upgrading, SD to HD

R

rbtjonas

Member
I'm sure ya'll have discussed this, but things change fast. . . .I just listened in on a discussion about what Panasonic camcorder is the best choice when upgrading from SD to HD. I have a dvx100B for two years and I've been really happy with it. I need a second camera, HiDef this time, and I want to stay with Panasonic. I can spend $3K to $5.5K but if I go for the higher price, it's got to have some really great features. O.K., the recent discussion mentioned the HMC150 ($3,200); the HVX200A ($4,800) and the AG-HPX170 ($5,000). I'm assuming that with only a $200 difference, the high end choice is the HPX170; so the choice is between the HMC150 and the HPX170. What are the key advantages of the more expensive rig? (I do mostly nature shoots and music videos).
Thanks!
 
The HMC150 records in AVCHD which to my knowledge isn't supported natively by most NLE's thus far, but that will probably change in the near future. The HPX170 uses P2 cards and DVCPROHD which in contrast is supported by most high end editing programs. So you're gonna have an easier workflow with the HPX, not having to convert all of your files to something usable. Not to mention the fact that AVCHD is a very compressed format, even lower of a bitrate than HDV.
The HPX has a much greater selection of variable framerates than the HMC, and for shooting music videos and nature, this would probably be quite useful.
The HPX has HD SDI out w/ timecode and audio whereas the HMC doesn't (or at least i dont think it has it, its a pretty expensive output).
There's several other differences, these are just some of the more obvious ones to me.
 
don't just count the cost for the camera, for the HPX, you need P2 cards, the HMC, SD cards. P2 cards can run you over $2,000. Maybe you have to upgrade your editing system, can it handle the high quality HD formats like DVCPROHD? If money was not object here, than the HPX is going to be a better choice: 4:2:2 color sampling, a less compressed format, very high quality low noise images. It's simply a great camera.
 
Moseph and JCal, Thanks so much for your responses to my best-choice-for-an-upgrade-to-HD question. This helps a lot. Happy new year.
 
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