AG-HPX500 vs. AJ-HPX2000

[Russell Lasson]

Sorry, there should be no question mark next to the AG-HPX500 shooting variable frame rates. It does.

-Russ

[Peter Corbett]

Some detail differences I noticed. I think most are correct.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/120/857719?

Peter

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au

[Barry Green]

Main difference is that the HPX500 uses a 600k-pixel 2/3″ CCD with spatial offset to increase the resolution to HD (same process as the HVX200 uses), whearas the HPX2000 uses 1280×720 chips (which may actually be the same chips as in the VariCam, I don’t know).

The “J” and “G” difference is not a small one; the AG line is the lower-priced products like the HVX and DVX, the AJ line is their top-of-the-line stuff like the VariCam. I don’t know what all those differences entail, but I would suspect that the HPX500 will be more operationally like the HVX200 (comparable menus and such), whereas the HPX2000 would be more like the SDX900.

As someone else put it in the VariCam forum, it seems like the HPX500 is slotted to compete against XDCAM-HD, whereas the HPX2000 is competing against the F900.

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[Peter Corbett]

If I could be so bold Barry, I would put the HPX500 against the 1/2″ F350 XDCAM HD, the HPX2000 against the upcoming 2/3″ XDCAM HD and the HDC27 varicam up against the Sony F900R.

Peter

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au

[Bob Cole]

[Peter Corbett] “I would put the HPX500 against the 1/2″ F350 XDCAM HD”

Except that the 500 will use 2/3″ chips. The decrease in depth of field compared to a 1/2″ chip camera would weigh pretty heavily, for me, vs. the other more subtle criteria.

You seem to have a good line on this product — I’m interested in hearing your perspective on it once you actually see one.

— BC

[Peter Corbett]

Hi Bob,

It’s a tricky time, but my camera choices are narrowing down. For me it works like this;

HPX2100: A front runner because of the excellent build quality and features.

HPX500: Still up there because of the price (particularly if they bundle four 16gb cards like I’ve heard about – unconfirmed). Its main benefit over the 2100/2000 is variable frame rate, but the build quality may not be as good.

INFINITY: Very, very interested in this camera because it overcomes many of the storage/backup problems of P2. Records up to 2 hours of 10-bit 1920 x 1080 HD onto cheap 70gb drives or Compact Flash media. Has the largest imager (3 x 2.4million CMOS) in the 2/3″ broadcast range. But.. the camera is unproven as yet.

SONY XDCAM HD: 1/2 inch, too similar to HDV, too much compression and reduced colour-space; not for me. 2/3″ will probably be too late, only 50mbit, and will be priced over-the-top. I don’t really want to buy a HD shoulder-mount Pro camera over US$30K.

I really think Sony has really missed the boat with 2/3″ XDCAM HD. They should have brought it out at the same time as the 1/2″ version. The result is that Panasonic have launched multiple successful cameras without any serious competition. With a late 2007/early 2008 delivery roadmap, 2/3″ XDCAM HD is going to face a very crowded field with the three Panny P2’s, Infinity and maybe even Ikegami HDN-X10, Silicon Imaging or RED. But these last two cameras are more for the indie makers and extreme techno junkies. Sony just have too many formats and if they make 2/3″ XDCAM HD too good, it will kill off HDCAM and if they don’t deliver a well-speced, significantly competitive product to Infinity and the HPX2000, they will lose in the mid-field as well.

HPX3000: A little far off but has full 1920×1080 10-bit D5 quality with similar specs to Infinity. But the asking price will be just south of $50K. The irony is that this is less than some of the top Betacams like the 701 were years ago, but the ground has shifted and you’d want to be mighty sure of your market to spend these sort of dollars. And that’s not even getting into suitable lenses, MB, sticks, etc.

A Panasonic rep said on this forum that they are committed to the Varicam owners and that they won’t do anything to jeapodise the Varicam user-base, but there is just no denying it, the HPX3000 with full raster 1920×1080, 10-bit intra-AVC and 14-bit camera-head is going to leave the current 1-megapixel Varicam in the dust. There will be a new Varicam within a couple of years but these days one can barely look six months ahead, and if the new Varicam doesn’t come out until late 2008/early 2009, the current AJ-HDC27 is going to look very tired by then(I should add I love this camera and have shot some great stuff on it, but perceptions of what looks fantastic now will change, and change quickly. It’s like thinking you’ve got a really great home-theater system until you go around to your mate’s place and are blown away by his newer, better and CHEAPER setup

HDX900: Yes it’s tape and this camera will fit my work flow, but who wants to go out and buy a 20-grand traditional hi-def VTR. If you’re just a camera freelancer it’s not so much of an issue, but if you are in-house or a small production company, you don’t want to be investing in an expensive VTR at this stage of your life. Not when you can get a REV drive to play Infinity discs on eBay for $150 or just plug your P2 cards into any PCMIA slot on a laptop. This camera has been huge for Panasonic and production can’t even keep up with demand, hence no cheap ex-NAB demo deals to be had this year. Again, Sony’s hand-wringing over 2/3″ XDCAM HD gave Panasonic a home run and more.

Well, hopefully the dust will settle at NAB, but it’s likely to cause even more angst for us prospective camera-buyers.

Peter

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
http://www.php.com.au

[Pete Sake]

HVX 500 is a SD chip and the HDX900 is a HD chip. Looking at both cameras thru a 17″ Panasonic monitor the 900 was sharper than the 500. The viewfinder was better on the 900. and dont forget the free monitor with the 900.