Panasonic Broadcast is using this week’s DV Expo West show in Los Angeles as a coming out party for its AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 hand-held camcorder. It will ship later this month, according to Panasonic representatives, for a list price of under $6,000.
The AG-HVX200 supports multiple types of HD (1080i and 720p at 100 Mbps DVCPRO HD) and SD recording, selectable frame rates, and the benefits of solid-state memory recording with the P2 card. In addition, the camera includes miniDV recording, allowing customers to shoot 16:9 images on DV tape. The HVX200 is Panasonic’s first HD video product to use P2 solid-state memory for recording.
The camcorder captures images in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; and in DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO or DV. Eliminating all moving parts from the recording path ensures that the camcorder is resistant to environmental hazards, such as shock, vibration, and humidity.
The AG-HVX200 leverages many of the functions of Panasonic’s AJ-HDC27 VariCam, including the ability to adjust frame rates to capture fast-speed and slow-speed action, and advanced gamma functions that address eight different shooting scenarios. The camera’s intraframe compression makes it ideal for frame-accurate editing, while its 4:2:2 color-sampling helps the image hold up under color correction.
DVCPRO HD also offers uncompressed audio and both IEEE 1394 (4-pin) and USB 2.0 interfaces, allowing users to connect directly to Macs and PCs for fast P2 file transfers to Final Cut Pro (Mac), Avid Xpress HD and Canopus NLEs (PC). Suggested list price of the 2 GB P2 card (model AJ-P2C002SG) is $900 (18 minutes of DVCPRO 50 recording), while the 4 GB P2 cards (model AJ-P2C004HG) cost $1,750.