avchd

Though it's not quite a year since Sony announced the HDR-CX12 flash-memory-based AVCHD camcorder, it looks like it's time for a replacement. With a six month lag behind their hard-drive based siblings, the HDR-XR500V and HDR-XR520V, the HDR-CX500V, and the HDR-CX520V promise some much-needed enhancements over their solid-but-flawed brothers.

The two models, which differ only by built-in memory--the 500V has 32GB while the 520V includes 64GB--use the same Exmor-R back-illuminated sensor and G-series 12X zoom lens as the XR versions, so we expect them to deliver the same high-quality video, and both retain the novelty geotagging capability for … Read more

Though announced a few weeks ago overseas, Panasonic now thinks the time is right to allow its newest camcorders to grace American soil. The AVCHD HDC-TM10 and SD10 replace their older siblings, the TM20 and SD20 at the same prices, with a couple of improvements. (The hard-disk-based HDC-HS20 remains in the lineup.)

For one, the TM10/SD10 eschews the unnecessary 5.1 surround audio in favor of a more basic stereo mic system. The new models also switch from a Leica to a Panasonic lens, though they're still 16x zooms. The lens does incorporate Panasonic's new Active optical … Read more

Adding to its SD-card-based AVCCAM series--not to be confused with its P2-card-based and seriously more expensive P2HD series, which includes the AG-HVX200A--the AG-HMC40 joins the AG-HMC150 and its shoulder-mount cousin, the HMC70 in the ranks of Panasonic's pro AVCHD camcorders.

Smaller and lighter than either of its line mates, with a much simpler design, the HMC40 is also the first in its line to includes a trio of full HD resolution 1/4.1-inch 3MOS sensors rather than CCDs. It incorporates a 12X zoom lens of as-yet unknown (to me) focal-length range and can shoot 10.6-megapixel stills (… Read more

About a year ago Sony introduced the Handycam HDR-TG1, a painfully pricey pistol-grip camcorder with relatively decent specs for its tiny, titanium, travel-sized body: 1920x1080 AVCHD video, 2.7-inch touch-screen LCD, 10X zoom optically stabilized lens and a 2.4-megapixel ClearVid Exmor CMOS sensor. Now Sony's replacing it with the HDR-TG5, still overly expensive with almost identical insides and outsides, but updated with 16GB built-in memory and geotagging support with Navteq maps. The company's tweaked the menu interface and added its Smile Shutter technology as well.

On one hand, I'm a fan of geotagging and it's … Read more

JVC has rolled out its low-end HD camcorders, and they're looking pretty inexpensive and colorful. They all incorporate a new (for JVC) 1/4.1-inch 3-megapixel CMOS sensor and a 20x lens. The Everio GZ-HD320 uses a 120GB hard disk; the GZ-HD300 goes with 60GB. In a nice touch we haven't seen elsewhere, the SD-based GZ-HM200 offers two card slots. The HD300 and the HM200 will come in black, red, and blue, while the HD320 sticks with basic black.

Beyond that, these models look pretty much like everyone else's on paper--support for a 24Mbps bit rate, x.… Read more

In what's probably the most interesting camcorder announcement of 2009, Sony proffers the Handycam HDR-XR500 series, a pair of hard-disk-based AVCHD camcorders which integrate the dual firsts of built-in GPS and a new Exmor-R back-illuminated CMOS sensor.

Though the sensor isn't new, this is the first time we're seeing it in products. The technology, which flips the layers so that the photosites are above the electronics where they can get more light, may prove an effective way to improve low-light performance, the continuing weak aspect of consumer camcorders. Sony claims an 8dB increase in sensitivity, for a … Read more

The annual evolutionary step from the Handycam HDR-S10 and HDR-S10D to the HDR-XR100 and HDR-XR200V is a bigger step for one than the other. While both camcorders are based on the same 1/5-inch 2.3-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensors as their predecessors and have the same 10x and 15x zoom lenses, respectively, the XR200V at least offers a couple of enhancements that might be worth the extra cost over the now-cheaper older models.

Most notably, the XR200V adds GPS for geotagging like its higher end siblings, the XR500V and XR520V. Keep in mind though that video isn't quite ready … Read more

Extending the 3-chip prosumer AVCHD camcorder line it launched last June, Panasonic's hard disk-based HDC-HS300/HS250 and SD-based HDC-TM300 incorporate higher resolution 1/4.1-inch sensors and updated lenses over the older models.

Though Panasonic overstates resolution--"World's highest pixel count of 9,150,000 pixels (3,050,000 pixels x 3)"--the real 3-megapixels for the predownsampled HD video finally breaks the resolution barrier; normally, 3-chip systems use lower-than-HD resolution sensors, which don't seem to produce terribly sharp HD video. So it'll be quite interesting to see how these stack up. According to … Read more

As with its sibling, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements Adobe pushes the Web subscription message a bit too hard. Take, for instance, the Welcome screen, which is your first encounter with either one of the applications. The InstantMovie, Open Project, and New Project options get relegated to a task bar that's relatively inconspicuous compared with the large, rotating slide show heralding the many benefits of the free and $49.99 Plus membership for Photoshop.com (more project templates, remote access, and 20GB-plus of storage space). Adobe might as well have sold the space as an ad; it's that … Read more