Peter, there is a significant issue with NLE's tying to hardware that isn't standardized; what happens when the NLE bases on one chip, and that chip goes away? So then the challenge becomes standardizing certain aspects of the chip, which may or may not fall into budget constraints, or competition may drive similar chips that don't quite meet the spec (remember the early 1394 cards?) This leaves consumers in a bad way and leaves the NLE with a bad image.
It would be great if every vid card had a built in decoder that allowed the NLE to access and encode/decode from it, but then the above could also apply. My feeling is that if these decoder companies want it to really happen, they'll offer completed SDK's and even go farther by writing the drivers for all the popular specific applications. By example, if I'd like Ultimate S to work well in Premiere, I can't expect the Adobe team to write the code to make my product plug into theirs. I need to pay for the SDK and develop my plug to function in their tool so users can access the tools in that particular NLE.
I guess what I'm saying is that just because the tools are available, doesn't mean they're necessarily accessible nor is it perhaps the best global option.
Hopefully someone will exploit the technology, such as CineForm or other HDI.

So what do you guys think?
 

I should buy this cam?

I found out that the codec that comes with HD7 won't play in realtime on FCP. It needs rendering.

I sold all the other cams and only with HV10 right now. HD7 is not that expensive, I got to sell my Glidecam, so I can afford this.

You know what bugs me about this camera?
 

That they didn't include a 24P option. I know 24P means nothing to a bunch of folks, but it's something I would like. I know there are plenty of HDV cams with this option, but I was so excited to read 1080/24P as one of the specs for AVCHD, and no one has taken advantage of it yet. 24P on an SD card! Why didn't they include this? Somebody please release a camera that is capable of this.

I'm reading that Blu-Ray players are now being given AVCHD playback options, and I can just imagine how cool it would be to shoot 1080/24P burn it to a BluRay disc, and play it back on my 1080P lcd tv.

Honestly, I just don't see the point in this camera. For me that is.

Putting 24p in the hands of a consumer is just plain silly. They'll complain about stuttering, jerky motion, etc.
This camera is aimed at consumers, not prosumers, and certainly not pro's.
That's the point of the camcorder.
The format will grow. It's the "next big thing." It *can* host a 24p stream, should the manufacture decide to put it in. But 24p in a low cost, consumer accessible cam is a bad thing, not a good thing. I've said it at least a hundred times, "The DVX100 was responsible for more bad video than any other video camera" and it's not a comment on the camcorder. :-)
The bigger issue with AVCHD right now, is editing it.

As an aside, BD isn't "just now getting AVCHD options" but rather, it's always been there and is part of both BD and HD DVD spec.

DSE,

I will not generalize that it's silly to put 24p in a consumer camera. But Panasonic is marketing this as a pro camcorder.

To quote the Panasonic press release:
"Panasonic AG-HSC1U (3CCD AVCHD)
PANASONIC INTRODUCES AG-HSC1U, WORLD’S SMALLEST
PROFESSIONAL 3-CCD HIGH DEFINITION CAMCORDER"


And as both a film maker and a consumer, I want 24P. And would love to have it in the AVCHD format. I did say in my post "Honestly, I just don't see the point in this camera. For me that is."

Emphasis on "for me that is"

I am on a budget. If I could afford any $10,000.00 or less camera, I would buy a Panasonic HVX200 or a Sony HVR-V1U. But I can't. I can't even afford a Canon A1. The HV20 seems fun, but limited in the amount of control you have over the image.

This Panasonic gets announced, and I'm excited at the prospect of a "professional" AVCHD camera, for a price point I could take advantage of. But no 24P. As I said, I don't see the point of this camera FOR ME THAT IS. Panasonic calling it a Pro model is misleading. And I doubt run of the mill consumers will buy a $2000.00 camcorder.

And the last time I checked, the Sony HVR-V1U is also a camcorder, marketed as a pro version, and has a 24P option.

Panasonic named it a pro camcorder in their press release but to them, it’s really a last minute camcorder. With all the picture adjustments that this camcorder has, it’s definitely a pro camcorder compared to their own HDC-SD1, the Canon HV20 and the Sony HC7. Compared to the Sony A1u, that’s a different story and if they have included a focusing ring it would have been just as, or more professional than the Sony HC1.

Besides with that price, you get a 4 gig memory card, hard drive storage unit and their professional warranty that includes 1 year parts and labor compared to their consumer warranty of just 3 months labor and 1 year parts that’s offered to the HDC-SD1.

Anyway, if you truly want a camcorder that is more than capable of producing a low budget independent film than you might as well consider the 60 gig JVC GZ-HD7. It has similar features that are in the Panasonic AG-HSC1U but with the added bonus of a focusing ring around the lens. I’m almost certain that it’s going to have a 24p feature but it really doesn’t matter if it doesn’t because unless you’re converting to film, a focusing ring is infinite times more important than 24p.

Now if you don’t like the JVC GZ-HD7, then you could wait about a month to see what will be unveiling at the NAB.


http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp...Model=AG-HSC1U

"Fast, accurate Auto Focus with no hunting! (Manual Focus as well)"

It’s too bad that I didn’t try testing the manual focusing capability of this camcorder. For Panasonic’s next AVCHD camcorder, a focusing ring around the lens better be included or I’ll go berserk.
At least Panasonic does pay attention to its costumers by saying that the auto focusing doesn’t hunt.

I must say that I was very impressed with the speed of focussing on the Panasonic SD1. It is noticably faster even than Canon's Instant AF on the HV10. The focussing even worked while zooming and at very high zoom-factors.