Press Release: HMC150, "the new DVX"
- Thread starter Barry_Green
- Start date
Digigenic
Well-known member
Gizmodo didn't mention the HVX.
Gizmodo specifically referenced the DVX: in the article that "Panasonic is finally releasing a true HD successor to the popular but aging AG-DVX100."
Following this statement with a $6 grand price tag before identifying the inherited characteristics from the DVX.
As I initially stated, it wouldn't make sense for this to be the price point.
However, guessing by the way in which Panasonic decided to push the price of the HMC70 up from an under $2g camera to $2.5g then maybe we'll see a similarly unexpected price pattern emerge for this camera too.
I know we're all expecting a camera under $4g, but what happens if it actually debuts over $5g?
The dollar has been pretty weak.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Might happen; AVC-HD does have two options for audio, either AC-3 compressed or PCM uncompressed.
Not gonna happen. The AVC-Intra board alone probably costs as much as this entire camcorder.
HVX lens is pretty awesome, way sharper than it needs to be. But this lens is at least different in its zoom range so it might be better, who knows.
Yes we're more sensitive to vertical.
We'll see about that. I doubt it, I expect it'll be in the $3500 to $4000 range.
All Panasonic AVC-HD cams record to SDHC, so this should be a given.
People who want to shoot tapeless high-def but want long recording times and cheap media. What's not to understand? On a 32GB card it'll record 12 hours of footage in the economy mode. 12 hours, uninterrupted. And you can buy those cards at Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
It's long-GOP recording for all those who were swayed by HDV, but without the tape (and with a codec that's much more advanced than MPEG-2).
The target market for this cam? Imagine everyone who wanted an HVX but whined about the price and the P2 card cost. Now tell 'em that they can buy this thing for $3500 and that the memory cards cost $20 (or whatever they'll end up costing). And that you can record 5x as much footage per gigabyte. I dunno, I think there's a lot of people out there who would jump at that.
And no, it's not an HVX, we know that, it's a model below. And it probably won't have variable frame rates unless they surprise us with a later announcement. But it's a new high-def DVX that records for hours and hours and hours on (comparatively) cheap commodity off-the-shelf media. For those who were content with HDV, why wouldn't they be thrilled with AVC-HD?
No, it's not an HVX. I bet the HVX (or its successor or whatever) is a better camera than this one in many ways. But this one is obviously aimed squarely at the kind of person that makes up the majority of our DVXUsers.
Of course, that all depends on the price. Jan said it would be priced appropriately for a long-GOP product, and that probably means it'll be quite a bit less expensive than the HVX. Which means it should hit its target market pretty squarely.
It will be priced close to the Canon A1, Sony V-1. Jan's post about "economicaly priced" "where long GOP belongs" should put it right on the price point of those cameras.
Since the A1 is going for 3300 USD aprox, if I'm not mistaken, the HMC150 should be near the price range to be competitive.
Curious to see how it performs- specially on fast movement. This could be the camera to prove AVCHD as a viable professional format ( avc-intra is a different codec based on h264.)
I personally think that this will crash and from what i've read, more people are calling it a piece of junk, I tend to agree. It talks about bitrates and framerates but what about in camera tweakability like the scene files on the DVX and HVX??? I can't see it really being a replacement for the DVX at this stage until more is known.
This will crash, just like the Canon Xh-a1 did. Its a heads-on competitor. If its in the A1 price-point, and delivers similar to superior quality- with 1080 25pn recording, and the almost certain patented Cinegamma, as well as new 3ccd chips, I can seriously see "THE" new event/corporate/ "mucho low budget" Independent film HD camera!
EDIT- And I'll follow Barry's line of thinking on this
I would bet my HVX this thing will have scene file dials or menus With the introduction of this, I believe the DVX will be discontinued... (assuming it does SD...)
Nik Manning
Well-known member
Yes Fatbird exactly! Don't bad mouth hdv then come out with hdv lite. Less quality than hdv but less file size.
This might sound crazy but I think Canon has already released the dvx replacement called the XH-A1.
to me that doesnt look like the camera I would buy in the future. AVCHD ? they must be joking !
AVCHD is MPEG4 !! Will it run in FCP ? or will I have to render before I can edit ?
edit: just saw FCP 601 will accept AVCHD !
I thought AVCHD is a consumer standard.......
Looks like Pana is just doodeling around instead of making a better HVX with bigger chips and more light sensitivity.....
I am not excited.
http://cineform.blogspot.com/2007/04/avchd-support.html
http://fcproducer.com/index.php/andy-coon/2007/04/final-cut-pro-6-forget-something/
AVCHD is MPEG4 !! Will it run in FCP ? or will I have to render before I can edit ?
edit: just saw FCP 601 will accept AVCHD !
I thought AVCHD is a consumer standard.......
Looks like Pana is just doodeling around instead of making a better HVX with bigger chips and more light sensitivity.....
I am not excited.
http://cineform.blogspot.com/2007/04/avchd-support.html
http://fcproducer.com/index.php/andy-coon/2007/04/final-cut-pro-6-forget-something/
Last edited:
Barry_Green
Moderator
Vegas now supports AVC-HD from all manufacturers, so you should have no problem editing the footage directly. But, it remains to be seen if they've somehow limited their implementation (in the first generation they refused to support AVC-HD from any manufacturer other than Sony). They've since rectified that, so it seems likely that this HMC150 would work, but ... frankly, we won't really know until we try it.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Avid is listed on the avchd-info.org site so hopefully that will mean proper support. Can't think of what else it could possibly mean.
triplej96
Veteran
That is great news thanks Barry I didn't see that. I think this cam will do just fine if price around 3,000 no more than 3,500. Like you said if is a step up from DVX and below the HVX. Its for the people(like me) that couldn't afford a HVX and P2 cards. Just really need to save now. I wonder if the cam will have any kind of downconvert thing or is this usally with tape.
moviemaker999
Well-known member
Give me latitude!(above 8 stops, EX1 got 10)
William_Robinette
Shallow Member
Wow, you guys are crazy.
I would feel fine saying, "If your in the building and own an HVX, you may step out now. This doesn't concern you."
Guys -not- and HVX replacement.
Panasonic needed to come out with this. They have a huge gap in their lineup that Canon has been riping open. The DVX needs a HD follow up. This is it. How can you bag on this thing. It is being released under Panasonic's broadcast division right? I would bet my DVX this thing has the little Scene wheel with at least the same image tweaking parameters as the DVX. The AVC-HD bit rates it records at so far have been touted by Barry himself as being just as good as HDV. But wait, they are flash based. No more TAPE! Thank goodness.
Calm down please.
I would feel fine saying, "If your in the building and own an HVX, you may step out now. This doesn't concern you."
Guys -not- and HVX replacement.
Panasonic needed to come out with this. They have a huge gap in their lineup that Canon has been riping open. The DVX needs a HD follow up. This is it. How can you bag on this thing. It is being released under Panasonic's broadcast division right? I would bet my DVX this thing has the little Scene wheel with at least the same image tweaking parameters as the DVX. The AVC-HD bit rates it records at so far have been touted by Barry himself as being just as good as HDV. But wait, they are flash based. No more TAPE! Thank goodness.
Calm down please.