Is this the best time to buy the HVX200?

G

gabriel817

Member
Hello, I am planning to buy the hvx200 in two weeks. Is this the best time to buy this camera since it comes with a free 16gb P2 card and also $400 mail in rebate? I have been saving money for 6 months to buy it. I will appreciate if any of you guys can give me advice. Also, excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between the hvx200 and the hvx200a? Also, if I buy it from B&H, any idea of which one will I be getting?

I will appreciate any of your advice.

Thanks,
Gabriel.
 
damn, when i bought my hvx200 around the time it first came out we didnt even get a freaking p2 card, it had to be bought separately and not only that it was just a 4GB card. you're buying the hvx for the same price and getting more thats sweet.

i think the hvx200a is the PAL version if i'm not mistaken.

good luck, i love this camera!
 
HVX200E is the PAL version.

The 200A is a newly updated version that includes better low light performance. (the PAL version would be an HVX200AE).

The 200A doesn't include the $400 rebate. If you want the original model, they give you $400 back. If you forego the rebate you can get the newer model with the better noise and sensitivity performance.
 
If you order from B&H and they are offering the HVX200 with a $400 rebate it will be for the AG-HVX200P. The AG-HVX200AP is NOT being offered with the $400 rebate.

The AG-HVX200AP is NTSC but it's the new updated model. Still comes with the free 16GB P2 Card. The Lens is new, the CCD is new and the DSPs are new for better low light, less noise and less smearing. A pretty substancial upgrade if you ask me.

http://www.spec-comm.com/store/inde..._id=81&zenid=16c9522d73fe29940ba0de18be89806f

We still have a store demo that is an AG-HVX200P and it comes with the free 16GB P2 card, HVX Book and the $400 rebate. We are selling it for only $4895. Pretty good deal.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com
 
seems ebay prices have dropped a bit since the new version came out. you might get a steal from some cat hot to unload his to get the new one...
 
Grr, I wish we had the 200A now. I can't justify selling mine to get two new ones, not when Scarlett is probably around the corner, but I guess if we were getting a ton of work and it was early 2009 with not much news, we might try to sell and upgrade...
 
scarlet is far from around the corner. I'd say summer of 09 and that's an eternity when it comes to making money and nothing has been proven about it yet. If their workflow hasn't improved by then, then it'll not be fun to edit.
 
JonathanLB said:
Grr, I wish we had the 200A now. I can't justify selling mine to get two new ones, not when Scarlett is probably around the corner, but I guess if we were getting a ton of work and it was early 2009 with not much news, we might try to sell and upgrade...
Click to expand...

Yea, I recently contacted Jarred Land about becoming a dealer for Scarlet and he said that it's way too early to look into distribution channels for that camera.

That means it's going to be a little while.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
 
I just received mine today:) Same as you...been saving for months for this beauty. From what I have read, the update doesn't add up to $400 for me...certainly, YMMV.

This is an extreme upgrade for me (coming from a handheld 480i Sony Mini DV) and I figured a "half-price" second 16gig P2 card would better suit my needs (with the rebate money). I suppose it is late in the game to settle of the two year old version, but as mentioned earlier, when it came out in 2006...it came with nothing! Today, a "free" $850 card and $400 cash rebate makes it a $3700 camera and a helluva deal.

Maybe I am kidding myself...and you should make a more educated decision than the one I did with a new model available without the less than 10% discount (rebate).

Jeremy
 
I don't really consider Summer 09 even to be an eternity away. That's barely more than a year. The 200A isn't enough of an upgrade over the 200 to justify its price. It's only good if you don't already own the HVX200. Sure, I guess if you're making amazing money and shooting constantly, maybe it's worthwhile. Although I'd seriously ask why you're making amazing money and shooting constantly yet still using the HVX anyway. Get the RED One. Please, no snide remarks, we've all seen the footage and it's amazing.

The point is, for me to upgrade beyond the HVX it has to be way better than this camera, otherwise there's not much point. The HVX looks great for most applications so an upgrade has to be extremely substantial. Something, like the RED, that I can shoot features with. I think the HVX isn't nearly good enough to shoot a feature with. Or at least I wouldn't pour that much of my time and money into something serious and use a camera like this for it. Not if I thought there was any chance of the movie going anywhere. You need at least 1080p for that as Blu-ray is only about 18-24 months from being the standard and almost completely replacing standard DVDs.
 
JonathanLB said:
The 200A isn't enough of an upgrade over the 200 to justify its price. It's only good if you don't already own the HVX200.

I disagree. I needed to purchase two 16 gig cards, so purchasing a Hvx 200A with two cards in a Spec-Comm package only cost me $1000 more than I would have paid for the cards, after the sale of my Hvx 200. If I was patient, I probably could have gotten a couple hundred more for my Hvx 200. I now have a camera that will retain its value over the next 6-12 months if want to upgrade to a hpx 170 or Scarlet, while the value of the hvx 200 continues to decline. Plus I have a camera that is producing a much cleaner image under more shooting situations for my clients.

A very reasonable cost benefit for my needs.

Drew Harty
Click to expand...
 
JonathanLB said:
Get the RED One. Please, no snide remarks, we've all seen the footage and it's amazing.
Click to expand...
The footage is amazing. That said, the workflow is extremely more involved. There is no one sole solution for everything.

I think the HVX isn't nearly good enough to shoot a feature with. Or at least I wouldn't pour that much of my time and money into something serious and use a camera like this for it. Not if I thought there was any chance of the movie going anywhere.
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To each his own. Let's say that your opinion is your own, but many people disagree with you. Perhaps you should spend a little time in the Corrado thread to see what can be done by a DVXUser with an HVX. Or perhaps you should tune in to the Academy Awards to see what can be done with a standard-def DVX, or an HD100.

as Blu-ray is only about 18-24 months from being the standard and almost completely replacing standard DVDs.
Click to expand...
I tihnk you're off on that guess by about six years (as in, blu-ray will "replace" standard DVDs in maybe 8 years at the earliest.) It won't even be the "majority" format for at least five years. Try reading the Kagan report on media adoption and high-def DVDs. You might be a little surprised.
 
EDIT: I just re-read a portion of that report, and Kagan says high-def DVD will be the majority format in 2015. That's SIX years, not five. And that's just for the status of being the "majority" format, which could mean 51% blu-ray, 49% DVD.

Suffice it to say that blu-ray "completely replacing standard DVDs" in 18-24 months is just not gonna happen.
 
JonathanLB said:
I don't really consider Summer 09 even to be an eternity away. That's barely more than a year. The 200A isn't enough of an upgrade over the 200 to justify its price. It's only good if you don't already own the HVX200. Sure, I guess if you're making amazing money and shooting constantly, maybe it's worthwhile. Although I'd seriously ask why you're making amazing money and shooting constantly yet still using the HVX anyway. Get the RED One. Please, no snide remarks, we've all seen the footage and it's amazing.
Click to expand...

Have you used a RED ONE yet? In a shooting environment that requires the delivery of a product to a client in exchange for money? Have you ever attempted to deliver a finished project helmed on a RED ONE?

Please, consider that we all know RED ONE is a great image acquisition system. To compare it to upgrading to an HVX200A speaks of a lack of experience with the camera itself. The 200A is INDEED an upgrade as far as image is concerned and it is indeed worth it for anyone who's shooting enough to afford a RED ONE. There's a lot of business that the RED ONE can't grab because people can't afford it, and that's exactly where the HVX200A is going to sit as most-requested camera.

Believe me, I know that the RED is awesome, great, magnificent, bringer of death but it sure is NOT the end all. To pigeon hole yourself into the RAW workflow that RED ONE brings is sure to alienate the market that is still willing to pay hundreds a day to utilize the tried-and-true HVX200.

If I ever ended up grabbin' a RED of my own, bet money that I'd still own an HVX200A or whatever the "hot" prosumer camera would be. That's money I'm not willing to ignore.

To the Original Poster: The 400 rebate sounds enticing, don't cheat yourself out of a better camera for 400.00 unless you really can't afford it. The 200A is sweet.
 
I spoke earlier in the thread about gettin my 200 yesterday...no BS, it arrived yesterday from an online Panny distributor (not to be named because of my possible plan:)). I love it, been wanting it for 2 years, and finally pulled the trigger...not at all realizing there is an update available.

Am I kidding myself? In your (wise) opinions...am I better off to return and exchange for the A model for $400 more (w/o the rebate)? I am torn...not sure what to do...this is more camera than I have ever had and I've been thinking about it all day (before I mail my rebate back in).

If enough of you speak up...that I will (especially cosidering my novice level of expertise), never miss the added features/benefits of the A model...it is killing me! And I don't think I have too much time to call the etailer and claim ignorance....that I thought it was the 200A I was ordering, not the original model:huh:

Jeremy

Please...set my mind at ease
 
I don't care what some report says, Blu-ray will replace DVD at least 51% by two years from now.
Click to expand...
Great attitude. Take the best efforts of the best research team on the globe and say "I don't care, I know better." Okay, fine, but I'd be willing to bet $5,000 that Blu-Ray will not have 51% of the market by May 1, 2010.

And, for purposes of defining what constitutes 51% of the market, I mean that of discs sold for new titles launched. If we take the top-10 best-selling titles, and the blu-ray version sells more copies than the DVD version, then you win.

I don't think DVD is going to last that much longer as the dominant format, unless people really aren't understanding why Blu-ray is so much better. But this has been a rapid adoption already, to suggest that it will take 5-6 years for Blu-ray to overtake DVD, uhh, not so sure about that dude. It's already been out 2 years now or so, so that's saying from inception to market dominance will take 8 years. It's been moving at a FASTER pace of adoption than DVD, so there's no reason to assume that won't continue.
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DVD was the fastest-adopted consumer electronics technology in history. Blu-ray is moving at a horrifically slow snail's pace compared to how rapidly consumers adopted DVDs. And even then, it took DVD over five years to penetrate 50% of American households. I don't know what the stats were for it to become the 51% market share of tapes or movies sold.

so yes, I do see Blu-ray discs overtaking DVD sales within 2 years for new titles, at least.
Click to expand...
Okay, if that's your criteria. I think that's incredibly astoundingly optimistic. Let's look at some current figures:
As of Oct. 29, the video industry had sold $8.9 billion worth of home video titles. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD COMBINED accounted for $120 million. So that means that after a year and a half on the market, blu-ray has an astonishing 1.4% of the market (and that's only if you allow that everyone who bought HD-DVD will now be buying blu-ray).

Now, let's take this phenomenally pathetic adoption rate and combine it with two more statistics: 1) most american households don't even have an HDTV at all, and 2) the economy's in the flusher.

Now, let's fast-forward to this year, when HD-DVD is dead. How is the mighty blu-ray juggernaut faring? According to the Nielsen statistics, for the week ended April 20th, blu-ray held a formidable, commanding 6% of the market. Surprising, really, I would have thought it'd be lower, but as of last week it's DVD 94%, blu-ray 6%. And that 6% is all early-adopters, because most American households don't even have an HDTV, which gives them zero incentive to move to blu-ray.

No way will blu-ray be the dominant media in two years.
I just read that by 1999, only 6.7% of households had a DVD player.
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Well, yeah. DVD came on the market in 1997. And it was very expensive at the time.

Anyway, delivering RED footage a year from now, with a lot more kinks worked out, won't be that much harder for us than delivering a product shot with the HVX200.
Click to expand...
And how do you deliver a product shot on an HVX200? To the 1.4% of the market that has blu-ray? This is a huge unsettled question right now.

The camera will never be a substantial part of any budget. If it's a $7,000 music video with the HVX200, it's a an $8,000 music video with the RED One. So what? Makes little difference.
Click to expand...
I take it you've never shot with a Red One? It does make a huge difference. It changes the lighting package you bring. It changes the number of crew members you need. It changes the caliber of gear you rent.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
docrock said:
I just received mine today:) Same as you...been saving for months for this beauty. From what I have read, the update doesn't add up to $400 for me...certainly, YMMV.

This is an extreme upgrade for me (coming from a handheld 480i Sony Mini DV) and I figured a "half-price" second 16gig P2 card would better suit my needs (with the rebate money). I suppose it is late in the game to settle of the two year old version, but as mentioned earlier, when it came out in 2006...it came with nothing! Today, a "free" $850 card and $400 cash rebate makes it a $3700 camera and a helluva deal.

Maybe I am kidding myself...and you should make a more educated decision than the one I did with a new model available without the less than 10% discount (rebate).

Jeremy
Click to expand...


Where did you buy yours from?
 
I answered your private message.

Not many with an opinion one way or the other, eh?

Keep the original or spend the 400 on the A model?

What has the OP decided? Are you going with the rebate or the A?

Jeremy
 
JonathanLB said:
Blu-ray is only about 18-24 months from being the standard and almost completely replacing standard DVDs.
Click to expand...

You cannot be serious about this statement.

Blu ray set tops, part from ps3, topped 528,000 unit sales in the US last year.

At year's end there were roughly 500 titles. I've not viewed any titles that look very good. The ones that do are animated titles that start and end digitally. That's what you usually see playing at the box stores.

Blu ray is being challenged by digital downloads, and more capable upconverting HDMI set tops.

Most consumers, I would venture, could tell HD DVDs from a hot rock.

A solid upconverting HDMI set top playing SD DVDs to a plasma or LCD looks so close to blu ray that most people wouldn't know the difference.

I've tested that workflow for about a month now and that's my conclusion.
 
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