HD Forum: Let’s look at Panasonic’s HXP3000

Tech Talk: How does the HXP3000 stack up? See why HD camera crews or a production company should look into the High Definition Panasonic models. There are really two camps, Sony or Panasonic. Every HD camera crew has one or the other. The Sony HDW-F900 is a ground-breaking digital
The AJ-HPX3000 is the industry's first native 1080p one-piece camcorder to capture master-quality high definition video. Featuring three 2/3" high density 2.2 million pixel CCDs, the HPX3000 acquires cinema-quality images in full-raster 1920 x 1080 resolution with 4:2:2 10-bit sampling using the advanced AVC-Intra codec. AVC-Intra, the industry's most advanced compression technology, is a professional intra-frame video codec with bit rates of 50 and 100Mbps, utilizing the High-10 and High-422 profiles of H.264 respectively. AVC-Intra provides high-quality 10-bit intra-frame encoding in two modes: AVC-Intra 100 for full-raster mastering video quality, and AVC-Intra 50 Mbps for DVCPRO HD quality at half the bit rate, thereby doubling the record time on a P2 card.

The HPX3000 also records in industry-standard DVCPRO HD at 1080 in 24p, 25p, 30p, 50i and 60i and can produce standard definition recordings in 50Mbps DVCPRO50.

Designed for movie, commercial and TV program production, the HPX3000 combines the ultra reliability of P2 HD solid-state recording with high-end features, including six advanced gamma settings, including Film-Rec mode (made popular by the VariCam), film-like shutter controls, intuitive film camera-like operation. It also features a built-in reverse scan that allows unique setups such as mounting the camera upside down or usage of an ultra prime lens or an anamorphic lens adapter to create a 2.35:1 aspect image.

With five 16 GB P2 cards installed, the camera records for up to 100 minutes in AVC-Intra 100 at 1080/24p, 200 minutes in AVC-Intra 50 at 1080/24p, 160 minutes in other AVC-Intra 50 formats, and 80 minutes in other AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD formats. Recording times will double with the release of Panasonic's 32GB P2 card (model AJ-P2C032RG) in November.

I personally love the look of this camera. I find myself torn between this model and the Sony HDW-F900.