Panasonic's HVX: pro-level HD digital video camera under $6000

Panasonic's AG-HVX200 digital video camera exploded onto the pro-sumer scene 12 months ago, cramming the features and high definition picture quality of a $100,000 movie camera into a US$5,995 package with some key advantages of its own. A truly ground-breaking product, the HVX featured variable frame rates between 24 and 60 frames per second for true slow motion, 4 channel audio, multiple resolutions and formats, and a solid-state P2 flash memory system to replace tape and disc recording and revolutionize the editing process. Enthusiastically received by TV producers, film schools and independent filmmakers worldwide, HVX units have also been snapped up by Oscar-brandishing directors like Peter Jackson, James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola. Gizmag takes a look at what makes this camera so special, and some accessories that take the Panasonic HVX well into pro video territory.

Panasonic went all-out with the release of the AG-HVX200 (or simply the "HVX") in 2006. The inclusion of the company's fast-transfer P2 flash memory enabled the HVX to capture resolutions and framerates well out of reach of tape or disk media, which let Panasonic include key features of top-end cinematic cameras in a US$6,000 pro-sumer unit whose pricing made it attractive to high-end independent users as well as established media producers.

In the last 12 months, the camera has been adopted by a number of broadcasters; Australia's ABC use the HVX for all news and current affairs programming, Japan TV uses it for field shooting, and Ron Garcia uses it in the hit TV show "NUMB3RS," to name but a few examples. The unit has been a hit among documentary makers and has even been used, though sparingly, in feature films such as Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima" and Martin Scorsese's "The Departed." In fact, the list of who's using the HVX is quite an impressive one for a $6k camera.

While the HVX's class-leading color reproduction, great picture and ease of use may count for many of its sales, there's no doubt it stands out from the pack on features alone. Here's a few key ones:

Multiple recording modes, including true high-definition 1080/24p

In addition to the flexible and popular 720p hi-def recording mode, which renders very smooth motion, the HVX200 is the first camera under $100,000 to record in "true high definition" 1080/24p - the resolution used for films like Star Wars: Episode II. More common 1080i recordings render beautifully crisp detail on still shots but moving shots tend to suffer from interlacing artefacts as the split shot has to be reconstructed upon display - 1080/24p recording does not use interlacing, so its hi-res picture doesn't suffer in moving shots. While HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats are stored in 1080p, there's currently no broadcasters using the format.

Variable Framerates

The HVX can record in a range of framerates between 24P and 60P, meaning that it's able to capture true, cinema-style slow motion better than any other camera on the market bar the $70,000 Panasonic VariCam.

Recording Media

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