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CCD Specs Revealed


Matt Irwin

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That test seemed to spark even more arguments. JVC and Pansonic have come up two different methods to overcome the problems of progressive frames on 1/3" CCDs. I expect that only by testing and experience that we'll find out the shooting situations in which their problem solving causes us problems.

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That test seemed to spark even more arguments. JVC and Pansonic have come up two different methods to overcome the problems of progressive frames on 1/3" CCDs. I expect that only by testing and experience that we'll find out the shooting situations in which their problem solving causes us problems.

 

It sounds like the question is, if you want 24P HD, one choice would be between the Canon with a higher pixel count per CCD but a fake 24P process, versus true 24P on the HVX200 but with an image uprezzed from lower pixel count CCD's. Which seems to point to the JVC camera as perhaps the best at doing 24P in HD.

 

But if I wanted 1080i, it seems like the Canon would be the winner all-around.

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It sounds like the question is, if you want 24P HD, one choice would be between the Canon with a higher pixel count per CCD but a fake 24P process, versus true 24P on the HVX200 but with an image uprezzed from lower pixel count CCD's. Which seems to point to the JVC camera as perhaps the best at doing 24P in HD.

 

But if I wanted 1080i, it seems like the Canon would be the winner all-around.

 

That's a decision you have to make when deciding on the right camera for a particular or the type of productions you're working on. All these cameras have trade offs, for example I'm not to sure that I'd want to use the Canon on a production that involves a lot of hand held work, but it would be fine on a production shot mostly on sticks. Certainly, selecting on the basis of image quality in 1080i alone it seems to be the one to go for.

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It sounds like the question is, if you want 24P HD, one choice would be between the Canon with a higher pixel count per CCD but a fake 24P process, versus true 24P on the HVX200 but with an image uprezzed from lower pixel count CCD's.

David,

 

I was wondering....

 

If some people define the Canon XL-H1 by the CCD and not what it's actually recording, thereby some people giving it the name "fake 24p"

then.....isn't it fair.....

that we define all cameras by the CCD, thus labeling the HVX200 as a "fake HD" camera??? I mean, 960x540 is hardly HD, and thats the CCD we're talking about, right?

 

just wondering what your expert thoughts are on that.

 

- ShannonRawls.com

 

P.S.: Actually, it may possibly be considered "fake 4:2:2" as well??

Edited by ShannonRawls
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Well, all these consumer HDV cameras are fake. Let's face reality. Mega-corp electronics giants sliding nonsense past people who don't know any better and just got a new credit card and have big starry-eyed dreams. Real HD, not even up to 16mm par, costs a 100 grand a camera. Only Panasonic's DVCPro HD seems worth considering as affordable. Barely worth considering...

 

However, I am glad to see them, as although HDV will be very noticeably sub-standard to film originated projects, it will be easier on the eyes and less headache-producing than the DV originated features we've been subjected to. And it works just great for microbudget lifestyle TV production.

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This begs for a shootout comparison between the HVX200 and the Reel Stream "Andromeda" hack of the DVX100. They both can feed their quasi-HD signals direct to a laptop via USB, but I would think the image from the Andromeda would be superior at a considerably lower price. Worth comparing for those considering this workflow with the HVX200.

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Hi,

 

What they'll think of next is doing the same thing to an HD-100.

 

Gah, JVC, why didn't you put an HD-SDI output on the damn thing?

 

Phil

 

 

Well they did put the component outs on it, just like Sony did on the F900. And just like we all did with the F900, we complained that there should be an HD-SDI out so that we don't have to use a black box to convert the signal. The new F900/R will have the HD-SDI, just like the Varicam and even the Canon XL-H1.

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First a response to whoever said that HDV is not true HD and is nonsense.

 

I just finnished a feature in HDV (sony, HVR-HU1) and it looks pretty good. I am not saying its anywhere near a varicam, or F900. But compared to the availible choices (HDV or DV in this case) the high def TRUMPS the dv25. There is use for it (anyone shooting mini-DV for a feature should go with HDV if there is a chance of blowup) and there are downfalls to it (better get your look in camera, because color correction lattitude is limited) but in the end someone spending a total of 5-6 grand on a camera can't ask for any better, and its light years ahead of options we had just 3 years ago.

 

with that said.

 

I cant believe Panny dropped the ball! unbelievable! 720x1280 res that the HD100U has I thought would be the minimum to call prosumer HD. That figure is barely above regular DV. The thing that really gets me is why take such a small amount of pixels, and blow it up to a huge frame, and compress THAT FRAME!! why not lightly compress the native relosolution of the chips and DSP the HD out during playback? Seems like you could keep the image less compressed and hold closer to the original image.

 

I was hopping to see an andromeda version, now I dont care if they do or dont. The HD-100U is what I wanna see andromedized now. And if JVC could put a SSE warning light in camera, that would be cool too, reduce the paranioa of shooting with it.

 

I just wanted a camera that can shoot HD for under 10grand, is that so much to ask!!! (apparently so. maybe I should wait untill BeeKeeping lands me a cool million, then go buy a viper w. filmstream)

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Hi,

 

> The HD-100U is what I wanna see andromedized now.

 

The HD-100U with a better lens, you mean (Possibly a pro35-alike with film primes). The supplied one is utter junk, worse than the servo optics on the XLH1. So what we're now doing is taking an HD-100, chopping the lens off the front, the recorder off the back, and throwing away 75% of the imaging electronics.

 

Which is insane.

 

What we actually do is run around and start looking at commercially-available 3-chip 1080p cameras with a C mount and go from there, because stripping the HD100 down to that is a complete waste of most of the camera. Like you, my first reaction was "Put a hard disk recorder on it and it's great!", but then you think about it and you go "what the hell am I paying for, then?"

 

> I just wanted a camera that can shoot HD for under 10grand, is that so much to ask!!!

 

Yes.

 

Phil

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whoever said that HDV is not true HD and is nonsense.

 

I thought would be the minimum to call prosumer HD.

 

The minimum of what can be called HD seems to keep dropping year after year.

 

I'm not surprised about Panasonic specs. There is physical reciprocity in how many pixels you can squeeze on a 1/3 inch chip. The more you attempt to squeeze on there the lower the over all sensitivity.

 

My expereince with the FX-1 I found it a bit more contrasty than most other prosumer cameras.

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The HD-100U with a better lens, you mean (Possibly a pro35-alike with film primes). The supplied one is utter junk

 

I wouldnt trust an 'HD' Lens that cost less than 4,000 anyways (most I see aftermarket are upwards of 20-25K, and thats for the much easier to hit target of 2/3" optically speaking the 1/3" seems much more difficult to accomplish with equal sharpness and resolution.)

 

But I hear the 11K wide angle is decent, and if they are smart they would release others. Its main advangtage is the fact that it has no scalling from the chip. The chip itself is 1280x720 and does a true 24fps. I am not sure, but I believe it does not rely on pixel shift either (pixel shift I am not a fan of, its a cheap way to increase 'sharpness and resolution' but consistantly fails in high frequency detail (which to me seems a bit beside the point. Isn't resolution supposed to add meaning to high frequency detail? Does anyone actually feel they need MORE pixels to render a flat white wall? No you need it to render the texture of the bricks in a building)

 

But I am a fan of the mini-35 HDV combo. I just wish I could pull all the data off the chips in an uncompressed 10bit form (andromeda style), but keep the recording section the same for when I do eng stuff, or stuff where its impossible/impracticle to take a computer and all the andromeda support gear(I live in Alaska, so backcountry shooting always imposes obvious restrictions. It might be hard to run from a Kodiak Grizzly with andromeda weighing you down(considering they run 35mph, it might be hard either way you look at it.)

 

But to make a camera thats almost twice what the DVX costs and to say 'you need DVCPRO HD on the P2 cards, at an additional 3grand' to get the quality is almost conning people to pay for something they are not getting. (though its almost worth it for the DVCPRO-50 feature. Im sure in SD it will be the sharpest, best picture around, but only compared to DV25 cameras in its price range.

 

oh and the comment about asking for an HD camera under 6K, yes that was facishist. But a decent camera with a near HD resolution is possible. The ZU1 looks good compared to mini-DV, but it will never trump a cinealta, and It still has so many frustrating user interface problems that it needs much work.

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David,

 

I was wondering....

 

If some people define the Canon XL-H1 by the CCD and not what it's actually recording, thereby some people giving it the name "fake 24p"

then.....isn't it fair.....

that we define all cameras by the CCD, thus labeling the HVX200 as a "fake HD" camera??? I mean, 960x540 is hardly HD, and thats the CCD we're talking about, right?

 

just wondering what your expert thoughts are on that.

 

- ShannonRawls.com

 

P.S.: Actually, it may possibly be considered "fake 4:2:2" as well??

 

Dude, give it up! the XLH1 is NOT 24p!!! so many people have already told you why not, and you keep trying to argue with everyone- Why? just say you like 24F and it looks good to you! it is not true 24p!!! And before you go on about how you own an XLH1 so you are the only person qualified to talk about it, I used one a few days ago and I thought that the 24F didn't look anywhere near as good as the 24p on an XL2, it looked more like frame mode on an XL1 (in terms of movement only, not resolution etc..).

I don't want to start a whole 'nother argument on this topic but just wonder why you keep insisting on the obviously false.

Cheers.

P.S. maybe the HVX is "Fake" HD hence the cheapness of it, but that still doesn't make the XLH1 24p!!!!!

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Hi,

 

XLH1 does not do 24P in a way that would be considered "proper" by many people.

 

Obviously, the signal it records on tape is progressive, but it's no more "real progressive" than it'd be if you shot interlaced and delaced it in post.

 

It's cruddy. Whether it's more cruddy than the HD100 with the crappy lens and lower intrinsic resolution is another matter.

 

> I just wish I could pull all the data off the chips in an uncompressed 10bit form (andromeda style)

 

As I say, someone give me an HD100 body, a Xilinx Virtex2 dev board, and about... ooh, four, five months?

 

Seriously, someone should get on this.

 

Phil

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Phil,

 

I assume that you didn't manage to test the 3.5mm wide angle zoom with the camera. It sounds like it's the one to go for with the JVC, although the price with camera is getting up towards the cost of the new XDCAM HD cameras and even allowing for extra money could be the one to go for.

 

Brian

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We already had that debate before. Most people define a 24P camera as one that has a progressive-scan CCD that captures reality 24 times a second, regardless of how that info is then stored from then on out. So the Canon is a fake 24P camera and to call it a 24P camera is misleading.

 

That doesn't mean that it doesn't fake it very well. It doesn't mean it's a bad camera or anything so stop seeing the word "fake" as a bad thing. I could try and think of some other word than fake ("simulated" maybe?) but to call it a 24P camera would simply be inaccurate because people are going to assume that it has a progressive scan CCD that captures 24 times a second, and they'd be wrong if they thought that.

 

Or call it a 24F camera. Just don't call it a 24P camera, please. I hate inaccuracies like that. It smacks of marketing, of "spin" (i.e. if I don't call my Canon a 24P camera, people will think there's something wrong with it, so I'd rather use an inaccurate term than risk that.)

 

I've said all of this before so I'm not sure why you keep bringing it up. You're not going to convince me that the camera is a true 24P camera when it's clearly not -- even Canon doesn't make that claim otherwise they wouldn't have used the term "24F". If they don't want to be inaccurate, then you shouldn't either.

 

IT FAKES 24P, OK? IT DOES IT REAL WELL TOO. BE HAPPY.

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We already had that debate before. Most people define a 24P camera as one that has a progressive-scan CCD that captures reality 24 times a second, regardless of how that info is then stored from then on out. So the Canon is a fake 24P camera and to call it a 24P camera is misleading.

 

Exactly, actually yesterday I was watching this podcast on the iTunes ("Ripplecast", Canon XL-H1, episode 4) and the technical marketing manager for Canon, made the following statement:

 

"The industry saw progressive as the term down the tape when in the fact progressive really means the term off the chip, it's how the image comes off the chip ... "

 

"...when it's actually down the tape is 24 frame image ... "

 

"... this camera is not a progressive chip camera, it's an interlaced chip camera"

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If simply being able to process a 48i, 50, or 60i capture to create 24 whole frames made it a defacto "24P" camera, then anything could be a 24P camera as long as the processing was done internally and not done in post.

 

Of course, currently only the Canon does this in camera (the Sony HDV camera can also simulate 24P but then adds pulldown to reconvert to 60i, and since it doesn't capture at 48i, it does it less well than the Canon), but my point is that whether the camera offers a 24P option is most commonly defined as whether it captures 24 times a second, progressive-scan.

 

Even Adam Wilt's article points out that there is some vertical resolution lost when the Canon is in 24F mode, so clearly it is not capturing 24P/1080.

 

All that said, the Canon fakes 24P well-enough that it seems that even with the hit in resolution, it's seems (without further testing) no worse than the "true" 24P Panasonic HVX200 since that one is using CCD's with much fewer pixels to begin with.

 

As far as whether a camera with much less than 1280 x 720 pixels per CCD can be considered "fake" HD or not, that's a good question. Again, when in doubt, it comes down to common usage -- i.e. if everyone says it's HD, then it's HD. Or to put it another way, if it seems to deliver more resolution than a standard def camera recording standard def, then it's HD by most people's definition. Instead of calling it "fake" HD, probably "low-end HD" would be more accurate.

 

In most cases, HD is defined by the recording, unlike 24P which is defined FOR A CAMERA by the capture technique. So the Andromeda Reel-whatever technique for the DVX100 perhaps could technically create 24P HD from a 24P SD camera, but it's 24P because of the way it can capture the image (even if recorded as 60i with a pulldown), but HD depending on if can be recorded as HD with acceptable resolution.

 

But I fully admit that there's a gray area here in regards to how much uprezzing of a CCD capture can you get away with and still be considered HD. But again, when in doubt when it comes to language, the commonly-understood definitions tend to apply.

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the Sony HDV camera can also simulate 24P but then adds pulldown to reconvert to 60i, and since it doesn't capture at 48i, it does it less well than the Canon

it simulates 25p and records to 50i though, which works quite well.

 

/matt

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