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DSE

New AVC camcorders

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K, it's very late, just got back to my room, and dont' wanna make a long post, so I'll say this...
Sony has several new AVCHD camcorders. I've known of these for a while, but due to personnel changes at Sony Consumer, I didn't have access to them until yesterday. There are two new AVC HDD camcorders that are also capable of shooting to Memstick at the same time. In the disc menu, users can TURN OFF the HDD system, and shoot only to card. This parks the drive. In other words, they can be used for skydiving.B| OIS on one of them clearly disengages properly. Can't tell for sure on the SR12 tho.
Canon has a new series. Looks like they're useable too, as they've changed the way their OIS works, but again...I didn't jump em. What I did do was shake the hell out of them in both modes, and then subtly vibrated them on a table top by whacking the table top. Not enough evidence to make a conclusion, other than knowing they've modified the OIS somewhat.
Panasonic. DISAPPOINTMENT. I'll post pix, but imagine the surprise when the camera tells you it's "Panning too fast" and inserts huge blocks in the image. I shot pix of this. Panasonic reps were quick to tell me it's a prototype, but that was a surprising message to see on the screen. Nice and light tho.
'Nother surprise was a no-name company that was there from China. I bought one of their crummy lil AVC camcorders, and the image is surprisingly good at 11Mbps. No manual anything, no LANC or other control possible, but at 150.00...can't complain at all. I'll post some footage as soon as I jump it.
So far, of all the new stuff, the CX7 is still the best of the lot, IMO. Panasonic has the smallest/lightest, but can't be controlled at all, and I don't care for the encode. Canon's new cams have promise, Sony's new cams are slightly heavier than the CX7, but they do have some really sweet features like face-recognition, to assure for properly exposed face in virtually every situation. Weird to see the block following the face (if you have this option enabled). Panasonic has a similar feature, BTW. JVC had nothing exciting at all.
The Samsung, I was really excited about. The smooth/slow isn't as good as Sony's, and the camera is REALLY cheap feeling plastic. They will not honor warranty claims if the camera is used for sports like skydiving or rock climbing.:| but it *is* very lightweight. I'll post pix tomorrow.

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DSE,

Thanks for the awesome update! I'm excited to see the hybrid devices and perhaps run them through the wringer. Anyone say anything to you/give you evil looks when you where whacking the cameras? B| That would be a sight to see...

HYPOXIC

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DSE,

Thanks for an excellent post and your work for us at CES. I had waited until CES to pull the trigger on a CX7 setup in case Sony dropped something a little better. Now I can get in gear.

Also, It looks like the tinkerers at sonyhdvinfo are on the cusp of having a LANC-type solution for the CX7 that will work for our community and the underwater crowd as well.

http://www.sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?t=12100&page=2&pp=10

Thanks,
Trevor

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The above 3 pictures are of the new Sony HC9. Next-generation encoder, notice it has LANC and AV/D link connector. Larger than HC5/7, but has fully manual features, much like the HC1 offered. This camera is beautiful, although too large for most tandem work. Built like a brick...




You haven't seen what we used to jump then?:D
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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You haven't seen what we used to jump then?:D


Smartass ;)
yeah, i've seen. And read the posts about heavy cams, neck and back problems, and loss of sex drive due to heavy cameras.
I'm actually really, really impressed with the HC9

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Check out the specs here:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665291496

On the rt. hand spec column it says:

Memory Stick PRO™ Media Compatibility
*Tested to support up to 8GB media capacity; does not support high speed transfer function; does not support Access Control security function.

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Hmm....I see that. I don't know what they're saying there.....I can say that I shot footage with the cam yesterday, and Xferred it to my MacBook in a few seconds. I'll ask what they mean by "does not support high speed transfer function; does not support Access Control security function. "
Thanks for pointing that out.

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Fancy.

I like the dimensions of the DVD/Memstick camera! Only 4oz more than a pc1000 too. Hope the OIS fully disables on that one.
~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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Laszlo,
That may become the wave of the future, instead of a fire-wire, just put on your local removeable media stick, remove and instal in the other camera and put data in that camera's HDD!!

The new way to share jumps, and it should be faster that real time!!!
BSBD...........Its all about Respect,

USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499

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:D
Quote

Panasonic. DISAPPOINTMENT. I'll post pix, but imagine the surprise when the camera tells you it's "Panning too fast" and inserts huge blocks in the image. I shot pix of this. Panasonic reps were quick to tell me it's a prototype, but that was a surprising message to see on the screen. Nice and light tho.



Mine's never displayed a message like that. It doesn't get blocky on pans either, even at the lowest bit setting (6Mbps) it holds up pretty good, although it's a bit more grainy than the high setting at 13Mbps.

Quote

'Nother surprise was a no-name company that was there from China. I bought one of their crummy lil AVC camcorders, and the image is surprisingly good at 11Mbps. No manual anything, no LANC or other control possible, but at 150.00...can't complain at all.



Earlier last year, I bought the Aiptek GO-HD 720/30p which I ended up returning due to it's crummy quality. The picture got blocky and it got waivy like an acid trip. The max bit rate was 4.5Mbps, and the encoder was crap which didn't help. It would seem the encoder plays a larger role than simple bit rate, since the Panasonic can do twice the frame rate at a higher resolution with only 6Mbps at the low quality setting, while maintaining a decent quality picture.

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It's the SD5. Not necessarily "new." It has a new encoder that changed midstream, but we rated it as a junk cam when it and it's predecessor (SD1) shipped. Neither can handle high motion. Panasonic doesn't know how to do MPEG yet. Unless of course, someone might suggest we Photoshopped the picture.:D

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Was this the camera they were showcasing? Check out this link for the new SD-9 model.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=215166&modelNo=Content01052008070307494&surfModel=Content01052008070307494

It records 1080/24p and offers 17Mbps. I don't think they are offering the DVD burner with this model. (My SD-5 comes with a burner for archiving) but it should be an improvement.

Also, if it records 1080 progressive instead of interlaced, I wonder if going from 13 to 17 Mbps will be enough if it's recording twice the info.

Goes to show, there's always something better right around the corner.

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DES,

Just wondering. Sony.jp says HD movies recorded on a memory stick via SR11/12 cannot be played on CX7. Sounds like they are talking about movies directly recorded onto a memory stick and movies transfered from the hard drive to a memory stick. Do you know if this is true the other way? I mean CX7 to SR11/12.
We don't know this yet, but say SR11/12 can transfer movies from a memory stick to HDD, would this be limited to transfers among same models?

The site says,
CX7:
XP mode 15Mbps
HQ mode 9Mbps

SR11/12
FH mode 16Mbps
HQ mode 9Mbps

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