentiated to prevent "grey" imports.

Most of the "issues" that people talk about are either going to be across all models... or it's evident from the frame rate that people mention as to which issue they're talking about.

I don't know if that helps you.

There is also the V1C, for the mainland China market (PAL), where I am based. Is the V1C just a renaming of the V1E? Does the machine exhibit all the problems of the V1E? I like the V1 because of its small size and because I'm more used to Sony machines, but I'm sorely tempted by the Canon A1, which seems more reliable. Any advice?

I can't say that I've shot oodles of video on my V1U, but I've done an extensive wedding shoot and more recently, a music video shoot, and I haven't found it to be unreliable in any sense - most of my problems continue to be operator error...!

Thank you for your reply, Greg. Unreliable was probably the wrong choice of word. I was alluding to the problems the V1 seems to have in progressive mode (according to a lot of the stuff I've been reading here and elsewhere online). Also, the V1 doesn't seem to be so good in low light situations. Although it is clear that both the V1 and the A1 are good machines, from what I've read (and heard in the shops I've visited) the A1 has less 'problems' than the V1. For anyone interested in the China market, the A1 is currently selling better than the V1, although that may be because it came out a little bit earlier.

Lizi,
the V1 isn't nearly as bad in low light as most folks would think. Of all those commenting that the V1 is bad in low light, perhaps 1-2% of the posters actually own the camera or have shot one frame of video with the camera.
I'm a Sony fan, and a Canon fan, and to a degree, a JVC fan. I own all three brands, and enjoy the A1 very much. I spent a recent 13 days on a shoot where I used the A1 in rigorous conditions. And found it's not "better" than the V1, just "different."
Both camcorders are equally good; each has its strong points and each has its weak points. Any camcorder does at any price, you've got to determine which one is best for you, your specific needs, and your workflow.

I must agree with Douglas. That is exactly how I would describe the difference between the the XH-A1 and the V1. Just different.

I have found that with the V1 you really can go very high with the gain and by reducing the saturation and using the gamma curves or black press the noise in the darks can be minimised.

The XH-A1 is slightly more sensitive but not much more to be worth arguing about. The noise reduction settings can clear the noise okay but the image you are left with leaves a LOT to be desired. I wouldn't go beyond 6dB gain.

If you have any pride in your work and want to shoot in the dark with any camera additional lighting is ALWAYS necessary.

TT

In a nite market scene in Malaysia I found the V1 seemed to add gain ONLY to the pixels that were "too dark." With other cameras, gain is added to the analog signal coming from the CCD(s) and everything got noise.

With the V1, the bare lightbulbs were slightly over-exposed, the people's faces were right-on, and the ground was pitch dark. No noise in any of these areas.

The curtins on the front of the tables were dark. Here you could see a bit of noise. But setting Gamma 1 brought the dark to black and presto -- no noise.

I watch a lot of Discovery HD docs and in these HDCAM/VARICAM productions -- far beyond anything that's going to be shot with any $5000 camcorder -- when it gets dark and lites can't be used, the frame is full of noise. Clearly, noise is not taboo. Same with our local HD news.

In the same situations -- the V1 would actually have less noise. I figure many of these shooters were using $100,000 camcorders so I consider the V1 or A1 to be fantastic tools at under $5000.

Jung Kyu's video looks great:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=84987

I'm going to posting my night market tests -- I ran through all gain levels at one point.

I'm wondering if the V1 uses the same technique as at least one security camera. The camera runs internally at a higher frame rate, each frame is taken at different shutter speeds and then a DSP merges the best parts of those frames together at the target frame rate. This technique has been around for a while, probably with better DSPs Sony have been able to refine it somewhat in the V1.
Just idle speculation on my part but it would perhaps explain a few things about the V1.