Panasonic prosumer AVCHD camcorder, AG-HSC1U. at DVinfo.net

Kaku Ito · February 11th, 2007, 09:44 PM

Panasonic prosumer AVCHD camcorder, AG-HSC1U.

hi-res. photo:
http://panasonic.biz/sav/news/070117/AG-HSC1U.jpg

Japanese press release:
http://panasonic.biz/sav/news/070117/070117_02.html

I'm buying this one for the on-board stuff and HDMI testing with Blackmagic Design's Intensity board.

The Japanese news release page indicates that they will be making a "stationary" (corrected from me saying portable) deck with HDSDI based on this.

Robert Lane · February 12th, 2007, 07:36 AM

Kaku! You know, it's your fault that I'm a P2-dude now; it was your posts and sample clips of the HVX over a year ago that got me hooked with testing the HVX - and now I'm one of the biggest proponents of the P2 system.

So here it is a year later and once again you're teasing me with yet another soon-to-come-to-US-shores camera that just like the HVX, shows amazing promise. Damn you, Kaku - cut it out!! (big laughs)

Sam Jankis · February 12th, 2007, 07:49 AM

That would be a cool adapter camera.

Kaku Ito · February 12th, 2007, 08:46 AM

Sorry Robert, it's just my nature, keep buying.

I really had some frustration with trying to connect HVX200 to my G5 at that point and wasn't working out well then I left HVX200. But now I look back and watch the stuff shot with HVX200, it is really nice. HDV seems to go lower resolution when the cam gets busy, but DVCPRO HD doesn't seem to be. Is it true everyone?

I put together little clips from HV10 and HX200 here.

But with the prosumer AVCHD camera might be pretty interesting to have around. I just want to see how AVCHD performs for fast moving objects.

The idea on SD card is good, the cards are already popular so the prices would even go down in the future. But this cam seems to miss external control like LANC. I tested the consumer version at a shop and the manual focus seems to work okay, can't really focus fast in wider range but I can probably use the onetouch auto thing, also the focus assist magnifier thing worked pretty well.

Another questing would be converting the clips to whatever FCP can edit. I took a transport codec file from Sony's AVCHD cam (from the DVD), transcoded with MPEG Transport to HDV and it seems to work fine (the FX1 days, it was transcoding poorly, but the time has passed and Squared 5 seemed to worked it out.

Kaku Ito · February 12th, 2007, 08:53 AM

I didn't read the press release well, but the portabel HDD storage comes with the cameara. I wonder how much they're going to charge for this cam.

Martin Iverson · February 13th, 2007, 12:29 AM

Thanks for the picture. That shows up nicely the poor placement of the microphone which I read about in a review. The reviewer said that it was pointing up which helped capture every breath or hand movement of the person filming and overhead airplanes but was very poor for capturing something in front of the camera. Or words to that effect.

That being said, I'm sure that most pro's will have some other source for sound when using a camera like this, I know I do. But I have always liked having the peace of mind of knowing that I have a second (or third) sound source in case there is a problem with the main feed.

Otherwise this looks interesting

Kaku Ito · February 13th, 2007, 11:31 AM

In Onodera's review, he mentioned that the quality is poor for fast moving objects or camera work. I won't buy it until I found how poor or well.

Jon Fairhurst · February 13th, 2007, 12:50 PM

The irony about this camera is that it lacks the pro features found in the old consumer-level GS400 (focus ring, zebras...). And this camera has a AG prefix, so it's supposed to be pro.

Paulo Teixeira · February 13th, 2007, 01:16 PM

Just incase some of you haven’t seen it; we do have a thread for it.
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=85746

Anyway, the package is going to retail for 2100 dollars and because of the Canon HV20 I suspect at least a 100 dollar price drop. The picture quality of their consumer NTSC version, the SD1 is a whole lot better than the Sony SR1 and the PAL version of the SD1 possibly had better electronics because its been reported to be as sharp as the Canon XH-A1 although the resolution is not as good. Since this professional version have even better electronics, there is a possibility that the picture quality exceeds HDV. That’s coming from a camcorder that shoots in 13MBPS.

Kaku Ito · February 28th, 2007, 07:57 PM

I got to test this model.

Functionalities look all the same but they tuned the color to match HVX200.
The design was a lot better than the consumer (same shape but different material and colors). It looked like the G-shock looking SD videocam that they have, grey and black.

John Bosco Jr. · March 1st, 2007, 03:11 AM

I understand that Panasonic is trying to cash in on the pro market's curiosity with AVCHD. The HSC1U will not be any better, quality wise, than the sd1. It gives you a few more features and the ability to dump your cards to a hard drive, but Panasonic also isn't saying that you can record directly to the hard drive, so this may not be a hybrid system.

Think about it: 41 minutes on a 4gb card in the camcorders highest quality. It doesn't matter the efficiency of AVCHD. Highly compressed high definition is just that... highly compressed. This means compression artifacts, which no doubt will be seen in video with lots of motion, like HDV.

If they want to really entice us professionals, let's see a real pro AVCHD camera with the codec's max quality of 24 mb/s with at least 3 1/3rd inch CCDs, not 1/5 or 1/4 inch. Manual controls, presets, good zoom lens, etc. and a true hybrid system. If this is priced around 4K, it will draw my interest.

Kaku Ito · March 1st, 2007, 04:07 AM

Certainly it does not have "pro" functions.

They probably couldn't get any better wording.

My testing with Xacti HD1 on my bike was pretty good, so I'm always anxious for solidsate videocam.
I tested the onboard with HSC1U but it picked up vibrations too much.
For fast panning with fast object in front of grassy area, it does not break up like HDV(besides JVC that I haven't tested), but entire picture looks more compressed (gets harsh looking like highly compressed JPEG). Overall, it does amazing job for recording on miniSD, but pros won't depend on HDV nor AVCHD at this moment (again, not certain about 720p on JVC).

February 11th, 2007, 09:44 PM	#1
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	Panasonic prosumer AVCHD camcorder, AG-HSC1U. Panasonic prosumer AVCHD camcorder, AG-HSC1U. hi-res. photo: http://panasonic.biz/sav/news/070117/AG-HSC1U.jpg Japanese press release: http://panasonic.biz/sav/news/070117/070117_02.html I'm buying this one for the on-board stuff and HDMI testing with Blackmagic Design's Intensity board. The Japanese news release page indicates that they will be making a "stationary" (corrected from me saying portable) deck with HDSDI based on this. Last edited by Kaku Ito; February 12th, 2007 at 08:58 AM.

February 12th, 2007, 07:36 AM	#2
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,788 Images: 15	It's your fault Kaku! You know, it's your fault that I'm a P2-dude now; it was your posts and sample clips of the HVX over a year ago that got me hooked with testing the HVX - and now I'm one of the biggest proponents of the P2 system. So here it is a year later and once again you're teasing me with yet another soon-to-come-to-US-shores camera that just like the HVX, shows amazing promise. Damn you, Kaku - cut it out!! (big laughs) __________________ Robert Lane Producer/Creator - Bike Pilots TV

February 13th, 2007, 12:50 PM	#8
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	The irony about this camera is that it lacks the pro features found in the old consumer-level GS400 (focus ring, zebras...). And this camera has a AG prefix, so it's supposed to be pro. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

February 13th, 2007, 01:16 PM	#9
Paulo Teixeira Trustee Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,773	Just incase some of you haven’t seen it; we do have a thread for it. http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=85746 Anyway, the package is going to retail for 2100 dollars and because of the Canon HV20 I suspect at least a 100 dollar price drop. The picture quality of their consumer NTSC version, the SD1 is a whole lot better than the Sony SR1 and the PAL version of the SD1 possibly had better electronics because its been reported to be as sharp as the Canon XH-A1 although the resolution is not as good. Since this professional version have even better electronics, there is a possibility that the picture quality exceeds HDV. That’s coming from a camcorder that shoots in 13MBPS. __________________ https://www.youtube.com/user/PhotoVi...esEtc/featured https://www.pond5.com/artist/paulot

March 1st, 2007, 03:11 AM	#11
John Bosco Jr. Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Pinellas Park Posts: 232	Caution: Pro is mainly just marketing I understand that Panasonic is trying to cash in on the pro market's curiosity with AVCHD. The HSC1U will not be any better, quality wise, than the sd1. It gives you a few more features and the ability to dump your cards to a hard drive, but Panasonic also isn't saying that you can record directly to the hard drive, so this may not be a hybrid system. Think about it: 41 minutes on a 4gb card in the camcorders highest quality. It doesn't matter the efficiency of AVCHD. Highly compressed high definition is just that... highly compressed. This means compression artifacts, which no doubt will be seen in video with lots of motion, like HDV. If they want to really entice us professionals, let's see a real pro AVCHD camera with the codec's max quality of 24 mb/s with at least 3 1/3rd inch CCDs, not 1/5 or 1/4 inch. Manual controls, presets, good zoom lens, etc. and a true hybrid system. If this is priced around 4K, it will draw my interest.

February 12th, 2007, 07:49 AM	#3
Sam Jankis Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: St. Pete, FL Posts: 223	That would be a cool adapter camera.

February 12th, 2007, 08:46 AM	#4
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	Sorry Robert, it's just my nature, keep buying. I really had some frustration with trying to connect HVX200 to my G5 at that point and wasn't working out well then I left HVX200. But now I look back and watch the stuff shot with HVX200, it is really nice. HDV seems to go lower resolution when the cam gets busy, but DVCPRO HD doesn't seem to be. Is it true everyone? I put together little clips from HV10 and HX200 here. But with the prosumer AVCHD camera might be pretty interesting to have around. I just want to see how AVCHD performs for fast moving objects. The idea on SD card is good, the cards are already popular so the prices would even go down in the future. But this cam seems to miss external control like LANC. I tested the consumer version at a shop and the manual focus seems to work okay, can't really focus fast in wider range but I can probably use the onetouch auto thing, also the focus assist magnifier thing worked pretty well. Another questing would be converting the clips to whatever FCP can edit. I took a transport codec file from Sony's AVCHD cam (from the DVD), transcoded with MPEG Transport to HDV and it seems to work fine (the FX1 days, it was transcoding poorly, but the time has passed and Squared 5 seemed to worked it out.

February 12th, 2007, 08:53 AM	#5
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	I didn't read the press release well, but the portabel HDD storage comes with the cameara. I wonder how much they're going to charge for this cam.

February 13th, 2007, 12:29 AM	#6
Martin Iverson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: Anacortes, WA Posts: 78	Thanks for the picture. That shows up nicely the poor placement of the microphone which I read about in a review. The reviewer said that it was pointing up which helped capture every breath or hand movement of the person filming and overhead airplanes but was very poor for capturing something in front of the camera. Or words to that effect. That being said, I'm sure that most pro's will have some other source for sound when using a camera like this, I know I do. But I have always liked having the peace of mind of knowing that I have a second (or third) sound source in case there is a problem with the main feed. Otherwise this looks interesting

February 13th, 2007, 11:31 AM	#7
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	In Onodera's review, he mentioned that the quality is poor for fast moving objects or camera work. I won't buy it until I found how poor or well.

February 28th, 2007, 07:57 PM	#10
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	I got to test this model. Functionalities look all the same but they tuned the color to match HVX200. The design was a lot better than the consumer (same shape but different material and colors). It looked like the G-shock looking SD videocam that they have, grey and black.

March 1st, 2007, 04:07 AM	#12
Kaku Ito Trustee Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Posts: 1,382	Certainly it does not have "pro" functions. They probably couldn't get any better wording. My testing with Xacti HD1 on my bike was pretty good, so I'm always anxious for solidsate videocam. I tested the onboard with HSC1U but it picked up vibrations too much. For fast panning with fast object in front of grassy area, it does not break up like HDV(besides JVC that I haven't tested), but entire picture looks more compressed (gets harsh looking like highly compressed JPEG). Overall, it does amazing job for recording on miniSD, but pros won't depend on HDV nor AVCHD at this moment (again, not certain about 720p on JVC).