Re: Will Panasonic have a solution for the noise : Panasonic HVX

[Barlow Elton] "Why is it there's very little complaint about this 1/3" imager noise issue with the other cameras if the HVX is actually "quieter" than most of its competition?

Well I would say that the difference is that the camera does have a different look to the video and that people are looking at a different compression algorithm and assigning something to the camera vs the compression and because they are new to HD, I don't know. All I know is what I know. Maybe many are looking at the HD on inexpensive HD LCDs as Dan pointed out above. Note that Dan doesn't have a complaint nor does the gentleman from Hawaii, and they own the camera.

The camera performs very well for its competive range. I mean the projects that are underway with the camera have been started by some pretty impressive names and some not so. A project for the making of a music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers that will air on MTV is nearing completion. There is another project that is going to air on the History Channel that has a couple of HVXs on the scene, as a second camera to the Varicam. There is 18 month project being worked on by Marc Singer, who is headed to Afghanistan with the Marines and the HVX. He started his project with the JVC and found that the HDV algorithm did him in too many times.

>Spun any which way the camera is not performing as cleanly as people expected.

When we delivered the DVX100A everyone said it was noisy as well and yes the picture was indeed different that the texture of the DVX100. Why? Different Chips, different DSP, who knows but everyone was saying it was noisy, well it too has been used in so many wonderful projects, so what is the point?

>Saying it's not a 2/3" imager and therefore "physics cannot be denied" is a bit of a cop-out. If anything, your Varicam comment would lend some credence to the theory that there was an obvious ceiling for the camera that it shouldn't encroach upon.

Actually because people have seemed to expect that a 1/3" imager should be as quiet as a 2/3", based on conversations I have had in the past week, and from your comment, it would seen that you believe that to be true as well. Laws of physics cannot be denied. It isn't a cop out, it is reality.

>People didn't expect a miracle, but some feel they were sold a bill of goods that didn't quite live up to the billing.

But why would they spend $6,000 on a camera sight unseen. I know I wouldn't, not if it was going to be my lifeline to employment. Where did Panasonic ever say that this camera was going to be as quiet as any 2/3" camera out there. We haven't. We have said that this will be a remarkable creative tool that people can use for a lot of applications and we still believe that to be true.

Best,

Jan

Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems