The machine is just released and here is some pictures for reference. Details can be found in the following URL but in Chinese only:

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/408581.html

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w02.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w12.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w11.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w20.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w07.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/gs400w10.jpg

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/IMGA0064.JPG

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/IMGA0067.JPG

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/IMGA0049.JPG

http://www.pconline.com.cn/market/hk/xinpin/dv/0407/pic/IMGA0050.JPG

Hey, thanks, Tony! :-))

Does any Chinese phrase translate to "Leica Dicomar lens using low dispersion glass"? Thanks!

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : Does any Chinese phrase translate to "Leica Dicomar lens using low dispersion glass"? Thanks! -->>>
Sorry, no.

Ouch! Lots of chroma noise in those stills.

Those stills look much worse than those on the Panasonic site.

Imagine that.

Maybe you shouldn't sell your NV-GS100K-K! (Or are those pics from the PAL version and the Japanese-NTSC version is better---'er, different?)

Apparently the GS400 is shipping in the UK. There are frame grabs posted here. (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t104421.html)

How much of trouble could I be facing if I copy sample videos taken using the GS400 stored in a DVD-Rom that came with a cam magazine, and upload those avi files in this message board?

There is a lady model appearing in the samples.

I don't see a problem but aren't the files too large to host or are they heavily compressed?

I would definitely like to see them if they are 16:9 or Pro Cinema.

Compression is not bad. They look quite OK (full screen) on my PC monitor. There are 9 avi files. Size ranges from 18.5MB to 91 MB. Playback time ranges from 4 secs to 24 secs.

Allan, do you have somewhere to host these?

If not maybe Guy and fortvir.net (http://www.fortvir.net) can help out?

I've got a FTP site but I don't think I can link externally and my Google email account, while 1GB, is limited to 10MB attachments.

Alan,
You are welcome to post some pix and videos on my website. I had to clear out some space for them since I had exceeded my max storage. Also, anything over 10 Meg may have problems being uploaded into the albums due to php filesize restrictions. I can make an FTP directory available if necessary.

Those .AVI files can be compressed by converting them to WMV or MOV. If you have Windows Movie Maker (comes with XP), just render them to a 1 Mbps WMV file. That way maybe you can upload all of them. I have upped the max filesize limit on my site, but I'm not sure the server will accept it. You can try a 20 MB file to see if it works. That will take a while to upload, though.

I have created a GS400 album on my website for folks to post in.

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : Does any Chinese phrase translate to "Leica Dicomar lens using low dispersion glass"? Thanks! -->>>
I just checked the spec in Japanese site and it says yes, using LD glass.

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/gs400k/spec.html

Tony, I meant to ask if the PAL model shown in the HK site is being described to have the same low dispersion glass as the Japanese model. So far, only the Jap model is confirmed to have this kind of lens and this particular feature seems to be such a big deal for Panasonic Japan the way it is highlighted/marketed in their website and printed catalogues (complete with technical illustrations to show its advantages over the glass used in the MX5k/953) ever since it was first used with the GS100.

Tony, I meant to ask if the PAL model shown in the HK site is being described to have the same low dispersion glass as the Japanese model.

This is important since were all too familiar with N.A. NTSC and PALsville getting watered down offerings compared to their Japanese NTSC counterparts.

I wonder what feature(s) it will be this time other than a choice in color (silver and black).

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : How much of trouble could I be facing if I copy sample videos taken using the GS400 stored in a DVD-Rom that came with a cam magazine, and upload those avi files in this message board?

There is a lady model appearing in the samples. -->>>


Allan,

What would be the name of that magazine? I like to track down a copy myself.

It's the July 2004 edition of DIGITAL VIDEO, a Japanese magazine published by Softbank (THE Softbank owned by the billionaire Son-san) Publishing Co., Ltd.

if you want to get in touch with them, email at digitalvideo@pub.softbank.co.jp

I hope the Aug 2004 (out on 20 July) would have more in-depth comparison between the HC1000 and GS400.

Allan,
The GS400 album is waiting for your posts. We are looking forward to seeing the videos...

Aiyoh! I'm still saying, "Use a video cam to shoot video, and a still cam to shoot stills." The 3-CCD sharpness translates to noise when they pull a still out of the cam. The MX8 (1CCD) has MUCH better stills!

The video colours and sharpness seems OK.

Panasonic's way of pixel interpolation between the 3 CCDs is really terrible.

Some improvements since the MX300/350 is seen in the MX500, but the GS400 is really a marketing hype for the 4MP shots. Even if you print to 4R (4" x 6") the noise will still be visible.

From the body, it is a chimaera of the MX500, the GS100 and the new GS series. Small!

Aiyoh! I'm still saying, "Use a video cam to shoot video, and a still cam to shoot stills." The 3-CCD sharpness translates to noise when they pull a still out of the cam. The MX8 (1CCD) has MUCH better stills!

You might want to wait until you see a native resolution still from the GS400 as it can shoot at multiple resolutions. The DV953/MX500 can take pretty nice stills as long as you leave it set to VGA (640x480).

DV953 Sample 1 (http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/74415/Picture455.jpg)

DV953 Sample 2 (http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/74415/Picture360.jpg)

No camcorder can replace a decent dedicated digital camera but in a pinch I often find myself using camcorder stills (beats missing a picture entirely).

Windows Movie Maker Ver 1. - application crushes during the movie saving process (under any video setting).


So I upgraded to Windows Movie Maker Ver 2. , but things just got worse - application crushes once I drag a clip into the storyboard.

What's wrong? I am using a Dell Inspiron 5100, P4 2.66GHz, 512MB, XP Pro, Norton Antivirus.

Allan, thats really odd. Windows Movie Maker 2 is really basic but I've found it to be decently reliable. You definitely have enough horsepower.

Have you updated your video driver?

Everything's OK now. I simply used my old and very reliable 1.4Ghz Gateway desktop at home. I don't know what's wrong with that Dell laptop.

Anyway, I should be able to upload some files to Guy's site after I finish dinner :-). 44MB down to 2.4MB for the Procinema sample, that's quite a lot of compression but still looks Ok on my CRT monitor.

Upload done.

Please note that the files are heavily compressed (less than 7% of their original size).

So where do I put the sample footages of HC1000? :-)

Allan,
Put them in with the GS400 for now. We'll figure out something later.

well i have access to purchase one in China but i wonder if that'd be the same model as in US. if not (lens difference?) then i'll just wait 'til it gets here. can someone tell me if they are the same thing? thanks!

Dazhi, just remember that China uses PAL and it will be incompatible with a North American NTSC TV.

http://www.webcamsoft.com/en/faq/ntsc.html

I have a Denon DVD player and a Mitsubishi RP widescreen, both that will play either pal or ntsc. Pretty cool.

Allan, how does the HC1000 raw image look compared to the GS400, in 4:3, 16:9, sharpness, color, etc.?

Yes, the pix in screen res looks good, I have never questioned that. It ie the marketing department that says 4MP (meaning: rivals 4MP of Canon G3), now that's way off. That's about resolution. But the edge sharpness, lens bokeh, colour interpretation, etc, they just don't match up with a still digicam. But I, too, have shot some stills from my video cam in desperate situations...

I can't use Movie Maker 2.0 either. Nothing works, everything hangs and crashes. That's been the case ever since the upgrade from Version 1. Strange...

Pioneer DVD players play NTSC and PAL sutomatically, too. And TV in South East Asia are both NTSC and PAL, too. But broadcast and camcorders are PAL.

Difficult for me to compare Rokta. The scenes are not identical, not to mention that the lady model in the Sony samples reminds me of my Loved one :-))

Well, see for yourself the new uploads at Guy's site. To be fair, I used the same compression level with that of the GS400. We all have to thank Guy for providing his site to everybody! But I made the stupid mistake of putting the same caption (HC1000) on all 9 samples :-).

The night scene of the passing boat, that's better than normal right? I haven't actually shot a similar scene but I thought the level of detail and clarity of the dark river is pretty impressive. Noise level appears to be very low.

Drat! I'm on 26.4 dialup this week! Can't view these until this weekend.

Allan,
Thanks for converting and uploading the videos. You have editorial control over the captions. Just click on the dropdown box below the icon and select "Edit Text." Change the caption to whatever you want.

Allan,
so your saying all the image samples are all from the GS400 or which samples are for HC1000 - it seems as if the ones marked HC1000 had a slightly better contrast ratio as well as more subtle lighting, esp. the indoor #2

thanks for the images
-dr

Dino,
The album contains both GS400 and HC1000 videos. As best I can tell, the GS400 videos are not captioned as GS400. The HC1000 videos are all captioned as HC1000.

I wonder if anybody would be interested to see sample videos of the new Opturas taken on similar scenes as that of the GS400...same model walking by, Tokyo tower..

..and where can I upload them of course.

Allan, I for one would really like to see the comparison, hope you can find the space. Which Optura did you use and what was your conclusion?

Allan,
Just put them in the GS400 vs HC1000 album. I'll change the name again. :-)

Allan, did you get a chance to use the LCD light mode on the GS400? It's the one where you can point the LCD at the subject and it glows bright white.

Can't imagine it would have much range, but curious to hear how it works. Picture of it here:

http://panasonic.jp/dvc/gs400k/colorful.html

<<<-- Originally posted by Guy Bruner : Allan,
Just put them in the GS400 vs HC1000 album. I'll change the name again. :-) -->>>
Hi Guy,

I just checked the video clip. Very good quality. However it seems that there are more noise in low light condition for HC1000 sample. Any GS400K sample at night?

imagine it would have much range, but curious to hear how it works. Picture of it here:

Neat idea but not very useful on the GS100 but I'm curious to know if its improved with the GS400 since it has the Power LCD.

<<<-- Originally posted by Rokta Bija : Allan, how does the HC1000 raw image look compared to the GS400, in 4:3, 16:9, sharpness, color, etc.? -->>>

Yes, I am also interested about comparison of still images of GS400K vs HC1000.

Allan, do you think you can get some and upload to Guy's site to share?

Thanks!

what is a "power lcd" again?

Tavis, its a feature that doubles the brightness of the side LCD. It of course drains more power in this mode and is off by default when under battery power. If you have the GS400 running on AC adapter then Power LCD is on by default. Kinda reminds me of a laptop that dims when you unplug it from its AC adapter and run strictly on battery.

I think I've exceeded the limit of Guy's site. I was able to upload video samples of the Optura40 but I can't do the same for the samples taken using the Optura300 replacement.

Allan,
There are 77 MB left. As long as the clips aren't over that, you should be able to put them in the album. I'm going to make some sub-albums to organize the clips.

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : I think I've exceeded the limit of Guy's site. I was able to upload video samples of the Optura40 but I can't do the same for the samples taken using the Optura300 replacement. -->>>
Hi Allan,

I checked your sample of Sony HC1000, Canon Optura 40 and Panasonic GS400K. In low light condition, it seems GS400K is the best, then Optura40 and then HC1000.

Ok, I've organized the videos into their own individual albums. Allan, I named the Optura 30 clips as best I could from their appearance. I also deleted quite a few blanks and very short clips that looked to be the same as the full clips. I hope I didn't delete something you intended to put into the album. Thanks for all the work.

i'm looking to pic up one of these gs400 cameras to do some projects. i'm debating if there would be any advantage to getting the pal version vs. waiting for the ntsc version when it comes out in usa... i already have a nice ntsc dv camera though pretty large, but now i'm looking for portablilty more than anything... would love any advice...

thanks,
dino

The NTSC version will be out in a month. I'd wait and avoid all the PAL to NTSC hassles, not to mention not being able to use the analog to DV passthrough on the cam.