RichA
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Dec 1, 2005, 6:39 PM
Post #4 of 10
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Re: [hlanden] JVC's HD10U users
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Thanks for asking, Hal!
I have these notes on the camera, based on shooting just 4 basketball games so far.
1. HD image quality of the downloaded MPEG-2 TransportStream is a very nice and
even awesome improvement over DV. My viewers definitely do a double-take
and say "whoa, what is this?". However that said, it is not as good as getting
a basketball game over cable (I have Comcast and ESPN HD). On a 30" LCD flatpanel,
ESPN-HD basketball is brilliantly sharp and clear. The HD10 falls in between.
Don't have unreasonable expectations for a first generation consumer HD.
2. It is disappointing that only one of shutter and aperature can be manually set.
Furthermore, it may not be apparent, but you must keep the setting up on
the screen. If you advance the menu, say from shutter to aperature, the
first one immediately goes to automatic. For sports, definitely keep shutter
on the screen and select this value as high as you can and still have light!
3. The progressive scan feature of this camera is a superb winner over
interlace, for sports. I know this is a controversial point. Perhaps best left
as a matter of taste. To my taste and goals, it is so nice to be able to
freeze and slow mo a sports play, and really see the exact ball position
etc. Really no other camera can do this!! I can't upgrade from this
camera today, in a similar price range.
4. Regarding light sensitivity, who has enough light? Almost all gyms are
horribly lit. You think its bright until you pull out the camera!
I can't directly compare the HD10, except to say
a) in a pro arena with flood lights all around the court, I can shoot
1/250. Nice image!
b) in a typical college gym, no flood lights, 1/125. OK image.
c) in a high school gym, bring a flashlight :-). I have to shoot either
1/100 or 1/125 depending upon how many burned out bulbs.
For sports, I really don't want the shutter below 1/100. You can no longer
find the ball position. The HD10 is just good enough, in terms of light
sensitivty to work ok here.
5. There is no image stabilization for HD mode. Be real smooth on that
tripod. Sure wish I had image stabilization.
I use a software package to post process, if needed (wastes a lot of time).
6. I don't pay too much attention to sound, so can't comment.
In a gym, its a continuous blast of noise. With a zoom mike,
I do get nice ball bounces, and sometimes even the refs voice!
7. viewfinder is nice at 3.5". I don't want to miss the game I am taping!
With this viewfinder, I can tell who is scoring!
8. auto-focus is better than my prior JVC camera. My DV2000 would
hunt and hunt, while chasing the team up and down the court.
The DV2000 had to be used with manual focus, period.
So far the HD10 is doing an excellent job at finding the players.
Not perfect, but where to focus with 10 players running around!
It is quite annoying, at least to me, to see a video with focus hunting.
You may want to plan to use manual anyway.
That's all for now.
Rich
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