Australia HPX warranty and model issue

B

booty

New member
newbie here
ive been looking forward to treat myself to a new camera since deciding not to buy a flex wing id been saving for, reading reviews etc etc, budget around $20 - 25,000.
well i thought the hpx 500 looks really good for the money, so i look deeper
less than $10,000 plus accessories, great
so i start to hunt around dealers to order one up
nobody sells them in Australia
but they do sell the hpx 502en
its the same camera im told,
ok so why is it nearly $18,000, the cheapest i could find was nearly $15,000
so i say well maybe i could fly to LA stay with friends, have a holiday, buy the hpx 500 return and still be in pocket, then im told there would be no warranty
so i ask panasonic if they have an international warranty on cameras
they say no there is only a dealers warranty but its worthless as many countries did not join the warranty scheme
so i say well if i buy the hpx 502 here in Australia and decide to move back to Spain for a few months do i have a warranty,
Panasonic say they dont know!

what would you do
what are the warranties like with Sony?
what is a comparative camera to the hpx 500 or hpx 502en
 
I'd start a new thread with Australia in the title thread.... I know there's some Aussie owners on here. Or, look at the HPX500 Users Google Map (at the top of the forum).... think there's 1 or 2 there. Ask yer mates!
 
thanks editingfx

thanks editingfx

thanks for the reply
id still like to know if anyone thinks theres a camera thats comparative to the 500 for quality and price range
thanks
 
Hi booty, The 500 and 502 are almost identical. The 502 complies with Aussie CTick regs so we can sell here. The 500 does not so we can't. The warranty offered by Panasonic Aust covers our customers where ever they are. In most instances where warranty work is required outside Aust we will refund the cost of the repairs to the original purchaser.
As for price, the 502 includes a 32GB card and tripod plate at present. Please feel free to email me if you have an issue with the local price. Like most goods for a variety of reasons things do cost more here than they do in the US. Purchase locally and you will recieve the 5 Year warranty, local support and assistance.

Rob Myers
Panasonic Australia
 
Hi Booty,
warranty is not a problem on a good product, warranty is necessary on a bad product, if you have time on your side, wait till the Olympics are over and get a used Olympic pana, (talk to a pan dealer and register your interest) it will be well tested and well set-up to perform, with just around 100 hrs on the clock.
With the money you save you can get more P2 cards and if you save heaps get a pana 5 card reader as well.
Plenty of good pana dealers about "downunder" just google em.
Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
Rob Myers said:
Hi booty, The 500 and 502 are almost identical. The 502 complies with Aussie CTick regs so we can sell here. The 500 does not so we can't. The warranty offered by Panasonic Aust covers our customers where ever they are.
Click to expand...

Rob, quick question if you dont mind, as you are the first and only Aust Pana rep I have seen on the forum. I was living in Japan and as such I purchased the pana 555 (500/502 for all intents and purposes). Now for warranty work I know I must send to Japan. Pana Japan is very good as they usually pay for shipping both ways, and have a very fast turnaround, so I am not worried there. But that leads to my question, if I have a minor malfunction, like a xlr port dies etc, and I just want to pay for the repair work - can I send to Pana aust for that to happen? And, whats the turnaround here?

Cheers
Noel
 
booty said:
so i say well maybe i could fly to LA stay with friends, have a holiday, buy the hpx 500 return and still be in pocket, then im told there would be no warranty
so i ask panasonic if they have an international warranty on cameras
they say no there is only a dealers warranty but its worthless as many countries did not join the warranty scheme
Click to expand...

I dont want to sway your decision in the end, but the HPX has proven to be rugged for me and with no moving parts ...
 
Hi,

Your warranty is in the country of origin. So if you buy your camera in US your warranty is in the US.

Hope that helps,

Jan
 
Hi Noel, Our Authorised Service Centre in Bris is VideoPro. They would be able to assist with repairs. They would be the best people to talk to re turnaround times. As for helping you out, Panasonic Australia is quite happy to help.

Rob Myers
Panasonic Australia
 
Rob Myers said:
Hi Noel, Our Authorised Service Centre in Bris is VideoPro. They would be able to assist with repairs. They would be the best people to talk to re turnaround times. As for helping you out, Panasonic Australia is quite happy to help.

Rob Myers
Panasonic Australia
Click to expand...

Cheers Rob, thanks for responding. I have heard some manufacturers wont work on OS models full stop - Sony comes to mind. Do they consider some people live and work outside of Australia at times? Rhetorical question btw.
 
Hi Booty,

I have had my 502 for about 6 months after buying it from Lemac Brisbane and have had no trouble at all. I use it for all the live crosses for Sunrise and the Morning show out of the Gold Coast. These however are done from a composite signal to be chroma keyed in Sydney (not the best way to do things) We also use it for our main contract of the filming the night time news stories on the coast for all the networks. Yes the triple fatality last week was shot on the 502.

For the price the unit is fantastic. I don't know what you would be using it for but all of our clients have commented on how good the pics are from the camera. When ever we have had questions, Panasonic Australia have been more than happy to answer quickly.

Having said all that there is one thing that brings this camera down, the viewfinder. It is crap. It's usable but that's it. The histogram they added due to knowing the viewfinder sucks is a gimmick and nothing else.

I would suggest you do what I did when I was looking at buying the camera. I rented one for the weekend with a couple of different lenses to compare the image quality.

Simple answer is you could do alot worse than this camera.

Mike
 
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MikeD said:
Hi Booty,

I have had my 502 for about 6 months after buying it from Lemac Brisbane and have had no trouble at all. I use it for all the live crosses for Sunrise and the Morning show out of the Gold Coast. These however are done from a composite signal to be chroma keyed in Sydney (not the best way to do things)
Click to expand...

Hi Booty,
HVX or HPX, which one is yours, if it's the HPX why don't you use SDI out, that's much better than composite. I use nothing but SDI for News/Live feeds, quality is not lost however far it's sent on the DVN network.

Cheers from "Vic"
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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Because they can not take the sdi signal yet. Honestly I'd use SDI if they let me. The link points here in Queensland are composite.
All the networks are now going to the XDcam HD soon so hopefully that will change soon.
 
MikeD said:
Because they can not take the sdi signal yet. Honestly I'd use SDI if they let me. The link points here in Queensland are composite.
All the networks are now going to the XDcam HD soon so hopefully that will change soon.
Click to expand...

Hi Mike,
We were Analogue.a few years ago too, It was a nightmare, worst factor was that the analogue signal could only carry one signal down the pipe, if someone in between your destination was using it then you just had to wait, and the quality was Cr*p.
Our SDI DVN I believe can carry 30 plus signals from our region with no loss, a huge improvement. we have two points locally we can feed from and they can be and are used simultaneously.
Queensland is a strange place, you have some techno gear up there that is amazing, and right next to it, you have out "Well"of date gear.
As for feeding if there's no great rush, FTP is the way to go, once you understand the limitations/Encoding and have good digital gear and a fast broadband connection it's a snap.
Each network has different Non-linear editors , so each has varying file requirements, that is a pain.
The most important aspect is to have a great camera to shoot great vision at the beginning. XDcam, yes Sony are giving them away to broadcasters, I went for the Panasonic as it was under half the cost and mine has five P2 slots, so currently can use 5 x 32 gig cards , that is 160gig total. I'm happy with that, Short news clips or long form jobs can be handled no problems. Try that on a lonley single 32 gig XDcam disc. if your changing disc's and "miss the shot" your name is mud...

Cheers from vic.
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
Tom 4 said:
Hi Mike,
We were Analogue.a few years ago too, It was a nightmare, worst factor was that the analogue signal could only carry one signal down the pipe, if someone in between your destination was using it then you just had to wait, and the quality was Cr*p.
Our SDI DVN I believe can carry 30 plus signals from our region with no loss, a huge improvement. we have two points locally we can feed from and they can be and are used simultaneously.
Queensland is a strange place, you have some techno gear up there that is amazing, and right next to it, you have out "Well"of date gear.
As for feeding if there's no great rush, FTP is the way to go, once you understand the limitations/Encoding and have good digital gear and a fast broadband connection it's a snap.
Each network has different Non-linear editors , so each has varying file requirements, that is a pain.
The most important aspect is to have a great camera to shoot great vision at the beginning. XDcam, yes Sony are giving them away to broadcasters, I went for the Panasonic as it was under half the cost and mine has five P2 slots, so currently can use 5 x 32 gig cards , that is 160gig total. I'm happy with that, Short news clips or long form jobs can be handled no problems. Try that on a lonley single 32 gig XDcam disc. if your changing disc's and "miss the shot" your name is mud...

Cheers from vic.
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
Click to expand...

No Argument here. I went for the 502 as only the 1/2 inch XDCAM HD was available at the time and spending twice as much on the 2/3 inch was not an option. If we could have got the 2/3 inch xdcam for the same money as the networks could have been a different story. The crews going to the Olympics made a good point in that to take the same number of P2 cards as the number of XDCam discs they are taking would cost a small fortune. They are not interested in dubbing over to hard drives at the end of the day and I can understand that.
 
Hi Mike,
The Crews to the Olympics, are they Freelancers with their own gear or Network employees with their gear supplied by a network?.
The Network bean counters are not cameramen , the're purpose is to "count the beans", the more beans they save the more their bosses love them and that extends their lifespan, also Sony are masters at using the "Sales Hype" of the networks buying their latest n greatest products, to promote them to the rest of us,that's been going on for many years. (I have had many sony cams over the years) and still use a DSR570 as a back-up / 2nd camera it has a Nnovia HDD at the rear.
Workflow via Xdcam disc's versus P2 cards I suppose comes down to personal choice for Non network camera guys. anyone considering a Sony XDcam kit or a Panasonic P2 kit will base the decision on what their future needs/workflow is. i have been on HDD and P2 for over 2 years now , combined with a current Mac, FCP,Lots of terrabytes, good Kona card, and for a freelancer it's big fast bang for buck.
I found this about the Sony solid state SXS cards--
One additional SBP-8 8GB SxS Express Card (value $720 + GST) will be supplied free-of-charge with each PMW-EX1 camcorder sold.
Is There not much diff between the SXS and the P2 ?, or have I missed something.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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