It's official: Panasonic AG-HVX200

Aaron Shaw · March 31st, 2005, 01:18 PM

Michael, do you have a source for the two P2 slots? I mean, I would hope so but I just haven't seen anything official yet.

Kurth Bousman · March 31st, 2005, 01:38 PM

I read ( and reread ) a post by Jan , I think at dvxusers , that was definitely worded vaguely so as to allow for a tape mechanism - she said something to the effect that what she has released as info is confirmed but what hasn't been specifically touched upon by her is still in the undenied realm of possiblty. I think in terms of tape mechanisms , we have to wait. It would seem a big risk by panasonic to have it p2 only esp. at todays prices for media. Most people interested in buying this camera would tend to wait a year or 2 for p2 cards to drop- if enough people were waiting instead of buying , they wouldn't drop. Also - no one's mentioned , even with the hide and seek photo , how ugly this camera is. Doesn't look near as attractive as a dvx- looks like a cross between a gl2 and dvx- with the gl2 winning. I know basing opinions on looks is a trivial point-- at least that was the excuse I used w/my exwife--but some things can't be helped ! Kurth

Bob Zimmerman · March 31st, 2005, 01:42 PM

Maybe it will come with a couple of 20 gig cards!!!

Chris Hurd · March 31st, 2005, 01:45 PM

Well, for the amount of money a DVCPro HD tape transport costs, that would be a significant percentage of the overall pricetag. I'm hoping they chose to spend their per-unit costs on other things, so as far as I'm concerned I hope it doesn't have a tape transport.

Of course there's another possibility which I think nobody has mentioned yet... what if there was a standard DV25 tape transport onboard? You couldn't use it for HD or DVCPro 50, but it would be handy for standard plain vanilla stuff.

Jesse Bekas · March 31st, 2005, 01:58 PM

I don't want to go searching for the post, but I'm almost sure Jan has said NO TAPE. Although I wouldn't mind a MiniDV transport.

Now we just have to wait on Firestore :)

Aaron Shaw · March 31st, 2005, 02:00 PM

I think Jan said there would be no tape for HD. That wouldn't be worth it at this price point. I'm not sure if that was meant to extend to SD as well though.

Kurth Bousman · March 31st, 2005, 02:16 PM

Chris - that was exactly my thoughts - tape for the lower data rates - those mechanisms are relatively cheap- also at HDfor indies , I just read of recording dvcprohd onto an ipod ! Hey does this camera have firewire ? Maybe this is the big announcement at NAB , another agreement between apple and panasonic perhaps ? Now that would be interesting - Ipods to 60gigs , right ?

Michael Struthers · March 31st, 2005, 02:19 PM

Wow. The trump card has been played, and it's a doozy.

I am praying for 1280 by 720 chips as used in the JVC. Please not the 980 by 720's used in the Canon.

1080/24p. Well, let's see.. 2007 Sundance entries just climbed to 5 million :-)

Michael Pappas · March 31st, 2005, 02:26 PM

No need for tape! Why...Well for one reason, DVCHDpro on tape isn't going to work on that camera. MiniDV tape technical issues for one reason. I for one don't want to bother with all the issues that can rise up with tape anyway. I have wanted tape for a while to die off. Ever since I saw the Avid cutter demo and then I saw Firestore years later and I thought this has to become the future. It was just a matter of time.

The only reason Panasonic would have had minidv on the AG-HVX200 was for DV.

The HVX-200 is an HD camera first, and second it does regular dv. But if you need dv then they still have the DVX100A for those that need that. If you need a Mini Varicam, then you go AG-HVX200/P2.

They are not going to stop selling the DVX100a because they know that a market still wants tape and needs miniDV.

For those including us who want HD now Panasonic offers the AG-HVX200 ( mini varicam ) and the lack of tape is a great major advancement...

Jan Crittenden does the above sound kinda right????

Remember if you need MiniDv, on a 4 gig P2 if the numbers are correct you get around 13 minutes of HDpro at 24p and if you do that at 25mbs this will give you around 52 minutes of video at DV res. This is a guess until concrete numbers are posted.

Michael Pappas
http://www.pbase.com/ARRFILMS

<<<-- Originally posted by Kurth Bousman : I read ( and reread ) a post by Jan , I think at dvxusers , that was definitely worded vaguely so as to allow for a tape mechanism - she said something to the effect that what she has released as info is confirmed but what hasn't been specifically touched upon by her is still in the undenied realm of possiblty. I think in terms of tape mechanisms , we have to wait. It would seem a big risk by panasonic to have it p2 only esp. at todays prices for media. Most people interested in buying this camera would tend to wait a year or 2 for p2 cards to drop- if enough people were waiting instead of buying , they wouldn't drop. Also - no one's mentioned , even with the hide and seek photo , how ugly this camera is. Doesn't look near as attractive as a dvx- looks like a cross between a gl2 and dvx- with the gl2 winning. I know basing opinions on looks is a trivial point-- at least that was the excuse I used w/my exwife--but some things can't be helped ! Kurth -->>>

Kurth Bousman · March 31st, 2005, 04:08 PM

1080@24p- I'll have to see it to believe it ! I remember when panasonic was releasing the gs400 - they kept alive misleading info about frame mode on the camera - calling frame mode , progressive , when they obviously knew it wasn't progressive . I can't believe they will give us 1080/24p. Now I DO have to wait. Let's hope this isn't ad room hype.

Mark Easton · March 31st, 2005, 04:42 PM

In a P2 thread over at www.pana3ccduser.com there are some stills taken of 128GB P2 cards (from Germany I think). Could this be for real or are they mock ups?? Certainly beats 4GB

http://www.pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php?t=1828&page=1&pp=10

Graeme Nattress · March 31st, 2005, 04:54 PM

Would that be a P2 RAID of some of those mini-hard drives? If that's true, and not totally unaffordable, I'll have difficulty getting near the Panasonic NAB booth.

Graeme

Michael Pappas · March 31st, 2005, 04:57 PM

Kurth............

The PV-GS400 is a consumer camera made, designed and marketed by the consumer development devision at Panasonic.

The AG-HDX200 comes form the professional development and manufacturing that makes professional gear and marketed from their professional devision.

That's like comparing the professional devision that makes and markets the Canon 1Ds SLR to the consumer devision in Canon that makes the A60 2 mega pixel camera.

Or the Sony professional devision that designs, builds and markets the DSR570WSL to the Consumer devision that the makes and markets the TRV1000.

The two don't even swim in the same water or drink the same wine.

Michael Pappas
http://www.pbase.Com/ARRFILMS

<<<-- Originally posted by Kurth Bousman : 1080@24p- I'll have to see it to believe it ! I remember when panasonic was releasing the gs400 - they kept alive misleading info about frame mode on the camera - calling frame mode , progressive , when they obviously knew it wasn't progressive . I can't believe they will give us 1080/24p. Now I DO have to wait. Let's hope this isn't ad room hype. -->>>

Chris Hurd · March 31st, 2005, 05:07 PM

If it's P2, then it's flash memory, not hard drives.

Graeme Nattress · March 31st, 2005, 05:12 PM

128GB in Flash memory - that's quite a fantastic feat of engineering. I can still remember how big we though the 16k RAM Pack was for the ZX81.

Graeme

March 31st, 2005, 01:45 PM	#34
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Well, for the amount of money a DVCPro HD tape transport costs, that would be a significant percentage of the overall pricetag. I'm hoping they chose to spend their per-unit costs on other things, so as far as I'm concerned I hope it doesn't have a tape transport. Of course there's another possibility which I think nobody has mentioned yet... what if there was a standard DV25 tape transport onboard? You couldn't use it for HD or DVCPro 50, but it would be handy for standard plain vanilla stuff. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 31st, 2005, 02:19 PM	#38
Michael Struthers Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: SF, Ca Posts: 421	Wow. The trump card has been played, and it's a doozy. I am praying for 1280 by 720 chips as used in the JVC. Please not the 980 by 720's used in the Canon. 1080/24p. Well, let's see.. 2007 Sundance entries just climbed to 5 million :-) __________________ Michael Struthers www.buzzdigital.com

March 31st, 2005, 04:54 PM	#42
Graeme Nattress RED Problem Solver Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,365	Would that be a P2 RAID of some of those mini-hard drives? If that's true, and not totally unaffordable, I'll have difficulty getting near the Panasonic NAB booth. Graeme __________________ www.nattress.com - filters for FCP

March 31st, 2005, 05:07 PM	#44
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	If it's P2, then it's flash memory, not hard drives. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 31st, 2005, 05:12 PM	#45
Graeme Nattress RED Problem Solver Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,365	128GB in Flash memory - that's quite a fantastic feat of engineering. I can still remember how big we though the 16k RAM Pack was for the ZX81. Graeme __________________ www.nattress.com - filters for FCP

March 31st, 2005, 01:18 PM	#31
Aaron Shaw Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 587	Michael, do you have a source for the two P2 slots? I mean, I would hope so but I just haven't seen anything official yet.

March 31st, 2005, 01:38 PM	#32
Kurth Bousman Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: san miguel allende , gto , mexico Posts: 644	I read ( and reread ) a post by Jan , I think at dvxusers , that was definitely worded vaguely so as to allow for a tape mechanism - she said something to the effect that what she has released as info is confirmed but what hasn't been specifically touched upon by her is still in the undenied realm of possiblty. I think in terms of tape mechanisms , we have to wait. It would seem a big risk by panasonic to have it p2 only esp. at todays prices for media. Most people interested in buying this camera would tend to wait a year or 2 for p2 cards to drop- if enough people were waiting instead of buying , they wouldn't drop. Also - no one's mentioned , even with the hide and seek photo , how ugly this camera is. Doesn't look near as attractive as a dvx- looks like a cross between a gl2 and dvx- with the gl2 winning. I know basing opinions on looks is a trivial point-- at least that was the excuse I used w/my exwife--but some things can't be helped ! Kurth

March 31st, 2005, 01:42 PM	#33
Bob Zimmerman Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Illinois Posts: 888	Maybe it will come with a couple of 20 gig cards!!!

March 31st, 2005, 01:58 PM	#35
Jesse Bekas Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, USA Posts: 572	I don't want to go searching for the post, but I'm almost sure Jan has said NO TAPE. Although I wouldn't mind a MiniDV transport. Now we just have to wait on Firestore :)

March 31st, 2005, 02:00 PM	#36
Aaron Shaw Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 587	I think Jan said there would be no tape for HD. That wouldn't be worth it at this price point. I'm not sure if that was meant to extend to SD as well though.

March 31st, 2005, 02:16 PM	#37
Kurth Bousman Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: san miguel allende , gto , mexico Posts: 644	Chris - that was exactly my thoughts - tape for the lower data rates - those mechanisms are relatively cheap- also at HDfor indies , I just read of recording dvcprohd onto an ipod ! Hey does this camera have firewire ? Maybe this is the big announcement at NAB , another agreement between apple and panasonic perhaps ? Now that would be interesting - Ipods to 60gigs , right ?

March 31st, 2005, 02:26 PM	#39
Michael Pappas Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: California Posts: 667	No need for tape! Why...Well for one reason, DVCHDpro on tape isn't going to work on that camera. MiniDV tape technical issues for one reason. I for one don't want to bother with all the issues that can rise up with tape anyway. I have wanted tape for a while to die off. Ever since I saw the Avid cutter demo and then I saw Firestore years later and I thought this has to become the future. It was just a matter of time. The only reason Panasonic would have had minidv on the AG-HVX200 was for DV. The HVX-200 is an HD camera first, and second it does regular dv. But if you need dv then they still have the DVX100A for those that need that. If you need a Mini Varicam, then you go AG-HVX200/P2. They are not going to stop selling the DVX100a because they know that a market still wants tape and needs miniDV. For those including us who want HD now Panasonic offers the AG-HVX200 ( mini varicam ) and the lack of tape is a great major advancement... Jan Crittenden does the above sound kinda right???? Remember if you need MiniDv, on a 4 gig P2 if the numbers are correct you get around 13 minutes of HDpro at 24p and if you do that at 25mbs this will give you around 52 minutes of video at DV res. This is a guess until concrete numbers are posted. Michael Pappas http://www.pbase.com/ARRFILMS <<<-- Originally posted by Kurth Bousman : I read ( and reread ) a post by Jan , I think at dvxusers , that was definitely worded vaguely so as to allow for a tape mechanism - she said something to the effect that what she has released as info is confirmed but what hasn't been specifically touched upon by her is still in the undenied realm of possiblty. I think in terms of tape mechanisms , we have to wait. It would seem a big risk by panasonic to have it p2 only esp. at todays prices for media. Most people interested in buying this camera would tend to wait a year or 2 for p2 cards to drop- if enough people were waiting instead of buying , they wouldn't drop. Also - no one's mentioned , even with the hide and seek photo , how ugly this camera is. Doesn't look near as attractive as a dvx- looks like a cross between a gl2 and dvx- with the gl2 winning. I know basing opinions on looks is a trivial point-- at least that was the excuse I used w/my exwife--but some things can't be helped ! Kurth -->>>

March 31st, 2005, 04:08 PM	#40
Kurth Bousman Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: san miguel allende , gto , mexico Posts: 644	1080@24p- I'll have to see it to believe it ! I remember when panasonic was releasing the gs400 - they kept alive misleading info about frame mode on the camera - calling frame mode , progressive , when they obviously knew it wasn't progressive . I can't believe they will give us 1080/24p. Now I DO have to wait. Let's hope this isn't ad room hype.

March 31st, 2005, 04:42 PM	#41
Mark Easton New Boot Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Palmerston North, New Zealand Posts: 22	In a P2 thread over at www.pana3ccduser.com there are some stills taken of 128GB P2 cards (from Germany I think). Could this be for real or are they mock ups?? Certainly beats 4GB http://www.pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php?t=1828&page=1&pp=10

March 31st, 2005, 04:57 PM	#43
Michael Pappas Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: California Posts: 667	Kurth............ The PV-GS400 is a consumer camera made, designed and marketed by the consumer development devision at Panasonic. The AG-HDX200 comes form the professional development and manufacturing that makes professional gear and marketed from their professional devision. That's like comparing the professional devision that makes and markets the Canon 1Ds SLR to the consumer devision in Canon that makes the A60 2 mega pixel camera. Or the Sony professional devision that designs, builds and markets the DSR570WSL to the Consumer devision that the makes and markets the TRV1000. The two don't even swim in the same water or drink the same wine. Michael Pappas http://www.pbase.Com/ARRFILMS <<<-- Originally posted by Kurth Bousman : 1080@24p- I'll have to see it to believe it ! I remember when panasonic was releasing the gs400 - they kept alive misleading info about frame mode on the camera - calling frame mode , progressive , when they obviously knew it wasn't progressive . I can't believe they will give us 1080/24p. Now I DO have to wait. Let's hope this isn't ad room hype. -->>>