Panasonic HDC-SD1 review

High definition consumer camcorders have now been available for about a year and-a-half and so far, the models we've seen have all used the HDV (High Definition Video) format.

This uses MPEG-2 video compression to squeeze HD video onto standard MiniDV tapes. You can capture 60 minutes of footage to a single tape and the results are generally excellent.

The Panasonic HDC-SD1 is the first camcorder we've seen to use the new AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format. This is based around the newer and more efficient MPEG-4 AVC codec (or h.264 as it's also known), which is also used on some HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies. This means that the resulting video takes up less space, and it's this feature that allows the HDC-SD1 to substitute traditional magnetic tapes for a tiny memory card.

Card tricks

AVCHD video uses roughly half the space of HDV video 13Mbit/s compared to 25Mbit/s. Despite this considerable improvement, you can still only fit around 20 minutes of footage on a 2GB SD card. Because of this limitation, Panasonic has opted to support the new SDHC card standard and has included a 4GB SDHC card that'll hold a more respectable 40 minutes of video.

The only problem with SDHC cards is that they aren't compatible with standard SD card readers. You'll either need a new card reader or you'll have to use the USB cable each time you wish to connect the camcorder to a PC.

Some basic software is provided for transferring clips to your PC, doing some basic editing and then archiving the results to DVD. There are currently no full editing packages with support for AVCHD video, but popular applications like Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere should implement support soon.

Despite all these technical innovations, the camcorder itself couldn't be easier to pick up and use. It's streamlined and attravailable, and even the battery has moved from its usual position on the rear of the camcorder to a compartment inside. But although this looks neater, it does mean a larger battery can't be fitted and given that it only lasts around an hour anyway, this is one of the first disappointments. The placement of the battery does have the benefit of leaving the rear of the camcorder free for the camcorder's controls.

A large dial lets you select record and playback modes, while a small joystick beneath the thumb lets you navigate the sensibly organised menu system. There are few manual options and fewer manual controls, but this won't bother the point-and-shoot user that the HDC-SD1 is designed for.

We were impressed by the brightness and clarity of the 3in LCD display. It's one of the best we've ever seen and with 250,000 pixels, it's capable of displaying twice as much detail as most.

Three's company

The HDC-SD1 follows Panasonic's usual design in that it utilises three separate image sensors to produce the video one each for red, green and blue light. This usually helps reduce noise in low light conditions and gives better colour accuracy. The resultant video was certainly impressive and a big step up from standard definition camcorders. However, in good lighting conditions, it can't quite compete with its HDV competitors. AVCHD is bound to improve in future, but here we saw comparatively more noise and some minor video compression issues on the edges of objects. It's still excellent quality video by any standards, it's just not quite as good as existing HDV camcorders.

Other neat features include optical image stabilisation to even out jittery camera work, as well as a multi-directional microphone that generates 5.1 channel Dolby Digital audio. Plus there's a flash for taking stills, which are up to 2-megapixels in size.