Panasonic AG-HVX200

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The Panasonic AG-HVX200 is a fixed-lens high-definition video camera released in December 2005 (NTSC) and April 2006 (PAL). It can record HD video on solid state P2 cards or record DV video on MiniDV tapes. It also features variable frame rates (used for slow motion and fast motion cinematography) and a recording data rate of up to 100 Mbit/s, which is four times that of similarly priced HDV and DV cameras. The US$6000 MSRP camera is popular with independent filmmakers.[1]

The camera uses three 1/3 in 960×540 pixel (0.5 mega-pixel) progressive scan CCDs to capture the image. HD resolution is achieved by both horizontal and vertical spatial offset (aka pixel shift or 'SBS-HD'). The green CCD in the array is physically shifted 1/2 pixel biaxially to achieve up to 50% higher horizontal and vertical resolution. This would make the theoretical maximum resolution of the image 1440×810 pixels, even though each CCD has only 960×540 photosites. Internally the camera uses 1920×1080. In real-world use the actual measurable resolution of this camera has been tested at 540 lines horizontally by 540 lines vertically (see http://www.adamwilt.com/HD/4cams-part2.html).

The HVX200's resolution is recorded at 960×720 for 720p mode, and 1280×1080 for 1080i mode in 60 Hz territories; in 50 Hz (PAL) regions it is recorded at 1440×1080. The sensors employ variable scanning rates from 2 Hz to 60 Hz (NTSC version) or 50 Hz (PAL version) and are always capturing progressive images. The images are always scanned from the chips at a resolution of 1920×1080. Those images are then downsampled to a size appropriate for the recording format (for DVCPRO that means 720×480 NTSC or 720×576 PAL; for DVCPRO HD it means 960×720 for 720p or 1280×1080 for US/NTSC 1080i/p, or 1440×1080 for EU/PAL 1080i/p).

Contents

[edit] Features

The HVX200, successor to the Panasonic DVX100, supports:

  • Variable frame rates and resolutions, including (in the NTSC version):
    • 1080: 60i, 30p, 24p
    • 720: 60p, 48p, 36p, 32p, 30p, 26p, 24p, 22p, 20p, 18p, 12p
    • 480: 60i, 30p, 24p
    • The camera can also record in non-standard framerates at 720 lines of resolution using a hack, including all even numbers from 2 through 60 frame/s plus 3, 23, and 27 frame/s ([2] [3]). Using external hardware and the framerate hack allows recording of 24.975 frame/s, similar to the PAL standard([4]). All of these framerates are approximate.
  • Professional/Robust format (DVCPRO-HD)
  • Tapeless recording using the P2 storage media (Available in 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB (due to be released in late 2008) sizes.) A hard disk recording device has also been announced by various 3rd-party vendors (FS-100 Firestore, Shining Corp's Citidisk HD and Cineporter from Spec-Comm, but due to lack of market interest, the CinePorter will NOT be going into production.)
  • Audio: 48 kHz 16-bit 4-channel PCM audio, 2xXLR

[edit] Digital Cinema and Videography

The AG-HVX200 is popular with users because the DVCPro HD recording format helps minimize compression issues and maintain color fidelity (4:2:2 chroma subsampling) compared to 4:2:0 in similarly priced HDV and DV cameras. The variable frame rate options of the AG-HVX200 are also more extensive than in competing cameras. HDV serves a different market by recording high-definition video on inexpensive miniDV and DV tapes, with some potential quality compromises from using inter-frame compression and reduced color sampling.

[edit] Competitors

In late 2007 Sony introduced the Sony XDCAM EX, which records in XDCAM HD format on SxS and SSD memory cards. Because this camera offers tapeless HD recording and higher bandwidth encoding than HDV, it is likely to be seen as a more direct competitor to the AG-HVX200. The chief difference is that the Sony XDCAM EX records at a 35Mbit/s mpeg data stream which is better than the HDV 25Mbit/s, but much lower compared to that of DVCPro HD which records at up to 100 Mbit/s.

Note: the HVX200 has 3 1/3" 960x540 resolution CCD's; whereas the EX1 from Sony has 3 1/2" 1920x1080 resolution CMOS chips. In summary, the Panasonic has higher bandwidth (lower compression), and lower resolution sensors, which are smaller. The size of the sensors are relevant to depth of field, sensitivity, and fidelity among other things.

[edit] Professional Use

The entirety of the film Deadwater was filmed with the HVX200. The film Cloverfield was shot partially with the HVX200 (other cameras used were the Sony CineAlta F23 and the VIPER FilmStream). The HVX200 was most likely used for the "setup" and "flashback" segments that appear at odd points throughout the film, whereas the other cameras would be more practical for use with shots involving complex CGI.

Some scenes in the movie Diary of the Dead were shot on the HVX200.

The HVX200 was also used for a chase scene in the 2008 X-files movie, The X-Files: I Want To Believe.

[edit] HVX200A

At NAB 2008, the Panasonic HVX200A, a replacement for the HVX200, was unveiled to the public and later released in late May 2008. Among other changes, the 200A features improved CCDs and an adjusted lens. These changes improved image quality in addition to providing a wider angle of view.

[edit] HVX201

A successor to the HVX200 was launched in 2008. The AG-HVX201AE[1] P2miniCam combines a progressive native 16:9 HD 3CCD imaging system with a HD quality Leica Dicomar wide-angle zoom lens in a camera-recorder. This DVCPRO HD Camera Recorder P2miniCam provides 1080i/720p HD recording with the production-proven image quality of DVCPRO HD compression (video bit rate: 100 Mbit/s). The DVCPRO HD codec uses intraframe compression, which means that each frame stands on its own. Also able to record Standard Definition in the DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV formats, the AG-HVX201AE supports image creation from the entire DVCPRO family of equipment straight into the IT environment. The standards for 1080 and 576 signals support 50i and 25p and for the 720 standard P2minicam supports 25 and 50 in progressive mode. The AG-HVX201AE's variable frame rate function responds to both slow and quick action. Its true 25p/50p progressive video, cine-like gamma curves and cinelike colour matrix capture images and scenes with the same look and feel as footage from a film camera.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Panasonic European Broadcast site

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic_AG-HVX200"
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