New AVCHD camcorders on the way from Panasonic
Panasonic's gone HD-happy with its recent announcement of two new AVCHD camcorders. The HDC-DX1 and HDC-SD1 are two small, sleek, and sporty high-definition camcorders priced less than $1,500 with some very nice features.
The HDC-DX1 is a DVD camcorder that can record up to 40 minutes of 1080i footage onto a single 8cm dual-layer DVD-R, or up to 20 minutes onto single-layer DVD-RW or DVD-RAM for rewritability. The HDC-SD1 is an SD camcorder that can record up to an hour of 1080i footage onto a 4GB SDHC card.
Both models use three CCDs to record their high-definition video, and feature a 12x Leica optical zoom lens with optical image stabilization to help reduce shake. If that's not enough, they both include 3-inch wide-screen LCDs, HDMI jacks, SDHC slots for SD cards over 2GB. The HDC-DX1 also features a hotshoe for video lights, mics, and other helpful accessories.
Besides the high-definition video, the new HDC camcorders include a five-microphone surround sound recording system with two interesting features. First, the five mics can record Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound directly to the AVCHD footage. Second, the microphone array can "zoom in" with the camcorder's lens, filtering out the side channels as the shot gets tighter.
Both AVCHD camcorders will ship in March 2007. The HDC-DX1 will have a suggested retail price of $1,400, and the HDC-SD1 will have a suggested retail price of $1,500.
The software supplied with the camcorder performs only very basic "trimming" of the video.
- I agree...
- by Rach7110 December 19, 2006 8:08 AM PST
- I'm ready to purchase a HD camera and when I do my homework - I find the same story. No software to edit the new AVCHD camcorder other than some proprietary stuff that the manufacturer's charge $$$$ for. There is news about proposed copmanies working together to be compatible with the AVCHD. http://www.avchd-info.org/ But as of yet - nothing. What good are these cameras? Record in HD only to have to re-record on your PC in order to inport into a third party software provider like Adobe Premier. The teeenager salesperson at Circuit City will tell you that Pinnacle has software that reads this format -but just try and find that software. Go ahead. And let me know if I was wrong - please. I'd love to have this camera. If only someone would get things in gear...
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- AVCHD Video Editing Support
- by jakeludington June 4, 2007 10:11 PM PDT
- There are currently several options for editing AVCHD files from both Sony and Panasonic camcorders. Nero 7 Ultra Edition ENHANCED and Pinnacle Studio 11 both provide great solutions for editing the files. I currently use Pinnacle Studio 11 for all my AVCHD movies:
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(3 Comments)http://www.jakeludington.com/pinnacle_studio/20070604_edit_avchd_files_with_pinnacle_studio_11.html