I have not seen any recent post on using the Varicam, is it still a nightmare?

G

 I think Varicam is of very little interest to Avid users these days, since multiple frame rates in one timeline are not supported, and Avid makes no promises or guarantees that it will in the future. However the possibility has not been ruled completely out, either.

Larry Rubin:

 I think Varicam is of very little interest to Avid users these days, since multiple frame rates in one timeline are not supported, and Avid makes no promises or guarantees that it will in the future. However the possibility has not been ruled completely out, either.

We use the Varicam for all our shooting.  We don't  post everthing in HD, but shoot in 24 for the look. Simply capture into a standard 30i project and edit away. We even use the off speed as in camera FX, if you like strobed video. The workflow in HD isn't that difficult either. If you capture via firewire, all off speed material comes in  at either 23.98 or 59.94 depending on project type. No need to mix framerates on the timeline. The biggest problem is laying off to tape, we usually export quicktimes and take to a facility to output 1080p/23.98. But, this will end with 3.0 software.

Shooting and editing 24pn on varicam would be the same as any other panasonic camera that shoots p2, right??

Or are we talking tape based work flow with varicam?

We work off of tape, not P2 based cameras here