Sony officially rolled out the HXR-NX5U today, which I had been calling the “Prime” in my preview article. Now, the remaining puzzle pieces can be revealed…
The HXR-FMU128 Flash Memory Unit will list for $800.
Both will be available at the end of January 2010.
The NX5U’s card slots will have contacts on the left for MS PRO Duo, and on the right for SDHD cards. Simply insert the card type of your choice with the notched corner down, as shown in the graphic on the card slot itself (see the image of a production NX5U above, courtesy Sony), and it’ll work. So please: no whining about media types. (For the record, Sony says that their PRO-HG Duo media is faster than high-speed SDHC cards, with a transfer rate of 20 MB/sec—if it were an SDHC card, it would be speed class 20. If you have the need for speed, PRO-HG Duo still buys you something.)
Sony has also announced a consumer version of the NX5U, the HDR-AX2000. The HDR-AX2000 also accepts both MS PRO Duo cards and SDHC cards. It retains 1920x1080 @ 60i, 30p, and 24p capability, but it gives up quite a lot, according to Sony:
Also, the consumer version doesn’t use the NXCAM label; I take that to mean that NXCAM will be Sony’s Pro AVCHD branding, just as Panasonic calls their Pro AVCHD “AVCCAM”. Price on the consumer cam appears to be $3500; I had been told it was only $500 less than the NX5U, but Amazon lists it for $3499.99, shipping 8 February.
(The NX5U is, of course, the USA model. Other countries will have NX5 models with other letter suffixes.)
“The HDR-AX2000 also accepts both MS PRO Duo cards and SDHC cards.”—Sony’s product page http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId;=-1&productId=8198552921666078180 says nothing about SDHC compatibility. Likewise, Sony’s press release says that the AX2000 will record to Memory Stick Pro Duo only. Well, they omit the word “only”, but do not mention SDHC, like they do in regards to the NX5. Please, clarify, whether SDHC cards can be used with the AX200.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/07 at 11:07 AM
This sounds like a great addition to Sony’s Prosumer lineup. I think you’ve got a typo though (and feel free to delete this post if it gets fixed): You say that the consumer version “retains 1920x1080 @ 690i, 30p, and 24p capability”, which I assume is supposed to be 1920X1080 60i, 30p….
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/07 at 11:44 AM
Randy: fixed the typo, thanks!
Burn-E: the data I have from Sony says the AX2000 uses both MS PRO Duo and SDHC. The dual-use card slot feature is a very recent addition to Sony’s lineup (apparently it’s across all their products, still and video, going forward), and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s taking a while for Sony to propagate the information through all their communication outlets.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 01/07 at 01:29 PM
1. BH Photo lists the HXR-FMU128 at $750, significantly more than the $500 you noted in the article. But Sony is offering a $500 rebate on that device until the end of March, bringing it down to a net $250: cheaper than two SDHC 32GB Class 6 cards.
2. Sony lists the price of the AD2000 at $3500, much less than the $4450 you mention in their press release.
But it’s all cool. But why didn’t they offer the 35Mb/s XDCAM-EX codex with Quicktime wrappers, like the JVC cam? Oh well, I guess we can’t have everything!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/07 at 06:39 PM
Eddie O: I’ve fixed the FMU price (MSRP is $800), thanks.
I went with what Sony told me the AX2000’s price was, but that appears to have been incorrect. Most places seem to say $3500. Thanks for the heads up.
As to why no EX codecs? Sony already has a line of EX cameras, and I think they’re trying to keep EX and DV at the high end, and AVCHD & MPEG-2 the next tier down. But that’s just a guess.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 01/07 at 07:25 PM
But I can wish for the EX codec, can’t I? It may be that with the actual physical pixel count of about 1360x765 (before all the diagonal interpolation, etc.), that the EX codec would not yield significant improvements. The EX1R says it has a real 1920x1080 sensor (please correct me if I’m wrong there: Sony is sort of opaque when it comes to specs sometimes), so maybe it just can use the higher bit rate to good advantage.
Actual testing and measurements with the new NXCAMs will be revealing, especially with panning and fast motion, like sports.
I have a pair Sony V1Us now, and upgrade fever if burning a whole in my credit cards 
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/07 at 08:11 PM
Eddie O: you can wish all you want; I wished for an F35 in my Xmas stocking. That didn’t happen either, alas.
I don’t think EX would look a whole lot better; even high-bitrate AVCHD shows all the sensor has to offer—and the sensor’s limitations. The next significant steps up in quality are (a) a true 1920x1080 sensor like the one in the EX1R, and (b) the addition of hypergammas for better highlight handling.
OTOH I’d much rather handhold an NX5U for a few hours than any of the handheld EX cams, grin.
As to the NX5U’s jellocam artifacts, look at footage from the HVR-Z5, Z7, or S270; they all use the same sensor. And it looked pretty comparable, rolling-shutter-wise, to pix from the EX1 and EX3.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 01/07 at 09:33 PM
...wishing sometimes works. I did get a ‘52 Custom Shop Tele with “Keith” mods in my stocking
Keep up the great reporting!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/07 at 09:37 PM
How and why do they make a cam this wonderful WITHOUT a way for me to use to stream video to web using Ustream or some other service???
Does anyone know if there is a way to stream live with these cams (AVCHD cams)?
I’m ready to spend the money but you’re telling me I can use it to do simple live streaming? That might be an unfortunate deal breaking. That takes away a large part of the services I can offer clients.
Posted by Ray on 01/25 at 11:09 AM
“Does anyone know if there is a way to stream live with these cams (AVCHD cams)?”—HDMI or HD-SDI. This is not cheap, as HDMI-IN ports in computers are hardly as common as FireWire ports were 5 years ago. The consumer JVC GZ-HD7 was a file-based camcorder, but offered FireWire for live feed and for legacy workflow. It could stream out MPEG-2@25Mbps TOD files as regular HDV video. AFAIK, all modern ProHD camcorders also have FireWire output. Sony and Panasonic should be grilled for removing FireWire ports from their cameras.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/25 at 12:34 PM
How would NXCAM compare to HDV and XDCAM EX in terms of chroma key work ?? Better than HDV but less than XDCAM or NXCAM HDV, just about the same??
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/29 at 01:06 PM
Adam’s review of the NX5 said several times that the picture quality is superior to the Z5 but never said on what basis. AVCHD “should” be better than HDV but what I’m interested in is what the image actual looks like on a decent sized monitor, after editing. I have to replace a stolen Z7 and not sure how to go. I’m actually leaning towards the Z5 because I have clients who want DV/DVCAM and I love tape as an archival medium. HDV for all its initial problems is now easy to edit in real time without rendering or transcoding. I would love to know if Adam or anyone has done serious comparisons of the 2 cameras, just looking at the pictures. When I bring HDV into Avid I can change the format to 1920 and transcode to “real” HD. the NXCAM apparently has the same chips as the Z5 so if the only difference is in the degree of compression, maybe they’re going to look pretty much the same once decompressed???
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/17 at 08:35 AM
“Adam’s review of the NX5 said several times that the picture quality is superior to the Z5 but never said on what basis.”
Sorry. E-E the pix are pretty much identical to the Z5’s pix. But recorded, 24 Mbit/sec AVCDH shows slightly more detail, lower apparent noise (due to compression artifacts), and fewer overt compression artifacts like blocking, mosquito noise, and trailing on motion than the same pix recorded to HDV.
To my eye, HDV is in the “nice, but you see the artifacts too easily” category. 24 Mbit/sec AVCHD is in the “this is acceptable for production purposes” category. It’s not perfect, but like XDCAM EX HQ, it’s good enough that I don’t have to make excuses looking at a normal image from it.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/19 at 01:33 AM
I thought that the AX2000 uses interlaced transport for progressive recording modes, but the AX2000 user manuals lists all modes like: 1080/30p, 1080/24p, 480/30pSCAN, 480/24pSCAN, and Sony specifically mentions that “pSCAN” means progressive over interlaced transport, that is, with pulldown. Which means, that high definition progressive modes are indeed native. Are they? B&H;review says that they are. Could someone clarify?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/19 at 03:48 PM
“How would NXCAM compare to HDV and XDCAM EX in terms of chroma key work?”
I didn’t test this, but I’d expect it to be slightly better than HDV, but not as good as XDCAM EX.
Posted by Adam Wilt on 02/21 at 01:04 AM
Hi Adam, excelent report on the preproduction NX5U. I just received some footage shot with a NX5U in 108060i for use in a TV commercial that has to be downscaled to SD and sent in Betacam SP. My question is how do I go to convert to widescreen 480i ? I’m planning to edit the whole commercial in HD and then export final movie to HD file and then convert to SD; I’m using Premiere Pro CS4 in windows and in the past I had problems getting HD footage converted to SD, it always looks flat and soft, losing a lot of detail or simply looking bad. I had tried this with shots made with my Canon XH A1S HDV Clips and always shoot in DV if the final output is SD TV. When I first saw the NX5U I thought it will be perfect to replace my canon but I’m worried about converting from AVCHD to SD and getting the overall look and feel of the HD.
Also, for people trying to get live feed from this camera to the computer you can use an Intensity pro card (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/)and you can capture full 422 from the HDMI for capturing / streaming very cheap.
Thanks
sorry about the double post, as I did put most of this in the original review.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/05 at 09:41 PM
This http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/virtualdub-hd-sd.html applies to Edius HQ (this is PAL pixel dimensions so need to be 720x480 for NTSC and make sure the input is also what the source is to get the correct translation) but will work for a HDV source as well. VDUB is the best conversion method but I also have great success using TMPGenc Xpress4. Encode from the timeline by changing project properties in Edius or Vegas and encode is is not bad, both better than Premiere CS4.
My preferred route is HQ export from Edius and then get TMPGenc to encode. IF I get any artifacts on diagonal lines or fine detail I resort to the Vdub approach.
Ron Evans
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/06 at 04:33 PM
This must be great for outdoor/Traveling shooting? I’am I wrong. All these great specs add up for the price. Sorry for such a simply question:)
Best,and most informative info for any video or picture camera on the web by the way. Almost to informative:) Great job guys
Take it easy. But stay busy
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/19 at 09:35 PM
