Re: Screen shots from JAG

I spent yesterday afternoon at Sony NJ picking up a Z1 and deck. (Very nice limo to and from -- Sony is always a class organization --who else serves reporters sushi at Press Conferences.)

I detailed the debate going on here to them. They offered some good insights:

1) The goal for the Z1 was a hi-rez version of the PD170. Really nothing more.

2) But they made the DSP a lot better than one might expect. (I assume they'll use the chip into future higher end products - which make sense to me.) Thus the camera CAN deliver a near HDCAM quality pix leaving everyone surprised and hence the origin of the debate.

3) They see the debate about "picture" quality as missing the point. They see the choice of equipment as being client driven:

* If you must shoot under really tough lighting conditions, you really need $25K lenses and 2/3-inch CCDs.

* If you must work in very low light, you need the 2/3-inch CCDs.

* And as the last point -- if you need to make major alterations to look -- you need more than the few settings offered by the Z1.

* If you must work in harsh conditions, you need Broadcast not Consumer built equipment.

* If you need 24p, you need CineAlta.

* If the signal will go through concatinated compression stages, you need HDCAM.

* If your client has certain quality standards (no tiny MPEG artifacts, max rez., etc.) you can't afford not to shoot with HDCAM because HDV isn't able to deliver such a "pristine" picture.

On the other hand, if you can work within the limits of 1/3-inch CCDs, a consumer built camcorder, and low bit-rate MPEG-2 -- you can indeed to get video that to most viewers will look very much like HDCAM.

PS -- for those who keep commenting on the use of still pix -- the pix are directly from the MPEG-2 CBS bit-stream and therefore relect exactly what those who have HDTVs saw. The pix were posted only to show the vast majority what they didn't see because most here don't have HDTV. Contray to assertions made by some, I never made claims -- other than the color fringing -- based upon still pix! I have an HD-PVR so I was able to view the 2 seconds over and over. Lastly, it is the color fringing which I see in these stills and when I edit that I'm most puzzled by.

Hopefully, this will end this debate -- unless, of course, you want to debate Sony. I'll have no part of this.



Steve Mullen
Digital Video Consulting
www.mindspring.com/~d-v-c
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