It sounds very cool. I saw a demo video of the new cameras and the quality was just short of amazing. I can't wait to get my hands on one to put it through some real world tests. I think that Sony has a big winner here---in fact I heard that CBS has already bought a ton of these cameras . In my mind, at 16,000, and 30 dollars per disk (will hold up to 40 minutes of HD--I believe) Sony has found the right price point to push the HD revolution forward. Now the question becomes what does the video look like?

I've only seen two pieces of video, but both were incredibly impressive. I don'r know what bitrate they were encoded to, assuming it was 35Mbps, but not certain.
Yes, Sony has got a winner here, I think. Bigger chips than HVX, true 24p, better form factor for ENG and filmmaking, cheaper and more reliable storage, lens options, long battery life, what's not to like?

"HD XDCAM is not currently supported in Vegas"

Dr.Dropout-- on cow

Yup, just saw that---maybe in Vegas 7.0. Anyone have any idea on other options besides the Sony decks to capture and record video from the disks?

Being able to use proxy files in Vegas would be superb. Even better would be an import option to select the proxy clips you want, and have Vegas transfer them to the hard drive. Then have a background conform to the HD versions while you are working.

An import of cliplists from PDZ1 would be great too, so the clips would automatically be imported as full files (ie not clipped) into Vegas. I've used PDZ1 in the field to create rough edits. Being able to import those cliplists and the clips non destructively into Vegas would be great.

The variable framerate thing is the clincher for me. I've been promised a test camera for ages now. Spot, let me have yours when you've finished with it! I'm itching to see if the framerates can be ramped up and down during recording.

Have deck.

XDCAM HD media/source material in the XDCAM HD deck is not currently supported in Vegas for file-based editing.

You can use SD-formatted discs/source material in the XDCAM HD deck with Vegas 6.0c. All full-rez MXF SD source video flavors can be opened on the Vegas timeline for editing (aka file-based workflow).

You can interface with the deck today using Decklink, both SD and HD-SDI (60i or 50i ), or downconvert to DVCAM using 1394.

The Sony ad in American Cinematographer says:

"CineAlta 24P, HD, optical disc recording, and editing on your laptop... all for a suggested list price under $17K".
No mention of model number but a two page ad.
Bob.

That'll be the F330.

Would someone please clarify this for me?
Can you edit XDCAM in Vegas like any other video files I.e. AVI, QuickTime etc.?
OR is XDCAM files more of a HDV work flow/hassle?


thanks

HDV isn't any more of a workflow hassle than anything else, if you understand how to work with it.
That said, XDCAM (SD) can be transferred straight from the camera/deck to a hard drive as a data Xfer, and edited on the Vegas timeline just like anything else. You can download XDCAM footage from the VASST site, and drop it on your Vegas timeline and try it for yourself.

Thanks DSE - I found a HDV clip. I can't seem to locate the XD CAM footage.
Where should I go to find it?

Get it here.

XDCAM is FAR more than just HD, well actually it's the MXF wrapper that gives it the power. The camera not only records the full res version of what you're shooting and that can be 4:1:1 DV, 4:2:2 DV or HDV but it's also recording a mpeg-4 proxie. The proxies can be viewed and in/out points set on just about ANY computer, the software to do that is on the disk, as in the one that comes out of the camera!
You can then load those proxies into a full blown edit system and do further work on them and when you render only the bits needed from the disk need to get transferred to NLE, much faster workflow. Just how much of all that workflow Vegas supports I'm not 100% certain but on the Xpri it's an incredibly fast process, probably less than 15 minutes to edit 45 minutes of 4:2:2 material
To access the XDCAM data you don't need all the typical broadcast SDI cabling and switchers, juts plain old 1Gbit office LANs will do very nicely. I guess if you're not into ENG some of this isn't all that exciting but what the heck, the cameras do take great pictures it seems and they're a reasonable priced and the BluRay disks can be reused at least 1,000 times, I doubt any tape format could withstand that punishment.
The other rather sneaky thing you can do with the proxies is send JUST them to a client, I think you can get the whole of a BD disk onto a SS DVD minus the full res clips. So your client can view the clips, I guess even flag the bits they want etc and you can do that without risk of them nicking off with your work before you get paid.
Bob.