Panasonic AVCHD camcorders announced; plus AVC Intra (pre-NAB2008)

Jon Fairhurst · February 15th, 2008, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evan C. King

"In addition, an enhanced mode with a higher bit rate is planned to be incorporated into the HMC150 for higher-level use."

The consumer-grade Panasonic SD9 supports 17 mbps, FWIW. I suspect that would be the minimum for "enhanced mode."

Ian Slessor · February 15th, 2008, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper

None of these cams use P2, so that tells me that none of these are the HXV replacement.

I think the 150 is actually the replacement for the DVX100.

Sounds sweet to me.

Here's hoping for 24Mbps (I know, but one can dream), higher than 12x zoom (14x? 20x? hell, Canon did THAT), time lapse (like in the 100a) and, oh, I don't know, under $3500 CDN?

One can dream.

Yes, one can dream.

sincerely,

ian

Ian Slessor · February 15th, 2008, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eugenia Loli-Queru

The reason why Panasonic went SD only it's because it's a major flash manufacturer and wants yo to BUY, buy more, and even more, SD cards.

Eugenia,

But you don't really need to buy more and more and MORE SD cards.

Say the 150 has...4 slots (for arguments sake).

You only need one 2 Gb SD card, but you could spring for more and kit out with four 2Gb (or 4, or 8, or 12, or 16Gb if you desire) cards per camera and you're done. No more tape, either. Just swap and dump.

I wonder if Panasonic will offer a hard-drive to dump to like they have for P2 cards?

Doesn't one of the consumer AVCHD cams from Panny come with a 40Gb hard-drive unit to "dump" to?

No more tape. Yay!

sincerely,

ian

Chris Hurd · February 15th, 2008, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eugenia Loli-Queru

1. No internal (swappable?) hard drive in addition to SD. This makes the camera even more expensive...

Actually the lack of a hard drive makes it *less* expensive.

Quote:

13 mbps for 1080/60i (1440x1080) is not enough. We've seen it on other cameras and quality was not even better than the HV20 which is a $700 camera.

Bit rate does not determine image quality; the efficiency of the image processor does. The HV20 has Canon's Digic DV II processor, which is the key to its high image quality.

Quote:

And 1080/60p would have been nice too, at around 40 mbps (even if they had to go over the AVCHD spec).

Then it wouldn't be an AVCHD camcorder.

Chris Hurd · February 15th, 2008, 09:38 AM

Press releases now updated with product photos -- sorry I didn't have these ready before I left the house yesterday (had to bail out early to take the wife to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo for V-Day).

Robert M Wright · February 15th, 2008, 11:24 AM

What is Panasonic thinking??? They're coming out with a consumer AVCHD camera (HDC-SD9) that will record at 17mbps, but limiting the newly announced "professional" AVCHD cameras to 13mbps???

Jon Fairhurst · February 15th, 2008, 01:06 PM

I would assume that this is temporary. Still, it's odd.

Chris Hurd · February 15th, 2008, 01:30 PM

I think you guys need to read the the AG-HMC150 press release more carefully. It says "In addition, an enhanced mode with a higher bit rate is planned to be incorporated into the HMC150 for higher-level use."

Robert M Wright · February 15th, 2008, 10:45 PM

Thank you Chris. I did indeed miss that. It makes the HMC-150 a heck of a lot more interesting to consider. I sure hope they are talking about 17+mbps (theoretically comparable quality to 35mpbs MPEG 2). That could be a heck of a camera if the CCDs are high quality (and truly high res).

Kaku Ito · February 16th, 2008, 09:41 AM

I think AG-HMC150 will be well accepted. Sounds great for the second cam.

Lawrence Bansbach · February 16th, 2008, 10:25 AM

It also has an HDMI port, hopefully HDMI 1.3b supporting 10-bit (or better) 4:2:2. I just hope the CCDs are better than 960 x 540.

Robert M Wright · February 16th, 2008, 11:30 AM

It would be nice if Panasonic would give us a ballpark idea of what kind of price tag to expect on the HMC-150. This could be a sweet camera for shooting 720p.

Ron Evans · February 16th, 2008, 11:48 AM

The price will have to be a lot less than the Sony Z7 which has both SD and tape recording capability. May be by the fall Sony will have FX1/FX7 replacement too!!!

Ron Evans

Paulo Teixeira · February 16th, 2008, 12:22 PM

It ends up having all of the recording formats that I expected (http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...036#post823036) but I’d be surprised if it gets released with only one memory card slot. Still, using flash over a standard hard drive is a great idea because of the reliability.

Jon Fairhurst · February 16th, 2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lawrence Bansbach

I just hope the CCDs are better than 960 x 540.

I'd be willing to bet that they are using their 960x540 1/3" chips.

February 15th, 2008, 09:38 AM	#20
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	Press releases now updated with product photos -- sorry I didn't have these ready before I left the house yesterday (had to bail out early to take the wife to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo for V-Day). __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

February 15th, 2008, 01:06 PM	#22
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	I would assume that this is temporary. Still, it's odd. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

February 15th, 2008, 01:30 PM	#23
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	I think you guys need to read the the AG-HMC150 press release more carefully. It says "In addition, an enhanced mode with a higher bit rate is planned to be incorporated into the HMC150 for higher-level use." __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

February 16th, 2008, 12:22 PM	#29
Paulo Teixeira Trustee Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,773	It ends up having all of the recording formats that I expected (http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...036#post823036) but I’d be surprised if it gets released with only one memory card slot. Still, using flash over a standard hard drive is a great idea because of the reliability. __________________ https://www.youtube.com/user/PhotoVi...esEtc/featured https://www.pond5.com/artist/paulot

February 15th, 2008, 11:24 AM	#21
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	What is Panasonic thinking??? They're coming out with a consumer AVCHD camera (HDC-SD9) that will record at 17mbps, but limiting the newly announced "professional" AVCHD cameras to 13mbps???

February 15th, 2008, 10:45 PM	#24
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	Thank you Chris. I did indeed miss that. It makes the HMC-150 a heck of a lot more interesting to consider. I sure hope they are talking about 17+mbps (theoretically comparable quality to 35mpbs MPEG 2). That could be a heck of a camera if the CCDs are high quality (and truly high res).

February 16th, 2008, 09:41 AM	#25
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	I think AG-HMC150 will be well accepted. Sounds great for the second cam.

February 16th, 2008, 10:25 AM	#26
Lawrence Bansbach Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 295	It also has an HDMI port, hopefully HDMI 1.3b supporting 10-bit (or better) 4:2:2. I just hope the CCDs are better than 960 x 540.

February 16th, 2008, 11:30 AM	#27
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	It would be nice if Panasonic would give us a ballpark idea of what kind of price tag to expect on the HMC-150. This could be a sweet camera for shooting 720p.

February 16th, 2008, 11:48 AM	#28
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	The price will have to be a lot less than the Sony Z7 which has both SD and tape recording capability. May be by the fall Sony will have FX1/FX7 replacement too!!! Ron Evans