The NX5U is awesome!!! :-)
 

I got a new HXR-NX5U a couple days ago... I love this new camcorder. It is a big step up from my HDR-HC1. The true progressive modes of 24P and 60P at 24 Mbit/sec maximum using AVCHD are astounding. I love having the ability to control nearly all aspects and the ability to focus manually and truly see it on the new high resolution Viewfinder and LCD. The zoom lens is wonderful... and the fact that it weighs almost six pounds is good (and forces me to get back in shape ;-)

Active Steadyshot makes it look almost as if I had it sitting on a tripod --- I don't notice loss at the 2% digital zoom used for it. But, then again... I don't rely on resolution charts and statistics much --- I prefer using a camcorder and looking at the results (though I did use Adam Wilt's review to finalize my decision to purchase this camcorder)

I will enjoy learning to use this NX5U... an absolutely wonderful piece of equipment.

- Does the NX5U do 60p? I thought it did 30p and 60i.

From your comment...
"The true progressive modes of 24P and 60P at 24 Mbit/sec maximum using AVCHD are astounding."

Thanks for the help.

It does not do 60P just 30P and 24P

Yes it does, 1280X720 60P

Khoi is right the NX will do 60p @ 720. The AX however will not.

Ben

Hi John,

I'm considering the same step as you - I have a HDR HC1 and want to make the move up and the NX5 is top of my list at the moment. Just out of interest what are you editing on. (I'd be using mac and want to know how much hassle AVCHD really is - I don't want to turn this into a format debate, but i'm not convinced by AVCHD yet)

Other than that I really want to get one NOW!

thanks
Ross

Also... anyone, with regards to the 720/60p - say you want to work that as slow motion footage into a 1080p project, how bad do you think the quality loss would be if you just import the 720 res footage and scale it up to fill your main film frame size... is that what most people do?

I use Sony Vegas 9, which has full support for 1080 50i/60i/24p/25p/30p and 720/50p/60p and AVCHD. I have no issues on my PC, which simply has one AMD dual core chip, 4 GB RAM, two nVidia GeForce 7600 video cards and Windows XP. I do render to Cineform HD codec if I want to do color correction and it works quite well.

Sony's site has various NXCAM Workflow Guides for Sony Vegas Pro 9, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Apple Final Cut Pro7 and EDIUS Pro5 (Sony | Micro Site - NXCAM). There have probably been discussions about AVCHD editing in other areas of the DVINFO forum (search for it and go to the AVCHD-Format-Discussion section.

Hey John, I second your opinion! I love my NXCAM as well. I switched from an XH-A1, and although I loved that cam, this one has had the features I've needed in my situations. I guess that's what counts!

I've used both and I can't tell the difference except the 720/60p has smoother motion (even compared to 1080i).