Our's is already ordered. Looks like they took a long, hard look at the DVX 100 and realised that not everyone without deep pockets might have a clue how to use a camera withour having their hand held every step of the way, but damn no Bluefang, how will it ever take a decent image without it :)
No, at 1080 as far as I know it's only interlaced. 720 is progressive or interlaced I think. WMP has 1080p but it isn't a broadcast standard.
I'll still be interested to see how this camera stacks up, 1/3" megapixel CCDs don't make for great latitude etc, maybe Sony have found a way around the physics but somehow I think a good DV camera / lens is still going to give better images.
Of course I could be wrong, in which case a huge chunk of Sony's product line will be made obsolete by this but if that's the case at $4K Sony must be figuring on huge sales to offset the loses on the rest of the product line.
Bob.
Add to this the PAL 50/25 variants - which by the better judgement of us Europeans again mess up the world compatibility thing.
HDV has already specified a tape format that can support upto 60Mbps. Suggesting that 60p 1920x1080 might even be viable within what we know now as HDV. There is nothing that prohibits going above 60Mbps but that is the top limit that the member companies believe are worth specifying for this less than pro-acq format. Current HDV tapes can be recognised from their DVHS cousins for the technology pool they've sprung from.
I believe that all cameras can make worthwhile telly when put in the right hands. To make a living you sometimes need to fulfil your feature-envy by making a purchase.
Pro HD can make some pretty dandy SD MPEG-2 / WMV by down conversion. Possibly true also of HDV - such is the way of natural compression algorithms? 63mins is a pain - why no internal hard disc?
We've all got wish-lists. (MJPEG, 4:2:2, etc, etc)
Here's a shot of the other side of the HDR-FX1 that I took at NAB last April (when it was known as the DSR-0000.) It was sitting in a plexiglass box, so the photo isn't great. Nevertheless, note that It does have XLR audio inputs.
Looks like it only does interlace, the 24/30p modes aren't true progressive scan. There is mention of a pro model coming out 1Q of next year for under $7k. KInda sad that the Sony rep didn't mention Vegas being able to do HDV NOW. Hey wait, how will you capture with this cam? Is there software shipping with it or will Sony update VidCap to work with HDV?
The PAL variant 'thing' is what makes this a bit of a mess.
I'm yet to be convinced that with 1/3" CCDs this camera is really going to shoot that brilliant images. In controlled situations for sure it'll do some wonderous things but....
Tehn there's the issue of motion artifacts from the mpeg compression, pushing the bit rate up will sure help but what can you write to at 60 Mbps? Not DV25 that's for sure.
Shame about the XLR audio - exspecially after the earlier "mock-up" had it - ah well, just means another couple of months wait and a few more thousand $$$ !