By Staff, April 19, 2005
Panasonic Broadcast unveiled the AG-HVX200 HD P2 handheld camcorder yesterday at NAB. The 1080i/720p/480i multiformat camcorder is expected to ship in late fall for $5,995. The AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camcorder records 1080i and 720p in 100Mb/s DVCPRO HD. It shoots on a P2 card in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; and in DVCPRO50, DVCPRO or DV. By eliminating all moving parts from the camera recording path when shooting on a P2 card, Panasonic has ensured the AG-HVX200 is reliable and resistant to environmental hazards, such as the shock, vibration and humidity that threaten camcorders based on mechanical recording transports. The solid-state recording path also ensures virtually silent operation.
On the newly announced 8GB P2 card, which is expected to be available when the HVX200 ships in late fall, the AG-HVX200 records for 32 minutes in DVCPRO or DV, 20 minutes in 720p/24, 16 minutes in DVCPRO50, and 8 minutes in 1080i/60 and 720p/60. The camcorder includes two P2 card slots to permit continuous recording, and the cards are hot swappable to assure non-stop recording. Like VariCam, the AG-HVX200 can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame rates.
"Television viewers have been promised that high definition will deliver beautiful, widescreen image and audio quality into their homes. To deliver on this promise, professional video users need to shoot with a cost-effective HD camcorder that is not bit rate starved or suffering from motion artifacts," says John Baisley, president, Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company.
"The AG-HVX200 inherits many of the functions of our popular, shoulder-mount AJ-HDC27 VariCam camera, including the exceptional DVCPRO HD quality images, variable frame rates to capture fast-speed and slow-speed action, and a CineGamma curve and cine-like color matrix to emulate the look of film. In addition, the AG-HVX200 has a Mini DV tape recording capability that allows customers to shoot 16:9 images on DV tape and edit with existing workflow."
In its press conference on Sunday, Panasonic also announced that 17 U.S. television stations, Hollywood rental firm Birns & Sawyer and Norwegian public broadcaster NRK have all placed orders for the AG-HVX200.
Tailor made for production and postproduction, the DVCPRO HD format offers users intra-frame compression, where each frame stands on its own for editing, and the format’s full 4:2:2 color sampling allows the image to hold up under color correction. Additionally, the DVCPRO HD format includes robust uncompressed audio, which is perfect for audio sweetening in post. In addition, nonlinear editing systems from companies including Apple, Avid and Canopus will work with the AG-HVX200 and DVCPRO HD via the camcorder’s IEEE 1394 interface.
"Apple and Panasonic have delivered many industry firsts, such as a FireWire-enabled high definition VTR and native support for real-time DVCPRO HD in the Emmy Award-winning Final Cut Pro editing software," says Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Application Marketing
. "This year, the combination of Final Cut Pro 5 with P2 support and Panasonic's new solid-state HD camcorder will change the economics of professional HD production forever."
"Avid was one for the first companies to support both Panasonic's DVCPRO HD and the P2 series of products, so we are excited to see these two technologies coming together with the launch of the handheld P2-HD AG-HVX200," says Chas Smith, general manager of Avid Video. "Given our knowledge and experience around these formats, we expect to deliver support in Avid products right around the time of the new camera's debut. Most importantly, our customers can look forward to ongoing compatibility and interoperability between our companies' products, given our mutually strong commitment to MXF."
With the AG-HVX200, HD and SD video is recorded on the P2 card as IT-friendly MXF files that can be downloaded to a nonlinear editing system or server, or edited virtually and instantly from the P2 card by connecting an IEEE 1394 or USB 2.0 interface. P2 cards mount like a regular hard drive from a NLE system's point of view, which eliminates the time-consuming task of digitizing footage. This speeds up workflow and ensures a smooth, fast acquisition-through-editing system that integrates the benefits of IT throughout the production and newsgathering process.
For newsgathering, the AG-HVX200's pictures are enhanced with a built-in news gamma curve that assists the ENG photographer by suppressing oversaturation in highlight areas during sudden contrast changes. With its pre-record function, the AG-HVX200 starts recording from the moment it's switched on, so users can feel confident that they won't miss an important shot. With easy selection of SD or HD recording, news organizations that commit to the AG-HVX200 today are assured a future-proof migration to HD news on their own timetable.
The AG-HVX200 combines a native progressive 16:9 3-CCD high definition imaging system and a HD-quality Leica Dicomar wide-angle zoom lens with a super-smooth, cam-driven manual zoom, focus ring and aperture dial in a rugged package.
The AG-HVX200's 4:3 viewfinder displays a 16:9 image in letterbox, which allows the user to view vital camera operating information in areas above and below the image. In addition, its 3.5-inch LCD monitor is available to assist shooting as well as to view and select thumbnail clips to speed editing. The LCD monitor allows random access to the thumbnail-displayed scenes (on the P2 card) for instant playback and the creation of an in-camera storyboard.
The camcorder records four-channel uncompressed 48 kHz/16-bit digital audio in DVCPRO HD and DVCPRO50 and two channels in DVCPRO and DV. The HVX200 is loaded with system interfaces (including IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0), and professional interfaces including two XLR audio (with +48 volt phantom power) inputs, a component (D4) output, composite in/out, S-Video in/out, audio (RCA) in/out, and headphone output.
The camcorder is customizable with features including six user scene files, three user setup buttons and camera setup memory (up to eight camera setups can be saved to a SD Memory card). Other features include Shot Mark and Time Code Stamp functions, and interval recording in Mini DV on tape. The AG-HVX200's targeted weight is less than 5 lb.
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