Dissapointed in my new HPX170

[Barry_Green]

With coring set to where an equivalent amount of coring is being applied, yes. Which seems to be about 2 notches higher than whatever the 200A is set at. So if the 200A is at -2, the 170 should be at zero; if the 200A was at +5 the 170 should be at +7, etc.

The 170's range is expanded (it goes down to -7, whereas the 200A only goes to -2) and its calibration is different. You need to use different settings to get comparable results.

Further testing will be conducted for different gammas; my conclusions were reached after extensive testing in HD NORM.

 

[philip bloom]

I have been testing out the 170 (171 in UK) and find it a massive improvement over my former HVX200. Am going to be doing a video review of it in the next few days but for me it is leaps and bounds better in so many ways than the HVX200. There are still a number of key features that my EX has that this doesn't (1080p, full raster HD, Undercrank to 1fps, pin sharp LCD) but it's price is very attractive and if you need 4:2:2, a CCD camera and want to go tapeless this is a pretty damn good camera.

I don't want to turn this into an EX1 vs 170 thread (am sure people know I love the EX series) but I am very tempted to get one as a major client of mine is heavily invested in P2 workflow and this would be a neat and affordable addition to my arsenal.

So much that I hated about the HVX has now gone. I don't think it is the sexiest looking of cameras (needs a splash of colour, just a bit too grey!) but from my tests today, I like.

 

[ROne]

Interesting Philip.

I've a 171 too and agree generally, although would stop short of it being a massive improvement - but an incremental one.

Does your 171 have the slop in the lens?

(would be very interested in any Letus feedback - as I'm onto CVP about one at the moment.)

Thanks.

 

[philip bloom]

maybe massive is too strong a word. how about big? the increments amount to a much better camera for me. One other thing would have been great is I wish it had better manual lens controls, a la EX1/ Z5

 

[Buck Forester]

Hey Phillip, have you cut footage between the 170 and the EX1? I'm wondering how big a difference the real life resolution is between these two. I'm also wondering if you've noticed any notable difference between the two during slow pans and if there's much of a difference in how they handle slow pan motion.

 

[Stevet]

Buck,
you really need to borrow another camera, panasonic, Canon, or JVC. Something different than your EX1 and compare the slow pan.

I've used all of these cameras and have owned a handful in my day. I'm sure you will find under the same exact conditions, framerate, shutterspeed, FOV, exposure. Slow pan motion will look close to the same.

Now, since the Sony is using GOP, under whip motion pans, this is where the Sony long-GOP will start to fail. Although this may be hard to see unless pausing frame-to-frame the whip pan motion. The Panasonic will perform the best here.

 

[Buck Forester]

Steve, yes, I'd like to, I just don't have access to one. I was just wondering how the resolution compares 'real world' between the 170 and EX1 because sometimes specs are just specs and I'm not very specky. I threw the slow pan motion thing in there just to get Philips take. Most people refer to faster pans and skewing with the EX1, which is not a concern for me. I just got back yesterday from the SF Zoo and I got footage from both my EX1 and my Sony HC9, both use Long GOP and have CMOS. Watching the footage from both is astounding, and my EX1 looks freaking unbelievably incredible, just like the HDNET programming I see, until I pan. My little HC9 with the single, smaller CMOS shooting HDV does not give me the same drop in sharpness "feeling" that my EX1 does during slow pans on static subjects... it might on specs, but not with my eyes. I'm guessing it's the utter sharpness of the EX1 to begin with. I know this thread isn't about this so I don't want to divert the thread, I just wanted to get Philip's take on his eye's perception 'resolution' difference between the 170 and EX1 with a quick motion-rendition sidenote.

 

[Cees Mutsaers]

Did you already start the new thread?
Link please?

What about the thread which mentioned a HPX size cam based on the AVC intra codec? Am I right that the advantage of this codec is that it can handle 1920*1080 and that it uses a more efficient compression technique without showing artifacts? Does this mean that Panasonic is slowly leaving DVCproHD ? According to the thread it will be available already within a half year, isn't that a bit soon after the introduction of the HPX170 ???

I think I'm about ready to call it like I see it... I'll start a new thread.

 

[Jay Rodriguez]

Did you already start the new thread?
Link please?

What about the thread which mentioned a HPX size cam based on the AVC intra codec? Am I right that the advantage of this codec is that it can handle 1920*1080 and that it uses a more efficient compression technique without showing artifacts? Does this mean that Panasonic is slowly leaving DVCproHD ? According to the thread it will be available already within a half year, isn't that a bit soon after the introduction of the HPX170 ???

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=152391

 

[Barry_Green]

What about the thread which mentioned a HPX size cam based on the AVC intra codec?

We have no details at all yet.

Am I right that the advantage of this codec is that it can handle 1920*1080 and that it uses a more efficient compression technique without showing artifacts?

Yes, it's pretty much the highest quality compression format out there.

Does this mean that Panasonic is slowly leaving DVCproHD ?

We'll see. Right now every AVC-Intra product also simultaneously supports DVCPRO-HD, so there certainly isn't any sort of migration yet, they exist side-by-side.

According to the thread it will be available already within a half year, isn't that a bit soon after the introduction of the HPX170 ???

Who knows? We know NOTHING about this supposed new product. What if it's $15,000 and interchangeable-lens? That would have no relationship to the HPX170, and therefore wouldn't matter how soon it followed the 170, right? But if what they release is basically an HPX170 but with AVC-Intra, then yeah I suspect people will be annoyed by that.