But I thought the Panasonic HVX 200 did record HD through Panasonic DVCProHD coding in it's P2 Card. I presume although DVCProHD may not be 100% Full-HD spec., it should be much better than HDV in both resolution and colour space encoding ( 8-bit @ 4:2:2 + Frame base recording ) especially if I need to edit the footage extensively in case.
It does record DVCPROHD to P2 media, I never said that it didn't. The HVX200 uses a 3-CCD sensor block with an effective pixel resolution of 960x540. The green component layer is shifted half a pixel both horizontally and vertically, to effectively double the luma information in both directions. This pixel shift works very well and is more than ample to generate a full 1280x720p HD sample. The HVX200 is primarily a 720p camera. It does however offer both 1080i and 1080p recording, although it does not have much ability for detail beyond 720p. 1080 out of the HVX does show a bit more detail (in some situations) than 720p out of the camera, but any resolution chart test will show that its 1080 modes fall short of cameras like XLH1 for detail.
There are advantages to the HVX200 -- reasons I still own and use one for real work. The P2 tapeless workflow is a huge advantage if the P2 workflow can fit in with your production style and type of projects. HVX200 has variable frame rates... No other video camera under $35K has this ability. It can shoot true 24p as well as 2, 4, 12, 16, 18, 24, 30, 32, 48, etc.. up to 60fps by default. A simple tex-editor hack of a scene file (which can be loaded to the camera via SD memory card) can give the user access to any frame rate from 1fps up to 60fps by 1fps increments. The camera can also do interval/time-lapse recording too.
It does have a fixed lens, but it's actually a very nice lens regardless of what some people say. Beyond that, there are 35mm adapters that will allow the use of Nikon, Canon or PL mount still or cine lenses with this camera. Some of the results with this arrangement are nothing short of amazing when considering the price range.
Other great advantages to the HVX200 are its color and motion abilities. The color reproduction on this camera is amazing. I will argue that it has more film-like colors and better color reproduction in general than any camcorder under $10K and probably better than many other camcorders at several times its price. Since it uses DVCPRO and DVCPROHD, you do get 4:2:2 color space and I frame recording. No long GOP HDV/MPEG here, so it does have some advantages for editing. But DVCPROHD doesn't survive multi-generation rendering a whole lot better than HDV, regardless of what Panasonic and the DVCPRO fanboys tell you. It's true advantage is the 4:2:2 color as it helps tremendously with color correction and FX operations like chroma keying. DVCPROHD also has a few shortcomings too.. First of all, it's not a full raster format. Just like HDV, 1920x1080 is actually encoded as a smaller raster. For 60Hz modes, DVCPROHD records 1080 HD as 1280x1080 (50Hz PAL modes get 1440x1080). For 720p modes, the raster is encoded at 960x720. This is true of *ALL* DVCPROHD cameras as it is the limitation of the DVCPROHD format itself, so even the $60K Varicam still encodes 960x720p raster.
The HVX200 has filled lots of very surprising roles. It was used to shoot pick-up shots for Spielberg's "Munich" when they launched the film in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Due to various religious pressures of the region, some of the night bedroom scene were re-shot. The HVX200 footage was able to be matched sufficeintly to the original film production.
The HVX200 is a great camera for the money and still does a lot of things that many more expenisve cameras do not. I would recommend you rent one and try it out before buying one.. The P2 workflow doesn't work for everyone and there are some pitfalls to go along with it. But if P2 works for you and you need the frame rate options along with exquisite color reproduction and abilities, then the HVX200 is a no-brainer.
Sorry for the move-away of the original thread topic!
Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault.
