Japanese Panasonic Started to advertise GS400 in big time.
 

They started to advertise on TV now. The catch copy is "I'm a visual masetro". Clearly aiming for suggesting to shoot higher quality footage.
Knowing they had to spend so much money for the Olympic advertisement, GS400 seems to be treated well to have a sperate comertial on TV.

Kaku,
It sure would be nice if Panasonic.US would post the information and graphics in English they have posted on the Panasonic.JP site. A lot of people's questions would be answered outright if they did...no need to run an ad blitz.

So, Kaku, is this likely to mean the price will stabilize rather than drop? I'm against it not dropping! But I'm for a lot of sales, if that will keep Pana developing products for this niche.

Guy, you know, with the stories I've been hearing - however few they are - I'm not sure Pana can publish the same info on its English-language (North America) web site as on its Japan domestic one. I'm still not sure this is quite the same product across the board. May be just a lingering suspicion as a result of the differences between the 953 and the 5000, but if that's the case, then Pana did it to itself.

The GS400 I saw was very light and plastic like. I was surprised because the PV-DV953 felt so solid. It would be interesting to find out if the Japanese version is a different beast.

As expected, the biggest complain about the GS400 in the Japanese market is its size (Sony's PC350 is said to be very hot in terms of sales. Nonetheless, the Black GS400 is also a very fast moving item especially in the discount shops. However, prices still keep on dropping at an amazing pace :-)) In fact, the GS400 is now cheaper than the HC1000.

Frank, I'd have to concede the MX5000 feels more rugged than the GS400, but I guess Pany had to keep the cam weight and size as minimal as they can to make it attractive to this market. At least, the GS400 does not have that scratch-sensitive micro-grooved surface of the GS100 at the back of the LCD panel, and actually, the areas near the lens barrel have a nice metallic paint finish.

Hey Panasonic N.A., you don't need Berlitz for these kinds of translation works. People like me are lot more reasonable :-))

The puffed plastic like body of the GS400 doesn't bother me. It reminds me of my MX300 except that it's easier to grip. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks and then make some time to shoot test footage, to see if I can use it in funeral parlor lighting conditions. If it's up to snuff, I might as well replace the old JVCs.

I also looked over the HC1000. It's not a bad cam at all, for $200 more. But it's uglier than Hell. Nevertheless, I'll have to test that one out too.

Yeah, the HC1000 is quite nice too and the extra weight gives it a more solid (albeit front heavy) feel IMO despite having, without any doubt, a body made of some smoooth plastic. When viewed from the side, the HC1000 quite deceivingly looks very compact but it's real fat breadthwise. Still, how I wish the GS400 had LANC.

LANCs disappeared on Canons also.

Yes, I found that Sony very solid, but I didn't find it to be unbalanced. I'll have to take another look at it. The good thing about the GS400 is that it's $450 CAN cheaper than the PV-DV953, although the shop I was at listed them $200 higher. Never liked that place but they are the only ones who have them in stock. The other shops bring them in on special order only.

Pat, what stories?

Guy, a few of the posters in your forum own gs400s. The response has been "mixed," from what I can tell. I'm waiting to see what the fellow who got the Japan model comes up with. Does the PV-GS400 really not have a hot shoe while the NV-GS400 does?

As best I can tell, the NA GS400 does not have a hot shoe and that is consistent with the accessory shoe on the DV953.

I suspect the Japan version has a shoe that is only "hot" with proprietary Pana items (like the mike, flash, etc.), but I wonder if the NA version would also be able to use those accessories. Why Pana makes such questions even necessary is way beyond me.

I suspect the NA model would not be able to use those accessories since they appear to require a hot shoe to function. Could be why those accessories are not available in NA?? BTW, the PAL model seems to have a hot shoe (like the MX500). The question is what was left off the non-NA versions to allow the hot shoe?

Oh, I think my PV-GS400 (the NA model) has a hot shoe! There is a small protection panel that will move aside when you plug anything on the hot shoe and give access to the electric connector pins.

edit: you can also see the hot shoe described with photos in the dvspot-review.

Andreas,
I stand corrected. But, looking at photos on DVSpot and Camcorderinfo, I see no connectors. In fact, it looks very much like the accessory shoe on the DV953 which is cold.