DVXuser.com exclusive hands on with the HVX200

[Digigenic]

yeah.. it's the same stuff Terminators are made of... so of you drop it it'll fix itself.

Actually if your AC drops it it just kills him

But you guys are also forgetting it can travel through time and change the course of events... :laugh:
We'll soon discover this camera has been responsible for all major movies for the past 100+ years; morphing itself into Panavision, Arri, Mitchell, etc. and now Panasonic to ensure that the next filmmaking messiah's voice is heard!

 

[kai]

Wonder if it has the infamous clunk when turned off? Surely with all the fun we have with noobs and that question they'd leave it be just for us, right?

 

[shAi]

Wonder if it has the infamous clunk when turned off? Surely with all the fun we have with noobs and that question they'd leave it be just for us, right?

that might be the only moving part in the camera..!
oh.. but there IS a tape drive too

 

[Barry_Green]

thanks Jarred!

I don't mind bigger, but "taller"? the handle seems to be unnesessarily far from the body making it a fair bit taller when it doesn't need to be... so much for my $300 back pack

The camera's quite a bit taller, and it's a *great* feature. Ergonimically, now when you hand-hold it, you don't have to hold it out and away from you while using the VF. Now you can lock your elbow in tight to your body, making it sort of a "monopod", and the viewfinder lines up directly with your eye. Once I saw that feature I was like "man, these guys are THINKING!"

 

[Barry_Green]

Markings on the lens? are they coming?

That most likely is forthcoming.

 

[Barry_Green]

Here's a couple more questions i'm sure will be answered soon..

Firewire.. 6 pin or 4?

Don't know, but we asked for six.

What/where are teh other connectors? i'm seeing a flap(s?) above the XLRs.. somehting in there? PLEASE tell me it has RCA connectors and not some studpid [please god not new] multipin connector.

Should have the full complement, plus a D-shaped breakout connector for component HD output.

what about remote? ...I'm probably askign too much for LANC arn't I?

Forget LANC! This thing offers the same remote jack as the DVX, for remote record and zoom function, but it also has a new jack that provides for remote focus AND REMOTE IRIS!

And someone asked about speed ramping.. IF possible how is that controlled? it's be awsome to do it remotly... [SOMEONE PLEASE build a USB RCU for these cameras...]

Not known yet.

What's the HD output? 4.x.x ? And can it simultaniously output HD and SD? (for example the FX1 has one connectore for component AND composite, but cna only do one or the other.

Not known yet. The HD component output will be at least 4:2:2, but may be 4:4:4 for all we know. As for functionality of the outputs, we'll have to wait for a functioning prototype before we can answer those kind of questions.

 

[Barry_Green]

Barry or Jarred, One of you is left eye handed. Is it?
Dolph

Guilty.

 

[Barry_Green]

A couple quick questions...

1) Is the stock mattebox removable? I would imediately want to replace it with a 4x4

It's not a mattebox, it's a lens hood, and yes it's removable.

2) Is the profile taller then the DVX00? in the side by side photos it looks like it is (it also looks abit fatter and longer?)

It's quite a bit taller, also fatter and longer. Bigger in all dimensions, really.

3) Does the manual focus still have the interactive "distance" numbers displayed in the LCD?

Of course! And it's been enhanced, now focus isn't just in the number scale but also reads out in ft/inches or in meters.

 

[Barry_Green]

Or maybe they're both just mock ups?

They're both prototypes, and may change further prior to production.

 

[Barry_Green]

How many pixels are the CCDs?

Don't know yet, they're still making the internals.

Why the 4:3 display?

The 4:3 display is THE BEST user feature on the camera! You'll see a Panasonic slide that shows why. You get the full widescreen 16:9 image, and then all the feedback and stats and timecode and meters and all that stuff goes in the "letterbox" area, out of the picture area. It's the simplest thing, but it's the most wonderful workflow change.

The 4:3 display is also optimal for the thumbnail preview menu when reviewing P2 thumbnails.

Will we see any screen grabs before september?

Definitely. But it'll be a while before working prototypes are out there to make footage.

 

[mikkowilson]

Remote focus.. ok, LANC had that (though never very well)...
...but Remote Iris! ...and now from me: "wow".

- Mikko.

 

[Barry_Green]

Do you know when it will be available?

No more than anyone else knows. We've heard "fall" and "4Q".

 

[Darth_Fluffy]

When will the hands on article make it on line guys?

 

[Barry_Green]

I sent the revisions to Jarred, he's working on it as we speak.

Well, okay, we aren't "speaking", but still...

 

[Michael_Bott]

It's there, just read it. Awsome, just awsome. Thanks guys.

Bloody amazing. Now we all get to play serious ... :beer:

 

[xander76]

Great article, guys, but I'm still not entirely clear what the record-to-disk situation is. First you say:

in addition to miniDV tape, it offers the revolutionary P2 solid-state memory cards, and may also record or transfer footage directly to optional external 1394 hard disks

which seems to imply that you can record to off-the-shelf drives. In the section on recording, though, you only mention transferring footage from P2 to off-the-shelf drives (not recording directly to the drives), and later you write

It can also transfer files from the P2 card directly to an off-the-shelf USB 2.0 external hard disk, or to a potentially-forthcoming FireStore type of device.

which to me implies that off-the-shelf drives can't be used for recording. Can you provide more clarity for us on this point?

 

[Luis Caffesse]

GREAT article, thanks guys!!

 

[Mike_E]

Yeah, that's what I thought was implied as well. Please elaborate on this

 

[mikkowilson]

I agree with xander.

I think one of the big reamingin questions after all that is:
Can the HVX200 record Directly to a external USB/Firewire Hard drive. Or do you have to record to P2 first, and only then copy out form the camera? (If this is the case, can you perform a copy while recording on the other card?)

- Mikko.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

I read the article again, and saw no mention of the ability to record directly to any hard drive that can handle the datarate. Noah mentioned this on here last night, and I was hoping to see you guys confirm that as well.

Is that a confirmed fact?
Or did Noah misinterpret what the panasonic engineers were telling him?

If it really is possible to record directly to any firewire or USB2.0 drive, that is huge huge news for this camera.

Hopefully Barry or Jarred can pipe in on this one.




EDITED TO ADD:

damn you guys are fast...didn't realize the question was brought up while I was typing