HD Cinema Service 8

link for Sony XDCAM EX brochure.pdf

rate for the Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX basic camera is $750 per week
see detailed pricing

link to Sony website overview

Sony labels this camera a CineAlta as it has a state of the art true 1920 x 1080 resolution 1/2" (3) CMOS Sensor from the renowned Exmor factory. The XDCAM EX has a better sensor than the $25,000 Sony PDW-F355 XDCAM HD shoulder mount camera which only has 1/2" (3) CCD sensors that are just 1440 x 1080.

XDCAM recording quality at 35 mbs is significantly better than HDV and very close to the quality of DVCPro HD. While DVCPro HD is a great recording format, if you don't have a true HD CCD in the camera it does not help to record it to DVCPro HD.

Solid State recording is where everything is headed in digital video capture. The Panasonic HVX200 introduced the world to this way of working with the older technology P2 card. Producers quickly realized that the advantages cost and time savings in the post workflow could make up for the extra trouble of copying data on location.

here are more notes about the features that we at HD Cinema think are important about the camera:
Native 1080/24p (23.98) as well as variable rates from 1 to 30p, as well as 720 60p for super smooth slo motion
time lapse and slow shutter functions capture clear imagesin low light environments
50 minute recording time on a 16GB SxS card
Fujinon 14x lens delivers amazing performance with full manual focusand iris controls that professionals demand
Selectable gamma curves allow close matching to those of the Sony F900 CineAlta HDCAM camera.
Hi-res 1920x480 pixel viewfinder is the best in its class, a weak point in other cameras in this price range whick use a standard def viewfinder
Three 1/2" CMOS sensors are a professional size compared wtih prosumer 1/3" and 1/4" CMOS or CCD imager and offer more filmic depth of field control
HD SDI output with embedded audio allows direct recording from the camera to HDCAM videotape, prosumer gear has HDMI output.

Production workflow

16 GB Express Cards SxS $ 840 records 50 min at 1080/24p HQ ( prices are expected to drop on this media)
...............

16 GB PC card P2 ...... $ 900 records 40 min at 720/24p

With both these technologies you will want to copy to hard drives and archive a back up to another set of hard drives or LTO-3 data tape

Another archive option is to transfer XDCAM BluRay Media which is now affordable using the Sony PDW-U1 drive. A dual layer blank disk model PFD 50DLA can store 50 GB which is 2 hours and 30 minutes at 35Mb/s HQ data rate, cost is about $60 each. [ cost is $24 per hour for the media, and $25 per hour for the transfer cost at the HD Cinema / DXD post facility ]

Post Worklow

XDCAM EX is a variation of XDCAM HD that records full HD resolution as either 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 footage. XDCAM EX footage is recorded on SxS cards, based on the ExpressCard/34 form factor.

SP (HDV): 25 Mbps (CBR) MPEG-2 bit rate; 1440 x 1080 frame dimensions; 4:2:0 color sampling; MPEG-2 MP@HL-1440 Standard

but this is the preferred quality level:
HQ: 35 Mbps (VBR) MPEG-2 bit rate; 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 frame dimensions; 4:2:0 color sampling; MPEG-2 MP@HL Standard

Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 includes support for the Sony XDCAM EX format, but it requires the installation of the Sony XDCAM Transfer software and an XDCAM EX plug-in.

XDCAM software downloads link to Sony download site

PDZ-KP1 Version 2.1 is the XDCAM transfer software for use with a Mac and Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 This converts the MXF files to Quicktime files.

PDZ-VX10 XDCAM viewer software lets you play back on a PC

Final Cut Pro 6 Release Notes link to Apple site for XDCAM workflow

Insert an SxS card directly into the ExpressCard/34 slot in a MacBook Pro computer.

or for any G5 or MacPro tower HD Cinema can provide a Sony SBAC-US10 SxS Memory Card USB Reader/Writer for the SxS cards.
This is an SxS PRO memory card reader/writer that works on both Windows-based PCs and Macintosh computers via a USB 2.0 interface.

Rendering and conforming XDCAM EX media works in the same way as HDV and XDCAM HD rendering and conforming.

Last modified: February 08, 2008