This is important since were all too familiar with N.A. NTSC and PALsville getting watered down offerings compared to their Japanese NTSC counterparts.

I wonder what feature(s) it will be this time other than a choice in color (silver and black).

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : How much of trouble could I be facing if I copy sample videos taken using the GS400 stored in a DVD-Rom that came with a cam magazine, and upload those avi files in this message board?

There is a lady model appearing in the samples. -->>>


Allan,

What would be the name of that magazine? I like to track down a copy myself.

It's the July 2004 edition of DIGITAL VIDEO, a Japanese magazine published by Softbank (THE Softbank owned by the billionaire Son-san) Publishing Co., Ltd.

if you want to get in touch with them, email at digitalvideo@pub.softbank.co.jp

I hope the Aug 2004 (out on 20 July) would have more in-depth comparison between the HC1000 and GS400.

Allan,
The GS400 album is waiting for your posts. We are looking forward to seeing the videos...

Aiyoh! I'm still saying, "Use a video cam to shoot video, and a still cam to shoot stills." The 3-CCD sharpness translates to noise when they pull a still out of the cam. The MX8 (1CCD) has MUCH better stills!

The video colours and sharpness seems OK.

Panasonic's way of pixel interpolation between the 3 CCDs is really terrible.

Some improvements since the MX300/350 is seen in the MX500, but the GS400 is really a marketing hype for the 4MP shots. Even if you print to 4R (4" x 6") the noise will still be visible.

From the body, it is a chimaera of the MX500, the GS100 and the new GS series. Small!

You might want to wait until you see a native resolution still from the GS400 as it can shoot at multiple resolutions. The DV953/MX500 can take pretty nice stills as long as you leave it set to VGA (640x480).

DV953 Sample 1

DV953 Sample 2

No camcorder can replace a decent dedicated digital camera but in a pinch I often find myself using camcorder stills (beats missing a picture entirely).

Windows Movie Maker Ver 1. - application crushes during the movie saving process (under any video setting).


So I upgraded to Windows Movie Maker Ver 2. , but things just got worse - application crushes once I drag a clip into the storyboard.

What's wrong? I am using a Dell Inspiron 5100, P4 2.66GHz, 512MB, XP Pro, Norton Antivirus.

Allan, thats really odd. Windows Movie Maker 2 is really basic but I've found it to be decently reliable. You definitely have enough horsepower.

Have you updated your video driver?

Everything's OK now. I simply used my old and very reliable 1.4Ghz Gateway desktop at home. I don't know what's wrong with that Dell laptop.

Anyway, I should be able to upload some files to Guy's site after I finish dinner :-). 44MB down to 2.4MB for the Procinema sample, that's quite a lot of compression but still looks Ok on my CRT monitor.

Upload done.

Please note that the files are heavily compressed (less than 7% of their original size).

So where do I put the sample footages of HC1000? :-)

Allan,
Put them in with the GS400 for now. We'll figure out something later.

well i have access to purchase one in China but i wonder if that'd be the same model as in US. if not (lens difference?) then i'll just wait 'til it gets here. can someone tell me if they are the same thing? thanks!

Dazhi, just remember that China uses PAL and it will be incompatible with a North American NTSC TV.

http://www.webcamsoft.com/en/faq/ntsc.html

I have a Denon DVD player and a Mitsubishi RP widescreen, both that will play either pal or ntsc. Pretty cool.

Allan, how does the HC1000 raw image look compared to the GS400, in 4:3, 16:9, sharpness, color, etc.?