Really??? I thought that he had 2 GH2's? As one got sent to off for the firmware chip to be imaged...

@Jon, I don't know for sure... I just said I 'thought that he had 2'... Maybe VK can answer this question as to what he would need for sure...

http://philipbloom.net/2011/11/20/scarlet/

Phil gives a great "no BS" preview of the Scarlet-X he's waiting for on order.

A better title might be "BETA"Cam (Can I trademark that?).

... and our company has one on order too, fun times ahead...

@NickBen

Good thing is to remember that Phil, as wll as Jem, are related to Canon.
And Canon PR is the best, considering bloggers relations :-)

Plus many things could be untrue very fast.
First, you can use other screen with SDI input.
Second, cheaper V mount options will come. And good chinese chargers and batteries are already available for V mount.
Third. We don't know how much time will past until we'll see cheaper SSDs.

Yeah, adhering to standards like V-mount makes a big difference. As long as the REDVolts are short on supply, we can hang our REDbricks on a belt. You can use another screen, like Small HD, as long as you have a side handle for operating it.

I love this statement: "Buying a Scarlet is NOT going to make you a better filmmaker." So true!

But as VK says, Philip is biased, in particular when it comes to the Scarlet being a "Betacam" (nice comment). Yes, we had a very early RED One, and it was beta – maybe even a prototype. But even then it was better than anything out there, counting cameras for much higher prices. And it has improved so much over the years, without RED even charging us a single cent. The audio board was not perfect? Replaced for free! When did you ever get that from Panny ? There were better sensor developed? Change it for a reasonable price. Sony was preaching 2/3 for years, charging you the price of a decent house for the F23. Then they made the F35. Charged you again.

Reliability? Our RED One has shut down on us during a shoot only once, and that was a faulty cable. I've seen an expensive Sony 750 HD cam going down in the middle of a desert – and Sony never told people they sell beta…

Plus, I suppose hacking the Scarlet is a joke, isn't it? It makes no sense at all. VK has brought us closer to what the sensor can deliver in the GH2 – we all know how good it is from RAW photography. But RED is delivering to us what the sensor has to offer, only mildly compressed in a far superior, Intra-only codec. So, where is the logic of hacking it? And, since the encoder is their Coca Cola secret, it will be very well protected. Graeme is a world class coder. I don't doubt Vitaliy is in the same class, but why should he waste his time on Scarlet when all the Nikons or Canons are waiting for him?

So, can you tell I love those folks at RED? Yes. They are crazies, just like VK, Driftwood and numerous others around here!

One area where you are going to see great enthusiasm for Scarlet is in 3D. The REDRAW codec is intraframe... and doesn't suffer from the motion coding compromises of H264. RED MagicMotion mantains definition around moving object edges that otherwise would suffer motion-blur (in 3D, BLUR=BAD). Also, the higher resolution allows for selective cropping to alter convergence and mask window-violations, without sacrificing resolution. Throw into the mix master/slave camera control, Genlock, time-code sync, HD-SDI (allowing for inexpensive 3D monitoring options) - and you have a very compelling offering. Epic is already the go-to camera for non-live 3D and Scarlet is a very useful diversification of the product line for limited budgets and B-cam use.

Agreed - if you are able to hire a rig and a crew - by all means do so. That accounts for a very small fraction of the developing content areas. Remember, thousands of hours of content are needed to reach the tipping point for home 3DTV (if the adoption profile is similar to HD). That doesn't even account for nascent video applications (e.g. training videos, tradeshow promotions, etc.).

I beg to differ that HDRx is a waste of resources, when applied to MagicMotion. Occlusion edge fidelity is critical to comfortable stereoscopic viewing. Don't believe me? Look at @ 1080 24P shot with any XDCAM or 50Mbps MPEG-2-based rig. You will not be able to perceive depth in any negative parallax content with motion parallel to the sensor.

My company encodes content from just about every rig made. I can tell you that RED has a real advantage in motion fidelity at the moment.

The XF305 is 50 Mbps DCT-based compression. Doesn't meet the minimum acquisition format requirements for most 3D broadcasters. So, you'll need a HD-SDI stereo capture solution. The mic protrudes so far out that you can't position the cameras close to the beamsplitter on 50% of the rigs out there. So.... it's far from ideal.

Sure, there are lower cost solutions. Even the GH2 has it's place, if you are willing to deal with manual lenses, no way to monitor in 3D and having to re-sync after every take. With the low-GOP patches out there, the GH2 is actually a very good stereo platform, relative to other more motion-lossy cameras.

I'm simply saying that if I were a budding stereoscopic producer and wanted a rig that would service 3Net, B-Sky-B, and the VOD providers out there - as well as serve as a B-cam for theatrical applications (these are the paying gigs at the moment) - I'd be hard pressed to find a better camera.

Any 4K photocells sensor with a Bayer pattern won't resolve much more than true 3K – or have terrible aliasing. That's inevitable for whoever makes them. The R1 did the same, Sony can't help this with just turning the pattern by 45 degrees and F3 or Alexa just have enough photocells to resolve HDTV. F3 has quite some aliasing, BTW.

unboxing

Jon... if you think it's bad here, have you been to REDUSER lately? How about dvinfo? A LOT of the guys here contribute mightily to the GH1/2 community with patches, testing, code and solid advice. It's the best digital video blog I've ever seen. If I didn't have GH1's and 2's, personal-view.com would make me want to own and be part of what's going on here.

I'm still here, but I still think that most of the people here are trolls, just bored with their existence, but yes there is good information here. The GH1 and GH2 hack info, is extraordinary. And the work that is on going on some of the other cameras is too. It's just the trolls... I guess that's what we as a people get for having internet discussions... We are bound to attract idiots.

>I'm still here, but I still think that most of the people here are trolls, just

I think you like being in the places you hate.
And all the people around you are trolls.
This needs some cure.