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Panasonic SPX800 – P2 camera Price Drop or Special Promotions?
Does anyone know if the SPX800 P2 camcorder might get a special promotion or price reduction soon? I’ve been looking to pick up this camera (it supports 24p and is solid state a mandatory requirement for me) but it still seems around $18,500 (I’m looking for $15k). If Panasonic is coming out with an enhanced HD version of the SPX800 with DVCPRO HD added I would be interested in that for around $26K.
I want to stay with 2/3″ chips and HVX200 is 1/3″ chips.
I love Runway Fashion Shows ;-}
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8 Replies
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Look to NAB for a 2/3″ P2 HD solution.
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I don’t think so. I’ve been told privately and publicly that there will be no Varicam announcements at this NAB.
Panasonic knows that the capacity and price of the P2 cards is not appropriate yet for the high datarate of HD production, and the future of P2 to me is seriously in doubt because of the new Express slot configurations that are appearing in Apple, Dell and other laptops, which will limit the demand for P2/PCMIA media and therefore the Moore’s Law factor in future deployment of larger and cheaper cards.
Granted the SD cards within the unit have many other uses, and their size and price will most likely evolve, but Panasonic alone will control the implementation of what is their propriatary P2 media.
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I think he may have been confused with GV’s Infinity 2/3″ non tape camcorder.
Tony Salgado
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John,
[john sharaf] “the future of P2 to me is seriously in doubt because of the new Express slot configurations that are appearing in Apple, Dell and other laptops, which will limit the demand for P2/PCMIA media and therefore the Moore’s Law factor in future deployment of larger and cheaper cards.”
I don’t follow this argument. Whether the slot and buss are Express or PCMCIA, that has no bearing on the chips, which are the overwhelming cost factor in a P2 card. Whether the primary slot changes industry wide or not, the chips are still subject to Moore’s Law, and an even better slot will just serve to drive that law even a bit faster if anything. The slot is almost immaterial, isn’t it?
Ron Shook
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P2’s future might be in doubt if they had to cram all those gigs into a 34mm Express Card slot, but my guess is that there will be attchments that
will accept P2 cards and plug in to the Express Card slot. I’m not saying needing an attachment is a good thing, but I *am* saying that saying P2’s future is in doubt is a little extreme.
Ed[john sharaf] ……. and the future of P2 to me is seriously in doubt because of the new Express slot configurations that are appearing in Apple, Dell and other laptops, which will limit the demand for P2/PCMIA media and therefore the Moore’s Law factor in future deployment of larger and cheaper cards.
Granted the SD cards within the unit have many other uses, and their size and price will most likely evolve, but Panasonic alone will control the implementation of what is their propriatary P2 media.”
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Thanks so much for the responses, but what I was really was trying to determine is if there will be a PRICE DROP in the existing AJ-SPX800 P2 camera? It started out at $19,500.00 over a year ago and I don’t think it has sold all that well so I was hoping there might be some special incentives coming out (like a $4000 rebate) to help move the camera.
I’m aware of the Thomson Infinity Camcorder and can get that for between $30K-$35K with Fujinon HD lens (HAs18X7.6RM) included at NAB 2006, when my dealer will be accepting hard orders for this camera.
I would be willing to spend up to $35K for a complete HD solution in 2/3″ chips that uses some form of solid state storage wether it be HDD, REV Disc, Blu-ray Disc or P2. But it definitely needs to provide 720 or 1080 at 24p and shoot some form of DV25 for non HD assignments.
I love Runway Fashion Shows ;-}
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[john sharaf] “Panasonic knows that the capacity and price of the P2 cards is not appropriate yet for the high datarate of HD production”
So that’s why they made the HVX200, right?
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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[VideoFame] “I would be willing to spend up to $35K for a complete HD solution in 2/3″ chips that uses some form of solid state storage wether it be HDD, REV Disc, Blu-ray Disc or P2. But it definitely needs to provide 720 or 1080 at 24p and shoot some form of DV25 for non HD assignments.”
That’s what I was talking about in my original post. 🙂The gentleman who remarked that P2 is not up to snuff for high bitrate HD obviously hasn’t been paying attention, as the P2-based HVX200 uses the exact same codec and bitrate that the Varicam uses.
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