Panasonic AG-HPG20: an AVC-Intra P2 Gear

B

Barry_Green

Moderator
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]PANASONIC ANNOUNCES THE AG-HPG20 P2 HD PORTABLE RECORDER[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]FEATURING AVC-INTRA SUPPORT [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]* New P2 HD Portable Brings Full Resolution, 10-Bit [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Master-Quality Recording to the Field *[/FONT]​


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]LOS ANGELES, CA ([/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]November 5[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif], 2008) [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]– Panasonic introduced the solid-state AG-HPG20 P2 Portable recorder/player with AVC-Intra recording capabilities here at the DV Expo conference. Supporting the 10-bit AVC-Intra codec as well as formats ranging from DVCPRO HD to DV, the P2 Portable will serve as a master quality deck for fast, file-based recording -- bridging content to and from older tape based systems and HD-SDI infrastructures.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]With [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif]10-bit [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]AVC-Intra compatibility, the HPG20 P2 Portable brings[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif] master-quality recording -- formerly only available in higher cost, full sized decks -- to the field. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]This extraordinary workflow tool allows users to playback and review P2 cards on its 3.5-inch LCD screen, manage clip files and metadata, record content from a wide range of cameras via its HD-SDI input, and backup data onto hard disk drives. Featuring two P2 card slots, the P2 Portable’s solid-state design holds up to the demands of field operation, yet it is small and light enough (2.5 lbs) for easy transportation.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The HPG20 supports a wide range of high definition and standard definition recording formats. Recording and playback formats include 1080/60i, 1080/50i, 720/60p, 720/50p in the AVC-Intra and DVCPRO HD 4:2:2, independent frame codecs; and 480/60i, 576/50i in DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV. The unit plays back content automatically (no need to change settings) and can operate in 50Hz or 60Hz. For added versatility, the P2 Portable supports up-, down- and cross-conversion for HD or SD transmission. Additionally, it allows “confidence playback” from P2 files stored on a hard disk drive. [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]A key benefit of the P2 Portable is that it can be paired with a wide range of tape-based and solid-state cameras as well as camcorders from different manufacturers.[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif] The unit’s HD/SD-SDI and IEEE 1394 input interfaces open the door for endless applications in HD or SD production. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The P2 Portable can be connected to DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV tape-based camcorders via IEEE 1394 for solid-state back-up recording in the field[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif]. It also accepts and records signals (with metadata) from any camera with an HD-SDI output, making it an essential tool for broadcast field applications such as news crew pool feeds. [/FONT]


[FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif]The P2 Portable can playback to large HD production monitors or transfer uncompressed content to HD-SDI equipped decks, post production systems and storage networks. When connected to a laptop’s IEEE 1394 output, the portable recorder serves as a transcoder to HD-SDI-equipped monitors, for full real-time playback from the timeline. Using the HPG20’s USB slot (in Host mode), users can easily transfer content to a low-cost USB hard drive for a seamless, IT-based deliverable for clients. [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The HPG20 P2 Portable features a host of time-saving P2 clip management functions. In addition to viewing recorded files in clip thumbnail view, users can copy or transfer select clips from one P2 card to another, copy selected clips from a hard disk drive onto a P2 card, shot mark specific clips, edit a clip’s metadata (support for multiple languages included), or save a text memo to individual clips when recording or previewing. P2 cards can also be “hot-swapped” for continuous recording. [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, sans-serif]Additional features include an SD card slot, for loading metadata or saving user files, and helpful recording functions like a waveform/vectorscope display, loop record and auto record commands that accompany the HD-SDI signal. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Internal speaker and headphone (M3 mini) jacks are also included.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]When using two 64GB P2 cards (available in December) in the P2 Portable’s two card slots, the unit can record for 128 minutes in AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD, 256 minutes in AVC-Intra 50 or DVCPRO50, or 512 minutes in DVCPRO.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The AG-HPG20 P2 Portable will be available early 2009 and will offer a [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]5-year limited warranty program[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif].*[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]About P2 HD[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]P2 HD products offer the benefits of pristine image quality, ultra reliability, unmatched flexibility and a faster workflow. They deliver solid-state high definition recording without the mechanical wear and environmental limitations of tape, hard disk, and optical disc based systems. P2 HD ensures the highest reliability, especially in challenging conditions of extreme temperature range, shock, and vibration. P2 HD products provide a significant reduction in maintenance costs, longer useful product life, and immediate access to recorded video (no need to digitize, ingest or create proxy video files) and metadata. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]P2 HD provides the reliability of solid-state production; the immediate connectivity to existing IT infrastructures; the speed, ease of use and portability of P2 cards; and interoperability with leading NLE systems.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]About Panasonic Broadcast [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]America. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE Symbol: PC) and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, visit [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]www.panasonic.com/broadcast.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]*To lower total ownership costs, Panasonic offers a five-year limited warranty (Panasonic Broadcast’s normal 1-year basic warranty plus an extended warranty for years two through five upon product registration). [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]-30-[/FONT]​


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]EDITORIAL CONTACTS: [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Stacy Moore or Pat Lamb[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif](201) 392-4458 (518) 692-8150 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]moorest@us.panasonic.com patalamb@aol.com[/FONT]
 
There were no pictures nor price in the press release... I'm sure those are forthcoming. Plus anyone at DV Expo should be able to get more info, as it was apparently released there.
 
Y'know, this could be something nice attached to a RED. Just being able to hand a client a broadcast standard product that originated out of the awesomeness that is RED ONE...

Nice.
 
Nice. It brings the AVC intra codec to the smaller cameras such as HPX170, or EX1 for that matter. I wish Panasonic had designed in an option to record to CF cards instead of P2, though. If Convergent Designs can record 160mbps to CF, then I'm sure Panny could record 100mbps AVC intra to CF. It might cut down on their P2 sales, but they might sell a lot more cameras and recorders. I for one would much rather have the AVC intra codec over Sony's EX codec, because it's MPEG4 based, 10-bits, and intra frame. But the high cost of P2 cards vs. CF cards makes me give it second thoughts.

Or maybe Panny can make a P2-size adapter that you can plug CF cards in. The ability to use a Kensington expresscard adapter with standard SDHC memory has made the EX1/EX3 more attractive to a lot of people.
 
You realize that the EX codec is the same codec used for the Convergent Design Flash XDR right?

I think the P2 Gear 2 is a welcome addition to the Panasonic arsenal. Kholi brings up a great point for Broadcast reasons!
 
jstunzi said:
You realize that the EX codec is the same codec used for the Convergent Design Flash XDR right?
Click to expand...

Yes. So what I'm saying is that if the HPG20 and the Flash XDR were comparably priced, I'd probably choose the HPG20 for the better quality recording.
 
Yes the little guys is pretty featgure packed and on top of the HD-SDI input and the AVC-Itra Recording, it also has the ability to plyback in conficence mode from the HDD.

As far as recording to CF card, no way. I wouldn't want to put careers at stake on a $50 card that has not parity checking, no error checking and frankly isn't up to even my demos. ;-) If you have seen the abuse I had out to P2 cards, then no comment is necessary. But I only do what sometimes accidently happens to the cards under normal accidental use. And please this is not the place to have a very worn out discussion about whter CF would handle what we do, because if CF could have, then that is what we would have done 6 years ago, but it doesn't. It certainly would have been easier.

Additionally the Convergent Design is using long GOP from an MPEG2 codec, this is a very old codec that doesn't come close to the quality possilbe in an I-Frame codec like AVC-Intra.

It is identical in size to the HPG10, and save for a couple of markings and a extra BNC it could be mistaken.

Barry, If you would like some pictures I can send them on for hosting if you wish. Just let me know.

All the best,

Jan
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
As far as recording to CF card, no way. I wouldn't want to put careers at stake on a $50 card that has not parity checking, no error checking and frankly isn't up to even my demos. ;-) If you have seen the abuse I had out to P2 cards, then no comment is necessary. But I only do what sometimes accidently happens to the cards under normal accidental use. And please this is not the place to have a very worn out discussion about whter CF would handle what we do, because if CF could have, then that is what we would have done 6 years ago, but it doesn't. It certainly would have been easier.
Click to expand...

Not this again. Sorry Jan I respect what you do and what you guys offer but this is an exaggeration to nth degree. CF cards are not flimsy little things made out of wax paper that just go up in flames or break into dust at an instant. It's been more than proven now that they can and have been battered, abused and used in professional situations. Tell the photographer in the Serengeti or the photojournalist in Iraq that CF cards can't take abuse. Tell those of us who have shot RED CF cards in a RED ONE that CF cards aren't quick enough and don't have this and that to ensure that data gets recorded.

I firmly believe you guys could have just made faster, tougher CF cards charging a bit of a premium if panasonic wanted to, instead of the strange pricing that after all this market penetration still hasn't gotten anywhere near what people (and you yourself have alluded to) think it should be at. People are starting to notice and wake up to the fact that some raided flash chips aren't anything insane and high technology as they use to be, and that's it's largely unnecessary. You guys could have made an extremely competitive product that would have forced more manufacturers to come on board with what your doing and much more quickly at that. Having these things "made by hand in Japan" is overkill (if it's even true), technology has caught up, utilize the advantages (you guys probably already are and just no one knows) and move forward with your customers, not against them, constantly defending why things are the way they are.

As someone who has used a lot of P2 products in a lot of ways I respect what it's about, and as someone who has sold even more P2 product than I have used I can honestly say more of the same isn't working on nearly as many customers anymore, and I'm sure your own internal market data and projections have shown that your competitors are doing much better than anticipated in the same space. This board is proof of that, look around at how long standing members are choosing more than ever to more heavily consider alternative options because these days it seems you guys would rather defend than change.

Now what I'm and others are saying probably doesn't matter too much because with ABC, or NBC and other broadcasters throwing you guys dough I understand that this market segment is a small and probably relatively insignificant piece of the Panasonic broadcast portfolio. However, this doesn't change the fact that the truth is cards cost too much. The HMC150 won't be the DVX of this generation and shouldn't have to be, the HVX and HPX should have been. You guys are unnecessarily handicapping yourselves in the 15k and down space, and other attractive options are starting to pop up and people are listening.

That's enough from me for now, I'm not going to bother getting into how I think all 3 cameras would be better and sharper if the new chips in them were 1280x1080, but that's another day. :)

I think I'm done pouring gasoline on myself. :violent5:
 
Can't say that the point about RED + CF and Photographers + CF is wrong, at all. There are people entrusting thousands of dollars of time and assets to CF Cards at this very moment.

One things for sure, with the way it's moving right now a "real" sub 10k Competitor is going to come along and squash Canon, Pana and Sony in one blow. Whether they want to acknowledge it or not.
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
Additionally the Convergent Design is using long GOP from an MPEG2 codec, this is a very old codec that doesn't come close to the quality possilbe in an I-Frame codec like AVC-Intra.
Click to expand...

But doesn't the Flash XDR also record in the higher end level of the codec, which is 160mb I-Frame? And it'll also provide 10-bit true uncompressed recording as well.

The 100mb from the XDR looks very near visually uncompressed to me.

Does this Panasonic recorder have a AVC-Intra encoder in it? Will it take an HD-SDI signal and encode it to the P2 cards in that codec? That would be interesting.
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
As far as recording to CF card, no way. I wouldn't want to put careers at stake on a $50 card that has not parity checking, no error checking and frankly isn't up to even my demos. ;-) If you have seen the abuse I had out to P2 cards, then no comment is necessary. But I only do what sometimes accidently happens to the cards under normal accidental use. And please this is not the place to have a very worn out discussion about whter CF would handle what we do, because if CF could have, then that is what we would have done 6 years ago, but it doesn't. It certainly would have been easier.
Click to expand...

I have to second what Ecking said above. Six years ago, CF cards probably were not fast enough to handle 100mbps reliably, but they are now. The recording data rate for the Red camera is over 200mbps, and every Red owner stakes his/her career on CF cards every day. In fact, recording to CF is considered the safest way to record on Red (vs. recording to disk).

With regards to durability, professional still photographers have been staking their careers on CF cards a lot longer than P2 cards have been around. And many of them go through rougher conditions than videographers do.

The HPG20 is obviously targeted to the lower end cameras in the Broadcast division, because the high end cameras already have AVC intra built in. I understand that Panasonic wants to maximize profit, but they also need to realize that the low end is more price sensitive and there are cheaper options available from other vendors. I would even venture to say that if Panasonic had allowed recording to CF they could steal the whole market from Convergent Design - including the Sony EX owners.
 
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the HPG20 should be able to transcode anything that has a firewire/usb/sdi/hdsdi, i.e. you want your hvx200 transcoded to avc-intra, it'll probably work through firewire. also, if you want to transcode your EX1/3's mpeg2 long-gop 4:2:0 to AVC-Intra 100 4:2:2, it will work.

i guess it's more of a mini p2mobile hpm110, kinda like convergent design w/ its own LCD screen and metadata handling equipped.
 
I couldn't agree more with Ecking, Kholi and Sunfum. Too bad Canon is a real conservative conglomerate, otherwise the stage is widely set for them to come up with a real indie film camera (a video camcorder of the 5D). Canon dont have high end camera and lenses to protect unlike Panasonic or Sony.
 
I for one like the fact that i know i can completely trust my p2 cards.. and so do all the broadcasters around the world that use p2.

I know panasonic might be known to make some great small cameras.. but last time i checked the indie drama camera market isnt exactly panasonics main market, even if they do support it.

CF might be good enough for a lot of people.. but in a broadcast ENG/EFP environment who knows.

In my 2 years of shooting p2 i've never had a problem.

But whatever.. each to their own.
 
The sad part is not P2 being too expensive, the sad part is this constant primitive sales rethoric insulting my common sense.
Guess what Panasonic: I can totally live with you trying to make profit.
 
Joe Lawry said:
I for one like the fact that i know i can completely trust my p2 cards.. and so do all the broadcasters around the world that use p2.
Click to expand...

I have no problem with P2 cards existing, I'm not calling for their replacement with CF cards at all. All I am saying is this whole "P2 cards are expensive because they're hand made from the finest flash chips, they're the only quick cards, nothing else can do what they do, blah blah blah" just isn't true anymore. There are competing products that are built tough and are quick that could easily do what a P2 card does, and they do it for cheaper. Which means at this point Panasonic could do it for less as well.
 
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