Re: Is the HDX900 history?

[George Griswold] "5. 1. Clearly state support and ongoing production of DVCPRO 100 tape technology so others will not be fearful of investing in the HDX-900/ AJ-1400. A parallel marketing campaign for the tape based system does not have to undermine P2. ."

There is not an endless supply of money for advertising. The HDX900 is a well established product and any manufacturer will show that there is a null benefit in putting adverting out on an established product. I have another product in the line that has not seen an ad in 2 years, that would be the DVX100B. It isn't going away soon either. I could point to the DVCAM product line, I haven't see an ad for that or how about the DigiBeta product. The point is the HDX900 is not going away, and will continue to be sold for the very reasons that caused you to buy it over its P2 brother.

[George Griswold] "5. 4. Explore Disk technology and maybe (gasp!) license the XDCAM format because of its random access strengths and proxy file creation. I don't think I will live to see this happen, but disks have the benefits of producing instantly deliverable shooting product with the benefits of P2's random access. ."

Well we did explore the disk technolgies and we felt that there was not sufficient gain in reliability, flexibility or capacity to warrant the investment of time and R & D to make it viable. And the fact that the S company is now pursuing a solid state solution is an underwritng of that same conclusion. And for even thinking of using the XDCAM algorithm, that certainly isn't an acceptable idea as if we had done that we would have mired ourselves into a very dated compression scheme in MPEG2 and would not have had opportunity to develop AVC-Intra which is a far superior algorithm that comes close to D5HD and it can record to P2 as well.


[George Griswold] "5. Make a P2 recorder like a Firestore drive that us HDX-900 owners could attach to the camera and record P2 files. ."

Why wouldn't you just use the Firestore? It certainly would work just as you say and you certainly can attach it using the AWBMK-HD100 from Anton Bauer.

[George Griswold] "5. If we have lost the battle, this would let us preserve out $30K investment in the tape based camera. ."

You have not lost the battle, the 900 is here to stay.

[George Griswold] "5. I would bet that there are schematics for such a device in a file cabinet somewhere. If P2 is the future for Panasonic I see this as a moral imperative for its HDX-900 tape customers (Varicam has no Firewire). I envision a flat pack style (2X2) case powered from the camera and using the 1394 port for data. ."


This device is called the P2 Gear, model number AJ-HPG10

[George Griswold] "5. Those who want to archive to tape and have instantly available P2 media can have it both ways. Panasonic can still champion P2 and give us an option to boot. ."

The option is there now if you want it.


[George Griswold] "5. I want to say how happy I am with the HDX-900 (and SDX-900) cameras that I own. Customers keep calling for them, the menus (especially PAINT) are clear and powerful. They look great, are reliable, and have paid for themselves quickly. As we move ahead in acquisition technology every manufacturer needs to see the continuing need for a recording medium that we an pop out of a camera and hand to a producer, uplink facility or the FedEx guy."

And all of this is why the HDX is staying in the product line.

Best regards,

Jan



Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, HPX500, HVX200, DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems