Apparently the HDX400 became available in Feb. 2005, but as of NAB 2005 Panasonic said there were no purchases. I understand that the HVX200 could bite into some of the demand for the HDX400 but I can't believe that no one is buying it. Has anyone heard different?

Will

Interesting, but possibly a bit early to tell what will happen. One thing is for certain. The 400's market is in a completely different league to the 200. The 200 will not steal any thunder from the 400.

Possibly one reason why the 400 hasn't sold is because P2 price/storage is at a premium in SD let along in HD. Some news stations have bought into P2 with the 800. I'm not sure what the financial incentive is to buy the 400, or what market it is aimed at..

The 400 isn't a P2 camera, it's a DVCPRO-HD tape camera. It's basically a 1080i version of the VariCam.

My bad. Ooops.

Right. I understand the enthusiasm about P2 media and an affordable HD100 capable HVX200 in the fall. But for right now I'd rather rent a direct to tape 2/3 inch 'traditional' full body camera for a feature this summer. With a SD out for monitoring and a HD-SDI out for transfer to NLE, it seems to present a full HD solution which mimics my current DV workflow. And at $40k to own, I've been assuming that the rental cost would be 2/3rds of the cost of a Varicam. But finding one is turning out to be more trouble than expected.

Check Birns and Sawyer in LA.

They rent the whole line of Panasonic cameras. from the DVX up, but then again just thinking they rent cameras that mimic film since they also rent film cameras.

I think the 400 is not 24fps.

It isn't -- it's 1080/60i only.

Hi,

Not sure who you spoke to at NAB but there have been purchases of the HVX400. Unfortuantely for you, those have been to private companies that are using them for in-house productions.

Probably be a few more months before the rental companies latch on to it, but because it is not a 24P camera I would look to the more traditional video rental places like a Bexel, Wexler, Plus 8 or VER.

Hope this helps,

Jan

Interesting, thanks Jan

I spoke with Steve Tobenkin at Birns and Sawyer. He said that they have a couple HDX400s on hand that they'd be willing to put into rental rotation if there was sufficient interest. If so, he asked that people email him at stobenkin@birnsandsawyer.com

-- Anton