HD200U build quality and 720 24p versus 1080i 24p

[Jason McCormy]

Greetings and thank you all once again for your responses in advance.

My first question is about the build quality of the HD200 versus the HD100. I understand, rightly or wrongly, that people had somewhat frequent reliability issues with the original HD100. Is this still the case with the HD200?

Also, and I know this is a lot of personal preference, but has anyone had much experience with selling 720 footage as opposed to 1080? Also, with 1080 24p I understand their are more issues with bad frames than with 720 24p, is this correct?

And last, has anyone had any issues recording the JVC directly to a computer?

Thank you once again for your help

[Justin Ferar]

Jason,

Regarding build quality, I've had two HD200's for 2 years now. Mostly shoot weddings in freezing thick fog in SF and searing summer heat in Napa/Sonoma wine country.

These cameras are transported every weekend, loaded in and out of trunks and put through the ringer with me bumping into everything running and gunning with nary a hiccup. Nothing has broken off or even chipped externally which to be honest is a minor miracle in my business. Internally- never had a problem. I can only compare to Sony DSR series which is what I grew up on, of which they are equal so far.

At this point I don't question the build quality of the 200s.

Don't take me as a fan of JVC or anything- the 200's just work and make me money.

[Alex Humphrey]

Hmmm I have a HD110, and done maybe 500 hours of drum time it so far, all location shots. no issues. The only I killed was a Varizoom (aftermarket) zoom control.... killed the cable. I bet the JVC zoom control is better built. The stock 16x lens is pretty good if you keep it 7mm-45mm around f4.5-f5.6 Avoid going tight at 80mm, especially at smaller fstops. Phsically a solid camera. Even the old consumer HD-10 was a solid brick. If I were to get mugged while carrying the old HD-10, I would hit the mugger and take his wallet. OK, perhaps an exaggeration.. but you get the idea... What cameras were you looking other than the JVC? Panasonic HPX-500 or a Sony HD-CAM? All are solid. Or where you looking at the Panasonic HVX-200, Sony HDV, Canon HDV?

[Jason McCormy]

I'm actually in charge of picking a camera for my boss. Right now I've narrowed it down between the JVC HD200u and the Sony HDR-Z7U. I really like the JVC, and the fact it is shoulder mounted, 720 60p, and has what sounds like a very slick focus assist. But, the Sony comes with the Compact Flash recording unit and does 1080 24p.

With the information he gave me, and I've been back to get more a couple of times, either sounds really good for him.

So, any help you could give me would be great.

[Shaun Roemich]

I was in the same boat and bought the HD200. I love the 60P as opposed to 60i. Build quality seems a bit light before you put the Anton Bauer battery on, then it feels "normal". Of course this is compared to Sony Betacam and DVCam shoulder mounts.

I LOVE the focus assist (being "black and white" with peaking as opposed to zooming in - which you can't do while shooting!).

All in all, I'm THRILLED, especially at the price point. Make sure to save some money for an on-camera mic as the supplied one is a toy. One thing that gets overlooked often is the headphone amp: 2x 1/8" outputs and it is LOUD compared to my previous experience with Sony "handicam" style cameras.