HVX200 or not: Help with purchasing decision...

B

B Ryan

New member
I will preface this by saying I really want to get the HVX200, but want to make sure I am making the right decision.

I am debating end of the year purchases for my business (mainly producing/editing for a few large corporations - as a vendor of the company). I have always liked owning my equipment (mainly editing), and have in the past owned my own shooting equipment.

While I am an experienced shooter, I have mainly produced and edited over the past five years. I want to set myself up to shoot my own projects as well and really want to purchase the HVX200. But the camera is about all I have the budget for. The only other equipment I have now is one old arri light and stand, a reflector, a sony lapel mic, a Mac G4 (mirror dual 867) and the FCP HD suite.

My question is a subjective one. Given the budget of approx $6k, would you purchase the HVX200, or get a lesser camera and fill out the package with lights, a G5 computer and storage, and/or other misc stuff?

Although my clients include larger corporations, I would like to branch into more creative work (music video, my own productions, helping others with their films, etc.). I have been in the business for about 11 years, have no partner(s) and am interested in growing my business.

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated....
 
My $.02--

Get the HVX. :evil: You are experienced, motivated, and have enough equipt to get you by. You can do (by all accounts) better with the SD on the HVX until you need the HD. Your workflow doesn't have to change (computer and storage) until you need it to. When you DO need it to, you are already familiar with the HVX.

It, indeed, is subjective. But this is what I am trying to tell myself too (my avatar has some freudian elements in this regard).
 
Even if you stay in SD...shooting DVCPRO 50 will be a nice....plus you won't have to capture footage anymore. That alone is reason to buy in my opinion. And lets face it, your G4 has a few good years left in it!
 
Get the HVX, get some paying gigs, save money to accessorize and you will definitely need to upgrade the computer to edit/store HD footage. Your growth can happen with the right tools and of course connections. It will deplete your 6 grand and there will be no P2 cards in your package but they will be available from rental houses. The trick, of course, is to use the camera to make some money. I will rent my camera but I will have to be the operator. I don't want anybody playing with my baby. Having so many shooting options is something I can't do without. Anything less is not worth it (minus the DVX of course). Good luck and much success to you.
 
Thanks for the replies...of course they are leaning towards what I want, so that makes me happy ;-)

At this point, my thought was to rent it out when I am not using it, but I wouldn't qualify myself as a full shooter w/o lights, and more experience in a much higher pressure shoot situation than I am used to.
 
If your budget is 6K, then if you get the HVX you'll only be able to shoot DV for the time being.

How long do you think it would take you to save up money to get a DTE option or some P2 cards? And the editing system to handle the HD (or DVCPro50) footage?
Because until that point you've really just got a 6,000 DV camera.


(not trying to be a downer, I'm actually wrestling with the same thing right now)
 
I agree. For the immediate future, you get a great DV cam like this. And when you're ready or your budget on a specific project allows it; you can move up to DV50 or HD.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
If your budget is 6K, then if you get the HVX you'll only be able to shoot DV for the time being.

How long do you think it would take you to save up money to get a DTE option or some P2 cards? And the editing system to handle the HD (or DVCPro50) footage?
Because until that point you've really just got a 6,000 DV camera.


(not trying to be a downer, I'm actually wrestling with the same thing right now)
Click to expand...


Well, I could probably swing a card or two now, but figured I wouldn't do that because I don't have a computer with enough horsepower (G4 dual 867). That could be at least 4-6 months away.

This IS the dilemma! Plus I am trying to decide and pay for it before years end (for TAXES) and it is not even out and available!
 
I"m in the same boat B (trying to decide for tax reasons).
I've actually got a meeting with my CPA tomorrow... If I owe more than I think I do then I'm buying SOMETHING damn it! :)

It's the "4-6" months away part that concerns me.
You pay for it now, and you can't utilitze anything other than DV for 4-6 months.

How long was it between the DVX100 and the 100a? 8 months? 10 months?
I wonder what the resale value on a DVX100B (or even A) would be in a few months?
You could offset your taxes by buying a new DVX right now, making the money back on a few jobs and the selling it when you decide to move up to the HVX in about 6 months. I'm assuming a DVX would pay itself off easily in a few months if you're working steadily.

That was my thinking for the time being.
Then again, I don't know how much you owe...or how much you make.
So I have no idea what I'm talking about really.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
I"m in the same boat B (trying to decide for tax reasons).
Click to expand...

Ditto, though I'm pressing ahead more or less in spite of whatever advice my CPA gives me tomorrow, as I sold my Z1 some months ago and need to put that back into a camera... at least this forced me to do my EOY books a bit sooner than normal. :)

Going with 1 4gig P2 card and will wait to see what spring brings for storage options. More/bigger P2, Firestore, Cineporter, laptop with HD Rack, etc...

I will buy one or more 80/100 gig portable 2.5 battery powered firewire drives for off loading in the field, which will be useful no matter what direction I go down the road.

Jim Arthurs
 
I sympathize with everyone - myself included - who is agonizing with this decision. My gut says to go with the HVX200. You can charge a higher day rate with the camera, but for the near future you will probably have to put a lot of that back into more storage or other accesories. I don't know how you can make this work without at least 2 4gig P2 cards - one for shooting while you download from the other one. The best price I have seen for that configuration is around $6600. You can always pick up used lights for good prices, and your G4 will work fine for editing. But you will have to have a capability to store data in the field - something to which you can download your P2 cards. Just realize that you will be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while and go for it!!
 
I ordered mine without any P2 cards. My immediate needs will be to continue shooting DV. Over the next few months I will keep an eye out as to which way to go with editing. I will get P2 cards and something like a Firestore after I feel the camera will meet my needs. It looks like there is such a groundswell around this camera that whole new products are being developed for it. My real direction is in doc work with my own projects. Maybe I can pay myself more? What do I think? I don't know what do I think?
 
HVXguy said:
I ordered mine without any P2 cards. My immediate needs will be to continue shooting DV. Over the next few months I will keep an eye out as to which way to go with editing. I will get P2 cards and something like a Firestore after I feel the camera will meet my needs. It looks like there is such a groundswell around this camera that whole new products are being developed for it. My real direction is in doc work with my own projects. Maybe I can pay myself more? What do I think? I don't know what do I think?
Click to expand...

Just with one 4Gig card combined with the DV tape, you can use different framerates and use them in your DV project, so maybe you can save some for adding one card if the order arrives...
 
Luis Caffesse said:
I"m in the same boat B (trying to decide for tax reasons).
I've actually got a meeting with my CPA tomorrow...
Click to expand...

I don't know what your CPA told you, but mine told me this morning that an equipment purchase date is defined by the day the gear goes into service, not the day you pay for it. So if the camera doesn't arrive in December, the whole tax break thing won't work...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs
 
Jim Arthurs said:
I don't know what your CPA told you, but mine told me this morning that an equipment purchase date is defined by the day the gear goes into service, not the day you pay for it. So if the camera doesn't arrive in December, the whole tax break thing won't work...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs
Click to expand...


That's good to know, Jim. I'm meeting with my CPA in a few hours, I'm going to ask him about that.
 
I am thinking of purchasing more and more P2 card then the camera. You can always rent the camera but with more P2 cards my fotage is insured from corruption. Once the project is done clean the card copy to HD and start the new project with camera rental. The only thing that dont break in the camera is P2 card. Also once the shoot is over I dont west time in digitising because you need a fast HDisk for HD footage with P2 is already faster and there is no crashing
 
Jim Arthurs said:
I don't know what your CPA told you, but mine told me this morning that an equipment purchase date is defined by the day the gear goes into service, not the day you pay for it. So if the camera doesn't arrive in December, the whole tax break thing won't work...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs
Click to expand...

Just print the brochure and take it too your next shoot with the recipt attached.
 
P2metoo said:
I am thinking of purchasing more and more P2 card then the camera. You can always rent the camera but with more P2 cards my fotage is insured from corruption. Once the project is done clean the card copy to HD and start the new project with camera rental. The only thing that dont break in the camera is P2 card. Also once the shoot is over I dont west time in digitising because you need a fast HDisk for HD footage with P2 is already faster and there is no crashing
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is a good strategy because the price of P2 cards would probably go down by 50% in a year, but the price of the camera probably would not go down any. Buy P2 cards if you plan on using them a lot, but otherwise it's probably wiser to buy the camera and rent P2 cards.
 
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