Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

3D - HDR-TD10 (2011).
Professional models - HXR-NX70 (2011). HXR-MC2000, HXR-MC50 (2010).
Flash Memory / consumer - HDR-CX260V, HDR-CX580V, HDR-CX740VE, HDR-CX760V (2012). HDR-CX360V, HDR-CX560V, HDR-CX700V (2011). HDR-CX110, HDR-CX150, HDR-CX300, HDR-CX350V, HDR-CX550V (2010). HDR-CX100 (2009). HDR-CX12 (2008). HDR-CX7 (2007).
Hard Disk / consumer - HDR-XR260V (2012). HDR-XR150, HDR-XR350V, HDR-XR550V (2010). HDR-XR100, HDR-XR200, HDR-XR500, HDR-XR520 (2009). HDR-SR11, HDR-SR12 (2008). HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7 (2007).
acgold7
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by acgold7 »

Right, consumer cams just store this as metadata and it can be toggled on and off at will. But if it is on and being output during analog playback, you could technically burn a DVD from this feed and have it permanently burned into the picture on the DVD. My understanding is this works with analog output from the cam only. I should test it with HDMI out ands see if it works.
Adam
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by someguyonearth »

I appreciate all the feedback from everyone on this camera.

I need to buy 6 lower end, tapeless, shoulder mount cameras and am deciding between the Sony MC2000 and the Panasonic HMC80.

My question to the group about is this: does anyone know if the image stabilizer (IS) is better on the MC2000 than it was on the HD1000 (the older tape version of this camera)?

I do all my filming handheld on boats, and the IS of the HD1000 is unacceptable for my purposes (I'm used to the Canon XL1 which has excellent IS).

I've read that the MC2000 has a hybrid IS system, but I would really like to hear from someone who has used both cameras if the IS is better with the MC2000.

Also, and this may be a naive question, but is there any sort of rumor mill about any new low-end shoulder mount cameras coming out this year? Since I need to buy 6 of these I really want to get it right.

Thanks so much for your feedback!

Chris
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by acgold7 »

Hey Chris --

The one thing I can guarantee you is the moment you buy your six cams, they will announce a better one, cheaper. It's inevitable.

But no, I haven't heard anything, but that means nothing as Sony tends to keep these things pretty quiet until they announce. Perhaps some announcement in April at NAB.

I've used both cams -- as you saw in the review -- but to be honest, I always shoot from a tripod and consequently always have IS turned off, so I'm of no use to you whatsoever.
Adam
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by evanjones246 »

I have used both the Panasonic AGHMC80P and the Sony HXR-MC2000, and I can tell you that the Sony is a much better camcorder. I would suggest the Sony over the Panasonic, and I think it is diefinitely worth the extra cash if you are looking to be more professional.
david lambursky wrote:Hey Adam,

Have u look into the panasonic AGHMC80P? How does it compare with sony's MC2000?

The difference in price isn't too much and each has its pros and cons... so just wondering ur take on it....
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by someguyonearth »

Thanks acgold7,

I purchased one and have been trying it out, but have discovered that it doesn't immediately pause when pressing the pause button. So, my usual method of handheld is to press pause then immediately lower the camera. This now causes a 1/2 second of footage showing the camera swooping down.

Doesn't it seem strange that this tapeless camera doesn't pause instantly? I have a crew of about 12 videographers who would be using these cameras and am not entirely sure that this won't be a problem.

Chris
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by Doughie »

someguyonearth wrote:
Doesn't it seem strange that this tapeless camera doesn't pause instantly? I have a crew of about 12 videographers who would be using these cameras and am not entirely sure that this won't be a problem.

Chris
The slight pause will likely be a 'key-frame' related issue. HDV and AVCHD cameras record in 15-frame long-GOP codecs (NTSC countries, i.e. for 30fps frame-rates), and what this means is that every 15frames the camera assigns a frame to be the key-frame and the next 14 frames are encoded *relative* to that frame. So when you pause, I suspect that the camera will only stop recording when it gets to the end of a 15-frame GOP (Group of Pictures) or maybe it is programmed to finish on a keyframe.
You just have to learn when pressing the REC button to keep still for a half-second before moving the camera away from the scene.
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by acgold7 »

More importantly, how can that possibly present a problem? All professionals shoot for many seconds before and after the necessary shot to give themselves the handles they need for editing. Shooting only the frames you think you need is strictly amateur birthday party iPhone stuff. When the interesting action ends you should be shooting for five more seconds anyway.

It's not always possible to start shooting before the action doing live stuff because you can't predict the future, but you certainly can (and should) keep rolling at the tail end. If things are happening really close together, then just keep shooting and move on to the next shot.
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by someguyonearth »

Thanks Doughie, that makes perfect sense. And acgold7, for the type of work I do my customers get the raw footage so all of our editing is done in-the-can. Less than perfect productions, but surprisingly good when you know what you're doing.

I just got the Panasonic AG HMC80 and so far it suits my purposes far better than the Sony. The viewfinder is much better, it has an in-camera fade, and i don't need special slim profile filters (which are 5x the price) to accommodate the super wide view of the Sony.
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by Doughie »

one more thing. SOME videocameras do have a 'pre-record' feature which actually continually buffers video to a RAM buffer and so when you press REC, it can actually write this cycling RAM buffer to the front of the clip. In other words, suppose you are pointing your camera at something and something unexpectedly GREAT happens (like "dang i wish i had been recording") then on some cameras with 'pre-record' you can press REC and it will append the PREVIOUS 2 or 3 seconds of video, so that can be a handy feature.

A related feature to this on a lot of Sony cams is 'Smooth Slow Record' which you can choose to record the PRECEDING 3 seconds of footage or the FOLLOWING 3 seconds of footage, when you press REC in Smooth-slow-Record mode. (high frame rate, 120fps for NTSC countries and 100fps for PA countries). this feature uses this RAM buffer system (i think it is 32Mb RAM buffer in most Sony cams with Smooth-Slow-Record) and it flushes that buffer to your recording device (hard-disk, tape or memory card) when it is activated.
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Re: Sony HXR-MC2000 Hands-On Review

Post by peter-s-c »

I'm looking to purchase the MC2000 for shooting outdoor fishing videos. To date, my consumer grade video equipment has consistently over exposed scenes, been unable to handle contrast in bright sun, handled movement poorly (720 30p), lens flared badly (no hood), serious purple fringing in high contrast areas, very poor manual controls, poor audio, and generally produced poor results.

I'd be using the resulting video most for web applications and possibly DVD.

Here's a typical example of the results: I'm the angler, the cameraman was another angler doing video for the first time, so look at this for the image quality, not how well it was shot. Much of what was shot during this session was unusable due to these faults.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-V8S3 ... ature=plcp

To give an idea of how bad the results were, that shirt I'm wearing in the second clip is actually a fairly strong light blue, but it's totally blasted out.

Will the MC2000 provide seriously better results? We're assuming the guy on the camera knows what he's doing e.g. WB, exposure, focus, etc.
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