Hello Again,

Sorry for having messed up the price, one should read 1593 euro.

I didn't mention it but the NV GS400 is 3CCD camcorder, 3x1070.000 pixels (3x690.000 effective for video and 3x990.000 effective for stills).
It can take stills in various sizes : 2288x1728, 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480 in camera mode, and 1280x960 in camcorder mode. In both cases stills are stored on the SD card. While shooting video, one can press the photoshot button and have a 1280x960 still being stored to the SD card.

It has the usual automatic program AE modes, but everything can be set manually : iris opening, shutter speed, focus, white balance; 3 buttons allow to select what to set and, by means of a ring on front of the camera, one just sets the focus, iris, etc... This is an advantage for getting much better shots according to the light conditions, and for giving an extra touch to your footage, not the average home made movie but that little extra that makes the difference. But you need to follow some courses or be member of a video enthusiasts group.

The zoom button allows for a very progressive focal length adjustment, in both directions and, when pressed completely, the zoom goes very fast.
At maximum magnification (12x or equivalent to +-540mm focal length in 35mm cameras), one is very happy to have the image stabilisation : in the NV GS400's case it is optical and it does an excellent job.

So, now some pictures :

Outdoor shooting NV GS400 v/s DCR-PC1E (image extracted with Ulead Capture 6.5, part of Mediastudio PRO 6.5)
Sony DCR-PC1e


Panasonic

Notice that there is more detail in the leaves of the tree with the panasonic

Sony DCR-PC1e


Panasonic

Notice that there is more detail in the grass with the panasonic

Indoor shooting NV GS400 v/s DCR-PC1E (image extracted with Ulead Capture 6.5, part of Mediastudio PRO 6.5), taken at 20:00 with ambiant light (12x20W halogen bulbs)

DCR-PC1E


Panasonic


Notice that there no noise with the panasonic


Out of topic, but important to mention, I do the encoding with both Tmpg Encoder and CCE 2.67 basic, interlaced and non interlaced Mpeg2, and I notice now that the sharper your original footage is the less you need to de-interlace. Interlaced footage from the NV-GS400 plays back smoothly with maximum detail, whereas de-interlaced it looks blurry, edges are less sharp, etc. So I would recommend not to de-interlace any of your footage, at least when it is intended for DVD playback, even on a progressive scan player and plasma panel like I have. The internal DScalers (aka DCDI Faroudja and other chips for that purpose) do a much more better job at rendering interlaced footage on progressive scan devices.



Be seeing you,
jacobus