Roland Tellzen | October 23, 2007
HIGH-definition footage is one of those things you probably don't miss until you've had it. Then it's hard to go back. For this writer, it has been true of HD screens, players and consoles. So it should be no surprise I've now had the same epiphany with HD camcorders.
Using SD cards for recording cuts this unit down in size
The results would hardly qualify me as a finalist at Tropfest, but my family at least has usually been impressed.
I first tried my hand with a HD camera last year when Canon released its HV10.
Yes, it was impressive footage and a really impressively compact gadget, but alas my PC and software wasn't up to the task of letting me make much of it.
Since then, my PC has been upgraded, my editing software has been updated and the manufacturers are now on to their second generation of HD camcorders. The timing was propitious for a second look.
This time I tried Panasonic's new SD card system, the HDC-SD5. It's an extremely compact and attractive unit, surprisingly so.
If I hadn't already had experience with the HV10, I'd have been surprised that high definition could be achieved in such a small size.
Panasonic has been able to pack this device into such a small unit because of its use of SD cards as the recording medium.
As mentioned in the feature on HD camcorders elsewhere in these pages, Panasonic is one of the proponents of using flash memories as the main recording media for this technology.
It's an interesting approach, but at this stage it is still contentious.
On the plus side is the fact that such cards are easily transportable and transferable.
Panasonic also says they're more robust than a hard drive. They also offer the same non-linear access to footage as a hard drive system.
At this point in time, however, there are reasons ranged against it - chiefly capacity and price.
The HDC-SD5 comes supplied with a 4GB SD card - enough, it says, to record up to 40 minutes of footage at the highest resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels).
If, like me, you tend to take lots and lots of footage with the intention of trimming it later on the PC screen, you'll need quite a few cards on hand if you're going on, say, a holiday overseas.
Panasonic points out there are higher capacity cards, up to 16GB, but such media don't come cheap and mini DVDs, tape and cameras with supplied hard drives still hold the price advantage at this stage.
Memory prices, admittedly, will fall in coming years, so that may be only a temporary disadvantage.
That said, it's a fun unit to use: easy to hold in the hand at a mere 340g, it records spectacularly crisp footage and displays it to best advantage on its bright and clear fold-out widescreen LCD viewer.
It took me a while to locate the playback controls.
Surprisingly, playback is controlled by a small direction stick located directly next to the main power-playback-record button, rather than on the side of the unit, where the screen is usually tucked in. The stick was also a bit fiddly to use compared with the decicated button controls on many other camcorders.
Still, once again I suppose there's always a trade-off to be made when you are aiming for compactness.
Using SD also means that the footage taken is in AVCHD, the new high-definition format suited for multiple recoding media.
This could clash with your editing software if it is of an older vintage.
Fortunately, I've had access to Pinnacle Studio Plus 11, which does support it (and is a pretty good package in its own right, although that's another story).
In all, being an early adopter is always a fraught experience, and HD video is still new enough that there are issues to contend with.
That said, Panasonic's offering is a good one, and with the right support equipment and software, definitely a viable option for those who want to make the leap to HD film-making at home.
SPECIFICATIONS
Price: $1899
More at: www.panasonic.com.au
Rating: 8/10