Sony dropped the price of the x70 300.00 to 1999.00 on BH.
Confirmed what my sony guy told me. Sonys fiscal year was end of March. Any price drops indicate new stuff coming out. Cant wait til nab.

Maybe Item 9 on this list (in the Area 51 section) will become true then!

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/area-51/527090-some-predictions-nab-2015-a.html

;-)

Is this a reaction to JVC's new 4K HM200? Specs wise, these two cameras are close and seem to compete for the same market.

Is this a reaction to JVC's new 4K HM200? Specs wise, these two cameras are close and seem to compete for the same market.

most likely yes, but the JVC sports a small sensor, while the X70 is twice as big. but the guys at JVC know how to process! if you take the 850 (HD) with that miniscule sensor but giving the cleanest HD today available.
the sensor of the HM200 is the same size of the EX1r but looking at the pictures sure puts the sony to shame.

anyway given the fact that the X70 still has to show 50mbps 4:2:2 10bit (and it probably never will) then the JVC is a serious alternative, because it works.

anyway given the fact that the X70 still has to show 50mbps 4:2:2 10bit (and it probably never will) then the JVC is a serious alternative, because it works.

Are you saying the X70 does not do 10-bit 4:2:2 @ 50Mbps?? Did I miss something, because that's what I have heard to be true from day 1. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Are you saying the X70 does not do 10-bit 4:2:2 @ 50Mbps?? Did I miss something, because that's what I have heard to be true from day 1. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Not for 4k. It's 8 bit 4:2:0 at 60mbps which is a fairly low bit rate for 4k even with effecient long GOP encoding.

Are you saying the X70 does not do 10-bit 4:2:2 @ 50Mbps?? Did I miss something, because that's what I have heard to be true from day 1. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I wonder if Anthony meant the whole fiasco with editing 50 Mbps XAVC-L footage. If so, I disagree with the statement that we'll never have that (at least I hope so!)

Oh yes, for 4K that is true. But Sony never said the specs would be the same, disappointing as that may be.

I think the x70 is a very good small HD ENG camera.
I suspect the price dropped because they can't cut the price on the 4K upgrade so they made the base price more attractive.

I think the x70 is a very good small HD ENG camera.
I suspect the price dropped because they can't cut the price on the 4K upgrade so they made the base price more attractive.

And since I will be sticking to HD only, this cam is #1 on my purchase list. I'm eagerly waiting until NAB is over. Primary to see if Sony and/or Apple will fix the Final Cut X XAVC-L issue. But also to see if Canon will have any competing models (I'm thinking more like a next-gen XF100).

Well I just sold my FS100 which was a wonderful camera that paid for itself many times over and was thinking about picking up an X70 as a partner for my PMW 300. What is odd however is that the price drop is not reflected to any extent in Canada. the BH Price of $1999.00 is much better than Vistek or my local LL Lozeau can do and that would be after paying the taxes and even with our low 80 cent dollar. Shipping is free to Canada now with BH for any purchase over $100.00.
Though it would be nice to have 4:2:2 in 4K this camera seems like a good buy considering the SDI and one inch sensor. But I, like many here will wait for the Sony press conference at NAB before I buy anythng.

Craig Seeman
X7 will be shown at nab,
ill post pics/specs monday morning

most likely yes, but the JVC sports a small sensor, while the X70 is twice as big. but the guys at JVC know how to process! if you take the 850 (HD) with that miniscule sensor but giving the cleanest HD today available.
the sensor of the HM200 is the same size of the EX1r but looking at the pictures sure puts the sony to shame.

anyway given the fact that the X70 still has to show 50mbps 4:2:2 10bit (and it probably never will) then the JVC is a serious alternative, because it works.

I will have to question these statements. Every HM790 at my station has some degree of split screen brightness variation, and I have yet to find a happy HM850/890 customer. The HM200 doesn't have 3 1/2" CMOS sensors, not even a close comparison. And by the accounts of one HM200 owner, when you reach the high end of the gain, it becomes typical JVC "LowLux" video, horrible snow, greyed out blacks etc. The X70 is pretty clean allt he way to 27db, very usable 30db, and 33db in line with 18db image quality on my X180.

What I DO like about JVC is a lot of their control ergonomics, such as fast easy shutter (slow/fast) manipulation, quick menus and such. The HM200 has what appears to be a fabulous ring/switch control setup, and Zixi live streaming to boot. If it had X70 quality high gain cleanliness, even at half the IQ I would buy one.

Paul

Strangely, B&H now shows the US price of $1,999 as ending on April 19. List price is at $2,299:

B & H PXW-X70


Sony's site still shows the price drop; list price used to be $2,499, but it's still at the lowered amount of $2,249:

Sony PXW-X70 (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-xdcam/product-PXWX70/)

One of two possibilities on pricing:

The price is going up because all shipping cameras will include 4k activated.
or,
Post NAB, Sony doesn't see any competition coming in this niche and simply are raising the price back up a bit. That would make it a $2800 camera with professional HD but consumer 4K (IMHO), up from $2500 for the same. Perhaps they feel given the lack of motive to pay $500 for a consumer 4K upgrade, they want to make more money from the base model.

The Panasonic HC-X1000 is down to $3148 but there seem to be some complaints about image quality despite higher bit rate 4K.
Panasonic HC-X1000 4K DCI/Ultra HD/Full HD Camcorder HC-X1000K

From what I've seen of the JVC GY-HM200E (web reviews and footage), the Sony X70 could have some serious competition. Link below to a well known/respected UK supplier.

Buy - JVC GY-HM200E (GYHM200E) 4K Ultra HD Live Streaming Camcorder (http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/jvc_gy-hm200e)

Watch Rick Young's moviemachine.tv review (went live 16th April 2015) of this JVC and you'll see where I'm coming from (...I won't directly link it here out of courtesy to Chris).

From what I've seen of the JVC GY-HM200E (web reviews and footage), the Sony X70 could have some serious competition.

As a FCP X user, I do like hearing the ease of bringing in footage. Knowing now that the X70 has a $200 added cost (for Catalyst), that brings the price close to the JVC. And if the X70's reduced price doesn't hold, you're now just about even.

For the life of me though, I cannot find specs on their 4K. I wonder if it's 8-bit 4:2:0 just as with the X70. The only time 4:2:2 is mentioned is for recording HD.

I do plan to only capture HD footage for the short term. However, if whatever I purchase can give 4:2:2 4K, it may be worth an experiment to see if post-downscaled footage would be better than in-camera HD.

JVC GY-HM200E has a 1/2.3-inch back side Illuminated CMOS Sensor - completely different animal!

Yes I know. About a quarter of the size of the sensor in the X70 (so low light and DOF will suffer) - but footage looks reasonable (for the price).

And of course there is the LS 300 (with it's much larger sensor and it's clever lens mount/mapping option) if you want to spend more...

Jury's still out on the quality of the footage from that - but certainly interesting.

I guess, for 4K, it comes down to a bigger sensor with a cr@p bit rate codec versus a smaller sensor with a reasonable bit rate codec.

Just sold my AX100 and picked up the X70. I really like all of the improvements over the AX100. Sony has finally realized what I longed for my MC50 to be some years ago. A fully manual pro small form factor camera. The XLR handle is top notch and feels like it's a permanent part of the camera yet can be easily removed if needed. Extra assignable buttons and EX1 like menu are really nice.

I'll miss the 4K capability but hopefully Sony will sell the upgrade for less than the $500 rumored cost.