PANASONIC Announces MPEG-4 H.264 High Def Camcorders

[Specialist]

Panasonic's HDC-SD1 and HDC-DX1 AVCHD 1080i camcorders:

http://tinyurl.com/yx8r57

http://tinyurl.com/y53ctu

http://tinyurl.com/y35dtt

Official Panasonic press release: http://tinyurl.com/yeb6pn

Their high-sensitivity features also allow for shooting in poorly-lit situations - for example, as low as six lux.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

More:

http://tinyurl.com/y9sdxt

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

More photos on this Japanese Web page:

http://tinyurl.com/ybz8y9

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[MozartMan]

So what?

[Specialist]

PANASONIC's official HDC-SD1 Japanese Web page:

http://tinyurl.com/yyu2gu

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Wile_E]

I am not interested in MPEG4, even if it is HD. Give me a HD format that is less compressed and is like DV(Intraframe compression). Quit forcing consumers these idiotic formats that use more compression.

[Specialist]

Here's a 3D view of the new camcorder:

http://tinyurl.com/yx8r57

I like it, frankly.

The H.264 compression is amazingly efficient.

Moreover, I can already see how one could easily down-convert this to make stellar standard definition DVDs until high definition DVDs are more widely adopted.

I intend to buy one.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[MozartMan]

I intend to buy one.

Happy sailing

[hrlslcbr]

I am not interested in MPEG4, even if it is HD. Give me a HD format that is less compressed and is like DV(Intraframe compression). Quit forcing consumers these idiotic formats that use more compression.

Isn't MPEG-4 more efficient at compressing video? At the same bitrate, MPEG-4 should look better than DV, right?

[Wile_E]

MPEG-4 may be more efficient, but it doesn't keep all of the frames like DV does. I would prefer they develop a new HD codec that would keep all the frames. MPEG2/4 is considered very lossy compared to the low compression of DV. Information is just thrown away forever using interframe compression. In fact, all of your frames are not there. 2 out 30 full frames are there. The others in that 30 frame group are just approximations.

Hard disk space continues to increase every year. We now have 500GB+ drives. Why would I want to use lossy compression or even use it in the first place when I shoot video?

I want my master to be as least compressed as possible. But Sony and Panasonic are insistent on using MPEG4 in consumer camcorders. HDV uses MPEG2, but at least it uses 25mb/s data rate and the camcorders can use regular DV tapes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_compression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV#Editing_HDV

[Specialist]

Different formats for different people.

PANASONIC offers two H.264 (MPEG-4) options.

AVCHD = consumer format.

"AVC-Intra" = professional format.

AVCHD = Long GOP format

"AVC-Intra" = I-Frame Format

PANASONIC offers AVCHD to consumers.

PANASONIC offers "AVC-Intra" to professionals.

The AVC-Intra format is designed to be implemented with relatively high data rates

These two formats are quite different formats even though they are both H.264-compliant.

The "AVC-Intra" format involves "intraframe" compression at very high bitrates.

PANASONIC will be introducing AVC-Intra capability -- as an option -- for forthcoming professional P2 camcorders to be unveiled at NAB 2007 in Las Vegas.

This was announced in May of this year as confirmed by the following news article:

http://tinyurl.com/qjtfg

Also by this Panasonic PDF:

http://tinyurl.com/ymvucg

The AVC-Intra (H.264 compliant) codec offers significantly better compression efficiency than older MPEG-2 codecs and can provide high quality for news at half the bandwidth compared to DVCPRO HD. This bandwidth savings, without the compromises of long GOP
compression, will offer advantages in storage and distribution as well as twice the recording time on a P2 card. The optional AVC-Intra (H.264 compliant) support for the new P2 HD products will be available in April 2007.

The professional camcorder model to be introduced will be the PANASONIC AJ-HPC2000.

Meanwhile, consumers will benefit from AVCHD.

AVCHD is twice as efficient as HDV.

This means you can cut the data rate in half and get equal or better quality.

It also means smaller file sizes.

Most of today's NLEs can already edit long GOP files (HDV) natively.

They should be easily modified to do the same with AVCHD.

The following software firms are already working on AVCHD editing solutions:

* Adobe Systems Incorporated
* ArcSoft, Inc.
* CANON INC.
* Canopus Co., Ltd.
* CyberLink Corporation
* Focus Enhancements, Inc.
* InterVideo, Inc.
* MainConcept AG
* Nero AG
* PIONEER CORPORATION
* PIXELA CORPORATION
* SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD.
* SHARP CORPORATION
* Sonic Solutions
* Ulead Systems, Inc.

SOURCE: http://tinyurl.com/stb66

In addition, the AVCHD format provides for data rates up to 24 Mbps.

Originally, it was only 18 Mbps.

But the AVCHD group amended the upper data rate to 24 Mbps on July 13 as you can read on the following specifications page:

http://tinyurl.com/ylc2za

I think you'll be surprised by the image quality of the Panasonic camcorder.

I suspect it's going to blow the Sony cams out of the water because of the three CCD design.

Plus, I suspect Panasonic may have optimized the H.264 codec more successfully than Sony.

We'll know when CamcorderInfo.com and other Web sites perform some tests.

Regards,

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

It now appears Sony Vegas 7 will support the new AVCHD MPEG-4 format in the Spring of 2007:

http://tinyurl.com/yjldh9

Sony Vegas software does not currently support the AVCHD camcorder format. In the Spring of 2007, AVCHD will be supported in a free update to Vegas 7 software.

It might make an interesting addition to my Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 software.



Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

PANASONIC's USA Web site features an animation that suggests the new camcorders will be available in "Spring 2007."

Here:

http://tinyurl.com/ycdv87

(Click on the high definition camcorder icon.)

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

AkihabaraNews.Com is reporting the PANASONIC AVCHD camcorders will feature a true 1920 x 1080 raster as opposed to the 1440 x 1080 raster utilized by the Sony models:

http://tinyurl.com/y7blrd

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

AkihabaraNews.Com is also reporting that Toshiba has just released an 8gb SD card:

http://tinyurl.com/y4o28y

"Toshiba offers today the SD-HC008GT4, a new 8GB SDHC card which goes perfectly with the HDC-SD1, the Panasonic HD video camera. With such a card, you’ll be able to record up to 80 hours of video in 13Mbps VBR."

I suspect their math may be off, however.

A minute is 13*60=780mbits=97.5mbytes

So this card would seem to only fit 8000/97.5 = 82 minutes.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[SEOfan]

SPAM

[Specialist]

First look review:

http://tinyurl.com/ybxont

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net