I currently shoot with Ikegami HL45W with a PVV3 docked to it.The quality is great but,I now have to upgrade to digital. Should I go with the dockable IkegamiIRD90 DVCPRO 50, or the Sony digibeta camcorder?

-- Ronald Lee (cinevideo@tstt.net.tt), April 05, 2002

Answers

For the love of God, go digibeta. DVCPRO is not particularly widely supported, not nearly as robust as digibeta, and (in my opinion) not particularly professional when stacked up against the digital Betacams (digi, SX, and IMX). An example of DVCPRO's shoddiness-- not one, but three professional shooters that I know complained of destroyed field tapes due to external RF interference... but not one of them was shooting up on a rooftop near a transmitter, or anywhere near what would be considered as more than a normal source of RF. Also, why not look into SX? It is gaining wider acceptance and usage, at (I'm pretty sure) a lower price point than digi. Also, Sony just released a really great looking camcorder in the new MPEG- IMX (image mix) format. Check it out on Sony's website and see what you think.

-- John Griffin (jgriffin3@nyc.rr.com), April 12, 2002.