Sony HDR-AX2000 AVCHD and Vegas 8

CVM wrote on 3/15/2010, 9:59 AM
Hi everyone...

I am a wedding videographer part-time (and do some corporate work). I am making the switch from my Canon GL-2 to the Sony HDR-AX2000 AVCHD camcorder. I've NEVER worked with HD video or HD files nor have I ever shot HD before. I have always had great luck with my GL-2 shooting SD video and editing on Vegas. I am really looking to the input from this group on the following:

1.) Is the HDR-AX2000 camcorder a good one? (it's brand new and fits into my budget... I can't go higher). I need a camera that is good in LOW LIGHT.

2.) The camcorder shoots on Memory Stick and SD cards. I've always used tape. What can I expect from the cards? Will the video be flawless like the tape-based AVI files I get from my GL-2?

3.) How does Vegas 8 work with AVCHD files? What can I expect? I have a Dell Vista 64 Quad-Core 2.3 Ghz with 6 GB RAM. I keep my video files on my OS drive (I know I shouldn't) and have never had a problem with SD video on the same drive. Will HD change this?

4.) If I burn HD video to standard DVD, will it look better than SD video burned to standard DVD? (not sure if I will get a Blu-ray burner yet so I want to be sure my end DVD product will look better than with my GL-2).

I don't want to jump into anything, but I also don't want to languish with my decision. I don't do a lot of work as a videographer, but want to upgrade from my 8-year old GL-2 and use the HD as a selling point.

ANY and ALL feedback you have is MOST welcome. Thanks all!

Dave

Comments

kairosmatt wrote on 3/15/2010, 1:39 PM
1. At the same price point, I have the HMC 150 from panasonic, which has really good low light (not as good as the EX1 from what I can read-but much cheaper). So you may want to consider this one too, I really love this camcorder.

2. Personally, I like tapeless SO much more, but opinions vary. One thing to work out is your backup and archive workflow. You will have to comfortable deleting your 'tapes' to re-use them. Hard drives are cheap these days, so there are plenty of options.

3. A quad core should handle it pretty well until you start to add lots of cross fades and effects. And there is some stutter issues at the beginning of an edit, the way around this is to RAM preview the edit if you need to check it. But generally, I have had very good editing experience with AVCHD.

4. I think the general consensus is yes, the DVD will look better when down-rezzed, although there have been some lively discussions on this board about that. And alot will depend on what your work flow is when dealing with de-interlacing methods.

kairosmatt
CVM wrote on 3/17/2010, 8:31 AM
kairosmatt... great point on the archiving and backup workflow issues related to tapeless capture. I never thought about the fact that I would not have a fail-safe option to reuse the tapes years later if necessary. I think your on the money with the external hard drive back-up option. I recently purchased a Seagate 1.5 TB drive for $129 at WalMart... that drive, and subsequent purchased drives, would be more than enough to store footage (as long as there was no drive failure!).

I'll check out the posts regarding burning HD to standard DVD. Question... do you burn Blu-ray?
kairosmatt wrote on 3/17/2010, 6:08 PM
Sorry, I don't burn to Blu-Ray yet. There have been a lot of posts about some of the pitfalls, but I didn't follow very closely since I'm not there yet. If you search the board, there lots of good discussions about them.

Though I have posted some HD to youtube for some 'friends' with pretty good results:


So I think for internet use you should consider the pros and cons of progressive versus interlaced, especially if you have no need for broadcast.

I also did a project where I shot in HD and in SD on the same camera (HVX200) and you could tell the difference between the two formats on final DVD!

kairosmatt
CVM wrote on 3/18/2010, 6:28 PM
Beautiful work on then Friends/Environment video. If that's the quality I'll get out of the AX2000... I'm sold!

mvpvideos2007 wrote on 3/18/2010, 7:54 PM
I just bought a AX2000 and so far, I love it!!!
CVM wrote on 3/25/2010, 6:01 PM
Dear mvpvideos2007... I'd like to connect with you about your purchase... any chance we can chat? I'm at user3744@yahoo.com.

I've never worked HD, or worked with AVCHD on memory cards with Vegas. I'd like to pick your brain.

BTW... did you buy from B&H for $3,499?

Thanks,

Dave
mvpvideos2007 wrote on 3/26/2010, 9:02 AM
Hi Dave...I actually bought it through Sony and if you google coupon codes, you will get an extra 10% off. I paid $3,149 for the AX2000:) My email is mvp@midwestvideoproductions.com

I am sooting my first HD wedding this Saturday. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
Jerry K wrote on 5/13/2010, 10:15 PM
I just bought the Sony AX2000 a few days ago and so far I love it. I just did a test to see if I should shoot in HD or SD.

I plan on delivering all my jobs in sd widescreen but if shooting in HD and rendering down to DVD architect mpeg-2 looks better
well that's what I would do.

Here's my test for HD vs SD shooting. I put he camcorder on a tripod and recorded 5 seconds of HD 1080 X 1920 60i I then switched over to SD 720X480 60i recorded 5 more seconds of the same seen. I did this 4 more tikes with different stationary shots.

I then put the sdhc card into my computer and dropped the sd and hd clips into a folder on the desktop. I then opened Vegas pro 8c and matched my timeline to the hd media. I then put a lower third right side title saying AX2000 TEST HD.

I rendered each HD clip separately to architect mpeg-2. Next I opened a new time line matching the timeline to the SD media and did the same for the SD clips. Yes, I did change the low third title to sd.

Now I have 5 HD mpeg-2 clips and 5 SD mpeg-2 clips. I looked at all 10 clips playing out back to back, clip 1 HD into clip 1 SD and so on. To my eye the sd clips rendered to mpeg-2 looked a tab sharper.

I then tried making a DVD in Sony DVD architect but could not get it to play the clips back in one shot. I was only able to get them to play one at a time so I make a data disc and that only played on one of my 3 players.

The player it did play on was hooked up to a small 19" HD TV. I really want to see this test on my other two larger HD screens. If any one has any ideas on how to put 10 clips into DVD architect and get them to play traight through that would be great.

If any one has any links on similar test I would like to see them.

I did view the test on my computer screen and the results was the same, the SD rendered to mpeg-2 looked a tab sharper over the HD rendered to mpeg-2.

Thanks, JK
Dreamline wrote on 5/14/2010, 2:01 AM
Watch out for the FLASHES during the cake!

It can get pretty bad looking with so much flash banding happening all at once.