Digital Video - May 2008 - (Page 6)

DV UPDATE (ALMOST) LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS NEWS AND NOTES DIRECT FROM THE NAB SHOW FLOOR. T he DV crew, including editor David E. Williams, technical editor Jay Holben, and contributing editor Ned Soltz made daily reports from the NAB Show for DV.com, highlighting new tools and technology of interest to the DV readership. Here’s a digest of that running commentary. Further in-depth NAB reports will appear in our June issue. Ikan created this sculpture with their mini monitors. P2 IS SPREADING Panasonic’s most significant NAB announcement for me is P2 HD (and note the subtle change from just P2 to P2 HD) coming to VariCam. Two new VariCam models, the AJ-HPX3700 and AJHPX2700, each record to five P2 cards with standard AVC-Intra codec. In fact, they record AVC Intra 100, AVC-I 50 and DVCPRO HD in all 720 and 1080 modes. Both have three 2⁄3" CCD chips and HD-SDI output with the 3700 adding a 4:4:4 RGB Dual-Link output. The 3700 can record 4:2:2 to P2 while simultaneously streaming 4:4:4 through the dual link. Panasonic’s HPX170 (price not announced) is a camera with the HVX200 form factor but without the tape mechanism and weighing only 4.2 pounds. It adds HD-SDI to the existing output set of the HVX. This one really impressed me (as an HVX owner) since I must say that I have never once run a tape (what’s that?) through my HVX. And I shouldn’t forget the LH-1760 monitor, a successor to the very popular LH-1700 and adding 120Hz refresh and vectorscope as well as waveform monitor. At the consumer to prosumer end of the market, Panasonic is expanding its offerings of AVCHD gear with cameras starting at $2,495. — Ned Soltz In touting all of the productions broadcast with Sony gear, one of the highlights was the Miss Universe Pagent, recently broadcast live from Vegas. And Sony even treated the boys (after all, NAB stands for Nearly All Boys and if you’ve been to the show you know what I mean) to Miss Universe 2007 herself — Riyo Mori of Japan — carrying the much-anticipated PMW-EX3 HDCAM on stage. The EX3 expands upon the EX1 capabilites, adding interchangeable lenses, time code in and out, and a dial on camera for over/undercranking. I’ll find out today whether this allows ramping within a shot. The viewfinder is larger, as is the LCD screen. I must say that this generated at least as much excitement as Miss Universe. Available in the fall, the EX3 will list around $13K and repThe PMW-EX3 resents an important increment in the product line with a positioning between the EX1 and the optical-disc based XDCAM F series. I love it. I want one. I won’t detail all the other broadcast and indie-prod related products just for some modicum of brevity. Suffice to say, that there are new offerings in Trimaster LCD monitors as well as the LUMA series. — Ned Soltz PERSONAL RECCOMENDATION Today was a day for seeing a lot of familiar faces. I ran into cinematographer Bob Primes, ASC and had a nice discussion with him about what he had seen thus far. Sony’s newly unveilled PMW-EX3 camcorder really caught his fancy, and he championed its virtues for a few moments, not dissuaded by my pointing out that the camera has a proprietary lens mount. His comments www.dv.com SONY STORY During Sony’s press event, they announded the expansion of its line of XDCAM HD gear with the PDW-700 camera, shooting 50 Mbps MPEG-2 XDCAM 4:2:2. (Oh, and we also learned that next season of Survivor will be shot on XDCAM HD.) 6 dv may 2008 http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - May 2008

Digital Video - May 2008 Contents DV Update Close-Up AJ-HPX3000 Camcorder Sidecar Raid Zoom H2 Recorder Instant Expert 324 Flat-Panel Display Extreme 35MM Adapter Type-S JIB How Slow Can You Go? Global Gastronome Mixing It UP Long-Distance Runaround Tools & Technology DV 101 Production Diary

Digital Video - May 2008

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