Offering flexibility and versatility never before available to video professionals, the AGHVX200 provides 1080i and 720p recording with DVCPRO HD quality. The AG-HVX200 records onto a P2 card in 1080/50i, 25p, 720/50p and 25p, and 576/50i/25p at DVCPRO50, DVCPRO or DV compression modes.

The AG-HVX200 inherits many of the functions of the award winning AJ-HDC27 Varicam, including exceptional DVCPRO HD quality images, variable frame rates and a cine-like gamma curve. In addition, the AG-HVX200 has a Mini-DV tape recorder and down conversion capability that allows productions to shoot 720p VFR recording on P2 cards and down-convert to 576 recording onto DV tape. Once an ‘off-speed’ scene is on DV tape, productions can be edited on any DV NLE software, which is a tremendous benefit for all DV film makers.

The most popular HD format on the market is 1080/50i. The AG-HVX200 allows productions to shoot 1080/50i or 25p (progressive mode) and enjoy 1080/50i or 25p editing with existing Avid, Apple, or Canopus NLE systems. Producers and Broadcasters in the European regions have access to 720/25p, including VFR and 720/50p recording capabilities offering great versatility in shooting options. P2 has been co-developed with Panasonic’s Partners in order to offer several options for future workflows.

* FOCUS *
“We are seeing a strong demand for our FireStore FS-100 DVCPRO HD portable disk recorder, developed jointly with Panasonic,” said Michael Conway, senior vice president of business development and strategy at Focus Enhancements. “The FS-100 allows users to record 90 minutes of DVCPRO HD material with 1080i50 or 720p50. DVCPRO HD customers requiring long duration productions will benefit from the high capacity of the FS-100 and its compatibility with P2 HD-capable NLE’s from Apple, Avid and Canopus. The FS-100 is expected to start shipping at the end of March”

*Canopus*
“We have committed to support P2 format continuously after the merger of Thomson/GrassValley group.” said Hiro Yamada, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Canopus. “Edius Broadcast is already supported all possible format in HVX200-60hz model. The 720/25p and 50p editing will be available at the end of June, which brings tremendous benefit for customer to get seamless workflow by EDIUS editing solution.”

* Avid *
"The AG-HVX200 is a driving force behind tapeless and HD production," said Chas Smith, vice president and general manager for Avid's Video division. "Many European broadcasters are beginning to standardize on 720/50p, and Avid has fully embraced this movement. The AG-HVX200 will give broadcasters a powerful tool to acquire media in this format, and over the course of 2006, we expect to deliver a range of offerings that support editing 720p/50 media, while also maintaining our ongoing support of native MXF-based P2 media."

* Apple *
“Since its release in North America, we have seen tremendous success with the AG-HVX200 and Final Cut Studio, a combination that is changing the economics of professional HD Production,” said Rob Schoeben, Apples vice president of Applications Marketing. “The 1080i50 support in Final Cut Pro 5 will allow the same thing to happen in Europe, China and other 50hz regions of the world.”

With the AG-HVX200, HD and SD video is recorded on the P2 card as “Files” that can be quickly imported into a nonlinear editing system or server, or edited virtually instantly from the P2 card by connecting the camera via an IEEE 1394 or USB2.0 interface. P2 cards mount like a regular hard drive from a NLE system’s point of view, which eliminates the timeconsuming task of digitising footage. This speeds up workflows and ensures a smooth, fast ‘acquisition through editing’ system that integrates the benefits of IT throughout the production. With its pre-record function, the AG-HVX200 starts recording from the moment it’s switched on, so users can feel confident that they won’t miss an important shot. With easy selection of SD or HD recording, productions that commit to the AG-HVX200 today are assured a future-proof migration to HD on their own timetable.

For unprecedented mobility and ease of use, the AG-HVX200 uniquely combines a native progressive 16:9 3-CCD high definition imaging system and a HD-quality Leica Dicomar wide-angle zoom lens with a super smooth, cam driven manual zoom focus ring, and aperture dial in a rugged package. On the 8GB P2 card, the AG-HVX200 records for 32 minutes in DVCPRO or DV, 16 minutes in 720p/25, DVCPRO50, and 8 minutes in 1080i/50 and 720p/50. The camcorder has two P2 card slots to permit continuous recording and the cards are hot swappable to assure non-stop recording. Like Varicam, the AG-HVX200 can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame rates.

Audio performance is superb with 4 channels of non compressed 48KHz/16-bit digital audio in DVCPRO HD and DVCPRO50 and two channels in DVCPRO and DV. The AG-HVX200 comes with (IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0) system interfaces and also includes two XLR audio (with +48 volt phantom power) inputs, a component (D4) output, composite in/out, S-video in/out, audio (RCA) in/out, and a headphone output.

The AG-HVX200 is available now at a suggested list price of 5,990 Euros. If you require any more information/pictures of this or any Panasonic product please contact info@panasonic-broadcast.com.