would you still buy an HVX200?

T

truehuss

Well-known member
Hey, dont know if this has been asked but I am a former dvx100b user (just sold it on ebay today!) and I love the look of the pany's and I thought my next move would be the big bro, HVX200a. Now, I am a semi 'working professional' because I have just been getting jobs for music videos and because I own a music studio in philly. I plan to make money with the camera..period. I need HD because, well, people want it...soooo.. I really dont know too much about any of the newer cameras/technology that is coming out so I was hoping to be pointed in the right direction so I can do some research and see if anything else peaks my interest.
Now ,I do have a ceiling as far as budget is concerned so around $4-4500.00 is where I'd like to stay.. I was pretty much sold on the HVX but I have been reading more & more about people hating the P2 aspect (mostly because of expense) soo the question is..

would you still buy an HVX or lets say, the HMC? Now the HMC from what I read is that AVCHD format versus dvcprohd is not as good & that, besides low light, the hvx200 (not the a) and storage, the HVX still produces a better image..period. I know the HMC is a more affordable/HD version of the DVX. whereas the HVX is a step up and thats where I'm looking to go. I'm just confused. than I hear people mention cameras like the 5DMKII and I just start to think..

is it still worth it to go for the HVX or should I be researching something else.

what I want:
HD
4:2:2 color space because I'll be doing green screen
24p as I am also an aspiring indie filmmaker
I would like the editing to be pain free and what I hear about the HMC is that editing AVCCam/AVCHD is a P.I.T.A. ( has this gotten better Barry?)
I know the P2 cards are expensive but I actually have a friend who's gonna give me a 16gb for $350 (R series) and if I get a new HVX it comes with another and tahts pretty much all I need because I bring my laptop to shoots and then offload when one fills and so on. so 32gb will work.

I know I wrote a loooonnnggg letter here but I want to be sure |I am making the right decision I had the dvx100b so long and studied the HVX so long that I fear both have become, I dont wanna say, obsolete, but , if I knew about all the cameras maybe I wouldnt make the choice to buy them now considering whats on the market. (except |IO dont know whats on the markets..|Thats what |I want you guys to help me with!! lol)

any help would be appreciated. so |I can stare at my computer screen some more researching.

Thanks in advance
 
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Seems just a few years ago the answer was obvious but now ? It seems you can't go wrong with any decision. The field is pretty even.
 
If you want HD, with 4:2:2 color, at your price bracket, a used HVX or HPX170 is the only choice. I would go with the HPX170 over the HVX200A unless you absolutely *must* have a DV tape drive.
 
Any P2 complaint is really unfounded. Now that we have E-series cards price has come down dramatically. P2 is widely accepted now. It cuts like dream especially when compared to AVCHD and even HDV.

I think the only thing Panasonic got wrong was calling p2 a card. It was a marketing flub. People start comparing SD and CF cards to p2 and say hey these are way over priced. They should have called it a p2 drive. Its much more then a card and should be more liken to a Hard Drive since it really is a solid state raid with MP to write verify every bit recorded.

I have a 170 and Barry is right on. This camera is a rock star.
 
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I would echo Barry's recomendation regarding the 170. I have the original 200 and in two years I've used the tape very infrequently.

Most of the P2 complaints I've heard have been from people on the "outside looking in". Once you make the paradigm shift and look at P2 cards as a capital expense like a camera rather than really expensive tape and begin to use them, you won't want to go back to tape.

When I started I had two 8GB cards and that did make for a busy shoot with the need for frequent downloading. Then at NAB 2008 I had a $3500 budget to get something really cool at the show. I was a little disappointed in myself when I ended up getting two 32GB P2 cards, using up most of my budget... not really new and exciting. But what a difference those cards have made in my business and workflow.

So If I were in your shoes today, I would get a 170 and get two of the biggest cards I could afford at the time. It is better to have two 16GB than one 32.
 
capt chuck said:
It is better to have two 16GB than one 32.
Click to expand...

Agreed on principle, but the pricing on the E series cards (at least at B&H) weighs pretty heavily in favor of the bigger ones. A 16 GB is $410, but a 64 GB is only $980 - not a whole lot more than twice the cost for four times the capacity. The 32 GB card, at $615 is not quite as clearly a better deal IMO.

And one 64 GB card will record 720/24p for over 2 3/4 hours...
 
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truehuss said:
hey appreciate the input fellas.. really do.

thanks.
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I like using the HVX200's DV tape as an audio recorder. Like a DAT. This way, I record HD video to the P2 cards and uncompressed audio (48k) to the tape for any outdoor VO or Foley.

Also, as a documentary maker, I like having the old-school RCA jacks on the HVX200 to connect VCRs and TVs. It makes it easy to gather archival material.

Best,
Andrew
 
I have had the 200 for nearly 3 years. Recently I upgraded to an HPX500 to shoot a feature, keeping the 200 as backup.The 500 has great DOF and low light capability, but those two things aside, the image is about the same on the 200, a camera that costs a lot less. Focusing on the HVX is a lot easier due to the deep DOF. It has a DV tape option if you ever need it and is built like a tank. With the improved low light capabilities of the 200a, it is a no brainer.
 
Me too!

Me too!

...Further incentive; B and H just dropped their price by $200, making the 170 a grand total of [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] $4,299.95 after $500.00 rebate (extended to December.)

I haven't found it cheaper than that. I'm jumpin in....the water's warm! :thumbup:
[/FONT]
 
I picked up a used hvx off ebay with a 4 gig card for $1750 (300 hours), it was a steal but now ou can pick up a used one without cards for about $2k all day long. Thay are getting cheap and there is going to be a flood of used hvx's on the market soon.

I say if you can get one for $2k no card or $2500 with a 16 gig card ( now) buy it, in 6 months they will be cheaper, I paid $6k for my camera, ugghhhh. If you can afford to get a hpx170 get it, I have seen them for about $3,500 used with 16 gig card. Remember all these high prices you see for used cameras are asking prices and not the actual sale price so don't let that fool you. With the new B&H price drop and $500 rebate for the 170 I'll bet you can pick up a used one with 16 gig card for $3k pretty soon.
 
bikefilms said:
I like using the HVX200's DV tape as an audio recorder. Like a DAT. This way, I record HD video to the P2 cards and uncompressed audio (48k) to the tape for any outdoor VO or Foley.

Also, as a documentary maker, I like having the old-school RCA jacks on the HVX200 to connect VCRs and TVs. It makes it easy to gather archival material.

Best,
Andrew
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wow, and i thought i was the only one who did this. :grin:
 
For the ultimate in features, it's HPX 170 ALL THE WAY!

I own an HVX-200 and I never had the pleasure of owning a DVX(although I've opertaed plenty times), but I gotta say that the big dog IS the 170. This said if you're looking to save some cash, then do as folks say....buy a used HVX and buy some PHAT E-series 64gb cards off B&H.

I know I'm just itching to use two 64gb P2 cards! I could film no problem at 108024pa...in fact I'm on a feature now where I'm running 108024pa on two 16's, and while it's no big deal, the whole thing would go smoother then butter with the 64's.

On the HPX-500...I think it's a darn good camera, and I wish I had one so I could do some time code and genlock.....but for most people the HVX-200 or HPX-170 is a PERFECT solution.

On 5DmII and such....avoid it. I know many will want to stab me in the eyes for saying it, but while it's images are amazing, it's inability to record for very long, it's Jello(move the camera and the shot giggles), stairstepping, inability to deal with flashes of light, no pans.......

If you're a still photographer that wants to take some amazing hi-def footage it's a great camera....but if your a video person looking to have all the features neccesary to roll on a short film, feature, commercial, music vid, etc.....then avoid it(unless you rent it before hand and understand it's drawbacks and can deal with them{budget needed...SERIOUSLY}).
 
I've owned a DVX100A, the XH-A1, two HV30s, and now the HPX-170. I have to say that it is, by far, the best camera out of all of them. I was also initially skeptical of the P2 workflow (mostly due to cost), but when I made the plunge, I went ahead and picked up a 64GB E-Series card. That was a good move on my part. It makes shooting at 720P virtually hassle-free (only have to download at the end of the shoot) and I'll be looking at adding on another 64GB card after I've recouped some of the money to make 1080 even less of a hassle as well (though at 88 minutes of recording time, it's not bad by any means).

The new E-Series cards are a great bang-for-the-buck and fast. And shooting on P2 has bene a tremendous boon to me for a project I'm currently shooting. I have to leave footage with the client at the end of the day, and it's so fast to pop that card into my Dell D620 laptop's PCMCIA slot and transfer directly to an external hard drive. I can do it all before I leave, no problem, whereas with tape I'd have to meet up with the client some other day to give him the footage.

Editing it has been terrific as well. Since I'm using Premiere, I can pull in the footage directly, with no need to do any kind of transcoding or capturing. I have a friend who has supposedly editing P2 footage directly from a USB hard drive with no issues in playback. Try that with HDV or AVCHD!

The temptation was there to go with the HMC-150 because of it s overall cheaper price, but hey, the best way to show you are a professional is to put money to it. I'm glad I did. If you're just looking for something to play around with and shoot some beautiful footage, then by all means, go with the HMC-150. If you're serious about doing things as professional as possible, try to squeeze the HPX-170 into your budget, and then start cranking out stuff and make money to sweeten your rig.
 
Still not convinced enough to buy an HVX200. There's just too much cheaper equipment coming out with longer and less expensive storage that can get great images. But if you want an HPX170 do it now. B&H has a used one on sale on it for $3999. B&H will be closed Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28. Saturday they're closed for Sabbath so now until early Friday is your window.

-Nate
 
I love my HVX (3 years now). Once you get the cards, the P2 work flow is great, I never use my tape drive any more. If I was buying today, it would be HPX170.
 
You'll love the 170, I certainly am in love with mine. This camera has paid for itself three times already in a year. Now that is ROI!!

Dan
 
subtleinspiration said:
I have a friend who has supposedly editing P2 footage directly from a USB hard drive with no issues in playback. Try that with HDV or AVCHD!
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Obviously, you cannot do it with HDV, but can easily do it with AVCHD. The card/reader I use pump through about 1GB per minute, 4 times faster than needed for AVCHD playback. As for processing power, it is not as fast and real-time as I wanted, but not terribly bad either. And media is easily 20 times cheaper per unit of storage than P2 cards.

subtleinspiration said:
The temptation was there to go with the HMC-150 because of it s overall cheaper price, but hey, the best way to show you are a professional is to put money to it. I'm glad I did. If you're just looking for something to play around with and shoot some beautiful footage, then by all means, go with the HMC-150. If you're serious about doing things as professional as possible, try to squeeze the HPX-170 into your budget, and then start cranking out stuff and make money to sweeten your rig.
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I think you insulted quite many of the HMC150 owners. If Panasonic is smart enough, then the next camera will offer a P2 slot along with P2-to-SDHC adapter similar Hoodman Raw and AVC-Intra recording. Then everyone would be able to choose, whether they want cheap less reliable media, or more reliable but incredibly expensive one.
 
Nathyn said:
Still not convinced enough to buy an HVX200. There's just too much cheaper equipment coming out with longer and less expensive storage that can get great images. But if you want an HPX170 do it now. B&H has a used one on sale on it for $3999. B&H will be closed Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28. Saturday they're closed for Sabbath so now until early Friday is your window.

-Nate
Click to expand...


thanks for the heads up nate, but i was sick and didnt check the thread and someone must've scooped it up.. sh1t, I didnt even know B&H sold used equipment, so good looking out for that one. Yeah, I wanted to keep my purchase in the $4-4500 range, and the new hpx170 does come with teh $500 rebate but I have to cough up 5200.00 1st .. now I gotta come up with the extra $700.

unless anyone else knows of a reputable place selling a used hpx170 for around my price range..?

thanks 4 the info fellas..
 
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