PDW-530P XDCAM review

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cameragod

cameragod

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I’m in love. We meet at a Sony road show in Wellington NZ and I have to admit that although at first it was just physical, her classic good looks across the crowded floor that caught my eye, I only had to spend a few moments with her to realize she had a lot more going for her than just being well built. I wanted to take her in my arms and run away into the city.

Luckily for my wife I am talking about the new Sony PDW-530P XDCAM. Unluckily for my wife it’s about the same cost as the new kitchen renovation she wants. Hmmmmm…
To be honest I haven’t been this exited about a camera since I picked up my first one-piece Betacam. Just where to start is a problem, there is so much that is good about this camera and disc system, it’s like someone asked me for a wish list and then went and put it all in one camera plus a few things I should have thought of. Best of all it is a cameraman’s camera. If the bean counters want to get their moneys worth out of these puppies they will need to employ real cameramen and not the three-week wonders. The PDW-530P XDCAM has some very good arguments for News to bin those PD150 bunnies forever.

Lets answer the big question first. Is it tough enough? I know what you are thinking. Ok it looks good and it’s disc system has got anti skip stuff and rubber damper things but even my home DVD sitting in it’s cabinet jumps every now and then when the cat stamps past, so how can we trust Sony’s scary not tape DVD technology? Well for a start it’s not a DVD. Yes its blue lasers but comparing The Professional Disc system to DVD’s is like comparing Digital Beta to VHS, they were both tape and that was it.

There is just too much information to tell here so you can go ask Ivan for all the specifications or this review will go on forever, but the bottom line is Professional Disc is more rugged, more reliable and cheaper than tape. It’s X-ray and Manet proof. No more dropouts EVER and if you can make it skip then chances are you just wrote off the camera by dropping it of the side of a building. Hope you weren’t holding it cause it’s tougher than you are. I won’t go into what we did to that poor lovely demo camera but the nice Sony people stood with fixed grins as we did our to utmost short of total destruction to get it to skip, lets just say that after we were finished I would looking to buy that demo camera at very well used price.

While we are at it, how does no more maintenance sound to you freelancers out there?
Sony claim that the lack of heads and moving parts in general means some of your camera techs could be looking for a new line in work. Maybe, maybe not but even so no tape damage, no tape jams, no bent rollers, no head clogs and no head wear, sounds very good to me and sounds even better to my accountant.

The PDW-530P XDCAM feels like a new Digital Betacam right down to having the latest EX CCD’s. The back seems wider than normal but the small bay door for loading the disc may be the cause of that. It has a split filter wheel, proper solid construction and a reassuring weight that feels right. The balky lens on the demo camera did it no favors but still the camera balanced well on my shoulder. I felt I could just walk out and start shooting with no further prep. Even the new switches and menu buttons at the back are well labeled and intuitive in function. The flip out 2.5 inch color LCD screen seems like just a neat toy at first giving you pictures as well as all the info; timecode, disc space, batteries and levels for four of the eight sound tracks. But it also gives you thumbnails.

Thumbnails will change the way we work in the field forever. You find that hard to believe? Well I don’t think Sony even realize just what a breakthrough for cameramen thumbnails are. Picture this. You are remote on another of the desks “Suck it and See” specials. After rolling 30 min of nothing special for a soft story that you haven’t quite got an angle on yet you suddenly get the shot that defines the whole shoot. Now with a clear story in mind you get 5 min of tape that tells a good story. You know what usually happens next. As you get sent to a must have IV across town Joe Intern rewinds the tape and hacks together a quick RVO from the first 2 min.
Now the thumbnails are an index of all the shots on the disc and using the LCD on the side of my camera I can reorder the index so the best shots are at the top. If you like I can do a loose edit in the field on the side of the camera. Cool! In fact with a laptop connected to the camera by firewire I can do a proper edit.

But wait there’s more. (In fact there is too much more for this review and I’ve got lots of work on and no time. I haven’t touched on so much like proxies… oh hell I’ve said it now.) Proxies are low bit rate versions of everything you shot that can be transferred to a laptop at 50 times faster than real time, used to make an EDL that will suck in and final edit the full resolution version at up to 5 times real time. Editors will have to go back to instant coffee.

Does your station need the pictures right now? Don’t have a live truck nearby? Well you can also send the proxies back to the office over the Internet while you are still in the field, quality drop yes but first with the pictures, oh yes. That has got to get every News organizations attention.

If News will want this camera then production houses will be gagging for it to. The camera is Format free. No more dubbing hassles. Sony says it will integrate with nearly any system, Avid, Quantel, Pinnacle, whatever it is IT based MXF open standard. NO MORE TAPES. Just cheap reusable discs that will work for everyone and at the same time speed postproduction up to the point that the only limitation is the operator.

Ok so maybe I’m being optimistic and the bean counters won’t see the value in terms of both art and cost the XDCAM brings to our industry, but for me it means I can provide Digital Beta quality to all my clients, News, corporate and commercials, all at a Beta SX price.

There is still so much more I want to cover but I have to get some sleep if only to dream in blue lasers.

So lets just think about this. PDW-530P XDCAM. Up font we have basically next years Digital Beta Head, complete with split ring filter wheel, four assignable buttons and other coolness. At the back we have what is in all honestly a revolution in the way we work. Perhaps one of the most positive developments for the future of our craft in years. All for about the same as a SX rig but cheaper to run… I want one. Darling about your kitchen?
 
dhart

dhart

Well-known member
I missed the Sony Truck Tour in Detroit due to a family emergency. Thanks for the report. How much for playback in edit suite?
 
cameragod

cameragod

Well-known member
The PDW-1500 compact deck will set you back $28,000 NZ. To put that in perspective an SX deck here is worth $50,000 NZ.
The top SX camera on the market here is $56,000NZ and the PDW-530P is $58,000NZ.
For more tecno stuff have a look at
http://www.sonybiz.net/optical
In the next 12 months I would get ready to kiss your 600 goodbye John.
 
I

imported_blank

Guest
WOW cameragod, Thanks for the run down.

I have a few questions if you don't mind.

1)) How long does it take for the deck to get up to speed after you put in a new disk?

2)) If you have the camera powered off, (no 10 sec rec loop -cache) how long before you actually start burning unto the disk after power up?

3)) On stand by, with the cache loop-record activated, will that be a major strain on the battery?

4)) I understand that Sony made this cameras lighter then even SX betacams. --- How does the weight and balance feel, say compared to your D35, a 400 or a SX? I know guys who had a hard time adjusting from a BVW-400sp to a DNW-sx because the SX is so much lighter. Some cameramen still claim that they find it hard to do a steady "long zoom in" while on the shoulder because they feel the SX is too light. Did you try some off the shoulder full zoom shots?

5)) You say the over all construction feels solid, how would you rate the construction compared to your D35 dockable?

Thanks, CG & if there is anything else you want to add. Please do.


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There is a little room for caution.

I know the SONY marketing geniuses can have us all hypnotized so I still must question some disk related claims.

I ask all of you not to completely disregard my questioning, remember, flaws may appear with "ANY" new format. Remember all the SX edit problems the first year?

1))No more dropouts EVER

Although disks won't get "tape glitches" or "tape drop outs" or magnetic particles scrambling" disks still can succumb to "DATA LOSS" Data is being burned to plastic, I believe the laser burns tiny pits into the disk and sometimes you may have errors due to a disk being faulty, or maybe a slight mistrack.

There may be "envoirmental" issues as well. How well will the laser burn the pits in freezing weather? How will the re-usable disks react after being take from a moist atmosphere to a dry atmosphere? Heat, Humidity, Dust?


2))Won't skip
Although the build in cache probably handles any jolt up to ten seconds, what if you're shooting in an environment were the whole ground is continuasly shaking ? Or out in a small plane with the engine vibrating the floor -- in rough turbelance to boot. In such envoirments the 10 second cache may not keep up.

3)))Sony claim that the lack of heads and moving parts in general means some of your camera techs could be looking for a new line in work. ...no tape damage, no tape jams, no bent rollers...

Watch 'em "marketing geniuses.
Fact is, there still are many moving parts, including a very high speed motor rotating the disk at high RPMs. You also have a very delicate laser, "TRACKING" the disk, making sure that the pits are being burned in the right places, just the right depth, all while the disk is rotating in a Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) mode. Remember, the new blue laser system has to be more precisely focused then a regular red laser sysstem --- in order to burn so much more data on the disk. This means -- less errors are allowed.

BTW, just yesteraday, a friend had a cd jamm inside her car...

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Thanks again CG, for your great review. I do feel that there must be some long term tests in the field under actual use to be performed. (Just like the car mags will long term test new car technology)
I feel that the BIG HOUSES should be the ones performing these tests, as CNN is doing now. Once many similar complaints come in due to design flaws Sony will fix them and add an 'A" or "2" to the model number. I will feel more confident about these cameras then.

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Below is an actuall clip from ""SONY MARKETING""
I highlighted some words in BOLD


The Sony XDCAM camcorders use rubber dampers to hold the disc drive block in place thereby minimizing the effect of any shock or vibration. In addition, a powerful tracking system, based on the best Sony servo technologies, reduces the chance of the optical head recording off track. In the event a shock exceeds the servo’s capacity, causing the head to be positioned incorrectly, a buffer memory is available to help prevent off-track recordings. The buffer serves in such a way that recording to the disc will not occur until the optical head returns to its correct position. After the head is properly positioned, the buffered information is recorded to the disc, thereby helping to prevent interruptions in the recording. A substantial amount of buffering has been built into the camcorder to accommodate large off-track errors.
 
Lensmith

Lensmith

Member
Originally posted by cameragod:
In the next 12 months I would get ready to kiss your 600 goodbye John.
Click to expand...
I wish I had a 600.

I'm still shooting my trusty 400. Known among my friends here in Managua as La Niña. She still shoots the best picture in country...for now ;o)
 
cameragod

cameragod

Well-known member
1)) How long does it take for the deck to get up to speed after you put in a new disk?

I didn’t time it but I put a disc in and hit REC as soon as the door closed. The light didn’t flash it just started recording.
Sony timed the complete exchange time e.g. button off>eject>insert new> disc>button on. Total non-record downtime without any cache: 15 secs not bad

2)) If you have the camera powered off, (no 10 sec rec loop -cache) how long before you actually start burning unto the disk after power up?

Didn’t time that either (what was I thinking :) ) but it did seem to power up faster than a SX or Dvcam.

3)) On stand by, with the cache loop-record activated, will that be a major strain on the battery?

Nope. You can expect over 2 hours working with the BPIL60 more with the new BPIL75’s

4)) I understand that Sony made this cameras lighter then even SX betacams. --- How does the weight and balance feel, say compared to your D35, a 400 or a SX? I know guys who had a hard time adjusting from a BVW-400sp to a DNW-sx because the SX is so much lighter. Some cameramen still claim that they find it hard to do a steady "long zoom in" while on the shoulder because they feel the SX is too light. Did you try some off the shoulder full zoom shots?

Although it is actually much lighter it really does feel like a 709. It may weigh less than a DNW SX but a lot of the weight is in the back and you don’t get that nose heavy feel the SX has. You bet we tried it on the shoulder and the hand held zooms did seem extra smooth, mind you I was hyped so it may have been me.


5)) You say the over all construction feels solid, how would you rate the construction compared to your D35 dockable?

It’s a hard thing to admit your baby is ugly so lets just say the build quality of the demo camera was superb. Have a look at the jet boat trial on the web site I posted. It was tipping with rain and they didn’t use a wet weather cover so you could see the camera. If I did that with a D35 I would be in deep discussion with my insurance company without a leg to stand on.

Sony say they have had this technology ready to go since 2001 but have spent the last 2 years refining and getting the bugs out as well as asking cameramen what they wanted, what worked and what didn’t. I have herd that they have been working closely with some big European TV companies that until now have been exclusively Digital Beta so that might explain why it looks and feels so good.
I think they realized the problems that plagued SX on its initial release hurt the format badly and gave a large portion of the market on a plate to Panasonic. They don’t want to do that again. They have done tests in every climatic condition you can think of dust, humidity and temperature will not be an issue. The cameraman who shot the jet boat footage says he sat the camera down onto the rail of the boat as they went. The pictures were un-viewable because of the constant banging and vibrations but there was not one skip of the disc.

Ivan I actually think Sony are under selling XDCAM. Maybe they have learned how damaging it is to over hype. Maybe they don’t realize just how good this camera and disc system is yet. Whatever I would love to get my maulers on one for even a week to put it through freelance hell to find out if its as good or better than I think it is.
 
cameragod

cameragod

Well-known member
Ivan, even your dog will love this camera. 8 tracks of audio for him to get sound on.
John sorry no offence meant to La NiñaI forgot you never bought that 600 you were thinking of, I bet you are glad you didn’t spend the cash now though.
Sony will offer some serious deals to those who take up XDCAM first. My head says the market in New Zealand wont be ready for 12 months but my hart says I WANT ONE NOW!
 
I

imported_blank

Guest
So cameragod, when are you gonna show us the pictures you promised?

Two more questions:

1) I seen the pictures come out of the EX CCDs (from the beta-imx msw900) I seen some raw test footage pre-post in NATIVE 50Mbps and it looked GREAT however I never myself shot with the camera. Since you shot with the EX CCD, I am wondering if you found there is more room to play around with high contrast scenes . ""effective sensitivity"" From the footage I seen, it seemed that under extreme contrast scenes, the operator had more room before wash out would occur as opposed to shooting with a previous Sony Power HAD CCD system.

2) This has nothing to do with the 24P film look.
Have you tried shooting progressive 30P? Wait, you are PAL, make that 25P. What are your thoughts? How much cleaner does the native IMX 50Mbps footage seem in progressive as opposed to interlaced? I understand that Standard Def digital broadcasting can reach our homes in two ways. A) The standard 525 line (for ntsc) "interlaced" in true component and B) Standard Def "progressive" in true component-like some progresive scan consumer dvds. I also understand that for HD up conversion we can take the progressive SD signal, change it to interlaced, add a line doubler to simulate 1080 interlaced HD. Any thoughts?

Oh yeah, my dog sez he wants the "SR HDCAM" 12 channel audio system :)
 
cameragod

cameragod

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Have a look at the review page Kevin set up and you will see me, a very happy camper, with the camera on my Actioncam rig. I read a post over at a Steadicam forum were a guy was worried that the spinning disc would act as a gyro and cause problems with balance. Sounded a bit far fetched to me but I figured the easy way to find out was to see. The camera balanced up with no fuss and sat well with no gyroscopic action at all. I’ll fly one on my rig any time… did I mention I want one?

Yes you can bump the picture up to HD. I don’t really understand how but interlacing was one of the things Sony’s European TV customers insisted on.

Ask your dog to pay for his own HD camera if he wants it that bad, I don’t have any clients who use it, but as I said for me XDCAM means I can provide Digital Beta quality to all my clients, News, corporate, commercials and even HD converted, all at a Beta SX price. That’s got to be good.
 
I

imported_blank

Guest
Cool pics Cameragod! :cool:

I have a feeling, you're gonna get a XDcam soon, better have the wife leave the country for a week. Most of North America is nice "n" cold this time of the year :)
 
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