HPX 170 Competitors?

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essab

New member
Hi All,
I'm new to this forum, my question is if the Sony HVR Z7 is in the same league as the HPX 170 as I still cannot decide which one to get. Each one seems to have its own great features. The Sony has the ability to record to DV althought the CompactFlash records SD only. I believe the P2 are superior to the CompactFlash but the price tag is a killer. Any suggestions are welcome
 
essab said:
The Sony has the ability to record to DV althought the CompactFlash records SD only.
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Hi, essab.

"A streamlined nonlinear editing workflow is achieved using the supplied Memory Recording Unit, which provides HDV/DVCAM/DV file recording on a widely available Compact Flash® solid-state memory card, as well as recording onto HDV tape."

I'm a Hpx171 owner and I love it, for its true wide angle, colours and 4:2:2 intraframe HD/SD codecs.
P2 Cards are expensive but fantastic.
However, Hpx170/171s are not brilliant in low light and this could be a problem sometimes, if you don't bring some lighting gear with you.

If you need tape and interchangeable lens and you don't care about Gop codecs or Rolling Shutter issues, Z7 is a good choice.
 
HPX170 is many times superior to the Sony. HDV is already outdated in my opinion. It falls apart in color correction and forget about a clean key. If you want interchangeable lenses, get the Z7. If you want a good all around camera, get the HPX170.
 
essab said:
The Sony has the ability to record to DV althought the CompactFlash records SD only.
Click to expand...

Nope. The Z7 can record HDV or DV to tape & card at the same time; HDV or DV to either tape or card alone; or simultaneously record HDV to tape & DV to card.



Google (or search DVXUser) DVCPro HD v HDV & you'll find a lot of info. Codec is a big deal & there is lots of info on the differences. Color Space, Intra-Frame / Long GOP; & price (the biggest difference).

The HPX170 is going to cost more than a Z7 just because of the price of P2 cards, so look at the total cost of a camera package & not just the MSRP of the camera itself.

I would say they are in the same category of cameras, but one is a hammer & the other is a screw driver. They're both good tools when you use them for the right job.

(This is a Panasonic centered forum, so you'll get very little loving (or even tolerance) of anything made by anyone other than Panasonic. Especially Sony, since Sony vs Panasonic is like Cubs vs White Socks.)

Which camera is better all comes down to which camera will make you the most money. Ignore everything else. If you're trying to make a living, buy the things that will make you money. The bottom line is the bottom line for a reason.
 
Look into the HMC150. 170 quality in almost every sense... half the price and much cheaper media. Side by side, very very little difference.
 
Except that the 150 doesn't do variable frame rates, it doesn't record standard-def at all, it doesn't do interval recording, it doesn't record 4:2:2 intraframe, it uses SD instead of P2, it can't do loop recording, etc. There are several things the 170 does that the 150 doesn't, which explain the price difference. However, if those things don't matter to you and you don't need those additional features, then definitely the 150 offers a compelling alternative to the 170.
 
Very true points Barry and none of that matters to me. 60p slow motion is fine. I don't have any use for SD anymore and I'd rather do timelapse with my DSLR. I"m not knocking the 170, but the 150 has been a great purchase and I've not ever missed the HVX. I'm sold on the AF100 too, so let's just see how that comes to pass.
 
I know you're not knocking it Justyn; I'm just pointing it out because we don't know whether those features would be important to the O.P. or not, so he/she should be made aware of the differences before deciding on one or the other.
 
I own and use my HPX170 constantly. And I would use P2 over any other media card, they have never let me down.

It of course depends on your needs. My clients ask for p2 and I supply. I also use it for my creative projects.
 
Same here, HPX170 all the way, I'm a proud owner. I have over 600 billed and payed hours on mine and it hasn't let me down once. I'd like to point out that the HPX170 is fine in low light. Half if not most of the people that talk about its poor low light don't own an HPX170 or an HVX200a and have never tweaked the camera. Right out of the box, I can see why some would say this however, try Barry's Low Light Settings on the CD provided with your purchase of his book or a new HPX or HVX and you'll be very happy with your decision. Oh, as far as the price of P Cards, please, the prices now make it a no brainier.
I bought when 64 Gig Cards were over 2k... and I own two... Never had a drop out or a lost clip....

Oh, do you have any idea how much fun variable frame rates are? I use them constantly, I don't always shoot 60P I float 32/48... Its amazing how much more emotion you can achieve by overcranking just a tad...
 
Loved our HMC150. Gorgeous video.

However, we were disappointed when enoding to SD DVD vis a vis the 170 for the footage we shot.
 
It's still worth bigging up P2, people still talk about it like its expensive. We have added Red1 and Gh1 to our hpx171 and hpx300. And I tell you one corrupt clip and bent pins on the red card reader, and numerous card reading problems. With the Gh1 cards go bad if they're anything other than class 10 panasonics. Not confident.

Honestly the cost of P2 was always well justified compared the cheap rubbish that other folk seem to big up.
 
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Never had an issue with P2 for sure.. but same with SD.


HEY Bigg ups to Notts. I was born in Derby, grew up in Long Eaton and I"m going to be shooting my 2nd feature over in the UK next year and I'm going to be shooting in Nottingham. I got permission to shoot at the castle.. I'll have to hit you up. Cheers!
 
Justyn, I know all them places well - are you glad you left?

Very interesting that you're shooting in Nottingham - we've got quite a circle of production companies their, we've done pretty well out of the local authorities too but they are cutting back now.

Great that you can shoot at the Castle, we've done a few projects there. Recently we shot a 'big' production about Robin Hood for the County.

If you need a leg up next year give us a call - we've got loads of P2(171,300), Red One+lenses, Lighting (dedo's, couple of HMI), Steadicam Merlin, Sound Kit, Full editing and DIT gear.

Be good to meet up.

Cheers, Tyrone.
 
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