Buy The Hd250 Or Wait For The Hd200
 

I'm planning on getting either the 250 this month or wait on the 200 in the new year, but was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on which camera to buy. I do not have any need for "studio" applications and would only use the camera for indi work so what, if any, features does the 250 have over the 200 that would benefit indi films?

I'm on the fence to about this HD200 thing myself, but what I don't understand is that the HD200 is only a couple of hundred dollars less than the 250 and it doesn't SDI out, etc....

I don't quite see the point of HD200. Someone please tell me why I'm wrong.

I'm not sure where you are getting your info from, but the GY-HD200 will cost about $2000 less at list price than the GY-HD250. That's a significant difference.

For that $2000, the GY-HD250 adds genlock, time code in, time code out, SDI / HDSDI out, pool feed, and full CCU control capability. For some customers, these features are critical. For others, not so much. Now, you will have a choice of more I/O's for more cost, or less I/O's for less cost.

Regards, Carl

I reviewed both press releases for the 200 and the 250 at the JVC US website.

Both MSRP for the same: $8995.

Hmm.

I guess there really is no reason to wait!

Since the 200 hasn't actually come out yet I have to imagine the MSRP will be less.

Carl can you tell me which one of these features would benefit a "film maker" objective.

Scott, the GY-HD250 adds genlock, time code in, time code out, SDI / HDSDI out, pool feed, and full CCU control capability. I can think of a few reasons that you might want some of these features:

1. With the time code I/O, you can lock the camera's time code to an external electronic clapboard or audio recorder.

2. If you ever do a multi-camera shoot, with multiple HD250's you can lock all cameras to the same time code.

3. With the HDSDI output, you can feed uncompressed HD out to a high bitrate HD format like HDCam or D5 HD. You can also use the HDSDI out to play back HDV recordings into some high-end NLE systems that require HDSDI.

Regards, Carl

Justin,

The GY-HD250U is $10,995 with a 16X lens. Please see this link:

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/l...&feature_id=00

Regards, Carl

Thanks Carl. By the way, can you buy the HD250 without a lens as I already own the 16X as well as the wide angle and don't need another. What would the cost be?

Good point--yes, Carl, what about the "indie film package"- HD250, (without lens), HZCA13U(super16 adapter), and maybe whatever else?

You can buy it that way, no problem. Contact your local dealer who is authorized to sell the GY-HD250, and buy the following:

"GY-HD250CHU" package - This is camera head, viewfinder, tripod plate, Anton Bauer plate, and mic - no lens.

HZ-CA13U - PL adaptor

Add to that an Anton Bauer package of your choice, and maybe a CB100 carry case. I don't see that we'll have a specific "package" with this mix, so just buy it ala' carte.

Yes.

"GY-HD250CHU" package - This is camera head, viewfinder, tripod plate, Anton Bauer plate, and mic- no lens.

List price is $9,995.00

Any ideas on the official release date and pricing of the HD200 as yet?

The HD250 will also have better balance on the shoulder than the 200 and the front part AND the back part will lock into a tripod adapter. Nice features, but at the price of having to pay for the extra SDI and all.

I suppose you can screw a IDX/SONY V-mount plate onto the HD250 instead of the anton bauer?

Not correct. HD200 and HD250 are same size and weight


Correct

The announcement is almost out. Patience for a little longer, please.

The HD250 is somewhat longer and the batteries plate is somewhat further backwards - or so it seems. The weight might be about the same, but due to tha battery being further backwards the balance should be better. Or isn't the battery plate actually further backward then the HD100 or HD200 with a IDX adapter?

Carl, I know you had mentioned that the official price had not been released yet, but doing a search for the HD200 on the JVC websight yields a price of $8995. When it had first been announced it was going to be $7995. Is there a reason for the $1000 increase or is it just an unofficial price on the websight until a final price is decided?

JVC just issued a press release today indicating that the price of the HD200 will be $8995 with a lens and $7995 without.

The preliminary price of $7995 announced in April was just that - preliminary. As the product development progressed, it was decided to put in some additional upgrades, like the 14 bit A/D, the new Super Encoder, and the han-held CCU connection. Upgrades like this drove the price to a little higher level.

Regards,

Actually, if you compare the length of a GYHD110 or HD100with the Anton adaptor and 16x lens to the length of a GYHD200 or GYHD250 with the same battery adaptor and lens, they are virtually the same.

Aha, The HD100, HD110 and HD200 have exactly the same body, right? (apart from the silver- or gold-coloured line on the side)

Not right. So far in this product line, there are two body styles.

The GY-HD100 and GY-HD110 share the same body. (first body style)

The GY-HD200 and GY-HD250 share the same body. ( second body style)

Ah - now I understand. But if the HD200 doesn't have SDI and all, what kind of connections are there in the part behind the shoulderrest? Also, A/B is standard on the HD200 then?

The pictures I have seen from the HD200 looked like the HD100, but that's wrong then?

Carl, are you absolutely certain?

this picture from the JVC booth tells me I was right, I'm afraid...

http://www.digitalschnitt.de/info/NAB2006_5.html

I saw the HD200 yesterday at DV Expo. It does indeed have the same body as the HD250.

If I remember correctly from reading past comments here, the original HD200 used the same body as the HD100, but this was changed -- which also caused an increase in price of the HD200 over the tentative price that was originally announced.

I was told at the JVC booth that the HD200 will also come with the Anton Bauer battery plate, the same as the HD250. However, the plate can be replaced with an IDX plate for people with that style battery.

The HD250 comes standard with the JVC tripod plate, which is the same as a Sony, which is acutally a Vinten (if I understand what they said) -- but the HD200 does not come standard with the tripod plate.

At the show they had an HD250 with a complete studio setup, on a pedestal with a very nice telemprompter, monitor, zoom and focus controls, etc.

What you see in that picture is a preliminary mock-up - not the real unit. Trust me, the HD200 and HD250 share the same body!

I've seen it on the JVC website... it makes the HD200 even more interesting then it already was in the old body. Finally it'll have a 2-point secure connection with tripod and steadicam.

Will there be trade-in possibilities with a HD101 or should I ask that locally?

Ask locally.

From the filmmakers perspective... although the saying goes "content is King", I would still consider quality to be the key. With the HDSDI on the 250 it should be a very strong consideration. Even more so at the small amount of a $2000 spread between the 200 and 250. That's just our take of course.

Peace!

Daniel, forgive my ignorance but what does the HDSDI do that's so important except faster uncompressed transfer? I don't think I understand its importance so I would appreciate it if you could enlighten me.

Sott

The image quality you get from SDI and direct to drive setup (avoiding tape and HD) going either ucomprssed or DVC PRO HD is night and day in image quality over the component out. Tonight I tried some back to back runs through both SDI and Component, it looked like a different camera when comparing these two outs. I mean wow. SDI was much cleaner, sharper. The component was soft, and looking out of focus.

I have not tried comparing the SDI footage
against HDV shot to tape and digitize, Pitfalls would be obvious with HDV though

That sounds good. Is my understanding correct that if you record to the DR-100 you would/could select DVC PRO HD? How much record time would you get using that codec? Are there pitfalls (time consuming) when editing in FCP with that codec? I have the Kona LH card.

Warren Gentry,

Sorry but I don't know about the file formats or pitfalls of the DR-100 (other than the more obvious maybe).

When I mention Direct to Drive I'm speaking of Black Magic or Kona via SDI straight to the disk/drive array from the camera. The DR-100 still uses HDV compression, same as tape and is via 1394, so although it saves you time digitizing, from my understanding it does nothing to improve quality of picture like the SDI route.

Sorry to take this Off Topic a bit, so back on.


To answer the original question from Werner Wesp...

If you do not intend to ever use the SDI on the 250 (it's best feature IMO)then it sounds like you can save a few dollars and buy the 200.

Warren,

The DR-HD100 records the exact same MPEG-2 data stream as what goes to tape. You have no choice of different codecs, because this unit does not do the encoding (the compression) - the camera does the encoding. Record time with the 40 GB drive is about 3.5 hours; 7 hours with the 80 GB version. The unit can do 30p HDV in the Quicktime format, so it's drag & drop into FCP. 24P Quicktime in HDV will be supported soon via an update.

If you want to record at higher bit rates, like DVCPro HD (100 MB/Sec. DV compression), you can connect the camera to a capture card like a AJA Kona or a BlackMagic Decklink and capture live to FCP. OF course, that ties you down to a "non-portable" shooting situation.