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MillimeterVanguard Awards 2008
Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Trevor Boyer
Fourteen new products represent technology’s leaps and bounds.
Panasonic AG-HMC150
Developed as a highly compressed flavor of HD suitable for hard-drive-based consumer camcorders, AVCHD always has held promise for the professional market. After all, its MPEG-4 compression is more efficient than HDV's older MPEG-2 — and it's scalable. Early pro camcorders (typically rebadged consumer units) brought better-than-expected image quality but little else in the way of professional features. Enter the Panasonic AG-HMC150. Part of the company's new AVCCAM line, the camcorder features a new PH mode that ups the AVCHD bit rate to an average of 21Mbps. The HMC150 records full 1920×1080 HD to consumer-friendly SDHC cards and packs a waveform monitor, focus assist, a prerecord cache, and dynamic range stretch — which judge Jan Ozer found to improve detail in extreme whites.
Panasonic BT-LH1760
Broadcast monitors based on LCD technology are not exactly new, but until this year, the market did not offer a superior model at an affordable price point. The 17in. Panasonic BT-LH1760 has claimed that mantle. The field-ruggedness, the built-in waveform display, and the generous connectivity options remain from the LH1700. New for the LH1760 is a doubled scan rate of 120Hz, which helps ensure the integrity of fast-motion scenes. There's no fan; the built-in vectorscope is switchable for 75-percent and 100-percent chromaticity; and the LH1760 includes look-up tables to match Rec. 601, Rec. 709, and EBU display standards.
Sony HVR-Z7U and HVR-MRC1
Sony HVR-Z7U and HVR-MRC1
What could a new professional HDV camcorder bring to the table in 2008? Quite a bit, it turns out. With the HVR-Z7U, Sony seems to have taken a best-of-all-possible-worlds approach to producing an affordable handheld HDV camera. There's the three 1/3in. Exmor CMOS sensors borrowed from the XDCAM EX line and the interchangeable lenses (a 12X Carl Zeiss is included). But perhaps best of all is the combination of the tape drive and the detachable HVR-MRC1 CompactFlash (CF) “deck” that creates an unparalleled number of recording options. “There is a matrix of choices,” judge D. W. Leitner says. “You can choose to record only tape. You can choose to record only CompactFlash, making the Z7 a true tapeless camcorder. You can record to both, saving the tape for your archives and using the CF for transfer to your NLE. You can record HD to tape and, simultaneously, downconvert SD to CF. You can record in relay mode so that after tape runs out, recording to CF continues without a break.”
Sachtler Soom
This transforming tripod system made a splash at NAB in a market segment that was starved for one. “For some reason, camera support has seen little innovation in the last decade or two,” judge Barry Braverman says. “That's why the Soom is such a breath of fresh air.” Our judges loved the system's versatility. It supports a camera (ideally Panasonic AG-HVX200-sized) four different ways: low to the ground (or a table) with the TriSpread; as a standard tripod with a 3in. head fixture; as a monopod with the Soom Tube (61.8in. max height); and elevated with TriPod, TriSpread, and Tube together, allowing it to extend up to 98.4in. All that comes in one package — a welcome innovation in these days of ubiquitous excess-baggage fees. Though it's a little heavy at 13lbs., the flipside is extra stability.
Continue the discussion on Crosstalk the Millimeter Forum.