XL3 HD by July???

[Dave Eanton]

I am not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but I came across this HD link suggesting that canon will announce an XL3 HD solution by July.

http://www.digitalproducer.com/artic...e.jsp?id=32066

I, for one, can't wait!
Looks Good.

[Nigel Moore]

Depends on how you read it:

“WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE A HDV XL2!!!???”.

The answer comes in the form of a cryptic reply that was stated loosely as, “In the second half of the year, Canon will have five or six announcements that should answer your question.”

So, sometime before 31 December, Canon may make an announcement of a future product. So it could actually be a year from now.

[Richard Alvarez]

I think the chance of seeing an operating XL3 in hd or hdv by July is almost non-existant. My guess, is that by November, Canon will make an ANNOUNCEMENT about it's plans, but no actual product until AFTER July of next year, at the earliest.

So I think seeing anything in a concrete form, even a mock-up is well over a year away.

[Kevin Wild]

As is repeated around here a lot, Canon does not usually make announcements unless their product is very close to being ready to ship. I still would guess that the HDV product they'll have out first is the GL3...not the full blown XL3. Keep waiting for that one...

KW

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Kevin Wild

As is repeated around here a lot, Canon does not usually make announcements unless their product is very close to being ready to ship. I still would guess that the HDV product they'll have out first is the GL3...not the full blown XL3. Keep waiting for that one...

KW

Very true Kevin. Another thing that gets repeated here alot is to take a look at Canon's product introduction history. If one does the math, it's very possible that a GL3 could show up sometime this year. Any such announcement from Canon would likely be at DVEXPO East, but this is all speculation on everyone's part. One thing IS certain, Canon announced that the XL-2 would be the last SD camera offering when the XL-2 was introduced..

-gb-

[Brent Ray]

If Canon released an XL3 in July, it would be the worst economic decision they, or any large corporation, has ever made.

They just released the XL2, and have invested a lot of money in its success. It would be corporate suicide to release the XL3 only 7 months later. All of that time and money put into the XL2 would be completely lost, and they might as well say goodbye to their already lackluster XL2 sales. It just doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint to release the XL3 for at least another year.

It would be nice from a consumer standpoint, though.

[Dave Eanton]

"It would be corporate suicide to release the XL3 only 7 months later."

I am not sure Brent. Canon needs to say or promise something. Given the market segment that would purchase this type of camera, this summer's XL2 buyers will most likely buy JVC that offers both HD and SD with interchangable lenses than what the XL2 offers - and almost at the same price too. If Canon doesn't do something in July when the JVC is expected, I am not sure what purchaser would pass up that option.

If I was looking to purchase a camera in the summer and Canon didn't announce anything, I would certainly purchase the JVC or Pana over the XL2 at that point.

In my case, Canon ends up winning as I would end up purchasing 2 of their cameras in less than 7 months!

[Dave Eanton]

...of course, I always keep thinking that Canon will provide a HD Conversion Kit option to convert your existing XL2 into an HD cam. And that mysterious film grain button would provide the SD to HD switch :)

...you never know....

[Stephen Schleicher]

As I postulated in my article, my guess is Canon will have a GL3 before the XL3. The comment about the second half of the year starting in July was a joke aimed at Mike Zorich who made the claim about announcements.

My guess is we will see the XL3 by November/December with it shipping in February, just in time for packed booths at NAB 2006.

Cheers!

[Dave Eanton]

Stephen, any thoughts on whether it will do 1080p?

[Brent Ray]

Well an announcement by July is feasable. That may even be an intelligent move, because then the diehard Canon customers may wait for the XL3 before buying the JVC or another brand. I was just saying that actually releasing a brand new camera this soon is like basically saying, "The XL2 was a mistake, don't buy it."

[Luis Caffesse]

"Well an announcement by July is feasable. That may even be an intelligent move, because then the diehard Canon customers may wait for the XL3 before buying the JVC or another brand. "

That would make sense.
What suprised me was the comment that the announcements would NOT be made in conjunction with any major trade show.

DV Expo East is in July, and that is usually Canon's event for showing off new cameras. Also, I find it odd to think that they would make an announcement without actually having a camera ready for release within 1-2 months.
That seems to be Canon's M.O.

I can't remember anytime they announced a camera far in advance.

I would expect that by the time they make any sort of announcement, they will have a working model to show off, and ready to ship within a few months.

Then again, perhaps they will change their strategy this time around as it seems that so many people are clammering for an HDV answer from Canon, and silence may just breed contempt from a lot of Canon supporters who may feel they are being left behind.

I would love nothing more than to think that Canon will come out with an HD camera that didn't rely on MPG2 compression, but I doubt that's going to happen (seeing as they are part of the HDV consortium).

Either way, exciting stuff to be sure.
I wouldn't be suprised to hear something from them by July/August.
Right around the time the JVC camera starts shipping, and right before the HVX is released.

[Stephen Schleicher]

I have no idea if it would be 1080p... but here is some futher "speculation".

Most of the new HDV cameras will have a 16:9 native chip, and I don't think it would be a stretch for Canon to go the extra mile to make it 1080p, switchable to the other formats. Canon did point out their wait and see attitude has paid off in the past.

While talking with Mike Z from Canon, he did say the announcements would not coincide with major shows - he could have been s-ing me, but...

It was also brought to my attention by Canon that they do not do technology demos unless the product is near shipping. So a July release for a XL3 would be very iffy in my opinion - GL3 on the other hand...

Cheers

[Zack Birlew]

I don't know what Canon could do that already hasn't been done. Unless they could somehow stretch HDV to its limits for progressive and interlaced shooting on all modes, then they've got nuttin' except the JVC or Sony labled with a Canon logo instead.

What would be interesting is if Canon found a way or bought the rights to make their cameras in true HD rather than HDV and possibly with tape or integrated hard disk recording right off the bat. Another good thing would be to give their camera more bandwidth, say 25-50mbps instead of 19mbps.

In any case, I'm definitely going Panasonic when I can afford it, until then I've got to get new HD gear. =/

[Michael Struthers]

In order to better HDV, Canon would have to license another codec, say the panasonic dvcpro50, like Ikegami does.

Or they could license Sony's xdcam codec.

Or they could make up their own codec like jvc, but they have to get the major NLE's to hop on board. Apple might, but I doubt if Vegas will.

And all that takes time and lots of money, so I guess it will be an HDV cam.

Unfortunately.