Image compatibility - VX2000 and HDV Cams

RalphM wrote on 9/28/2005, 6:53 AM

Until Blu-ray or HD DVD players and recorders are a reality, there is no way for most of my customers to display HD "home" videos of plays, sporting events, etc.

That will begin to change over the next 1 - 2 years, and I'm looking to upgrade to an HDV camera. I'm wondering if anyone has tried to intercut the SD footage from either of the Sony HDV camera families (CCD or CMOS chips) with footage from the older VX2000/2100..

I'm really not ready to dump my VX's and I often need the low light capability, but I'd like to begin filming in HDV where appropriate.

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,
RalphM

Comments

GregFlowers wrote on 9/28/2005, 3:23 PM

I have a VX2000 and FX1 and they cut together very well. The only real issue is the VX2000 is native 4:3 while the FX1 is natve 16:9, so you will have to pan/crop one or the other depending on your final output ratio. Downconverted FX1 HDV looks very similar to my VX2000, IMHO. It can be easily converted or cropped to high quality 16:9 or 4:3 SD. I still believe the FX1 offers the best price / performance / flexibility ratio of any camera on the market today. If it just had a better 24p simulation mode I would be perfectly content. By the way, my VX2000 is for sale at a good price if you're interested...

RalphM wrote on 9/29/2005, 8:41 AM

Thanks Greg,

If I didn't already have two VX2K's I'd be interested, but I'm thinking about selling one of mine and moving to the FX1.

How would you compare the low light performance of the two cams?

RalphM

GregFlowers wrote on 9/29/2005, 10:32 AM

That's tough for me to answer. I haven't done a lot of low light shooting with either camera, and I definitely have not A-Bed them under the same low light conditions for a direct accurate comparision. That's something I should try. My general impression is that they are very much in the same ballpark and one isn't hugely better or worse than the other.

I shot a lot of footage in Carlsbad Caverns with my FX1 maxed out on 18db gain. While the footage was definately "grainy," the noise size seems less on HDV footage than DV footage and therefore less objectionable.

I think there is more room to improve "grainy" HDV footage in post than with DV using plugins like Mike Crash's Smart Smoother or Dynamic Noise Reduction. Even though there will be some loss in resolution using these plugins, HDV has so much resolution in the first place that it should still look outstanding when downconverted to DV.

I think you would be very happy with an FX1. I think of mine much like an industrial strength version of the VX2000. There is a very short learning curve going between the two, as many settings and button are similar.