Yes, Pat. Seems like Pana US is exhibiting the same pattern as what some of the Panny Euro sites' did when they made public conflicting specs before the actual official specs were released.

Does this mean another long, protracted round of speculation and guesswork about the GS400 NTSC specs? At least we won't have to wait too long (hopefully) as the "release" date is just a few weeks away. whew!!! :)

what is the release date?

Panasonic Japan is releasing a new teleconverter lens for 43mm threads. I can't tell the difference from the picture and the magnification is still 1.4X. It's 2,000 Yen more expensive than the previous model :-(( Model no. is VW-LT4314N-K

I was wondering if that was going to happen. What would be the reasons? The enhanced zoom and different ccd size? Maybe better coating to deal with the light/smear issue? Any guesses?

Maybe it has front filter threads? :-))

Ha! Not that I'm discounting it entirely - but the one for the gs100, while unthreaded, has a protruding edge that serves as a hood, which is a concession of sorts, I guess.

Well, there may be trouble in fantasy land. The review of the gs400 which was scheduled originally for 6/28 and then moved to 7/5 is now overdue. (By my world clock, it's 7/6 now in Japan.) It's my understanding that the Japanese are notoriously "jikandori" (on time), so... Could it be those ccds?

You mean the ad-impress report? It's out but as expected, the contents are the usual good stuffs and praises, most of them already explained in Pany's website, with some sample frames and stills. Don't expect any beef from ad-impress (that phrase should speak for itself :-)). It is a tie-up.

A few interesting comparisons were made with the GS100. There's one for HQ widescreen mode, 1.04x vertical magnification is reported to be gone for the GS400.

Who's the reviewer? I couldn't figure out from last year if it was anyone of any note in Japan.

Writer is Nobuyoshi Kodera. He has a long career as technical director and editor for TV programs, commercial and promotional video.

I think there is always an accompanying (promotional) write-up from Impress Corporation for every major cam release. So if you want to know more of the beef, better wait for actual user's reactions or more objective reviewers.

BTW, GS100's advantages over the GS400 (there are ne?)

1. MPEG4 recording to card. Personally, I haven't actually used the MPEG4 mode of the black mamba but I don't see any reason why such feature has to be removed.
2. 540 lines resolution under OIS compared to 510 for the GS400. Hmmmm.

Relevant?

I simply cannot understand why LANC is not available in Pany's flagship models. I personally would prefer that over many of the features of this cam.

>>>1.04x vertical magnification is reported to be gone for the GS400.<<<

Huh? Why?

Because gone is the vertical resolution loss (digital zoom) that MX5K and GS100 exhibited under widescreen mode :-)

If you remember, the GS100 is claimed to have something like 28% higher resolution than MX5K under widescreen mode because the initial area captured is wider and the final digital zoom to achieve 480x720 is less (at 1.04x)?

I have used mpeg4 on the gs100, and the only reason I wouldn't dig my heels in and rebel that it's gone is that I'm a Mac user and Pana was using Windoze mpeg4, totally uneditable on a Mac. Otherwise, the quality was, in my view, excellent, especially as the sound quality available from the gs100k was preserved. (Yes, you've all heard about my mpeg4 WMV files which I refuse to dump even though I am helpless to edit them.)

LANC I don't pretend to understand, but it seems that the tripod Pana tries to sell with the cam has something resembling this, or no? So maybe they're just trying to sell the more expensive item? (I have actually been thinking of getting one of those tripods.) Of course, since they don't sell major accessories in the US, once again, lame.

So the does the news about lesser resolution and change in vertical magnification mean there really were problems with those new chips and the lens? (I remember Frank saying at some point that's what had been intimated to him.) I'm still suspicious about vertical smear given Tommy's experience with those chips in the PDX10.

I mean the GS400 has higher resolution widescreen mode compared to GS100 :-)

Okay, now that sounds good. Means Tommy has more incentive to buy one - and let the rest of us know how the water feels! (I think I'm waiting for next year's model, though. It's bound to come with that long-desired coffee cup holder.)