Variable Frame Rate, HVX200 vs VariCam

[Julianthebruce]

I have been looking at the Variable frame rate system used by the VariCam, and i am wondering just how similar the system on the HVX200 will be. The VariCam VTR will always record 60fps, no matter what frame rate the camera is set at. Will the HVX200 do the same pull down conversions when recording in the 720 progressive variable frame rate mode? And I have heard that the HVX200 will not be as flexible, in regards to selecting your frame rates. Unlike the Varicam which you can select any frame rate from 4fps to 60fps. Does anyone know what frame rates are available to chose from on the HVX200? The Varicam also allows changes in the frame rate while recording; will it be possible to ramp with the HVX200 or are you stuck with a frame rate until you cut? On the Varicam the controls for ramping are on the body of the camera; I have not seen any controls for this on the pictures of the HVX200 body. This leads me to belive that to change the frame rate settings you will need to go to the menu; and therfore adjusting frame rates while shooting will be impossible. :(

[Häakon]

The answer to a bunch of your questions is in the most recent post of the last topic. Please do at least a little bit of reading/researching first.

 

A partial list of confirmed framerates for the US (NTSC) model is as follows:

 

60, 48, 36, 32, 30, 26, 24, 22, 20, 18, 12.

 

The engineers are having difficulty with the noise floor on framerates slower than 12, but have not ruled them out yet. Again, this is a confirmed list of framerates that will be available on the HVX, but not necessarily a complete one.

 

Ramping is not possible with the HVX.

 

In 720p mode, the HVX records only active frames; it does not put them in a 60 field stream with pulldown. This is why the bandwidth needed for 24p is less than 30p which is less than 60p. In 1080 24p mode, the HVX uses the same user-selectable 3:2 and 3:2:2:3 pulldown mechanism that is used in the DVX100/A/B. The bandwidth is the same in that mode regardless of if you're shooting 24p, 30p, or 60i.

[Landon D. Parks]

According to Barry over at DVXuser, this camera not only has those modes, but also different variables in these modes. So if you shot in NATIVE 60P at 12fps, you will get SUPER fast motion, but no slow mo ability. IN24P NATIVE, you can get both slow and fast rates, and in 30P native, you can get a little more fast mo than slow mo.

 

So really, this camera is capable of producing 36 different frame rates in total, plus he also mentions some other options for variable rates in the 1080 mode, which will even add to this collection of frame rates.

 

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, or just want more info, go read Barry's artical here (Direct link to DVXuser Artical): Barry's Frame Rate Artical for the Panasonic HVX 200

Edited January 12, 2006 by Landon D. Parks