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Sony HVR-V1U three-CMOS 24p/30p/60i camcorder

Sep 25, 2006 12:22 PM, Steve Mullen

Sony shooters have long wanted a DV/DVCAM or HDV camcorder that records true 24fps progressive-scan video — and now they will soon have it. In December, Sony will begin shipping the HVR-V1U HDV camcorder to the USA. The HVR-V1U is the Region 60 version of the HVR-V1E announced at IBC for Region 50. The difference is that the V1E records PAL DV/DVCAM plus 1080/25p and 1080/50i.

The HVR-V1U (MSRP of $4,800) is the “professional” version of Sony’s coming (MSRP of $3,500) HDR-FX7 “prosumer” camcorder that will be available at a lower cost, but with fewer features. Both camcorders have identical lenses and imaging systems.

The camcorders’ Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens has a filter diameter of 62mm. Sony's Super SteadyShot OIS is employed for Image Stabilization. A switch selects between Off and a 1/4 or 1/16 ND filter. Minimum illumination is rated at 4 lux. (The Japanese specification is 8 lux at F1.6 at 18dB.)

The Fluorite T* lens has a 20X optical zoom. The range is from 3.9mm to 78mm, which has 35mm equivalent range of f=37.4 to 748mm (16:9) or f=45.7 to 914mm (4:3). While news and nature photographers will appreciate the 748mm telephoto capability, those shooting in tight places will find a 37.4mm wide-angle to be inadequate. (I consider a 28mm or 24mm lens to be a “wide.”) The zoom range can also be extended digitally by approximately 1.5 times to reach the equivalent of 1100mm for a 35mm camera.

The lens has an f-stop range of 1.6 to 2.8. Zoom, of course, is via servo-control from a vari-speed rocker control, handle control, and a lens ring.

The HVR-V1U provides a “Push” AF button, which I find the best way to rapidly achieve the critical focus needed for HD because in bright light if you are wearing glasses, it’s hard to use the VF or LCD, even with Sony’s Enhanced Focus feature. You can also manually focus with a lens ring.

A side dial can be defined to control iris from F1.6-F11 (24 steps) or exposure. Video gain can be set from 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, to 18dB. Shutter speed can be set as follows: 30P/60i (1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/90, 1/100, 1/125, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/725, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, 1/6000, 1/10000) and 24P (1/3, 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/40, 1/48, 1/50, 1/60, 1/96, 1/100, 1/120, 1/144, 1/192, 1/200, 1/288, 1/400, 1/576, 1/1200, 1/2400, 1/2800, 1/10000).

Obviously, to meet the needs of the professional market, the HVR-V1 has dual XLR inputs with phantom power plus a complete set of mic and line controls. This system supports external audio systems as well as the monaural mic attached to the V1. Unlike the Z1, the V1 can snap 1.22Mpixel stills and store them in a MemoryStick.

Some of the features I find most attractive are the physical size (approximately 175mm x 156mm x 322mm), weight (1.5kg/3.3lbs.), and its 3.5in. flip-out 16:9 LCD (the Sony HVR-A1 does not have one). The color panel has 211K pixels, while the built-in 0.44in. 16:9 color viewfinder has 252K pixels. An NP-F970 battery provides 8 hours of operation.

The HVR-V1 features a very complete set of image control capabilities. These include: Black Compensation that enables both Black Stretch and Black Compress, an adjustable Knee, CinemaTone Gamma, and CinemaTone Color.

The camera operator has a set of new information. The one I’m most happy to see is the ability to display a histogram of the video signal so you can achieve optimal exposure in the field. Other features include the ability to display focus distance in feet or meters, and shutter speed in seconds or degrees (shutter angle). A large set of markers can be displayed.

Camcorder ports include AV out (composite and Y/C; plus stereo audio), analog component out, HDMI out, headphone out, plus i.LINK (IEEE 1394), USB, and LANC. When the camera is operating, the EIP outputs uncompressed 1440x1080 in 4:2:2 color space. The digital data are output via the HDMI port. This should make it possible to record HD video from the camera without MPEG-2 compression. Two-channel audio is output on the HDMI port.

A feature called TC Link enables you to synchronize timecodes between cameras using i.LINK. This makes possible multiple camera shoots with tapes carrying identical timecode because all camcorders can be set with identical timecode prior to shooting.

The V1’s i.LINK port can be connected to Sony’s new HVR-DR60 (60GB) hard disk recorder to record an HDV/DVCAM/DV stream. The DR60 has an MSRP of $1,800 and will also ship in December.

The HVR-V1 employs three CMOS chips. Each 1/4in. chip has 1.2 million gross pixels (1.03 million effective pixels in HDV). These 960x1080 pixel chips use ClearVid technology that to this point has been used only on Sony’s consumer camcorders. Unlike all other CMOS chips available in the market, ClearVid sensors feature pixels that have been rotated 45 degrees. According to Sony, the photosensitive sites of these chips are equal in size to those of the 1/3in. CCDs used in the Z1.

ClearVid technology is tightly integrated with Sony’s Enhanced Imaging Processor (EIP). The reality is that the HVR-V1’s “image” is being formed in and by the EIP. The CMOS chips are only "collectors" of information the EIP needs to both create and manipulate an image.

Image creation is the EIP’s most fundamental task because, according to Sony, the EIP works at “1920x1080/60p at 4:2:2.” This specification implies both that the created image is 1920x1080 and that it is created from 60p scanning of the ClearVid chips. Thus, the EIP has a 2 million-pixel buffer for each of the three primary colors.

An example of EIP manipulation is the output of 24p. Using progressive scanning, 1080 lines are assembled in the EIP’s buffer 60 times per second. The time between frames is, of course, constant. Each second, the EIP selects 24 frames from the 60. Using industry standard 2:3:2:3 pulldown, every four progressive video frames become five interlaced video frames. Two “judder” frames are generated that contain one field from one frame and one field from an adjacent frame. (Red text in the Table below.) The result is recorded as 1080/24PsF.

The resulting 1080/60i video looks just like film converted to video using 2:3 pulldown. You can edit this video as 60i video. However, you should avoid cuts that begin with either of the judder frames. Alternately, you can apply reverse 2:3 pulldown to obtain 24p video.

To output 30p, every other 1080-line frame is discarded. The odd and even lines of the non-discarded frame are output consecutively as “fields.” When these fields are viewed as frames, they will be 1080 lines with no interlace artifacts.

How then, is 60i obtained? The CMOS chips always progressively scan 1080-line frames into the EIP. And the EIP outputs 540 fields at 60Hz to the encoder. To remove interlace flicker and interline twitter artifacts, Row-Pair Summation is performed at the point where 1080 lines are converted to 540 lines. Because Row-Pair Summation acts as a low-pass filter, it results in a 25-percent loss of effective vertical resolution.

You may be wondering how the 2 million pixels in the EIP’s 1920x1080 buffer are obtained from 1 million pixels output by a 960x1080 CMOS chip. The accurate technical answer to this question determines the effective resolution that can be obtained from the HVR-V1. To fully answer this question, we need to better understand Sony’s ClearVid technology. And, to understand ClearVid, we need to understand how CMOS imagers function. Therefore, the next installment of HDV@Work will focus on these topics. After this installment, we will return to our examination of multi-format HDV editing.

I believe Sony’s CMOS/EIP engine is capable of sending 1080/50p or 1080/60p to an encoder. The former is critical in Europe where the EBU has strongly indicated a preference for progressive video. Therefore, with a different recording format, such as a Blu-ray disc, Sony may at a future time deliver 1080p. Moreover, Sony’s EIP engine can be employed with larger CMOS chips with resolutions of 960x1080, 1440x1080, and 1920x1080. If I am correct, the HVR-V1 is not only a great new 1080 HDV camcorder; it is a look at the future of Sony HD technology.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.