[MW Forums]

Sony has introduced its first high-definition video (HDV) production system, the HVR-Z1U camcorder and the HVR-M10U digital recorder. The company expects to ship both next February for US$4,900 and $3,700, respectively. Sony noted that the system will be compatible with Macintosh software but was unable to be more specific as MacCentral posted this article. more

[nsoltz]

This is not accurate. Sony has introduced a pro HDV system. HDV is one of the various flavors of HD. By stating "pro high-def" you ignore the truly professional HDCAM Sony product line.
Ned Soltz

[hmurchison]

Calling HDV "Pro" is stretching things a bit. Pro's generally like uncompressed:4:4:4 video. Heavily (as in 25:1) MPEG2 compression is "Prosumer" at best. Will "Pros" use this system...yeah of course but don't expect feature films to be cut on many HDV systems.

[Tau_Myx]

Sony is calling this "Pro" because it has BNC audio inputs, the DVcam tape speed, 50 hrz mode and some other things. About a month ago Sony introduced a very similar "prosumer" version of this camera without those features.
There is no clear way of saying what camera is "Pro" or not in video any more. Many TV shows are shot with clearly lesser cameras then this one.

[hmurchison]

In reply to:

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There is no clear way of saying what camera is "Pro" or not in video any more. Many TV shows are shot with clearly lesser cameras then this one.

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Many shows huh. Name 5 that are shot with lossy MPEG2 that can't even do frame accurate editing. You will find little support for your assertions that this is a "Pro" camera. Interlaced video(1080i) and high compression coupled with the lack of a good editing codec makes it clearly obvious to anyone beyond the rank and file newbie that this format in general is not Pro format. If I had no more than $5k to spend I'd surely love this camera as the value for the money is good. But even relying on semantics...Pro this camera ain't.

[CharlesC]

The fact of the matter is that HDV is and will be a Pro High Definition Format for a very long time with different flavors in it. It will be able to be edited professionally with at least a half dozen editing programs early next year. In addition there will be quite a number of new Professional HDV products introduced in every quarter from now on.
Those whining about Pro HDV are like those that said that DV/DVCAM/DVCPro was not a Professional format when they were proved wrong as it became the most widely used professional format there is all over the world. It is the easiest thing in the world for anyone to be a critic.
It is years later and electronics are so much better and able to do so much more. In partnership with that, computer editing systems & software are so much more powerful and sophisticated in what they are able to do.
Sure there will be some glitches in the first couple of years but these will be solved and corrected much more quickly than previous pro formats and their accompanying software. It looks like the Sony HDV Pro system will be capable of professional high definition workflow production starting in February or March of 2005. That being said, here is what I noticed with the Sony HDV Cams:
Sony HDV FX1 & Z1 Do Not do a true 24P, 25P or 30P. Sony does not make this clear enough at all. Those modes are from their electronically generated CineFrame mode so one could call those a Faux/Fake P.
The Sony HyperHad CCD 1/3" chips are interlace chips that although very sophisticated are composed of 1080 Vertical x 960 Elongated Horizontal Pixels. My understanding is that this is electronically upsampled to record at 1080 x 1440 then it is electronically upsampled when played back to give the full 1080 x 1920 interlace HD format.
Given all that it does produce a high quality high definition recording/playback picture that is very suitable for many areas of professional video production.

More info is at sonyhdvinfo.com & camcorderinfo.com & in the 2-pop.com HDV forum

[nsoltz]

There are a number of areas that must be refined within HDV editing as the format matures. A primary example here is that FCP does not handle long GOP's particularly well but this is a part of what Apple is working on as a part of offering its promised support of HDV. I totally agree with other writers who noted that the nay sayers derided the use of DV/DVCAM in serious production work. Some still do. We live in an age of the co-existence of multiple choices which in many ways does deviate from the most pristine of standards. In other words, standards have dropped much to the chagrin of those who have been around this industry for decades. At NAB I was part of some heated discussions over the viability of DVCPRO HD as a serious HD format. And yes, there are any number of broadcast programs shot on Varicam and edited over firewire on FCP. Personally, I know a number of documentary makers who are just chomping at the bit to replace their PD150/170's or DVX100A's for HDV. Yes, it is highly compressed and I would never consider a side-by-side comparison with even HDCAM. But lets face another reality-- by the time any HD broadcast is even more highly compressed for DirectTV/Voom/DishNetwork or even worse (YUCH) cable-- even pristine 4:4:4 HD looks like kitty litter. And thanks to CharlesC for the reference to 2-pop.com. My final word: these days professional is alas defined as anyone who gets paid for work by anyone willing to pay him/her.
Ned Soltz

[scmac]

Too much $$$ for my needs ...