Posted by Frank on 04/18/06 01:11

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:05:29 -0700, in 'rec.video.production',
in article <Re: Mini DV>,
"PTravel" <ptravel@ruyitang.com> wrote:

>
>"Steve King" <steveSPAMBLOCK@stevekingSPAMBLOCK.net> wrote in message
>news:q4qdnSVZRO18g9nZnZ2dnUVZ_tOdnZ2d@comcast.com...
>> "PTravel" <ptravel@ruyitang.com> wrote in message
>> news:4aig1hFtdbfhU1@individual.net...
>>>
>>> "Mr. Tapeguy" <mr.tapeguy@pro-tape.com> wrote in message
>>> news:1145299810.542761.249740@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>>>> However, JVC has a hard drive consumer camcorder out and I think you
>>>> will see a move toward these at some point.

I was speaking recently on the telephone to a consumer acquaintance
who informed me that he didn't understand why I was still dealing with
video tape in this modern "pristine-quality, all-digital" day and age.

(He believes, as do many consumers who have been sold this particular
bill of goods, that anything digital is, by definition,
"pristine-quality". You know, "perfect sound forever", and all that.)

He informed me that HDD (hard disk drive) and direct-to-DVD camcorders
were the wave of the future and that I and all others like me were
living in the past.

I thanked him for his insight.

Earlier today, I happened to be visiting the Sony Style Canada Web
site and took notice of their model DCR-SR100 HDD Handycam.

If I may quote from the Web page in question...

"With its remarkable 30GB capacity, Sony's new DCR-SR100 Hard Disk
Drive (HDD) Handycam captures hours of high-quality digital video
without the need for extra media."

My consumer acquaintance eats this up. In his mind, it means a ton of
money saved by not having to purchase (old-fashioned) tapes.

The Web pages goes on to say...

"Sony's new Hard Disk Drive Handycam camcorder gives you the power to
capture even more of your favourite and spontaneous moments. Record up
to 21 hours of DVD quality video without the need for external or
extra media. The DCR-SR100's impressive storage capacity allows for
extensive digital video recording directly to the Handycam camcorder's
internal hard disk drive."

By now my consumer-oriented acquaintance would be absolutely wild with
joy. Just think, he can record up to 21 hours (!) on a single HDD
while I'm left to ponder 60 minutes in DV mode or 40 minutes in DVCAM
mode on a Mini tape.

The Web page, of course, doesn't stop there...

"Create your own movie masterpiece or burn your digital videos
directly to DVD with Sony Media Software included with the DCR-SR100
HDD Handycam."

At this point, my acquaintance firmly believes that I'm totally nuts,
always ranting on about dual processor Xeon systems with gigabytes of
dual-channel double-data-rate ECC memory and fiber channel
multi-terabyte RAID arrays and other stuff of which he has no
knowledge except that it all costs a lot of money and supports some
hazy thing called uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB.

He also, knowing full well that I'm a city boy through and through,
doesn't fathom why I sometimes mention the term "render farm".

There's no way that I'm telling him about the 8-way workstation that 1
Beyond will be showing at NAB this year.

http://www.1beyond.com/company/press_octoflex.asp?search=press_releases

The long and short of it is that a lot of consumers have never seen
better looking television than they're currently getting from
commercially produced DVD-Video discs and are convinced that DVD and
HDD camcorders are the way to go--and I'm finding it nearly impossible
to convince them otherwise.

>>> Not as currently implemented. The hard-drive consumer machines use MPEG
>>> of some flavor and have the same problems with increased compression and
>>> lack of easy editing. Now, a camcorder with a large hard drive that
>>> recorded DV-25 might be interesting, but it would have to be a mighty big
>>> hard drive.

Given that DV (including DVCAM and DVCPRO) consumes under 14 GB per
hour of storage, and 80 GB and 100 GB 2-1/2" notebook computer style
hard drives are readily available, I don't understand why you say "it
would have to be a mighty big hard drive".

>> I'm scheduled to work on a independent film (as an actor) in late May.
>> they are shooting with the new Panasonic HD camera. Can't recall the
>> number now; the $6 grand one.

Sounds like the Panasonic AG-HVX200 quad-mode
(DV/DVCPRO/DVCPRO50/DVCPRO HD) camcorder.

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=93120&catGroupId=15768&modelNo=AG-HVX200&surfModel=AG-HVX200

>> The videographer has the accessory hard
>> drive that he plans to use.

Sounds like the Focus Enhancements FireStore FS-100, but that's not
yet shipping. Of course, he might be beta testing a pre-production
test sample.

http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=150

>> I'n anxious to see how it all performs.
>>
>> Steve King
>
>Well, sure, solid state and hard drives are definitely the cards for pro
>gear. I was referring to consumer camcorders.

Solid state (for example, Panasonic's P2 flash memory cards) are
currently high in cost and low in capacity and hard drives aren't too
useful to many professional videographers unless they're
removable/external.

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/

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