avchd

It seems like Sony's saved the zing in its camcorder announcements for its AVCHD products, which generally offer significant enhancements over last year's. For one, all the models (like their DVD equivalents) finally support true 1,920x1,080 recording, albeit at the same bit rates as the previous 1,440x1,080 capture. They also mark the addition of Memory Stick Duo support for video--a feature of lesser importance for the hard-disk models than others--which Sony dubs "Hybrid" recording.

The two top-of-the-line models, the SR11 and SR12, both incorporate Sony's highest-resolution 1/3.15-inch 5-megapixel ClearVid … Read more

Panasonic kicked off its CES digital imaging announcements with two new high-definition camcorders. Eschewing both tapes and DVDs, the Panasonic HDC-HS9 and HDC-SD9 record 1080/24p video directly to SD/SDHC cards.

According to Panasonic, the HDC-SD9 is the smallest, slightest 3CCD 1080/24p camcorder yet, weighing in at less than 0.7 pound. It writes AVCHD video to SD and SDHC cards, storing up to 6 hours of high-def footage to a 16 GB card. With the company's newly announced 32 GB SDHC card, the space doubles to up to 12 hours.

The 3CCD HDC-HS9 can also record … Read more

Back in May, Canon announced its first AVCHD camcorder, the HR10. At the time, I expressed my disappointment that it was a DVD-based model. But today Canon finally followed up with the announcement I was waiting for: its HG10 records 1,9201,440x1,080 HD video to a 40GB hard disk.

According to Canon, it has the same lens and sensor as the HV20. Canon also claims to have implemented the AVCHD codec a little differently, using variable block sizes; it determines the pixel block size--8x8 or 4x4--based on the content of the video. In theory, this should produce fewer … Read more

With the HDC-SD1 barely out of diapers--it was only released in February--and the ink on my review barely dry, Panasonic already plans to ship its replacement in September. Given some of the issues I had with the SD1 I won't be sorry to see it go, but it's not clear that the SD5 addresses some of the problems.

On one hand, it's smaller--always a plus--and Panasonic adds an upsweep toward the back of the unit to improve its grippability over the tube-shaped SD1. I got a chance to shoot with the SD5 at the press briefing, and … Read more

The next iteration of Sony's DVDirect--the VRD-MC5--is already on its way, even though we just recently reviewed the VRD-MC3. The new version adds some features and loses some, but in the end, it's ultimately a gain.

Unlike the VRD-MC3, the VRD-MC5 doesn't work as a PC-attached burner. In researching how people were using the product, Sony noted that PC-attached burning fell to the back of the list. After all, the VRD-MC3's burn speeds couldn't compete with those of standalone burners, as verified by CNET Labs' tests. But it does add support for AVCHD videos. The … Read more

Six months after it teased us with its CES announcement of the SC-HMX10 high-definition camcorder, Samsung has released more details of the model, which is slated to hit stores this September. The AVCHD-based camcorder offers 720p recording to either an SDHC memory card or the camera's built-in 8GB of flash memory. A 1.5-megapixel CCD sensor and 10x optical zoom lens team up to capture footage, while a 2.7-inch LCD gives a view of what you're shooting. There's no optical image stabilization, but the camcorder's electronic image stabilization should help minimize the effects of your … Read more

I wanted this to be a hard-disk-based model so much that I almost announced it as one. But no, Canon's HR10 records HD video to miniDVD discs using the AVCHD format introduced by Panasonic and Sony. Canon is the first outside of the format's two proponents to implement it, however.

As you can tell from the photo, in order to make it as compact as possible, Canon pretty much had to make it close to the size and shape of an optical disc, so it's a bit on the funny-looking side. The internals are nothing to snicker … Read more

And then there were four: quadruplet Sony HD camcorders, that is. When they ship on June 27, the $1,200 Memory Stick Duo-based Handycam HDR-CX7 and $1,400 hard-disk-based HDR-SR7 will join the tape-based HDR-HC7 and DVD-based HDR-UX7 to provide consumers with an almost bewildering array of HD options.

They differ primarily by storage media. All use the same 1/2.9-inch, 3.2-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor, recording video at 2.3-megapixel (HD) or 1.7-megapixel (SD) resolution before downsampling and encoding to 1080i HD (1,920x540) or SD (720x480), respectively. They also shoot photos at native 2.3-megapixel (16:… Read more

A show of hands, please: When Panasonic's consumer division announced its $1,500 HDC-SD1 SD-based HD camcorder at CES, how many of you thought "That's too cheap--I want to pay more!" Well, here's your chance. Panasonic's Broadcast division has just announced the nearly identical 3CCD camcorder for the bargain price of $2,099.

There are some differences, of course. The pro model is a nonreflective gray with an anodized filter ring. The pro model carries a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, while the consumer model has a mere three months on labor. They have different default … Read more