from a article when the panny was launched
The Choices
What an embarrassment of riches. At this time last year, there was exactly one low-priced high-definition camera on the market, the much-berated JVC HD1/HD10. Last July the Canon XL2 was introduced. Now, just 9 months later, we have the Sony FX1, the Sony Z1, the JVC HD100, and now the Panasonic HVX200 to choose from. How do they stack up?
Any comparison is ultimately meaningless until we get the footage to compare. But that doesn?t mean people won?t spend months debating statistics, so we?ll throw in some info, (or, ?fuel for the fire?):
Recording format:
The Sony FX1 and Z1 use HDV at 1080i. The JVC uses ProHD at 720p. ProHD is basically HDV, except with an extension to allow 24p recording. The Panasonic uses DVCPRO-HD. HDV is a brand new format, whereas DVCPRO-HD has been around for at least four years. ProHD is even newer than HDV.
There are numerous specifications and ?number arguments? that people can get into. We prefer to ignore that, and instead focus on the actual ramifications involved with each camera. We?ll wait for a shipping camera to perform a three-camera review, side-by-side, so we can find out what ?really matters,? i.e. the footage, versus arguing statistics and specifications.
Uncompressed Output:
All three cameras offer uncompressed high-definition output on the component video outputs. The Sony offers 1080i, the JVC offers 720/60p (which can also be cross-converted to 1080/60i), and the Panasonic offers native 1080/60i and 720/60p (as well as the ability to cross-convert 720/60p over to 1080/60i). For uncompressed output the Sony is the most limited, the Panasonic the most flexible, but recording uncompressed output is no trivial task: it requires the ability to capture and record approximately 166 megabytes per second, or about 70x as much data as gets stored on an HDV tape. For the vast majority of users, uncompressed output is likely to be completely irrelevant. For live studio switching it could be quite handy.
Frame Rates:
The Sony FX1 and Z1 shoot 1080i only. That means interlaced-only video, or ?the video look?. They have some in-camera modes to simulate progressive-scan for 25p or 30p at lower resolution, and a poor in-camera 24p simulation that results in unnatural motion rendition. The Sony interlaced footage can be processed in post to simulate 24p, and some very good programs exist to do that, but all require sacrificing resolution, and the end results will not match true 24hz progressive-scan.
The JVC HD100 shoots progressive only, at 24p or 30p. No provision is made for the ?video look?, which would require 60p or 60i. It?s not clear why they didn?t provide for 60p recording, as 60p is supported by the HDV standard, but in our view it?s a huge mistake on their part not to include it. The HD100 can make filmlike footage at 24p, but won?t be able to shoot the ?reality? look for reality TV, news, event coverage, etc. Very curious limitation. This means there will likely be many types of paying jobs that the JVC will not be able to be used on.
The HVX200 supports everything the other cameras do, and much more. It supports both 1080i and 720p, and also 1080p (utilizing 2:3 or 2:3:3:2 pulldown within the 1080i recording, similar to how the DVX and XL2 implement 24p and 30p). It supports many more frame rates, including 60p, as well as variable frame rates in the 720p mode. And using DVCPRO-HD instead of HDV means it can record twice as much color information, and doesn?t suffer from any MPEG motion artifacts, unlike the other two cameras. In addition, perhaps one of the most exciting and most underrated features is that the Panasonic also offers a low-compression (3.3:1) high-color-resolution standard-definition recording format, DVCPRO50. DVCPRO50 is approximately equivalent to Digital Betacam as a recording medium, and offers 4:2:2 color sampling and very mild compression, for exceptionally clean, rich standard-definition recording. (for more info on DVCPRO50, see pages 134-143 of the SMPTE/EBU paper at
http://www.smpte.org/engineering_com.../tfrpt2w6.pdf). The HVX can record 24P and 30P in all modes, and 60i in all modes except high-def 720, where it instead records 60p.
Audio:
The HDV format specifies that two tracks of audio (one stereo pair) are recorded in 16-bit 48Khz, and then compressed at a ratio of 4:1 using MPEG-1 Layer II audio compression. The Sony and the JVC both adhere to this specification, and as such, when shooting high-definition video, they can only offer compressed audio.
The Panasonic offers the ability to record four tracks of audio (or two stereo pairs) in 16-bit 48Khz quality, completely uncompressed. Considering the HVX?s predecessor (the DVX100) was consistently praised for its audio quality, it?s a fair bet to say that the HVX will match it, and providing two additional tracks puts the Panasonic squarely at the forefront. We?ll have to test the cameras to make sure they?re delivering ?the goods?, but as far as specifications on paper go, the Panasonic is far ahead of the other cameras.
Lens/form factor:
The JVC HD100?s main claim to fame is that it sports an interchangeable lens, something neither the HVX nor the Sony cameras offer. The HD100?s lens choices are currently limited to two Fujinons, although a ½? bayonet mount adapter will be made available which will let you use ½? lenses. We wonder if JVC hasn?t totally stolen Canon?s thunder ? what?s left for Canon to do with an ?XL3?, now that JVC has made a (relatively) low-cost interchangeable-lens camera in the HDV format? Perhaps Canon will respond with a 1080i or 1080/24p version? That would be curious, seeing as HDV makes no provision for 24P, and JVC had to invent their own format (ProHD) to provide it. Maybe Canon will adopt ProHD?
Meanwhile, the Sony and Panasonic cameras all share a similar handheld form factor, as opposed to the JVC camera?s shoulder-mount form factor. The Sony sports a Carl Zeiss 12x lens, the Panasonic offers a Leica 13x lens. The Panasonic offers true mechanical manual zoom, whereas the Sony offers a servo-driven zoom with a simulated manual zoom ring.
Recording Medium:
The Sony offers recording to tape, and only to tape. The JVC offers recording to tape, and also an optional onboard hard disk recorder. Both cameras can also be fitted with an external FireStore HDV-compatible hard disk recorder, but that FireStore is not the type of device you would hand over to a client at the end of a shoot, it?s more for personal use and in-house recording.
The Panasonic offers miniDV tape for recording, and P2 memory cards for high-def (and standard-def DVCPRO25 and DVCPRO50) recording. It can also transfer files from the P2 card directly to an off-the-shelf USB 2.0 external hard disk, or to a potentially-forthcoming FireStore type of device.
Which to buy?
That?s the eternal question. As for answers, it?s hard to give one until we know what the footage looks like from each camera. To even continue this discussion, we have to presume that the footage from the cameras will at least be competitive with each other. Without making that assumption, no amount of conjecture makes sense.
However, one thing seems clear to us: with only a $49 difference in price, it becomes much more difficult to understand why someone would consider the Sony Z1 over the HVX200, unless you absolutely positively have to record some type of high-definition footage on tape, or you absolutely cannot wait for the Panasonic to come on the market (sometime in the fourth quarter 2005). When compared head-to-head with the Sony, the Panasonic also offers 1080i recording (but with twice the color sampling and no MPEG artifacts or dropouts). Additionally it offers genuine 24p and 30p recording, and 720p recording in variable frame rates. In standard-definition the Sony offers regular DV, and so does the Panasonic ? but the Panasonic also offers 4:2:2 DVCPRO50 recording (which should make for superb DVDs). The HVX200 has a longer lens, true manual control of the lens instead of Sony?s ?simulated? manual zoom, records true uncompressed audio (and twice as many tracks, at that) and costs virtually the same. If you?ve absolutely got to have high-definition recorded to a miniDV tape, and it?s got to be 1080i interlaced video, and you don?t mind the lower color sampling, then the Sony still makes sense for that purpose. And the Sony FX1, at a roughly $3,200 street price, is clearly the value leader. But otherwise, the Panasonic does everything the Sonys do, and an unbelievable amount more. For 24P or 30P users, filmmakers, commercial producers, etc., there?s no question, the Panasonic has the Sony beat all around .
