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Using the ‘interval record’ function is very simple. Scrolling through the appropriate menu you select the time period you wish the camera to take pictures over, for example say one hour, and then you select the duration of the recorded sequence you require, say twenty seconds, next press record and that’s it. The camera works out how frequently it needs to take a frame to produce the finished sequence and stores each frame on the ‘picture cache’ card. When the card reaches its eight second capacity it records the contents onto tape and then continues to capture more frames until the memory once again fills up. It is painless and easy to use and the results are amazing to watch. Normally when producers have asked me to shoot a time lapse sequence on video I record a lot of tape in real time and the material is speeded up in post production. This takes a lot of studio time and storage capacity to achieve. Producing these shots on the MSW-900P is a piece of cake, uses minimal tape and has big cost savings in post production.
The MSW-900P has the provision for attaching a camera light to the handle and has a power tap up to a maximum of 50 watts located under the front side of the handle. This power tap can be switched to synchronise with recording on/off. As is now standard on Sony’s most recent cameras ‘True Eye Processing’ is employed which is meant to improve the look of highlights by avoiding hue distortion. Several gamma curves can be selected, again via the menus, for varying overall looks and there is provision for ‘triple skin tone detail’ allowing enhancement for three distinct colour and hue ranges. Each one can be increased or decreased independently. There is the provision to allow the camera operator to warm up or cool off the white balance again via the menu system. A feature I couldn’t bring myself to use is the ‘electronic soft focus’ control. I’m not a huge fan of soft focus so it was just a personal thing with me. As is fairly standard now on many Sony cameras there is the facility to record shot markers, such as ‘good shot’ makers, date, cassette number, etc.
In Use
Using the MSW-900P is a real pleasure, it is not only slightly lighter and shorter than many current cameras but it has reasonably low power consumption enabling longer running times. Talking of running times the MPEG IMX 60 cassette actually runs for a massive 71 minutes in PAL. This results in a very low running cost per minute of tape as MPEG IMX tapes are fairly inexpensive.
It is a nice camera to operate and feels good and confident to use. It does not take long to get used to the extra features and start using them frequently. Anyone used to operating a Betacam camera could pick the MSW-900P up and start shooting immediately. The contrast range is excellent allowing shooting in a huge range of lighting conditions. Particularly impressive is the MSW-900P’s performance in mixed lighting conditions. Previously this was the preserve of DigiBeta cameras (which have superb processing and matrixes to cope with this) but now MPEG IMX can match this.
In many ways I found using this camera remarkably like using my DigiBeta camera and it obviously owes a lot of its pedigree to them. It feels as if the best of the Betacam SX and DigiBeta camera heads have been combined into one unit. It really is a camera operator’s camera; I can’t see many people complaining about using it.
The pictures produced by the MSW-900P camera as it was delivered to me (I’m assuming they were factory settings) were excellent. They looked very pleasing. They were sharp and had a feeling of depth to them without looking harsh and edgy as many video cameras can. The transition on edges where strong highlights occurred looked fine and natural without any horrible black detail lines appearing. The colour rendition was superb. I found the recorded colours matched well with the actual reality of the scene.
The power consumption of 27 watts is less than Beta SX and DigiBeta cameras and the extra running time is noticeable, I found this beneficial on location. The other big benefit I liked on location was the 71 minute record time on the cassette; it was quite a luxury to carry fewer tapes and batteries, especially as some locations required a bit of a hike to get there. NTSC users will only get 60 minutes record time due to the slightly higher tape speed.
I found I actually looked forward to using this camera as it feels great and gives a fantastic range of shooting possibilities at your fingertips. If I was to compare it to a car, I would liken it to a sports car with powerful performance that is fun and inspiring to drive, Sony really have produced a class camera with the MSW-900P.
MSW-M2000P MPEG IMX Studio VTR
The MSW-M2000P MPEG IMX VTR is a great piece of kit and for Sony has been a major success story. I’m sure this success is down to its ability to replay not only MPEG IMX cassettes, but also Digital Betacam, Betacam SX, Betacam SP and oxide Betacam cassettes in both large and small sizes, and in 525 and 625 (NTSC/PAL) television standards (the standard is auto detected when 
the cassette is inserted). On top of this it offers full functions on both digital and analogue replay such as variable speed replay from -1 to x3 speed (except on Beta SX where the range is -1 to x2 speed), LTC and VITC timecode reading and superb tracking of tapes.
I have a few tapes from the early 1990’s that for some reason every VTR I have attempted to replay them in has proved a non starter; the picture is just a mass of colour flashes and herringbone moiré patterns. I’ve kept them for test purposes and initially after loading them into the MSW-M2000P it displayed all the characteristics of previous VTR’s then to my amazement after about six seconds it somehow adjusted it’s tracking to replay these tapes perfectly, not a problem in sight!
I was impressed with this and I tried a few edits replaying the tapes in the MSW-M2000P and the material was now perfectly usable and edited across to the recorder without any problem.
Of course the MSW-M2000P is also a full function studio edit recorder. It only records MPEG IMX but has impressive features. If digital audio is used at 48 KHz you can edit up to four independent audio channels. If the rate is switched to 32 KHz then up to eight separate audio channels can be independently edited. It also allows either assemble or insert editing and as on most studio VTR’s timecode can be re-inserted.
It is quite a snazzy looking machine and is 4U high with a depth of 544mm (21.5 inches). It feels nice to operate, all the switches have nice action and it has very comprehensive displays for VTR functions and other details.
There are a wide range of inputs and outputs on the machine. SDI, SDTI (native MPEG IMX data), analogue component and composite and an external reference can all be input along with either digital or analogue audio. Outputs are three SDI (one allows superimposed VTR data such as time code, machine status, etc.), three SDTI, three analogue composite (one allows for superimposed data) and analogue component as well as digital and analogue audio. There are also ports for RS-422 machine control, RS-232 interface, the old style 50 pin parallel remote controllers, TBC remote control and a control panel cable socket should you use the front panel remotely from the VTR.
Recordings made on this machine looked mint, despite viewing on a 20 inch grade 2 studio monitor using the SDI input, I really couldn’t find anything to complain about, it looked good. I enjoyed editing on this machine as it is really quite slick in operation and I admit I enjoyed the novelty of using different tape formats in one VTR. It is an editor’s dream VTR, you no longer concern yourself about what format it was shot on just stick it in and edit! The transport is smooth and the noise produced by the machines fans is not too bad but a touch nosier than I expected, but then again the amount of processing going on must be producing a fair amount of heat as all that silicone does its business.
Using large tapes in the VTR the MPEG IMX system allows a huge 220 minutes PAL recording on a single cassette (184 minutes recording in NTSC).
Search speeds vary depending on the tape format. MPEG IMX and Beta SX have a maximum search speed of +/- 78 times, Digital Betacam is +/- 50 times and Betacam and Betacam SP is +/- 42 times. When in jog there is cue audio available on the digital formats so audio editing was not a problem.
The MSW-M2000P also features pre-read capability. This is a feature that allows three machine editing such as dissolves and wipes to be carried out using only two machines. The use of a vision mixer is required to make use of this style of editing as the ‘pre-head’ head reads the tape before the record head. The signal obviously needs to be combined with the new pictures it is being dissolved into hence the vision mixer requirement. This need not be expensive and it easy to avoid purchasing a big expensive vision mixer by using products especially developed for just this purpose such as the affordable SDI portable vision mixer manufactured by Brick House Video in the UK.
Conclusion
I have to say I really did enjoy using MPEG IMX both the MSW-900P camera and the MSW-M2000P VTR, they are superb pieces of kit and instinctively easy to use and produce great results, the pictures do look good. I will admit to becoming totally hooked on the 25P shooting, but everyone I showed it too reacted the same way, even the cynics I know. The time lapse was a fantastic feature to use and I became hooked on this as well, I now have some impressive sequences in my library thanks to this review.
The actual selling price of the MSW-900P camera is lower than a Digital Betacam camera yet I have to say I found the picture quality a close match, MPEG IMX really is a quality system.
The MSW-M2000P VTR is also a great piece of kit to use and offers good value for money when you realise it costs the same as a BVW-75 Beta SP VTR used to cost yet offers a much more flexible and higher performance VTR.
I suppose the best way I can sum up MPEG IMX is the moment when the kit went back to Sony, I wanted to keep it. I found myself thinking sadly oh well I’ll just have to use my DigiBeta camera again…..did I really think that? Yes I did, that’s how much I enjoyed using the MSW-900P camera!
