Interestingly a small group of freelancers on b-roll.net claim that the world adopted the HD 6mm tape format. Mr. Giannotti claims that every time he goes to the Super Bowl, he sees the world broadcasters there and he claims that the majority are using HDX900 cameras.
Mr. Giannotti, for the last two weeks the world was at my doorstep. Your county’s host Olympic broadcaster NBC are using the 4:2:2 HD XDcam PDW-F800 as main cams. Canada’s Olympic host, CTV (the main OTA CTV net) are using the HD 4:2:2 XDcam PDW-700 as main cams. CTV owned cable net TSN, also covering the Olympics are using the 4:2:2 HD XDcam PDW-700 cams as main units. CTV outsourced some coverage to CDN rival Rogers Sportnet (another CDN cable sports channel) and they have their own 4:2:2 XDcam HD PDW-700 cams.
No, Sony did NOT supply the XDcams to CTV, TSN or Rogers. CTV switched CTV national news, CTV local Toronto and CTV local Vancouver news to the PDW-700 before the Olympics. CTV also supplied PDW-700s to their 24hr cable news channel CP24 and to their national cable sports channel TSN. Rogers purchased 42 PDW-700 XDCAM 422 cameras for their Toronto ENG operations before the Olympics.
Major crews from the west, from countries like Germany, from the east, from Asia are here and the majority are using XDcams…
Few others on here try to convince folks that 4:2:2 is a waste of money and that no one can tell the difference between 4:2:2 or lower sampling. Some even claimed that the XD 300 35mbps series would be the final unit because 4:2:2 at 50 is a waste. Yet the majority of broadcasters, especially for post work are asking for and adopting 4:2:2 cameras.
Some will claim that a 720P CCD camera up-rezzed to 1080 will be just fine. Well maybe in yesterday’s world but pretty soon, with consumers owning bigger 1080p TV sets the difference between uprezzed 720 and native 1080 will be huge. There is HD and than there is FULL HD.
One gentleman on b-roll is pissed because he bought a 700 and now a 800 is out. I got news for you sir– a 900 maybe even 970 will come out soon. This will have 1080p60 capabilities with a new MPEG-4 codec. Backward compatible with all other XD MPEG-2 formats. Rumor is that ABC is waiting for this camera. I cannot believe that in today’s chip-driven world folks actually believe that the latest camera will be the last camera. I can’t believe that anyone plunking down thousands on a new cam does not know what Sony and Panasonic plans for the near future.
I’m not posting this to piss anyone off. It’s just that once every few years the record needs to be set straight for the few lurkers left that still read this forum. Most have been driven off long ago. The ones left should not believe everything they read here, claimed by a handful of posters at this board. They do not represent the whole world, the real world. 6mm tape based cameras do not rule the international broadcast world, nor does 6mm tape play as the majority format in the United States as some here would like you to believe.
Making a real name forum at b-roll made me come back and try a post. If I sound a little arrogant I sincerely apologize. I welcome anyone to refute anything I written.
In a separate series of projects, CTV purchased Sony’s latest PDW-700 XDCAM model, the PDW-700 XDCAM 4:2:2. CTV had been testing an earlier version for the PDW-700 XDCAM at TSN for several months and was pleased with the results, Morris says. When the 4:2:2 version became available, the network purchased cameras for its CP24 operation, CTV Toronto News, TSN and the Discovery Channel.
CTV continued its rollout of XDCAM 422 product across the country when it converted its Vancouver operations to HD in September, installing 19 PDW-700 cameras for ENG/EFP and three HSC-300 Digital Triax cameras for studio operations. Additional purchases of the PDW-700 were made to support the CTV National News and the Olympics. XDCAM 422 will be the prime production format for CTV's coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Rogers Television recently combined the operations of both City TV and its two Omni channels into a new home at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. The rollout included 42 PDW-700 XDCAM 422 cameras all equipped with Sony Digital Wireless systems.
CBC SPORTS USES SONY PDW-700 XDCAM HD 422 AND PDW-HD1500 DECKS TO COVER BEIJING OLYMPICS
The links are just for Canada – you all know what CBS, NBC and ABC use in-house.
Again, I did not post this to start another useless argument. I simply posted this to represent reality as I see it. I welcome anyone to refute anything I written.
Mr. Giannotti, for the last two weeks the world was at my doorstep. Your county’s host Olympic broadcaster NBC are using the 4:2:2 HD XDcam PDW-F800 as main cams. Canada’s Olympic host, CTV (the main OTA CTV net) are using the HD 4:2:2 XDcam PDW-700 as main cams. CTV owned cable net TSN, also covering the Olympics are using the 4:2:2 HD XDcam PDW-700 cams as main units. CTV outsourced some coverage to CDN rival Rogers Sportnet (another CDN cable sports channel) and they have their own 4:2:2 XDcam HD PDW-700 cams.
No, Sony did NOT supply the XDcams to CTV, TSN or Rogers. CTV switched CTV national news, CTV local Toronto and CTV local Vancouver news to the PDW-700 before the Olympics. CTV also supplied PDW-700s to their 24hr cable news channel CP24 and to their national cable sports channel TSN. Rogers purchased 42 PDW-700 XDCAM 422 cameras for their Toronto ENG operations before the Olympics.
Major crews from the west, from countries like Germany, from the east, from Asia are here and the majority are using XDcams…
I find that comment above by a gentleman posted at b-roll very amusing. Sir, with all due respect but a handful of freelancers hangin’ at b-roll do not dictate what NBC, CBS and ABC wants and needs. Funny how ALL THREE networks passed by the SDX 6mm tape format and two out of three are using XDcam as the house brand and the third is using Beta Based HDCam tape format as their house brand and using XDCam for special events like the Olympics – since 2004.Here at the Olympics we're working with Sony 800 XDCams, but not by the choice of the cameramen. Most of us left our Varicams at home because Sony is supplying the broadcast for NBC. The base is 1080p at 60, but our particular unit is shooting 1080p at 24. One guy did show up with his Varicam and we had to try match the 800 to it and the engineers went gaga over the Varicam look. We actually couldn't match the cameras to NBC's specs and we never made the 800 look as nice as the Varicam. It seems like everyone loves the Vari but most have defaulted to Sony. It's sad, actually. The Varicam looks really sweet, the Sony 800 looks sweet only after post.
Few others on here try to convince folks that 4:2:2 is a waste of money and that no one can tell the difference between 4:2:2 or lower sampling. Some even claimed that the XD 300 35mbps series would be the final unit because 4:2:2 at 50 is a waste. Yet the majority of broadcasters, especially for post work are asking for and adopting 4:2:2 cameras.
Some will claim that a 720P CCD camera up-rezzed to 1080 will be just fine. Well maybe in yesterday’s world but pretty soon, with consumers owning bigger 1080p TV sets the difference between uprezzed 720 and native 1080 will be huge. There is HD and than there is FULL HD.
One gentleman on b-roll is pissed because he bought a 700 and now a 800 is out. I got news for you sir– a 900 maybe even 970 will come out soon. This will have 1080p60 capabilities with a new MPEG-4 codec. Backward compatible with all other XD MPEG-2 formats. Rumor is that ABC is waiting for this camera. I cannot believe that in today’s chip-driven world folks actually believe that the latest camera will be the last camera. I can’t believe that anyone plunking down thousands on a new cam does not know what Sony and Panasonic plans for the near future.
I’m not posting this to piss anyone off. It’s just that once every few years the record needs to be set straight for the few lurkers left that still read this forum. Most have been driven off long ago. The ones left should not believe everything they read here, claimed by a handful of posters at this board. They do not represent the whole world, the real world. 6mm tape based cameras do not rule the international broadcast world, nor does 6mm tape play as the majority format in the United States as some here would like you to believe.
Making a real name forum at b-roll made me come back and try a post. If I sound a little arrogant I sincerely apologize. I welcome anyone to refute anything I written.
In a separate series of projects, CTV purchased Sony’s latest PDW-700 XDCAM model, the PDW-700 XDCAM 4:2:2. CTV had been testing an earlier version for the PDW-700 XDCAM at TSN for several months and was pleased with the results, Morris says. When the 4:2:2 version became available, the network purchased cameras for its CP24 operation, CTV Toronto News, TSN and the Discovery Channel.
CTV continued its rollout of XDCAM 422 product across the country when it converted its Vancouver operations to HD in September, installing 19 PDW-700 cameras for ENG/EFP and three HSC-300 Digital Triax cameras for studio operations. Additional purchases of the PDW-700 were made to support the CTV National News and the Olympics. XDCAM 422 will be the prime production format for CTV's coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Rogers Television recently combined the operations of both City TV and its two Omni channels into a new home at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. The rollout included 42 PDW-700 XDCAM 422 cameras all equipped with Sony Digital Wireless systems.
CBC SPORTS USES SONY PDW-700 XDCAM HD 422 AND PDW-HD1500 DECKS TO COVER BEIJING OLYMPICS
The links are just for Canada – you all know what CBS, NBC and ABC use in-house.
Again, I did not post this to start another useless argument. I simply posted this to represent reality as I see it. I welcome anyone to refute anything I written.