HVX-100 on the horizon?
 

With the AG-HSC1U launched what's everyone's take on a new hd dvx?
I'd imagine it'd be priced around 3500-3999 and 720p is dropped from the format list and it'd take both SDHC and P2, dropping tape and come with the same pack in portable hard drive. That's right people, no variable frame rates there's got to be something that still makes the hvx the mac daddy.

I'm seeing this:
HVX-100 (or possibly AG-HDVC30)
3999-4200
records in AVCHD
1080p
3 1/3" CCDs
60i, 30p, 24p
one P2 slot
2 SD slots
62mm lens (maybe 72mm)
16x zoom
shipps with 4gb SDHC card
40gb portable hard drive
bigger portable drives and SDHC cards available in future.

I think that'd go toe to toe with the canon A1, if the lowlight was the same as the A1, I'd probably go with this.

This thing would KILL at NAB.

AG-HSC1U out in march, this announced in april with shipment in august or september, that in my opinion would put panasonic back on top of the game.

That sounds like a reasonable prediction.
The HVX100, or whatever it will be called should probably be priced more competitively with Canon's and Sony's offerings.
Preferably somewhere in the $3500 - $4000 range.
And hopefully they improve on the optics a bit more.

I think the camera will be hacked to produce variable frame rates.
But I don't know how many people will take the risk, because it's also possible that Panasonic could release a firmware update that gives a few additional frame rates. You never know.

One thing I'm not clear on is color space in AVCHD.
Does it support 4:2:2 or is that only reserved for DVCPro?
If that's the case, I think they should also leave the option to shoot in a DVCPro format, especially if they're providing a P2 slot.

Do you think they'll squeeze this into the existing DVX body, HVX body, or something entirely different?

AVCHD is 4:2:0.

What they need is an HVX200 that isn't upsampling from near SD-chips.

Throw some real 1920 by 1080 chips in there, and maybe you've got a camcorder.

I'd rather see the HVX300

I agree. Whats the deal with the hvx200, it would have been utterly irresistable if it had CCDs like the Canon's or Sony's. With 4.2.2 color space and variable frame rate awesomeness and then they blow it on the ccds. Damn, what was panasonic thinking? protecting their higher-end hd cams price tags? I did see a $20,000 price drop on the varicam recently.

That would be another "outclassed" camcorder. Canon and Sony are ahead of Pani right now in the 'mid-low' market position and NOT likely to give that position up. Pani is too intent on protecting their higher end products. :-(

What Pani needs to do is upgrade the HVX200 with better sensors. SD sensors in an HD camera is NG in 2007+.

JohnG

Yes but what Canon needs now is a codec. They could use 3 2/3" cmos chips in a 19k camcorder but if they are still capturing and writing to crappy hdv who cares?

Well they licensed "24p" so perhaps they can license a cineform codec or some industry standard that can be captured onto a hard drive.