AVCHD when?
 

I know this is a question that nobody knows for sure but going by predictions when do you think we will see Sony and Panasonic release camcorders in this format? What I would love to get my hands on is a camcorder that uses the AVCHD format that shoots in 24p with very high resolution (XL H1). For me and a lot of others this would be a great alternative instead of using HDV. Right know I’m conflicted on whether to buy the canon a1, hvx200 (only if I can get a workflow that allows 4+ hours of shooting that is portable - no lab tops) or waiting for a AVCHD camcorder with 24p. What I’m hopping for is Panasonic or Sony to announce or produce a prosumer camcorder by years end but I don't think that is a realistic guess. My prediction would be by the 3rd quarter of 2007. What do you guys think?

The Sony SR1 and UX1 should be available Oct 25.

As far as a 24p AVCHD camcorder... get ready to wait... a long time. There's no guarantee any camera maker will ever make a 24p AVCHD camcorder. Having said that, I wish Panasonic would make a DVX-like AVCHD camcorder that has a hard drive slot and SD card slots for recording. Tapeless. Good image quality. And of course 24p capable.

Is it more realistic that a company would make a 24p hd camcorder for AVC-intra? I would think this format would be way down the road though.

The new Panasonic AJ-HPX2100 includes AVC-intra. It just costs a LOT. :-)

Yeah, i heard about that camcorder. It cost $30,000 though which is way out of my price range. My price range is $4000-$8000.

AVC-HD supports 24p in both 720 and 1080 resolutions.

It would seem reasonable to expect manufacturers to take advantage of that capability.

The Panasonic DVC30 is now officially discontinued so it wouldn’t be surprising to hear something from Panasonic soon but that can also be an indication that the new Panasonic AVCHD camcorder will be very similar to the DVC30 or they may release 2 models at the same time.

Panasonic must find it amusing that they are keeping us in the dark because they won’t mention that much about it except for mock ups that shows that it will use SD cards, has 3 CCDs, optical image stabilizer , and a focusing ring.