Robert Lane
April 20th, 2007, 08:41 PM
Before I go into all the cool stuff I first want to personally thank all the other Panny consultants who I worked with this year; Lou, Tom, Art, Barry G., Barry B., David, CR, Mike S., Hal and a few others whose names escape me right now. You'll never find a more knowledgeable, professional and friendly team of individuals in any organization and it was my distinct pleasure and an honor to be included in such a distinctive group.
And of course Jan, the epitome of an over-worked one-hand paper-hanger who in spite of it all was smiling the entire time and reigned over us consultants with an iron fist and flogged us every chance she got (maybe that's why she was smiling so much?). OK, I'm kidding, the truth is Jan is a great person to work for and with and is both a consummate professional and and tireless PR person all in one. Thanks for the opportunity, Jan!
For a quick overview of all the equipment that was at the massive 4-section booth here's the link: http://panasonic.net/exhibition/nab2007/. God help me, somebody took a photo of my fat-ass showing off the HPX500 - yep, that's me the Panasonic guppy-man. Good grief I need to get back in the gym.
So, the new stuff - actually there was a ton of new things but I'll drop the list of items most relevant to this forum:
Of course the HPX500 was there and we had a ton of demo footage from the Iditarod and a few short clips I shot. All these clips were shot from hand-built engineering models and not production so those clips can't be posted on the web because they are considered engineering samples - but we showed them on the plasmas all day everyday and people were flat out amazed.
The next big item is the P2 Gear, which is basically the HVX200 minus the camera section but with the addition of HD-SDI out, USB Host Mode and a Wave-form Monitor on the screen. Like the HVX the P2 Gear has a flip-out LCD, (2) P2 card slots and all the record/playback functions of the HVX.
Also announced and shown was the HPX3000, similar to the HPX2000 but with with 2.2Mpx imagers.
Of course this was already public; 16GB cards are $900, 8GB cards are $700 and the 4GB cards are no longer in production and none are in inventory. The 32GB card is due by end-of-year with an $1800 list. As I understood it, the first round of 16GB cards will be allocated to the HPX500 packages with remaining inventory to be shipped individually to the Flagship dealers. Which means if you want either the 500 or 16GB cards you'd better put your order in with your local Flagship dealer now or, one of the DVinfo.net forum sponsors.
NOTE: There is a caveat about the 16GB cards; HVX owners will need to upgrade the firmware in the camera before it will recognize the new cards - the firmware will be available next month when the cards are released. HVX cameras with newer serial numbers (I believe Jan said serials starting with "E7") will already have the new firmware installed. One reason is that starting with the 16GB cards and going forward they are using the faster SDHC ram modules rather than the "old" SD-type, which is how they are getting both bigger and faster. The newer cards also get the "R" logo on the front indicating the newer P2 technology.
The other big item was the new BT-LH80W monitor, a smaller, lighter more power-efficient cousin to the LH900; this monitor is about the same size as the Marshall but very color accurate and two modes of focus assist! Unlike the LH900 the control unit is fixed in the lower position. Because of it's size, low weight and better power handling it makes for the perfect mate to the HVX for both a focusing and exposure monitor.
One other piece of good news is that HDLog and P2 Log Pro now have an updated version "4" which I should be getting to test very soon, which is slated to be far faster at producing QT's from the MXF files along with having greater features for clip repair and CARD naming functions! More on that when it's tested.
And lastly, also in the Panny booth was the latest thing from the guys at RedRock, an adapter for the M2 which *finally* flips the image upright into the camera!! Yes, we finally have a cost effective option to the Mini-35! I don't remember the slated pricing but the new unit is supposed to be available late summer. We had the beta unit connected to an HVX200 with a Zeiss ZF series 85mm f/1.4 lens pointed at a scene with slot-cars racing on a table and it looks just as good as you'd think it should. Yes, of course there is light loss as expected with any adapter but with proper lighting this little adapter really - and finally - turns the HVX into a full-fledged 35mm film simulator without the image-flip headache. Now if we can only convince the RR guys to create a 2/3" inch mount...
All in all it was a great show - and my first time at NAB. After being on my feet for 7 days non-stop (the first 3 days were setup) I can't remember being this tired, in fact I think I need about 2 hours of a professional foot massage just to feel human again, but it was all worth it.
And of course Jan, the epitome of an over-worked one-hand paper-hanger who in spite of it all was smiling the entire time and reigned over us consultants with an iron fist and flogged us every chance she got (maybe that's why she was smiling so much?). OK, I'm kidding, the truth is Jan is a great person to work for and with and is both a consummate professional and and tireless PR person all in one. Thanks for the opportunity, Jan!
For a quick overview of all the equipment that was at the massive 4-section booth here's the link: http://panasonic.net/exhibition/nab2007/. God help me, somebody took a photo of my fat-ass showing off the HPX500 - yep, that's me the Panasonic guppy-man. Good grief I need to get back in the gym.
So, the new stuff - actually there was a ton of new things but I'll drop the list of items most relevant to this forum:
Of course the HPX500 was there and we had a ton of demo footage from the Iditarod and a few short clips I shot. All these clips were shot from hand-built engineering models and not production so those clips can't be posted on the web because they are considered engineering samples - but we showed them on the plasmas all day everyday and people were flat out amazed.
The next big item is the P2 Gear, which is basically the HVX200 minus the camera section but with the addition of HD-SDI out, USB Host Mode and a Wave-form Monitor on the screen. Like the HVX the P2 Gear has a flip-out LCD, (2) P2 card slots and all the record/playback functions of the HVX.
Also announced and shown was the HPX3000, similar to the HPX2000 but with with 2.2Mpx imagers.
Of course this was already public; 16GB cards are $900, 8GB cards are $700 and the 4GB cards are no longer in production and none are in inventory. The 32GB card is due by end-of-year with an $1800 list. As I understood it, the first round of 16GB cards will be allocated to the HPX500 packages with remaining inventory to be shipped individually to the Flagship dealers. Which means if you want either the 500 or 16GB cards you'd better put your order in with your local Flagship dealer now or, one of the DVinfo.net forum sponsors.
NOTE: There is a caveat about the 16GB cards; HVX owners will need to upgrade the firmware in the camera before it will recognize the new cards - the firmware will be available next month when the cards are released. HVX cameras with newer serial numbers (I believe Jan said serials starting with "E7") will already have the new firmware installed. One reason is that starting with the 16GB cards and going forward they are using the faster SDHC ram modules rather than the "old" SD-type, which is how they are getting both bigger and faster. The newer cards also get the "R" logo on the front indicating the newer P2 technology.
The other big item was the new BT-LH80W monitor, a smaller, lighter more power-efficient cousin to the LH900; this monitor is about the same size as the Marshall but very color accurate and two modes of focus assist! Unlike the LH900 the control unit is fixed in the lower position. Because of it's size, low weight and better power handling it makes for the perfect mate to the HVX for both a focusing and exposure monitor.
One other piece of good news is that HDLog and P2 Log Pro now have an updated version "4" which I should be getting to test very soon, which is slated to be far faster at producing QT's from the MXF files along with having greater features for clip repair and CARD naming functions! More on that when it's tested.
And lastly, also in the Panny booth was the latest thing from the guys at RedRock, an adapter for the M2 which *finally* flips the image upright into the camera!! Yes, we finally have a cost effective option to the Mini-35! I don't remember the slated pricing but the new unit is supposed to be available late summer. We had the beta unit connected to an HVX200 with a Zeiss ZF series 85mm f/1.4 lens pointed at a scene with slot-cars racing on a table and it looks just as good as you'd think it should. Yes, of course there is light loss as expected with any adapter but with proper lighting this little adapter really - and finally - turns the HVX into a full-fledged 35mm film simulator without the image-flip headache. Now if we can only convince the RR guys to create a 2/3" inch mount...
All in all it was a great show - and my first time at NAB. After being on my feet for 7 days non-stop (the first 3 days were setup) I can't remember being this tired, in fact I think I need about 2 hours of a professional foot massage just to feel human again, but it was all worth it.