DVXuser.com exclusive hands on with the HVX200

"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."

It looks like we have first to record on P2. Hope, i'm wrong but panasonic have to earn money !
 
Noah posted last night:

" If you just buy the camera and don't want P2- you'll be just fine. Any firewire or USB-2 drive that can handle the 100Mbit data rate will work. It does not need to be a Firestore or other DV specific drive. The engineers have reported using it with an Ipod for example. So there's nothing to fear here."


Do you think he misunderstood what the engineers were saying?
And they were only transfering files to the ipod, not recording to it?
 
mikkowilson said:
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.
Click to expand...

Specs for this camera are amazing!

The only remaining question is to clarify if it can record directly to HDD. But Mikko brings up a good possibility about downloading data while the other P2 card is recording. I think I can live with that - just get 2 small P2 cards and shoot continuously.
 
It appears as though they might be updating the article with regard to disc drive recording. I last looked and the banner changed from the HVX article back to P2
...Okay, nevermind...it's back now...hmmmm
I do wonder about the direct to drive option though :huh:
 
Regarding the direct-to-disk question: I'm not 100% sure. What I do know is that it will definitely allow dumping P2 card contents to an off-the-shelf external hard disk, that we know for sure. So you can record to P2, plug in a hard disk, and dump the files over. You don't "need" a P2 Store to do that, although the camera can't be shooting while it's dumping files to hard disk. The main advantage of the P2 Store is that it lets you keep shooting, hot-swapping cards over to it to let it do the transfer. But for those who want to dump the files to disk directly, the camera can do that by itself.

Regarding direct-to-disk recording: there are some things that Panasonic didn't answer definitively for us. This was one. At some times it sounded possible, at some times not, and eventually we quit pressing for an answer. Obviously they know it would be a great solution. There were questions about external 2.5" or 1.8" drives being able to support the bandwidth, and reliability issues with 3.5" drives, which are not designed for portability. 3.5" drives can support the bandwidth, but they're not nearly as rugged or field-worthy as a laptop-style drive.

I got the impression that it's seriously being worked on, but they are not prepared to commit to a definite "yes". So the answer may be no, it may be yes, regarding off-the-shelf firewire or USB2 drives. We'll find out closer to the ship date. We did not get final clarification or a definite answer there. But trust me, they know we want it, so hopefully they'll be able to find a way to make it work.

It definitely will work with an external device like a FireStore, providing that FireStore can come up with a reliable way of recording the full bandwidth. The current FireStore FS-4 only supports up to 40 megabits, so they'd have to make it at least 3x as fast, probably 4x as fast, to have enough buffer room.
 
Great article guys, aside from the lingering direct to disk question, I see one minor snag...
Barry Green and Jarred Land from the HVX article said:
...based on the features we’ve seen on paper, the consumer may very well say “The camcorder wars are over. Sony, JVC, Canon, thank you for playing.”
Click to expand...
Canon hasn't played yet. How can they be counted out when they haven't even been counted in? I guess it is for the consumer to decide, give me true HD or give me death! :)
Again, great introductory article, I look forward to seeing more coverage.
 
Has it been mentioned how long it takes to offload a p2 card full of data to a hard drive or a laptop?

If it's under 5 minutes, you could almost get by shooting narrative with 1 8g card. Shoot 5 - 10 takes, break for another shot, and while setting up you could offload the p2 card.

Obviously not ideal, you'd probably want 3 or 4 cards, but hey, you could make it work.
 
Barry;
Thanks for the answer, and GREAT article!

Oh i had another question too.. umm yeah, any idea about how the focus and irs remotes will work? will it be a pot that adjusts the position at a variable speed (like a zoom zontroler?) or will be be a "focus demand" type where the position of the pot will determin an exact, repeatable position?

Oh yeah, and any word on variable framerates? is it just the 3 presets, or is there more control?

- Mikko.
 
Zig_Zigman said:
Has it been mentioned how long it takes to offload a p2 card full of data to a hard drive or a laptop?
Click to expand...
That depends on your hard drive or laptop. The card is capable of delivering 80 megabytes per second, which would be 16x realtime for 720/24p, or 6x realtime for 1080p/1080i or 720/60p. But if you're transferring over USB2, you'll be capped to a max of 480mbps, and then it's all up to your drive. If you're writing to a slow hard disk, that'll be the bottleneck.

The P2 Store device can transfer an 8gb card in 8 minutes, but faster hard drives should make that even faster. Theoretically if you were transferring to a RAID, you should be able to transfer an 8gb card in a minute and a half, but it all depends on the hardware you're using.

If it's under 5 minutes, you could almost get by shooting narrative with 1 8g card. Shoot 5 - 10 takes, break for another shot, and while setting up you could offload the p2 card.

Obviously not ideal, you'd probably want 3 or 4 cards, but hey, you could make it work.
Click to expand...
Oh, most definitely. You could do it with a 4gb card as well. I'd think 3 cards is the number you'd need for a seamless workflow (i.e., never having to stop the camera to transfer files) but you could totally work in narrative with just one card, and either hand it to someone to transfer on a laptop, or have an assistant who plugs in a hard drive and offloads the card whenever it's full. Even at the P2 Store speed of one minute per gig, it'd only take 8 minutes to offload a full card, and it takes a lot more than 8 minutes to set up a new shot!
 
mikkowilson said:
any idea about how the focus and irs remotes will work? will it be a pot that adjusts the position at a variable speed (like a zoom zontroler?) or will be be a "focus demand" type where the position of the pot will determin an exact, repeatable position?
Click to expand...
That's up to the guys who design them. Look for people like VariZoom and Bogen and Zoe, they'll all likely be making them.

Oh yeah, and any word on variable framerates? is it just the 3 presets, or is there more control?
Click to expand...
There will definitely be more control than just those three, but they didn't give us a list of what the exact framerates would be. It'll be more like the VariCam than just three frame rates.
 
i just read the article. good job guys! its a great article, as usual!

the cam is pretty badass...cant wait to play with one!
 
DVX accessories compatible with HVX ?

DVX accessories compatible with HVX ?

I was wondering whether the HVX will preserve my investment in DVX accessories? In particular, I am wondering about the compatibility with the Wide Angle, Telephoto, and Anamorphic lenses.

Also, what kind of battery does it use? And will the HVX handle a 4x4 Chrosziel Mattebox?

What is the color space for the HVX? Will it do better chromakey than SD/DV ?

Thanks,

Andy
 
Not likely to use the same lens accessories, I believe the lens is 82mm diameter rather than 72mm on the DVX.

The batteries are the same as the DVX.

It should be able to use the same 4x4 Chrosziel.

The color space is 4:2:2 in HD and DVCPRO50. ***MUCH*** better chroma-keying than DV! In DV it's still 4:1:1.
 
Barry, you miss understood my question...

I was wondering if the focus and iris input woudl bix indexed, not relative.
- it it's be like useing a real FF, not just a rocker.

- Mikko
 
Barry, thanks for the quick clarification on the direct to disk recording. I guess we'll have to wait a little longer to find out. I'm sure it's a business decision as well as a technical one. After all, Panny probably makes a lot more profit from selling P2 cards than from selling cameras.
 
Barry, thanks for the direct and clear answer on the hard drive questions.
I hope it's alright with you, I've reprinted your answer on my site, together with a link to this thread.

If that is a problem, just let me know and I'll remove the text.

Thanks for all your hard work!


www.videoindie.com
HVX News, links, and updates as I get them (from jarred and barry mainly)
:)
 
The best move for Panasonic will probably be record to P2, dump to drive, and then include a 4GB card when it ships. That would be alright with me, not to mention more stable.
 
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