Hi All from Silicon Valley .

I just spoke to a reliable source who heard from a panasonic rep at NAB that a HVX200 upgraded model will be shipping next month .

This model will be capable of 1080p and additional shutter speeds as well as menu functions which will allow one to record to the P2 adapters at various speeds .

Has anoyne else heard such news ?

What you speak of is a FIRMWARE upgrade that many are anticipating. The current HVX can do 1080p FYI, even though the CCDs are native 960X540...


ash =o)

Man. This just gave me a heart attack!

I just purchased the camera and it should be here Friday.

Is there more info about this firmware upgrade?

Thanks!

Phil

What you speak of is a FIRMWARE upgrade that many are anticipating. The current HVX can do 1080p FYI, even though the CCDs are native 960X540...


ash =o)


I thought it was 1080I so it would be 48I and 60I, and then if you choose to shoot 24, or 30 it combines the interlaced material into a Progressive frame.

Nope, 1080p out of CCD's with a far smaller res, the magic of pixel shifting!

Hardly magic -- anyone who has read Walter Graff's comparison of the HVX200 and the JVC HD100 can see how soft the pixel shift magic 540 pixels are even in 720P mode.

I haven't read any official word, but it sounds to me like Panasonic had a bunch of killer chips for a SD DVX200 and decided, hell, we can pass it off as HD.

That said, I will be most likely be purchasing one in the near future. ;-)


mg

What you speak of is a FIRMWARE upgrade that many are anticipating. The current HVX can do 1080p FYI, even though the CCDs are native 960X540...


ash =o)

I did not know it was a firmware upgrade ? the rep I spoke with today mentioned that all 1080i models were being discontinued domestically and a newer model which did 1080p will be comming out in July . Not sure about the price though as he mentioned the price may be slightly higher ....

this article below may shed some light:
http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2006/02/hvx200_additional_in.html

This just gave me a heart attack!

Same here! I just got my HVX two weeks ago...

So just to clarify, is this firmware update going to be available for the cameras that are already out? Can it be updated by the users over 1394 or SD card, or will we have to send the cameras in?

I'd love to hear Jan comment on this...

it sounds to me like Panasonic had a bunch of killer chips for a SD DVX200 and decided, hell, we can pass it off as HD.This is nothing new. Canon did the exact same thing with the original XL1, using Pixel Shift to up the resolution from sub-SD chips. Nobody complained very much about that. Don't see why it's suddenly a big deal now. Do you like what the camera puts out, ultimately that's all that really matters.

I have no inside info on this, but I can say with a great degree of assurance that the whole premise of this thread (a new 1080p model etc) is without any factual basis. Especially since the current version *is* a 1080p model...

There is simply no way, on this planet or any other, that they're going to replace this camera this soon. The current model will stay current for at least this full year. They cannot keep up with demand as-is, and as long as it's selling faster than they can make it, they will continue to produce the current model.

A firmware upgrade is possible, of course -- hopefully one that will unlock all the wonderful frame rates (every even frame rate from 2 to 60 is in there already, just haven't all been tested and certified so using them is at your own risk) but hopefully they've had time to verify and certify more and will unlock them. It's unknown what other features or capabilities a firmware update may be possible of; at NAB I was able to fill the engineers' heads with about two dozen different requests, but frankly I don't know which of them may even be possible in a simple firmware update, and which ones would require new hardware to implement.


As far as this part: which will allow one to record to the P2 adapters at various speeds .
There is a kernel of truth to that, but not for the HVX200. Panasonic announced that future cameras will have the option of recording in DVCPRO-HD or in recording H.264 to the P2 cards. But that wouldn't affect the HVX, since it doesn't have an H.264 encoder chip in it. That would be something that would have to be added in a hardware card.

Canon did the exact same thing with the original XL1, using Pixel Shift to up the resolution from sub-SD chips.

Also with the XL1s?

Yes, the XL1s uses the same CCDs as the original XL1.

People are obsessed with resolution... once you get to a certain level it just doesnt become THE factor. The actual pixel count and what you ultimately see can be very very different. I love the XL2, physically the PAL version actually has more pixels on the CCD than the HVX but nobody in their right mind would say the XL2 is sharper... How you get there is something people can argue about while the rest of us are out making money =o)



ash =o)

This model will be capable of 1080p and additional shutter speeds as well as menu functions which will allow one to record to the P2 adapters at various speeds.
This is just speculation, but what if he means 1080p24n to the P2 cards? i.e. 24fps natively, without being carried in a 1080i60 stream. That sounds like something that could potentially be implemented through a firmware update. It would allow the P2 cards to record longer.

I have no inside info on this, but I can say with a great degree of assurance that the whole premise of this thread (a new 1080p model etc) is without any factual basis. Especially since the current version *is* a 1080p model...


I guess as someone who shoots with this camera I must be an absolute idiot because I have never seen 1080p as an option on this camera. 1080i and that's as high as my options go.

Please tell me where the selection in my menu is where I can choose 1080p. I see plenty of 1080i but no 1080p.

I can't wait to find this option on the camera.

David

1080i24p is the mode - 24p over a 1080/60i signal.

Reducing the 24p signal to native frames would result in a 20% savings in 1080. With 720/24p native recordings the result is 60% savings.

This is just speculation, but what if he means 1080p24n to the P2 cards? i.e. 24fps natively, without being carried in a 1080i60 stream. That sounds like something that could potentially be implemented through a firmware update. It would allow the P2 cards to record longer.

That would be great and is something that should have been implemented in the first place. We can only hope...

I can easily see why someone who has bought the HVX200 be completely shock about a successor coming out so soon. For example I bought the HC1 during the time it came out and now Sony in less than a year came out with the HC3 but at least it has fewer features than the HC1.

When I first heard about the HVX200 I been wanting to bring it with me to Europe last summer but their were 2 problems: One being the price and two it didn’t come out soon enough so I ultimately bought the HC1. If what Alfred Appiah says is correct than I will definitely try to get this camcorder the day it came out ASAP. Imagine if it does also mean that their will be an option to record in the H.264 MP4 format.

For now the only thing that will get both HVX200 owners and non owners happy is Panasonic releasing a 16 gig card.

16-gig card was being talked about as probably coming out by the end of the year.

I can easily see why someone who has bought the HVX200 be completely shock about a successor coming out so soon.

It wouldn't be shocking if an updated model came out in the near future, but I wouldn't expect any huge feature enhancements. What Alfred posted doesn't make sense though... Most of what he said is coming is already a part of the current camera (1080p support, etc..).

And to confirm what Barry says about the 16GB card, it is "expected" sometime later this year. But I don't think Panasonic has officially announced any dates.

This is nothing new. Canon did the exact same thing with the original XL1, using Pixel Shift to up the resolution from sub-SD chips. Nobody complained very much about that. Don't see why it's suddenly a big deal now. Do you like what the camera puts out, ultimately that's all that really matters.

Perhaps some of the concern stems from how secretive Panasonic was about this at first, and some from technical assessments of the effectiveness of the result. With HD cameras one of the main design goals is higher resolution, and having sensors with only 25% the number of pixels of the highest output resolution is an impressive stretch. As you say the quality of the results is what matters, and test results for the HVX200 suggest its actual resolution is low relative to other HD cameras. But that doesn't seem to be slowing enthusiasm for this camera, so whether it's a big deal or not is a matter of personal preference.