HPX 500 ccd, prism same as HVX200?

[Director Doug]

I was told today, by a Panasonic dealer, that the chips and the prism block for the 500 are the same as the HVX200... something I find hard to believe. In addition, he said that the lenses are the only big difference... and also said that the chips are not 'true' HD chips, that only the 2000 and the HDX900 have 'true' HD pickup chips.

Is this true?

[hunter richards]

The chips in the hvx200 are 1/3", the ones in the hpx500 are 2/3"...there is a pretty big difference there. It seems as though the ccds have a lower pixel count than "true HD" which would be something like 2.2mpix, but the images that come out of the camera are HD and the camera has a fast Iso because of its larger photosites (a big plus over having a ton of tiny pixels)

Sounds like this fellow knows how to sell you a more expensive product.

[Barry_Green]

Yep, sounds like someone's either woefully misinformed, or trying to make a bigger sale.

The HPX500 uses, as Hunter said, 2/3" chips. The HVX is 1/3". No way are they the same.

As for pixel count on the chips, the HVX200 is about 520,000; the HPX500 is about 620,000; the HPX2000 is about 1 million, and the HPX3000 is about 2.2 million. They all deliver high-def imagery, they're all HD chip blocks. As you step up in the price range you do get sharper imagery, that's true, but they're all still high-def. The low-cost HPX500 is a bit softer than the HPX2000, and the HPX2000 is a bit softer than the HPX3000, yes.