HVX-200 "A" Dreamsheet

The biggest thing for me; Get the TimeCode off Firewire...... BNC TimeCode Ins and Outs, would make things so much easier to sync cameras.


Also, as mentioned before a shoulder mount design would be nice, and with a bigger camera, since it would have to be slightly bigger for shoulder mount, a DVCPro 50 Drive Vertical, how sony has the tape drives on the CineAlta. If that's too expensive to place on a camera cheaper than 6k, make the MiniDV vertical. Also, allow dual recording of all formats (HD, 50, 25, MiniDV) to both P2 and Tape Drive, whether it be a DVCPro 50 tape drive or a minidv drive, this would allow offline editing, so you're able to make decission on a SD system and then move to an HD system for the online edit, making it faster, and saving space on the HD system. Also, you can preview video on a SD TV. Dual recording would allow you to move right into SD editing or previewing without having to do the dub down after you shoot.

Also, by turning the tape drive Vertical you can increase the amount of P2 Slots (from 2 to 3 or 4, whether that be 4 right in a row or two on the top row and two on the row below that, p2 cards would sit vertical as well, like the SPX800, unless you can fit more horizontally.) and put them on the side, next to the vertical tape drive, instead of the back.

Then place a Removable Harddrive type of interface in the back of the camera where the P2 cards currently are.

Also, increase the pixel count on the sensor to get rid of major pixel shift.
And increase the physical size of the processor from 1/3" to 1/2", not quite 2/3" but it would give better results then other cameras in this price range.
 
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I'd like sort of an internal harddrive with like, 50 gig of internal memory so you would just need P2 cards for add-ons or if you wanted to trade it to another cam.
 
I forgot to add that the harddrive bay should contain a firewire connector in the bay, and the hard drives that slide in has a firewire port in the same spot, so when it slides in it locks to the camera. Then from there you can move the drive from the camera to computer via firewire.

Or maybe even give it an Gigabyte ethernet connection.
 
Do I smell a HVX 230 brewing? I like the internal hard drive idea. Some might still like tape so keep the Hvx 200 for them. But it could be streamlined nicely for the higher end user. Some great ideas all in all though. Love this forum! Just found it a few days ago. Spend too much time here already, but have learned a lot.

Bird
 
PunkMetalDrummer17 said:
The biggest thing for me; Get the TimeCode off Firewire...... BNC TimeCode Ins and Outs, would make things so much easier to sync cameras.
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Stole my thunder. I hate to have a lame "me too" post (OK... no I don't), but this is my one complaint about the HVX200.
 
I agree with the hard drive instead of the tape transport.
But, if not, how about being able to record HDV on the tape-
after all, HDV 4:2:0 is better as a back-up than MiniDV when you run out of P2 card space. It shouldn't cost Panasonic any more to add a HDV tape option.
 
Panasonic doesn't play the HDV ballgame, they will play the AVCHD game though. :) Whether they'll update the HVX200 with that feature via firmware is yet to be determined.

But looking at this list of things, if you want a bigger camera with a beefier tape drive (ie. DVCPRO 50/DVCPRO HD), then the perfect camera for you would be the HDX900.

You're kind of missing the point of the HVX200, it's a high quality "DVCPRO HD-Mini-Varicam-for-on-the-go"-type of camera. If Panasonic had wanted to stuff a DVCPRO-HD tape mechanism in there, we'd have tons of people complaining about how heavy the camera is and the cost would be up there with the XLH1, and the only thing that camera has going for it to justify the price is a video only HD-SDI output and interchangeable lense factor. (Not that the XLH1 isn't a rockin' camera, but come on! $10,000 for a stock HDV camera?)

P2 cards will get cheaper, they just came out. Give it a year or two to let the user-base get to DVX-levels, plus there's all the pro P2 cameras that are selling too, maybe the price drops will be more rapid than we think.

However, I still think there could be an internal hard drive solution of some sort by the time they get around to making an HVX200A.
 
Also, increase the pixel count on the sensor to get rid of major pixel shift.
And increase the physical size of the processor from 1/3" to 1/2", not quite 2/3" but it would give better results then other cameras in this price range.
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I have asked in some other thread if larger chips would be possible for a future HVX200 and Jan Crittenden answered that 2/3" chipsets are too expensive (about the price of a HVX200) and too big. But it was also said that the 1/3" chip is the biggest limitation for picture quality. So larger chips will be the only way to significantly improve the picture quality. And the dof would be decreased as well. So maybe the 1/2" chipsize request is actually realistic, even if it would probably mean substantial price rise. Also maybe the dispensable tape section would have to be left away, which I wouldn't mind.
Of course this is not for an "A" upgrade, but for a follow-up. Just don't make the camera any bigger or heavier, for me it's perfect now.
 
jwfilm said:
So maybe the 1/2" chipsize request is actually realistic, even if it would probably mean substantial price rise.
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Why would a price increase be inevitable? The HVX's CCD had to have been designed in 2003 or 2004; technology marches on. As a side note, 1/2" is 50% bigger than 1/3", so with the same pixel density, a native resolution of 1,440 x 810 would be possible; with slightly larger pixels and therefore better light sensitivity (even assuming no improvements in sensor fabrication technology), 1,280 x 720 should be practical. But I agree, this isn't likely for an "A" upgrade.
 
cmv-711 said:
I agree with the hard drive instead of the tape transport.
But, if not, how about being able to record HDV on the tape-
after all, HDV 4:2:0 is better as a back-up than MiniDV when you run out of P2 card space. It shouldn't cost Panasonic any more to add a HDV tape option.
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The whole point of the DVCPro HD in the camera was to not use HDV.
 
I can't believe nobody said, just thought of it myself actually; give us 4 XLR inputs and control over all 4 channels. If not 4 XLR inputs atleast control over the internal mic levels.
 
My only big concern is the LCD. The rest I read is not a must but a wish, though I love all the things mentioned.
I did a recording with a Z1 LCD. Jezus, compared to HVX LCD it rocks. Even in brightest sunlight I could see and focus what I was doing.
Can't I just put a Z1 LCD on the Panasonic?
HVX rules in any other way! :)
 
cannes1979 said:
120 frames per second!!! Plus ramping!!!
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120 fps would be nice, but doubtful...... Ramping would be nice though, Go from 12 FPS to 60FPS in the same shot. Hell give us 1 to 60 in single frame increments or even half frame increments 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, ect.; .5s would be a weird effect but useful.
 
I love the camera and would appreciate longer recording times, but I don't see any incentive for Panasonic to include an internal hard drive. The point of p2 was to have a durable solid state recording solution and embedding an unreliable device by comparison would hurt durability and camera life. Bigger p2 cards will solve this issue anyway and Panasonic will be selling more blades for the razor. 2issues I would like Panasonic to consider.

1) 32 bit pcmcia is being phased out of most computers and some brands such as HP can't handle anything bigger than a 4G card so why hasn't Panasonic created and adapter that can handle this for laptops. I don't think using the camera as an offloading device or being tethered to a laptop via firewire (although both nice options) was plan A for most people or at least not always the preferred way. P2 store and firestore are more a function of the small cards than offloading devices. The cards are the dimensions to fit this device (pcmcia) It is almost as if technology outpaced them here. I would appreciate a cheap transfer device.

2) I don't think a Marshall monitor was in most peoples budget when buying the camera, but it seems many agree that achieving focus for filmmaking is difficult without one. I would have paid more (maybe not and additional $1400) to have an equivalent onboard the camera, rather than having to buy a separate unit and mount it adding weight and cost.

as for all the other thing mentioned here they would be gravy, I feel really fortunate to have this camera the way it is.
Regards,
 
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Anyone who thinks that they are going to add higher-rez chips in the 'A' model is simply kidding themselves. Changing the chip size would mean pretty much redesigning the camera. Maybe with the HVX300 but certainly not with the 'A'.

The only way to up the resolution without losing sensativity would be going with 2/3 or 1/2 chips. I'd love that but it would cost more. I might not mind paying another $1000 for such chips (I would have if the HVX200 had offered higher rez ones) but that would mean a new camera not an upgrade.

As for tape, I like having it. It's something to use if my clients don't want HD and I don't care much about the quality. Don't get me wrong, I personally HATE having to deal with tape after all the flexibility of P2s but for cheaper stuff it's still a nice option (I personally wouldn't mind the addition of HDV even though I'd never use it for my own stuff).

I think the following would be good additions that would be possible with the 'A'.

1. Sharper LCD. Won't cost too much and they did it with the DVX upgrades.

2. Less noise. Once again, was done with the DVX100B and wasn't an issue.

3. Ability to do in camera black and white.

4. More frame-rates.

5. More scene file options.

6. Flip LCD

7. Shoulder Mount Option
 
THE HONEST LIAR said:
The biggest problem with this camera is without question, is the LCD.
With that said, it would be almost impossible to get all the pixels required, without greatly increasing the cost. But i agree the Z1 has a far better LCD.
The LCD, just does not do the cameras images any service at all.

Kind regards
THE HONEST LIAR
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Not sure if it is the LCD or the peaking. With a more effective peaking why care about the LCD resolution...that is if you can easily get a sharp focus.

I agree, it would be nice to get a real 1280x720 so the JVC doesn't have sharper images. It would also be nice to record GOP6 720p24 /720p30 and GOP12 720p60 HDV to tape. That is only an encoding change. Really nice woould be to record DVCProHD to P2/disk and HDV to tape at the same time. So much for battery life.

P.S.
I am waiting until the HD110,HD200, HD250 and hopefully the HVX200A are out before I buy.
 
We need a better file naming structure. That's my biggest thing.

I like the tape transport for the time being.

I love the idea of being able to delete the last clip w/ out going into playback mode.
 
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