FilmJumper said:
First of all... No. It does not look better than than either the Varicam OR the new HVX200. The camera also acquires its video in the HDV format which has its own batch of problems... JVC could have easily got it right with this camera but simply chose not to.
filmy
Hey, I'm a big fan of the DVX, too. But to say that this camera (the JVC) which very few people have seen the quality of looks worse than the camera that doesn't even exist outside of a prototype mock-up is going a little far.
Let's not forget that the JVC, while limited with HDV, does offer something that makes higher end HD cameras look like higher end HD cameras - interchangable lenses. What prevents HDV from matching HD isn't just 4:2:0 or MPEG compression (which most of us will put our films through, anyway). It's the 1/3" CCD. But even if you get past that, it's what's in front of it - the lens. That's why when you buy a $100,000 F950, you can't just charge it up, and take it out. You're missing the glass! This is when you get mountains of choices, much like a serious film DP does, to craft the picture. It's unreasonable to expect a fixed lens (or sub-$10,000 lens) to make an image that rivals a CineAlta or Varicam picture.
Personally, I'm still undecided which camera to get. I bought a VX2100 too early, and still regret not getting the DVX for its impressive look. As excited as I was about the HVX at one time, along came NAB, when I heard about the JVC. I'm ready to give them both a fair chance, and not solely look at specs, but at their footage. Which is something most of us probably haven't seen yet.