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buying camera this week and doing last second check
Yeah so I’m buying an HVX200 on Moday from a friend who has used his only a handful of times and needs to sell it.
I am just doing my last minute checking around that a newer version isn’t going to be release and hit the market at this NAB?
I can handle if Panny releases the an updated version of the camera in a few 1/4’s after this NAB, but if they annouce and make available for sale any update at NAB I’m going to be bummed.
I’m not even sure there will be an update but last april Jan said the next camera would have the h.264 compression as a option. Is this in the works? I there any hope of this just being a firmware upgrade for all the previously purchased HVX200’s? Anyone heard of any other possible upgrades?
Ok and then my second question is in regard to the firestore. Has the updated firmware of that come out that lets you record in native frame rates?
I’m thinking about going with just firestore fs100 and no P2 cards. Anyone wanna talk me out of that?
Thanks for helping calm the nerves!
Chris
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4 Replies
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One thing to take into consideration is that buyign a new camera right now it comes with an 8 gig P2 card. You should be getting a really good deal if no P2 card is coming with it. I think I would pay, and this is just me, $3700 if it is in good condition with 8 gig P2 card. That is just me though.
As for the Firestore I can only say it depends on what you shoot. I love shooting 720 24pn but the Firestore can’t shoot 24pn. It can do PA from wahat I heard but then it is another step to remove the extra frames. the other reason I decided not to go with a Firestore or other hard drive is, what am I going to do with all that media when the drive is full? I back up to DVD-R’s and that is easier to do when shooting with a 4 or 8 gig card.
Every one is different and that is the great thing about this camera. There are so many different ways of shooting.
-Lars
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Hey thanks for writing!
So I check with Firestore again this morning about this but they are due to release a firmware update this month that allows for Native frame rate recording. Does this change your opinoin of it? I hear what you were saying about the DVD-R back up solution and the ease of 4 & 8 gig chunks. That is convenient. I’m just still leaning towards the better value of the firestore.
What are the other short comings of the fs-100 vs a P2 that I should consider?
As far as the price of the used HVX200, I tried to get it for $3700 but the final price became $4000. But this is with no P2 card. That’s pretty much the cost of the camera when you buy it with the “free” P2 card at $5200. 8 gig P2 cards being $1200.
Do you think I should keep hunting or is this a reasonable deal?
Thanks!
Chris
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To bad you can’t buy in Canada, here they knocked $1000.00 bucks off the price instead of a free P2 card. Too bad they don’t give us the either/or option. What happened to free trade between Canada and US? I would prefer the P2 card option myself.
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Ya know Chris every one is different. That is great news about the FS using native frame rates. When I do a project I think about the whole project from Pre to post and then the back up and back up was the big one for me. In the good old days when people recorded to tape you could just put that tape on a shelf and you are done. But with the P2 if you want to keep a back up you have to use DVD-R’s, hard drives or buy a DVCpro 100 deck if you are shooting HD.
I was simple and I bout a 4 gig card which happens to fit on a 4 gig DVD-R. That made the math easy for me. Plus I think it is still the cheapest 25 cents per DVD-R or about 8 cents per gig. When hard drives are that cheap I will have to review my back up.
Also the P2 cards are best suited for me because I am a scuba diver and want to get into underwater video. I can’t add a firestore to an underwater housing as far as I know. I have yet to invest in the $6000 gates housing for this camera but that was the goal from the start for me.
-Lars
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