Rivals to the HD1 at DVinfo.net

Lynne Whelden · March 16th, 2006, 07:09 AM

Has anyone heard what future Panasonic plans for its AV100? That seems to be about the closest competition to Sanyo at this point, assuming they have a high-def version in the works. (A photo of just such a beast was posted about a year ago at dvinfo but it was clearly a prototype.) Or what any other company is planning to do in truly pocket-sized HD camcorders?

Ron Evans · March 16th, 2006, 08:48 AM

Samsung will have a new camcorder out this summer. http://www.crncanada.ca/content/digi...four-new.shtml

Ron Evans

Chris Wells · March 16th, 2006, 09:40 AM

Saumsung's HDX-15 is twice the price of this Sanyo... and not expected to release for another 1/2 a year. I expect we will see a lot of advancements in that time. Might be a good option for someone that has existing equipment and can prolong purchase... but at this point it's little more than marketing hype. From what I've seen, no prototype has been reviewed by anyone.

I have heard from my Sony rep that Sony too is planning a solid-state camera... of course he's not the most reliable source. He's a salesperson. ;)

Lynne Whelden · March 17th, 2006, 07:05 PM

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/even..._panasonic.php

Lynne Whelden · March 17th, 2006, 07:08 PM

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...anasonic+av100

Luc-Henri Barthelemy · March 18th, 2006, 03:27 AM

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 could be a rival :
Unique cam able to shoot 16X9 stills (are you HDTV owners ?), with a 8,4 Mega pixel 16X9 native resolution, and Leica 28mm Wide angle. (Why HD1 does not allow at least 3:2 still ratio ?).
Able to shot 848X480 30 f/s movies stored on SD (up to 2G).
"The 16:9 widescreen mode is definitely unique to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1. Users can shoot video and watch it on their widescreen plasma television sets and not worry about losing information. At this point in digital imaging, the LX1’s 16:9 movie recording feature is perhaps the cheapest way to capture native 16:9 video. Currently, camcorders with native 16:9 chips are reserved for the upper portions of the market and generally run well over $5,000."
Extracted from this review (october 2005) :
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/con...ra-Review-.htm
Movie sample :
http://img2.dpreview.com/reviews/LX1/P1020315.MOV
The cam has globaly the same HD1 size-weight and is less than 500$.
Luc-Henri

Chris Wells · March 19th, 2006, 01:54 PM

The Lumix LX1 would be a fabulous rival, but it does have issues. The biggest concern is that the videos suffer from dramatic shifts in brightness. As I have read, this is a common complaint about the otherwise pleasing video.

It is good to see a native 16:9 video capability in this camera, but Panasonic will need to release a firmware upgrade of some sort to resolve the quality issues. And though I've owned two great Panasonics in the past, I learned of Panasonic's reluctancy to release any firmware improvements as a result of my purchases. It will be great if Panasonic steps up to the plate with this camera, but I suspect a future revision will be a more likely candidate to compete than the LX1.

Peter Solmssen · March 19th, 2006, 04:42 PM

I have been a fan of Panasonic still cameras, and own two. The thought of a native 16:9 format interested me because I view my pictures on an HDTV, but when I took test still shots with the camera, I was very disappointed with the results. The Panasonic FZ series have a 1920 X 1080 setting that looks terrific on the HDTV, as do the stills from the Sanyo HD1, even if cropped down to 1920 X 1080 and at medium compression.

March 16th, 2006, 07:09 AM	#1
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	Rivals to the HD1 Has anyone heard what future Panasonic plans for its AV100? That seems to be about the closest competition to Sanyo at this point, assuming they have a high-def version in the works. (A photo of just such a beast was posted about a year ago at dvinfo but it was clearly a prototype.) Or what any other company is planning to do in truly pocket-sized HD camcorders?

March 17th, 2006, 07:05 PM	#4
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	Keep your eye on this one... http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/even..._panasonic.php

March 17th, 2006, 07:08 PM	#5
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	This has a picture of the HD d-snap !!! http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...anasonic+av100

March 18th, 2006, 03:27 AM	#6
Luc-Henri Barthelemy Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Paris France Posts: 29	Still Panasonic cam Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 could be a rival : Unique cam able to shoot 16X9 stills (are you HDTV owners ?), with a 8,4 Mega pixel 16X9 native resolution, and Leica 28mm Wide angle. (Why HD1 does not allow at least 3:2 still ratio ?). Able to shot 848X480 30 f/s movies stored on SD (up to 2G). "The 16:9 widescreen mode is definitely unique to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1. Users can shoot video and watch it on their widescreen plasma television sets and not worry about losing information. At this point in digital imaging, the LX1’s 16:9 movie recording feature is perhaps the cheapest way to capture native 16:9 video. Currently, camcorders with native 16:9 chips are reserved for the upper portions of the market and generally run well over $5,000." Extracted from this review (october 2005) : http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/con...ra-Review-.htm Movie sample : http://img2.dpreview.com/reviews/LX1/P1020315.MOV The cam has globaly the same HD1 size-weight and is less than 500$. Luc-Henri

March 16th, 2006, 08:48 AM	#2
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,220	Samsung will have a new camcorder out this summer. http://www.crncanada.ca/content/digi...four-new.shtml Ron Evans

March 16th, 2006, 09:40 AM	#3
Chris Wells Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kelowna, Canada Posts: 148	Saumsung's HDX-15 is twice the price of this Sanyo... and not expected to release for another 1/2 a year. I expect we will see a lot of advancements in that time. Might be a good option for someone that has existing equipment and can prolong purchase... but at this point it's little more than marketing hype. From what I've seen, no prototype has been reviewed by anyone. I have heard from my Sony rep that Sony too is planning a solid-state camera... of course he's not the most reliable source. He's a salesperson. ;)

March 19th, 2006, 01:54 PM	#7
Chris Wells Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kelowna, Canada Posts: 148	The Lumix LX1 would be a fabulous rival, but it does have issues. The biggest concern is that the videos suffer from dramatic shifts in brightness. As I have read, this is a common complaint about the otherwise pleasing video. It is good to see a native 16:9 video capability in this camera, but Panasonic will need to release a firmware upgrade of some sort to resolve the quality issues. And though I've owned two great Panasonics in the past, I learned of Panasonic's reluctancy to release any firmware improvements as a result of my purchases. It will be great if Panasonic steps up to the plate with this camera, but I suspect a future revision will be a more likely candidate to compete than the LX1.

March 19th, 2006, 04:42 PM	#8
Peter Solmssen Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 133	I have been a fan of Panasonic still cameras, and own two. The thought of a native 16:9 format interested me because I view my pictures on an HDTV, but when I took test still shots with the camera, I was very disappointed with the results. The Panasonic FZ series have a 1920 X 1080 setting that looks terrific on the HDTV, as do the stills from the Sanyo HD1, even if cropped down to 1920 X 1080 and at medium compression.