Is Time Running Out?

[bilgami]

With all this talk about the new hd-dvx coming how much time is left to still buy a brand new 100a

[Robert_Niemann]

The question is: Does it still make sense to buy a Panasonic AG-DVX100A now? One week ago I was sure to buy a DVX in the next few days, but now... I still should wait. Buying a DVX including the 16:9 conversion lens - maybe, that will be the price of the new AJ-HDX100. So why should I still buy a DVX? Are there any arguments?

[Zig_Zigman]

When they announce a new cam in April, it still won't be ready for a while after that...

So you are looking at March-April-May-June at least...then you'll have a period of msrp sales pressure where the new cam is going to those who have plunked down deposits and are spending top dollar....

So if your cam is needed in the next six months I'd keep it. Or, if you buy a dvx100a, you can use it for six months and sell it.

Conversely, there will be a *lot* of dvx's available on ebay *L*

[hvpz]

Buy an used dvx and the reel-stream mod could be an interesting option too (4:4:4 and HD).

The beta test will start in a few weeks.
(http://www.reel-stream.com)

[Zim]

You still might want a DVX100. The price for the new cam might be to high and the price of the DVX will probably drop.

[bilgami]

thats what i was thinking. bought the dvc80 thinking the new hddvx would come out sooner rather than later but now im thinking i should have just bought the 100a in the first place cuz if the new hddvx is to expensive i will just have to buy a 100a at lower cost.

[Jan_Crittenden]

One week ago I was sure to buy a DVX in the next few days, but now... I still should wait. Buying a DVX including the 16:9 conversion lens - maybe, that will be the price of the new AJ-HDX100. So why should I still buy a DVX? Are there any arguments?

Actually the price of this combination will still be less than the P2HD.

[Robert_Niemann]

So what will be the price of the new Panasonic AJ-HDX100?

[Zim]

P2HD! Kind of like R2D2!!

[Rich Lee]

R2HD2

C3PHDO

Darth HDer

Princess HDia

The Death HDar

[Isaac_Brody]

Luke H. DVXER

HD SOLO

:D

[xray]

Why not? You can buy the DVX100a now, you have a very good camera, working in low light situations, lots of extra gear and tools available, a good price, and you can work next week. Buy it now and you have a proven camera concept.

[Barry_Green]

Time is not running out. Panasonic has said the DVX is now, and will remain, a "current product". The new camera will likely cost thousands of dollars more than the current DVX, so there will still be a market for both.

I look at it like this:
$1400 - GS400
$2400 - DVC30
$3400 - DVX100
$5400 - HDX-whatever

(and yes, I'm totally making those numbers up, don't anyone quote me... I'm just using it to illustrate that the cameras will serve different market segments. The DVC30 didn't kill off the GS400, the DVX hasn't killed off the DVC30, and I don't expect the HDX (if that is its name, as that name has never been confirmed) to kill off the DVX. Certainly some people who would otherwise have bought a DVX will now instead buy an HDX... but there are a lot of peopl ewho simply won't have, or won't justify, an additional $2,000 to $6,000 price difference for the new camera!

[alpi69]

it is ridiculous. first you want the DVX100 but then wait for the 100A. then a while later comes the XL2 and again you wait and see if it is worth the extra bucks. then SONY comes with the FX1 and after deciding against it and waiting for the Z1 now Pana brings a new toy again...and prolly more comes out at NAB.

i agree there is only one option: buy what you need when you need it. maybe the DVX goes down a little, but not much.
i guess the HDX will be around 6000 + new deck + new monitors + a huge RAID/PC + a P2 + + + + plus.....i would say another 6000 which ends up at 12000. do you have customers who pay that? go for it. otherwise please them with DVX footage.

[Flintstone]

it is ridiculous. first you want the DVX100 but then wait for the 100A. then a while later comes the XL2 and again you wait and see if it is worth the extra bucks. then SONY comes with the FX1 and after deciding against it and waiting for the Z1 now Pana brings a new toy again...and prolly more comes out at NAB.
Welcome to the consumer age. Where your needs and desires become one, and are shoved down your throat by the billions of dollars in marketing ploys. :-/

Sarcastically yours,

Fred

[Shaw]

There's no need for a new deck Alpi69. You can connect the p2 media directly to the computer I believe.

[Flintstone]

Yep! *And that's what makes it so sweet; no real need for a deck. *And you don't need a huge RAID either; DVCProHD is ONLY 100mps; so it's not that bad. *As for a new monitor, well, since Pany is going the way of I.T. (with P2 cards), it would not surprise me if they come up with some sort of standard VGA connectivity to standard computer monitors. *Besides, Pany just announced a new 17" 1280x768 reference monitor, the BT-LH1700W; click below details.

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=30727

[xander76]

*And you don't need a huge RAID either; DVCProHD is ONLY 100mps; so it's not that bad.

And at 720p40, it's only 40Mbps. I think that you're right that you don't need a RAID for speed or size at these data rates, but you absolutely need a RAID for redundancy. If you download your P2 cards to a regular hard drive (or a few hard drives in a RAID 0 setup), you will be destroyed if any of your drives fail. Without tape to go back and recapture, you're hosed; all your footage is gone. Luckily, LaCie just released an affordable FireWire 800 4-disk RAID that can handle RAID 0, 0+1, or 5, ranges from 1TB to 2TB, and costs about $2/GB in a RAID 5 setup.

http://www.lacie.com/company/news/news.htm?id=10220

I talked to a LaCie representative at MacWorld, and he said that they will also sell replacement drives, but he didn't have a price yet. The upside is that once you buy the RAID enclosure, you can buy more storage for cheaper than $2/GB. My uneducated guess comes out to somewhere around $1.35/GB in a RAID 5 setup, based on the guess that the drives will cost about $1/GB. I suspect that some folks will use a RAID like this as an archival medium. Once you've filled the RAID up, pop out the disks, throw them on a shelf in some electrostatic bags, and then put in four new drives.

I also suspect a lot of folks buying the HDX100 will be purchasing one of these along with it. Hey Jan, maybe you can put together a bundle? ;-)

[Flintstone]

I never thought that one day I would have ever imagined hard disk archival as a avaible solution. 250GB drives are dirt cheap, yet will only hold approximately 6 hours of DVCProHD footage @ 100mbps. But is it cheap enough?

Of course, compared to a $20K deck and expensive DVCProHD tapes, it's pretty cheap.

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

[geffy]

continue this and register your opinion http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=HDV;action=display;num=1108567176

[Isaac_Brody]

chill dude...

[geffy]

guess the secret is the old adage, never be the first or last to buy, see my poll for info, most people think 3 months would be right time to buy if you can wait for a bargain! :-/

[The_Video_Guy]

i agree there is only one option: buy what you need when you need it. maybe the DVX goes down a little, but not much.
i guess the HDX will be around 6000 + new deck + new monitors + a huge RAID/PC + a P2 + + + + plus.....i would say another 6000 which ends up at 12000.

Agree with that totally. It's a very stategic game/business from a seller and a consumers perspective... especially when the market seems to change about every 3 months... and now talks of 2160 HD gear from Sony in new higher end HDcams?!! ??? it doesn't end... I was gone on holidays for a weeks and it's crazy.. there is even a new rumor thread on the main page. ::)

It's definately an expensive game to play. Going HD (consumer HDV or potentially new DVCPRO option) is much more than just the cam. New monitors, more hard drive space, new compatible gear... like stated above the cost adds up pretty fast. While it's great that all the stuff seems "cheaper", in it's "cheapness" all of a sudden it almost becomes a justified requirement depending on your application... ho hum... as the world turns....

(I was just using my parents P100 computer yesterday reliving the 90's... 3000 dollars in 1996... now $50's on ebay.... :o... technology is a frightning investment)

[SimonMW]

Technology is a drug, and we're all mugs!

[Flintstone]

We are all afflicted with the obsolescence syndrome. ::)