Panasonic Unveils Pricing And Ship Date For Ag-hmc150

For the present, it seems that transcoding is the most reasonable way to work with AVCHD video. That allows today's computers to be fast enough for editing. However, in about 3 years, the fastest computers should be about 4x faster. which will make working directly with AVCHD a lot easier. AVCHD is VERY processor intensive.

There is the other possibility of special video cards being able to take the load off the CPU, but this requires the editing company work with the video card company to take advantage of the additional processing power on the video card.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we see the same issue with HDV when it first came out, the computers weren't fast enough to deal with MPEG-II Compression...

Bob Diaz
 
For the present, it seems that transcoding is the most reasonable way to work with AVCHD video.
How fast can one transcode AVCHD? How many frames per second do you get when you do that?
 
Ok, so do we have the final specs on the Lens?

And if I understand correctly, you can do 1080p/30fps to SDHC cards, and it will be around 24Mbps compression that will surpass that of all consumer cameras out there... it will look and feel just like the HPX-170, and it will be $3500 with one battery and nothing else, right?
 
Ok, so do we have the final specs on the Lens?
What specs are you missing? 3.9-51mm 13x zoom, 28mm equivalent, f1.6-3.0, 72mm diameter, and a DVX-compatible bayonet.

And if I understand correctly, you can do 1080p/30fps to SDHC cards, and it will be around 24Mbps compression that will surpass that of all consumer cameras out there...
I think it has 1080/30p, but I'm not sure. And yes, the compression should be much superior to anything else on the market at its price range or below, and (on a recording format basis) it should be better than XDCAM-EX (although the EX will be sharper).

it will look and feel just like the HPX-170, and it will be $3500 with one battery and nothing else, right?
Yep.
 
Thanks for the lens specs, I was skimming though and saw that is said 28mm equivalent and I thought that it wasn't know how far it went. What is the 35mm equivalent of the 51mm? That's in the 400mm range right? 13x so it sounds about there... nice lens! Is that the same from the 200a?

I thought of someone that will be all over this camera... people that do fishing shows other outdoors sports where the content is what's important, where DOF isn't necessary and often a burden and where your camera may get destroyed!
:)

I am talking to a few guys we met when scouting in Minnesota who are starting up a fishing tour and filming company... very cool guys, a blast to hang out with, and they are shooting on a PD-150 and a few consumer HD cameras... the guy loves the little HD cameras but he wants the control he gets from the 150... he really didn't know what is out there, but their stuff is great... BIG Muskies, tons of them... they know their spots and they are doing more and more each year... hopefully he'll be able to invest into a good A camera and I think this one will blow them away... they don't need 4:2:2 and the low bit rate really helps them out when editing... I told him about the HV20 but he had just gotten back from like Best Buy with an other camera... he was already setting up stationary cameras off long poles on the boat, so I am thinking a few HV20s or 30s on the poles and one HMC for his A camera and the'll be in fishing heaven!

I can't believe he'll get to shoot into SDHC cards! And good thing they probably float! hahaha!!!
:)
 
Videomaker Magazine has an early release camera and is going to do a "live" test run and post footage for download next week. See their press release in this forum.

I can't wait to see the tests. I want to move into HD, and the price of the HMC-150 is tempting, but the P2 workflow of the HPX-170 seems more solid.
 
If a fast frame cross say about 3 seconds from frame in to frame out on the opposite side looks decent at 30p or 60p both at 1/60th then it might be just an amazing camera! Not clean, just decent. Comparisons would be easy to shoot and post.
 
Since the HMC150 is 4-2-0 I'm guessing it won't chroma key as well as a HVX200, but maybe as well as an EX-1.
 
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