The AG-HVX200 is the best hand-held high definition camcoder ever. A breakthrough in design, the HVX200 uniquely combines multiple high definition and stadard definition formats, multiple recording modes and frame rates, and the vast benefits of solid state memory recording with P2.
The HVX200 gives you more freedom to create within steamlined and challenging budgets. If you are looking for the 24p film-look, that's where the HVX200 excels.
The HVX200 gets you into places larger film or HD cameras can't. For dramatic hand-held shots, the HVX200 provides the mobility a cinematographer is looking for. The camera;s size provides efficiencies once not found in HD productions. It is the first small HD camera to offer DVCPRO HD, a battle tested recording format that is already part of the high-end HD production workflow.
Although the HVX200 records in 21 different modes, two are of greatest interest to digital filmmakers: 1080p/24 and 720p/24. The HVX200 captures in discrete progressive frames, not an interpolation of the frames. What you see in the viewfinder is what you get in the card. Shooting in 1080p gives you the highest frame resolution in the HD specification standard (1080 vertical pixels by 1920 horizontal pixels.) From the 1080p/24 timeline, you can convert your material into any format required for U.S. or international distribution.
The AG-HDX200 has a 13x optical zoom controlled through a zoom ring, in addition to a focus ring. The new AG-HDX200 includes three 16:9 1/3 in. CCDs. The camcorder offers multiple levels of manual control including many of the film-like controls included in the AG-DVX1000. The camcorder includes both IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 support for connecting the camcorder to a non-linear editing system.
While the AG-HDX200 can record standard DV video to a MiniDV tape, the big headline buzz about this new camcorder is its P2 solid state media recording options. The camcorder can record many flavors of DVCPRO video to the P2 card.
The AG-HVX200 includes a color viewfinder as well as a 3.5" LCD screen. Because of the non-linear nature of the P2 system, users can navigate the contents of a P2 card through a navigation system on the LCD screen.
For audio the AG-HVX200 includes two XLR inputs. The camcorder can record 4-channel non-compressed 48KHz/16-bit in DVCPRO and DVCPROHD. The camcorder also includes a headphone out jack.
Panasonic has also made the camcorder customizable, as they did on the AG-DVX100. The camcorder can have 6 custom user profiles for shooting settings and three custom buttons.
Panasonic has been hyping the AG-HVX200 for months, beginning with leaked information which appeared on this site. They have been circulating a picture of the camcorder's frame with it covered in a white cloth.
