JVC GY-HMQ10 4K Compact Handheld Camcorder

JVC Releases first 4K Video Camera under $10,000.

The groundbreaking JVC GY-HMQ10 4K Compact Handheld Camcorder is a one-of-a-kind camera that employs 4K imaging. It features the Falconbrid high-speed processor for advanced video applications. There's one Falconbrid engine for de-matrixing raw data in real time, while another handles H.264 encoding and formatting into the required MPEG4 format. The GY-HMQ10 uses a single 1/2.3" CMOS 4K sensor, which provides 3840 x 2160 images that are four times the resolution of Full HD cameras and monitors. With single sensor sensitivity, the camera works well over a wide range of lighting conditions. It also simplifies the optical design, which results in more precise images with minimal aberration. Plus, the 3840 x 2160 resolution supports a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio as well.

Understanding Color Sampling

When shopping for a video camera, color sampling is one faucet to consider. When shopping for a camera in July 2012, I noticed Canon touting their 4:2:2 color sampling features and so I wondered how big a deal this was.

In the article, “Understanding Color Sampling” by Barry Green, he states:

“You’ve seen the numbers: 4:2:0, 4:4:4, 3:1:1, 3:1.5:1.5, 4:1:1, 4:2:2… What does it all mean? And how does it affect your video? What’s better, what’s worse, and when does it matter?”

“What those numbers are referring to is a technique in digital video commonly called “color sampling.” The concept can be a bit confusing to those not used to working with video in the digital domain. In video, it’s common practice to not actually record all the color in an image, but rather to average the pixels together to cut down on the bandwidth. Color sampling is, in effect, a form of compression. The more compressed the engineers can make the color channel, the less bandwidth the signal occupies and the easier it is to record, transmit, or broadcast.”

In Barry’s article he does verify that 4:2:2 is much better than the alternatives, so Canon appears to have provided a higher end feature in some of their lower priced cameras.

Source: http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/colorspace/

On Canon's website, they state:

"4:2:2 provides ultra-fine transitions in tone and color and maintains the highest quality image for use in post production processes such as chroma keying, color grading, advanced compositing and effects."
Source: Canon XF 100 web page

The New Camera Search - July 2012

My Canon HV30 has served me well for several years now. I've shot 100s of hours of CPA high school football whereI have been producing the video highlights for the team since 2005.

There are some examples on my Vimeo site: https://vimeo.com/hollyviewvideo
Last year, in 2011, another dad joined in to help volunteer film football. He is a professional and between him and my mentor Clint Regehr of CERVIDEO from Texas, I have learned a great deal on how to improve the quality of my productions.

A few games into the 2011 season I borrowed a friends Sony HDR-FX7 to catch action from the sidelines. The following clip on YouTube features some of that footage. It also features footage from my friends Panasonic HMC40.



If you compare my productions from 2010 - 2011, I think you will notice improvement.

Using that FX7 last year made me realize just how critical a good viewfinder, eyepiece, and 20x lense where. The camera was and HDV tape camera just like my Canon HV30, but the 20x lense was just what I needed to reach out across one sideline to another for some great shots. The Panasonic only had a 12x lense and we all agreed it would be great to have two cameras with long lenses for better coverage.

The last season of my son's high school footbal carreer is coming up fast this fall in 2012. We are planning to produce another footbal DVD this year. This year's video production has to be the best ever.

I don't have access to the FX7 any longer so it high time for a new camera.

To capture the action this season, I really need a good prosumer level camera with at least a 20x lense.

I have always been a Canon fan, but while they came out with several new cameras over the last few years, only the Canon XF 300 has a long lense and its around $6,000.

none of their lower priced cameras came with a 20x lense. The only camera with a 20x lense is the older model, XH-A1s.

In July 2012, I have narrowed down the selection to the following cameras.

Canon XF100 HD	Canon XF 100
Canon XH-A1sThis is an HDV tape camera, but would have everything I need. Its a bit heavy, but I've used one of these before and it produced some great footage. The only problem with this model is that its a tape camera. I am ready for a complete digial workflow without the capture time over firewire.	Canon XH-A1s
Sony HDR-FX7 This is also an HDV tape camera and I shot most of last year's high school football video using one of these that a friend let me borrow. The footage turned out great.	Sony HDR-FX7
Sony HXR-NX5U NXCAM Now this is one that a friend has and he speaks very highly of it. This is completely digital and uses SD card or a 128 GB flash pack for recording. This model is a few years old, but if I had the budget, this one would have been my first choice for quite some time. However, now that Panasonic has released their new models, it has some competiion in the same price range and feature set. So the selection is more difficult. To make matters more difficult, the price on the Sony NXCAM has not come down in several years. So that tells me that it must be a good selling model. Guess I was hoping that the price would have come down by now.	Sony HXR-NX5U NXCAM
Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM This camera is in a class all by itself Additional write up on one of my other blog posts here: Sony NX70U	Sony HXR-NX70U NXCAM
Panasonic AG-AC160A / AC130A AVCCAM Panasonic has introduced two new cameras that should work great for sports with a 22x lens. The cameras are identical except for some additional features on the 160 over the 130. You'll pay about $1000 more for the 160. But you get features such as 1080 60p and variable frame rate recording. More info in my Panasonic A160 blog post featureing these two cameras. Update 7/29 - This is the one I am going to order. I strongly considerd the Sony NX5, NX70, Canon AF100.	Panasonic AG-AC160A / AC130A AVCCAM

The Canon and Sony HDR-FX7 are older model HDV tape cameras and the rest record to digtial media. I have been shooting with a tape camera for several years and really want to switch to totally digital workflow.

The newer and completely digital recording cameras range from $2,000 to $6,000 and up.

One of the newest Sony cameras even has a built in projector

Sony 96GB HXR-NX30 Palm Size NXCAM
Price from BH Photo $2,000

Sony NEX-VG20

Sony PMW-100

These cameras below, while not idea for fast moving football action or "run and gun" allow DSLR style lenses and functionality in a camcorder format.

Sony NEX-FS100

Sony NEX-FS700

Panasonic AF100

CPA Lions 2010 - "Boys of Fall"

CPA Lions 2010 - Boys of Fall from Holly View Video on Vimeo.

Video produced for Christ Presbiterian Academy featuring Kenny Chesney performing the "Boys of Fall" (C) 2010 Arnie Barn.

This is a great song about high school football and a great song for a high school sports video.

Please visit the offical YouTube channel featuring the offical music video at the following link: Kenny Chesney - Offical Youtube Channel.


The song is available for download on Amazon at the following link:



Direct link to the offical music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlXDo5WhQXI

Sony HXRNX5U NXCAM

Sony NXCAM Model HXRNX5U

Now here is a camera to dream for. A real prosumer camcorder that records to solid state media.

Product highlights: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/video/channels-nxcam_camcorders/video-nxcam_nxcam_highlights/

Download product brochure (pdf) http://ws.sel.sony.com/PIPWebServices/RetrievePublicAsset/StepID/SEL-asset-186892/original/NXCAM_HXR-NX5U_v2454.pdf

Official Sony web product page: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-HXRNX5U/

The street price is around $4K as of 9/2010

Also, don’t be fooled by the lesser version of the same Sony camera, HDR-AX2000, it is about $500 less, but don’t go for it. The HXRNX5U is the one to get. Update 7/24/12 - Actually people are swearing by the HDR-AX2000 out there on reviews, so maybe just compare the features that you want. The NX5 does seem to have more features, record modes, etc.

Also, be aware that the Sony HXR-FMU128, 128GB Flash Memory Unit is an extra $700. However, with the dual SDHC memory card slots, you really don’t need it.

Be sure that you get at least Class 6 SDHC memory cards or whatever Sony recommends. Class 10 would be even faster. May also require a good SDHC card reader if your laptop does not support SDHC.

Main Sony NXCAM site: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-nxcamsite/

Videomaker review:
http://www.videomaker.com/article/14904/

Older review on the prototype: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxKe6NDicBE

There are also cool accessories of course like the VCTSP2BP Multi-purpose Camcorder Support System.

Product Review:


Sample footage:



From Product Specs:

Recording Frame Rate NTSC Mode
AVCHD FX (24Mbps) 1920x1080/60i
AVCHD FH (17Mbps) 1920x-1080/60i
AVCHD HQ (9Mbps) 1440x1080/60i
AVCHD LP (5Mbps) 1440x1080/60i
AVCHD FX (24Mbps) 1920x1080/24p
AVCHD FH (17Mbps) 1920x1080/24p
AVCHD FX (24Mbps) 1920x1080/30p
AVCHD FH (17Mbps) 1920x1080/30p
AVCHD FX (24Mbps) 1280x720/60p
AVCHD FH (17Mbps) 1280x720/60p
MPEG2 SD HQ (9Mbps) 720x480/60i
MPEG2 SD HQ (9Mbps) 720x480/60i (24p Scan)
MPEG2 SD HQ (9Mbps) 720x480/60i (30p Scan)

For Sony Rumors and News:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/

Pixel Aspect Ratio Explained

Larry Jordan tutorial explaining pixel aspect ratio for digital video.

Uploading and Playing Videos for Mobile Devices

Playing videos on mobile devices is very popular. Knowing for sure that your video upload will actually play on any given mobile device depends on several factors not the least of which is that the video streaming hosting site must support mobile video formats.

YouTube and Vimeo are two popular video streaming hosts that also allow embedding of videos into third party websites such as this blog or company sites.

YouTube’s web site has the ability to detect a mobile device. When browsing YouTube with a mobile device, the web site is smart enough to understand this and it only displays the special mobile version of the web site. The web pages are actually reformatted to allow YouTube mobile to fit comfortably on smaller mobile screens.

YouTube also has specially programmed standalone applications for devices, such as Windows mobile, that can be downloaded directly to the device. These applications allow searching for and playing YouTube videos, directly from the device, without having to browse the internet first.

More information on YouTube mobile is available at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/mobile

Vimeo does not seem to have similar standalone applications yet but does appear to be able to adjust to some mobile device formats. To activate this Vimeo feature, the mobile device user must browse to this special URL hosted on the Vimeo site: http://www.vimeo.com/m

On certain mobile devices such as the Apple iPod, the Vimeo site is reformatted to fit the device screen. This special site then allows the viewer to watch Vimeo videos streamed directly to the device.

Vimeo Mobile Site viewed on iPod		Selected Vimeo video viewed on iPod		Vimeo Mobile video played on iPod

The Vimeo mobile site still appears to be under construction. Navigating directly to a Vimeo video using an "m" in front of the short cut displays a mobile page for the video but does not allow playing of the video or any other interaction. Example: http://vimeo.com/m/14503700

Currently, Vimeo mobile device support appears to be limited to iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Android based devices such as the DROID.

For my testing purposes, I created and uploaded a high school sports video clip hoping to  play Vimeo videos on mobile devices. The clip below was uploaded to three different hosting sites: Vimeo, YouTube, and Facebook.

The only mobile devices I currently have access to are iPod Touch, iPad, and Windows Mobile. The test Vimeo clip plays on the iPod and iPad, but not Windows Mobile. I still need to find someone with a Blackberry and other mobile devices to test with, but the results are listed below thus far.

Hosting Site	iPod	iPad	Windows Mobile	DROID	Blackberry
Vimeo	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Unknown
YouTube	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown
Facebook	No	No	No	No	Unknown

Clip Title: CPA Lions 2010 vs Lexington Christian Academy - Interception

Test clip notes:
Camcorder: Canon HV30
Raw HDV Clip
Video: 29.970 fps interlaced, 1440x1080x12, MPEG-2
Audio: 48,000 Hz, Stereo, MPEG Layer 2

Rendered MP4 Clip in Sony Vegas Pro 9.0e
Audio: 128 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, 32 Bit, Stereo, AAC
Video: 29.970 fps, 1920x1080 Progressive, YUV, 6 Mbps
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.000
Profile: Baseline

Test Clip 1: Hosted on Vimeo

Test Clip 2: Hosted on YouTube

Test Clip 3: Hosted on Facebook

Test Clip as Viewed on iPod