Panasonic Announces HVX200-lite Camera

Panasonic Aims for an AVCHD Future with AG-HMC150

After giving so much love to Sony's new HD cameras, I have to acknowledge Panasonic's newest announcement, the AG-HMC150. It looks like a HVX200 but without the DV tape transport and using SD/SDHC memory cards and not the more expensive P2. No price, but I'm guessing that it will be cheaper than the HVX200. It's expected to start shipping in the fall.

While it would be great to see some great competition for Sony, I have my concerns about this camera because of the AVCHD codec. You'll always hear marketing claims that AVCHD is supposed to be more "efficient" than MPEG-2--that's why AVCHD's bit rate is in the teen's and HDV's is usually 25 Mb/s. The only problem is that so far AVCHD cameras don't come close to HDV in image quality. Apparently, Panasonic will be offering some new "professional" bit-rate quality on the camera, but the lack of detail on this feature makes me skeptical.

Camcorderinfo.com, which has reviewed a lot of the AVCHD cameras out now, has this to say about the prospects for the AG-HMC-150.

Extensive testing of AVHCD camcorders in the consumer range by CamcorderInfo has shown that manufacturers have yet to produce a camcorder that can match HDV in overall quality. However, the lens and processing systems have so far remained strictly consumer-grade. The AG-HMC150 is the first AVCHD camcorder to come equipped with an imaging system this advanced, and may help overcome some of the image quality issues.

Expect to hear more news about this camera at NAB. If you want to know more about AVCHD, my latest wrap-up of AVCHD news is here.

Utility Offers Import of AVCHD on G5's, G4's

I read about a nifty looking utility in a Final Cut Express review at macworld.com. Voltaic is the missing link for PowerPC users who want to cut AVCHD footage.

The need for this utility arises from Apple's refusal to support AVCHD on PowerPC Macs--only newer Intel Mac's can convert AVCHD footage to something that you can edit. This applies to both iMovie '08, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Pro. Voltaic lets PowerPC users convert their AVCHD footage to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec.) AIC is supposed to be similar to ProRes 422 with the main difference being that AIC is 8-bit and ProRes 422 is 10-bit. Also, Voltaic offers a workflow for cutting AVCHD footage recorded onto DVD's, which Apple isn't supporting now.

So what's AVCHD? If you don't know, you can check out these older posts:
AVCHD Support in FCP
AVC: More Format Wackiness
AVCHD Is a Pro Format

While we're on the topic of AVCHD, Canon has announced a couple of new camcorders, which record in AVCHD using flash memory, as well as a replacement for the popular HV20. Here's the news on that:
"Canon Debuts First High Definition Solid State Camcorders: HF10 and HF100"
"Move Over HV20, Here Comes the Canon HV30"
These flash memory camcorders are really small, and I have hopes that Canon's new camcorders will produced some good looking high-def video. I got to play around with Sony's AVCHD flash memory camcorder the HDR-CX7 recently--could be a decent B-Cam and its size makes it inconspicuous and good for travel.

Camcorderinfo.com's annual list of the best consumer cameras CamInfo Selects 2007 saw Canon take home the top honors. The HV20 was the best camcorder, and the HG10, which records AVCHD to a hard drive, was also honored. Apparently Canon's cameras do a better job of encoding video into AVCHD than either Sony's or Panasonic's camera. This isn't good news for Panasonic because unlike Sony and Canon, Panasonic is trying to use AVCHD in cameras marketed to Pros.

AVCHD Support in FCP

The 6.0.1 update for FCP back in June added support for the AVCHD format. There's a document out now from Apple that describes all of the limitations of support (e.g., doesn't work on PowerPC Mac's.) Here's a good write-up on the current status of AVCHD support for FCP.

AVCHD is mainly a consumer-oriented format. Panasonic has actually used AVCHD within its pro line of cameras with the small AG-HSC1U. According to Digital Camcorder News, the Sony HDR-SR7 and HDR-CX7 AVCHD cameras are the most popular camcorders among its visitors. Canon recently introduced a tapeless camcorder HG10 that uses AVCHD to record.

Final Cut Studio 2 gets x.0.1 Updates

All the apps in Final Cut Studio get updates--looks mostly like bug fixes. HD for Indies has good coverage of what is in the update here.

One big addition is support for the AVCHD format, which is mainly consumer-oriented. However, Panasonic has been using it widely, including within its pro line of cameras with the small AG-HSC1U

Consumer HD Cameras

Camcorderinfo.com does a great job of reviewing consumer and prosumer camcorders. Check out their "The Great HD Shoot-Out". It seems like the consumer HDV cameras are performing well. They like the new Canon HV-20. They say it has a great image and nice performances features like true 24fps. They also like the Sony HDR HC-7. Panasonic and JVC are trying out some new formats--AVCHD and MPEG-2 respectively--with not as much success as Sony and Canon. For pros, it looks like these cameras could be useful as a cheap B-cam or when something small and/or inconspicuous is desired.