[MW Forums]

Canon has introduced its XL H1 camcorder, a pro camcorder that can record HD video at 1080i. more

[hmurchison]

Cecille B. Demille ....I'm ready.

[nanosound]

Impressive. The wait is over. And an uncompressed option!

[Tau_Myx]

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HDV specifications allows for 1,920-x-1,080 capture only at 60i, 30p and 24p are captured at 1,440-x-720

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1,440-x-720? Are you sure about this number? Standard 720p is 1280 x 720, I've never heard of 1,440-x-720 before. Also, I don't see any technical reason why lowering the frame rate would require you to lower the resolution as well. If anything, it would give you more data to work with. Even if HDV has this strange limitation, there are only three other HDV cameras on the market so adding proper 1920x1080/24p would hardly be disruptive.

[cinemachine]

Found the following info on the Canon site:
HDV Recording

The XL H1 is capable of recording and playing back High Definition (HD) images using DV cassette tapes. The camcorder records in HDV1080i, and uses a Mode Select and a Frame Rate dial to select HD signals or SD signals and the frame rate.
The images recorded on the tape are configured as follows:
Under the "HDV1080i" (HDV) specifications, 1440 x 1080 (16:9) images in 60 fields (or 50 fields for PAL) are recorded. (60i/50i recording)

Under the "HDV1080i" (HDV) specifications, 1440 x 1080 (16:9) images in 30 frames (or 25 frames for PAL) are recorded. (30F/25F recording)
Under the "HDV1080i" (HDV) specifications, 1440 x 1080 (16:9) images in 24 frames are recorded. (24F recording)
*Assumes 60i/50i Mode optional upgrade has been performed.

[samrod]

Is the uncompressed mode strictly for live feeds from the camera? Because footage off the tape has already been compressed with DV or HDV.
Or, does the camera have an uncompressed recording mode? Who needs more than 3 minute on a tape anyway?

[Spark]

I'm looking forward to better looking Christmas and family BBQ movies. Does this work with iMovie? :-P

[richcon]

In reply to:

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Under the "HDV1080i" (HDV) specifications, 1440 x 1080 (16:9) images in 24 frames are recorded. (24F recording)

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I saw this on their web page too, and I'm not sure what it means. I figure it probably means that 24p is upconverted to 60i video (through the standard pulldown process), and then the 60i video is written to tape. A computer would need to reverse this to get 24p video back.
Or, there's the off chance that they mean the "HDV1080i" specification includes an allowance for 24p recording, and they record 24 frames per second natively to tape. This, of course, would be awesome, but probably highly unlikely.
Hmm...

[Tau_Myx]

In reply to:

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Or, there's the off chance that they mean the "HDV1080i" specification includes an allowance for 24p recording, and they record 24 frames per second natively to tape.

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Indeed, technically this would be quite a bit simpler then disguising the 24p as 60i, and it would give you better quality. But sometimes format designers just do screwy things.

[haim_vital]

It records to 25mbps tape...this appears to be only glorified SD. (Hence the name HDV)
The Panasonic Hxv 200 appears to be the only true HD camera under 10k.
Gods peace
dAlen

[laksjdhfgyteghgc]

all Canon video camera, has a history of like crewing tapes, do a net search, and you will find many people complaining.
also since it can change lens, it is more risky dust on CCD

[Peter Cohen]

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I'm looking forward to better looking Christmas and family BBQ movies.

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Not to mention more realistic bug and offal-eating on those reality shows.

[rlavere]

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all Canon video camera, has a history of like crewing tapes, do a net search, and you will find many people complaining.

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I see the Panasonic engineers are posting here /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I've owned three Canon video cameras--a GL1, GL2, and XL1S. I don't know what "crewing" is, but I've only had one tape damaged among the hundreds I've shot over the years. These cameras are solid, reliable, and consistently great performers (and no, I don't work for Canon).
As for this argument:

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also since it can change lens, it is more risky dust on CCD

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...that's just silly. Are you seriously suggesting a non-interchangeable lens system is somehow better?

[Tau_Myx]

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It records to 25mbps tape...this appears to be only glorified SD.

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Bah! Not another data-rate fanatic. This camera runs at six times the data rate of DVDs at SP speed, and uses that to fill 4 times as many pixels. But most importantly - go to the Apple store and LOOK at Sony's HDV camera's picture and tell me that it is SD.
Numbers can only take you so far, it's what you really see that counts, and HDV is certanly real HDTV.