First...I don't have a Z1. The one I've used belongs to Sony, and access is extremely occasional.
Second, I didn't shoot that footage, it's shot by Dreamix and his friend, he's been very kind allowing us to host it. He used an FX1 in PAL.
The Z1 footage we DO have, we're not permitted to post yet.
You can shoot 50iPAL with the Z1, and for my eye, this is the way to shoot. As soon as I have the cam in hand again (soon) I'll shoot the same footage with the settings, excepting for PAL/NTSC, and we'll post the results IF we're given permission.
I believe the CF24 is the same on both units.
The Hypergain and Hypergamma on the Z1, along with the Black Stretch are the 3 things that make the overall biggest diff, IMO. You will have a lot more latitude based on the mojo that accesses the CCD's in the Z1. The FX1 is a VERY fine cam, but for me, I need the audio and Hypergain of the Z1.
BTW, the still shots on our HDV portal page were shot with the Z1. We got permission to post those. But they're stills, not motion video.

Just a few days ago I posted this:

"Subject: RE: Raw HDV for download
Posted by: mhbstevens (Ignore This User)
Date: 12/4/2004 7:35:13 AM

AND does this mean that reagrding the FX1 versions (that shoot either NTSC or PAL but not both), it is better to get the PAL camera (even in USA)? No matter what version of the FX1 you have, NTSC or PAL, vegas can capture and output any format but the PAL camera has true 25p ........ when the NTSC FX1 has only the fake cineform 24p."

I also had a thread about PAL total resolution being better but from the same chips, but neither of these posts generated any interest or any real meaty responses. There seems to be some political block regarding shooting in PAL. When I get the Z1 I'll be testying this for myself. I can't help noticing that all the Sony test footage is shot in PALand that reinforces my thoughts, but I've never got anyone to straighjt forwardly deny that shooting in PAL is better than NTSC even if NTSC DV or HDV is the final output.

I'm not trying to flame I want responces: I think Frank has a point.

Mike S

There is no political block from where I'm standing. I just simply can't answer the question with authority.
How many people have had both in their hands? I've not had the PAL version of the FX1 in my hands, and I don't have any NTSC images that were shot at the same time as PAL from the Z1. By rights, PAL would offer more information and closer to 24p with 25p, yes. How does it look? What I've seen is stunning. But I've not compared them, so can't intelligently answer the question.
the Sony test footage is in PAL because thats where the folks that were testing the cam live. The cam was also available in other markets before it was available here. I've got a boatload of NTSC footage, I've just not been permitted to upload it for copyright reasons. Wait'll after DV Expo, we should have more.
Or come by the show, and look at both types. I've got them both on my demonstration computer, and will be happy to share them with you there.

Spot, thanks for your excellent response - pls, I really do commend you for taking the time to share your thoughts on this - by no means was my initial post in any way meant to "insinuate" you were somehow holding back - I had just figured since you played such a big part of that New York launch a few weeks back that maybe you had access to Z1... But then I saw your post about going out last minute with your XL1 on a job, so I realized that is not the case.

The PAL stuff downconverted all just looks so amazing - so filmic - it really does the new format justice and says what HDV is capable of - sure, the NTSC stuff is better than any mini-dv stuff I've ever seen, but there's just something more to the PAL - or maybe I'm hallucinating?

I'm comeing to DVExpo Thursday. I'll look for you.

FYI, thursday morning I'm in a session upstairs "Audio Post for Video" and then I bail out quickly for Coronado Island to do a training session down there. I'll be back on the floor all day friday.
Hope to catch up!

Hi folks - any update re: this topic?

thanks!

Maybe this will help, HiDef and HDV is the same resolution in PAL or NTSC, just for some incredibly stupid reason our mentors decided having a universal standard for HiDef video was something we were not to be trusted with so there's TWO different frame rates but the res is the same.
Of course if you can wait for the Z1 then you can shoot both. 50i will give you a result closer to film than 60i however if your delivery medium is only SD there's some intersting thing that could be done given that you have so much res to play with. You could ditch every second field and interpolate the remain fields to frames and downres to SD I;d imagin without any loss in quality. That's assuming you don't like Sony's CineFrame look.
What I find interesting is being able to shoot 60i and doing the same thing get 60 fps SD, this will be excellent for SloMo work!
Bob.

Farss is right about the spacial resolution being standard. Just for clarification my proposition that shooting with PAL may be better than NTSC with the Z1 was in relation to later downsampling in Vegas to SD.

But guys, 50i is 10 less interlaced frames per second on 1080 resolution than 60i is; therefore, "PAL" has less compression on its signal - therefore, quality is definitely supposed to be higher. The big question is, do you "see" this at HDTV resolution - this is like a 17% difference! (well, depending on how you do the math)

Spot, have you been able to compare 50i to 60i on the Z1U???

Thanks!

I did shoot both while at DV Expo, unfortunately, we didn't get the media copied from the booth computer to my laptop. I'll have this computer in my hands in a few days, but at the moment, I've got nothing to play with.

Spot, what's your assessment just going by your experience? I know you posted that you'll be shooting mostly at 50i/cf25 modes - so is that meant to say it DOES look better?

Can you confirm range of shutter speeds for cf25? cf24 on NTSC has "min" of 1/60... does cf25 go to 1/25 or 1/50?

thanks!

wow - can't wait for your update/footage re: this topic!

Thanks a lot!

Spot, you gonna be a part of the action at Sundance?

We'll be at Sundance for the entire event, other than I will be leaving Sundance for the NAMM show, but our VASST guys will be there, showing the cam and Vegas. On the 23rd of January, we're throwing a bash for Vegas, ACID, and Sound Forge users in Anaheim.

Hi DSE - so, now Sundance has finally arrived...

can you confirm on points raised in this thread?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all your excellent hard work keeping us informed on this cam via these forums and others...

Thank you!