Panasonic’s brewing up some 1080p goodies in the new HDC-HS700 and HDC-TM700 (pictured) camcorders, both of which do up 1080p video at a nice 50/60 fps (or 50i/60i or 24p), and record using a 3MOS sensor system. The new cameras are differentiated with a 240GB HDD in the HS700 and the 32GB of flash memory in the TM700, and act as a followup to the well-lauded HS300 / TM300 series. Both of the new shooters are otherwise pretty much identical, including SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card expansion, new 35mm-style wide angle lenses, 12x optical zoom and some gyroscope-based “Power O.I.S.” image stabilization to beef up the experience. They can also do 14.2 megapixel stills and record 5.1 surround sound with the five built-in microphones.

There’s no word on price yet, but it’ll be announced 30 days in advance of when they ship, whenever that might be. For reference, the TM300 hovers around the $1,100 mark currently, so we doubt these will be undercutting that unit on price. Amazon UK has revealed a price and expected arrival date for the HS700. Priced at £1,199 ($1,873), the camcorder is listed as scheduled for a March 1 release, so there won’t be much of a wait for the wealthy among us.

We thought you might be interested to know that Panasonic Professional Broadcast and IT Systems Europe is currently running a ‘trade in’ offer giving dealers up to £13,500 back in part-exchange on certain camcorder models when they purchase a new AJ-HPX3700 or AJ-HPX2700. Panasonic is running this offer until 30^th September 2009 as a way of encouraging purchases of its high-end P2 camcorders and to help dealers in the turbulent economic climate.

Customers can part-exchange a range of camcorder models from the list below and will be rewarded £13,500 when purchasing the AJ-HPX3700, and £8,000 when purchasing the AJ-HPX2700. All ‘trade-in’ camcorders need to be in good working condition for the offer to be completed.

Cameras accepted in part exchange are:

• Sony Digital Betacam
• Sony HDCam
• Sony XDCam Optical Disc 2/3 inch
• Ikegami EditCam Hard Disk
• Thomson/GVG Infinity Digital
• Panasonic DVCPRO50 & DVCPROHD Tape Base shoulder camcorders
• Red One

Cameras excluded from the offer are:

• Sony DVW-700
• Betacam SX camcorders

I still want to know “WHAT ARE PANASONIC GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE 2nd HAND CAMCORDERS” Why oh why do they mention the RED ONE who in their right mind is going to flogg a RED ONE costing upwards of £27,ooo (Kit plus lens) and pay an extra £13,500 for an HPX3700 with no lens ???

One of the latest models in the company’s AVCCAM series of AVCHD products, the AG-HMC41E was unveiled to the market in April this year. Designed as a competitively priced product that will help to drive the adoption of tapeless technology across the industry, the AG-HMC41E allows users of tape based media to transition seamlessly and economically to Panasonic’s AVCHD system and to a fully tapeless environment. The bundling of Edius Neo 2 video software with the camcorder will make it even easier for professionals to move to the AVCHD system by removing remaining cost barriers associated with tapeless recording.

Nela Pertl, Market Intelligence Manager at Panasonic PBITS said: “Tapeless recording is being increasingly used across the industry. This camcorder demonstrates Panasonic’s committment to making tapeless technology as accessible as possible to the broadest cross-section of professional users and our bundled software offering effectively lowers the cost of entry even further. For a minimum outlay, users can now experience the many workflow benefits that that recording directly to SD and SDHC cards bring, meaning that there has never been a better time to embrace tapeless quality HD recording.”

With a 32GB SDHC card the AG-HMC41E camcorder will record up to 180 minutes of high quality HD video at a full-pixel HD sampling rate of 1,920 x 1,080 dots, thanks to three 1/4.1-inch progressive MOS sensors with a total of 3.05 million pixels (effective number of video pixels: approximately 2 million) and a professional use-quality PH mode (maximum bit rate: 24 Mbps). Also with the 32GB SDHC card, the AG-HMC41E can record up to 720 minutes of video using the HE mode (average bit rate: 6 Mbps). It captures still images at a resolution of approximately 10.6 million pixels, comparable to the resolution of high-performance digital still cameras.

The AG-HMC41E is compact, weighing less than 1kg. Despite its size, the new camcorder model offers multiple professional features including full HD 3MOS imagers, high-resolution 10.6-megapixel still photo capture and 12X optical zoom. It incorporates Panasonic’s broadcast/professional-use color reproduction system, various focus-assist functions, such as facial recognition and touch-type auto-focusing, as well as professional functions, such as waveform monitoring. Accessories include a removable grip and an optional removable XLR microphone adaptor.

Unlike tape-based systems, the AVCHD high definition digital video camera recorder format records video and/or audio as digital files that do not required digitising. The files can be directly and quickly transmitted to a Windows PC or Mac, simplifying the use of the captured video in various applications, such as content production, internet distribution and source-material archiving. AVCHD files can also be user edited, saving time and effort for TV program production. Media and equipment maintenance requirements associated with AVCHD mean that it is also a highly cost-effective means of recording.

The AG-HMC41E retails at £2429 inclusive of vat

Panasonic has announced the market introduction of the DMR-BS850 and DMR-BS750 Blu-ray Disc Recorders and the DMR-XS350 High-Definition Recorder / DVD Recorder (Standard Def Archiving). All three new models are compatible with freesat+, making it easy to view and capture high-image-quality digital satellite broadcasts.

The continued trend toward Full HD in TV broadcasts, discs and digital AV equipment has spawned demand for innovative digital recorders. Panasonic’s response is the “HD Everything” concept – products that allow anyone to easily control, preserve and share a wide variety of Full HD images. Designed under this concept, the new trio of digital recorders come equipped with functions users will enjoy today and need tomorrow.

BD Live
Programmes that have been recorded and stored in the hard disk drive can be converted to the H.264 format and saved. The H.264 format lets viewers use their hard disk drive space more efficiently or store more TV programmes on a single Blu-ray Disc.


Dolby + DTS-HD
In terms of audio, the new DMR-BS850 and BS750 support the superior surround sound of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio Essential on Blu-ray Disc media. Users can connect the recorder to a compatible amplifier and enjoy the stunningly high quality 7.1-channel surround sound of Blu-ray Discs.


Viera Cast
The new recorders also support Panasonic’s VIERA CAST Internet function, so users can easily access Internet content such as YouTube and Picasa Web Albums and view it on a large-screen TV. 

Freesat+
Recording and Viewing Freedom with freesat+ Twin Tuner – With more than 140 digital TV and radio channels to choose from it’s fairly likely that at some point you’ll want to record two programmes broadcast at the same time. The freesat+ Twin Tuner allows you the freedom to do this. 


HD Recording
In DR mode you can record a digital broadcast signal, without the slightest change in quality, directly to your HDD. The precise Full HD picture quality, 5.1ch surround sound, subtitle and audio description, all recorded perfectly and ready to view.


Pause TV
Pause Live TV lets you freeze TV programmes just like pausing a DVD. Select “Pause Live TV” on the VIERA Link Menu and the TV programme is temporarily saved on the hard disk drive. You can watch the rest of the programme, right from the stopped frame, at a later time.

Sadly once again due to a bad call by the design team these “HD Everything Almost” recorders do not allow you to record into the recorder via firewire on HDV…SD ONLY and the HDMI is an output only, so if you were hoping to archive your HDV camera footage DON’T BUY THESE RECORDERS.

I don’t quite know how to take this Panasonic advert…on the one hand you are getting a great piece of kit for half the price you would have paid for it one month ago…I do hope know one spent £30,515 last month on this camcorder they will be so depressed…now lets see the funny side of this…

You have 3 choices to get a Willie Wonka golden ticket…

1st any old 1/2″ chip camcorder…like an EX-1 perhaps… age or condition is not mentioned

2nd any old 2/3″ camcorder

3rd any old RED camcorder !

Now you see the funny side…is Panasonic “avin a laugh” who would spend £30K upwards on a RED camcorder only just available to hand it over for a £15K panasonic 3700 when you could buy the cheapest 1/2″ camcorder on EBAY and do the same deal…there is no mention of the camcorder needing to be working !

Who thinks up these ideas…I mean to say what the hell are Panasonic going to do with a room full of second hand camcorders…but give them their due it’s a good deal…PS. I think they should clarify if the lens, matte box and rails are part of the deal…I think not…but remember the £15K you have saved will easily buy you the lens and not forgetting the new P2 “E” cards are now 1/3 the price. (My thanks to Martin for spotting my stupid mistake which I have since corrected).

Finally Panasonic have released a firmware update to help with various user problems with the HPX-301 (300) including the noise problem.

Panasonic INFO

Details

Panasonic’s new Gold series Class 10 cards inherit the attributes of the current Panasonic Class 6 line with enhanced speed performance of up to 22MB/s. With Class 10, you’ll also get the ability to write large amounts of data continuously until the card is full without missing any shots or writing stops.

The rating promises a minimum of 10MB per second and is better tailored to high-end compact cameras, entry digital SLRs or HD camcorders where baseline speed is essential: a stills camera with 3MB shots can capture 3 frames per second without the SDHC card becoming the bottleneck. It also peaks at 22MB per second and is about 40 percent faster than a Class 4 (4MB per second) card in sustained transfers of large files.

The new speed specification is designed to meet the requirement for higher resolution consecutive shooting and large-sized HD video shooting but they can also be used in your netbook. Just about every netbook is now capable of handling SDHC cards allowing you to expand the netbook’s hard drive capabilities above and beyond 32GB.

Panasonic are leading the way with their Class 10 SDHC cards, dont be left in the dark, enjoy the speed and consecutive shooting capabilities today!

Specification

- Class 10 Rating
- 10MBPS Baseline Speed
- Speed Peaks at 22MBPS
- Write large amounts of data continuously, without missing any shots or writing any stops.
- Designed for DSLR’s, HD Large Imaging Cameras and Netbooks
- 40% faster than Class 4

32GB = £200    16GB = £70    8GB = £35    4GB = £18

Panasonic announced the immediate availability of its new 16GB (model AJ-P2E016X) and 32GB (model AJ-P2E032X) E Series P2 cards at low costs of $420 and $625 respectively. The E Series P2 cards provide high quality recording for an average of five years with normal operation.

Incorporating a newly-developed memory technology, E Series P2 cards transfer recorded content at a faster rate (up to 1.2Gbps) than professional solid-state memory cards offered by other manufacturers. For example, users can transfer a full 16GB E Series card’s content (any format) in less than two minutes. E Series cards offer the same high-quality recording and capacity as standard Panasonic P2 solid-state memory cards, and feature Panasonic’s signature aluminum die cast casing for exceptional durability compared to plastic-based memory card products.

Unlike other disc-based or solid-state recording systems, P2 cards are a high-speed bit bucket, offering high-quality video recording and optimum flexibility, including reliable performance, instant access to content and compatibility with all P2 camcorders, P2 recorders and workflow tools and all major nonlinear editors and servers. P2 cards store content in the complete range of P2-supported frame rates and formats, from high definition to standard definition and from DVCPRO to AVC-Intra 100. P2 cards offer recording of video, audio, and metadata in any environment, even in challenging conditions of extreme temperature.

E Series P2 cards are reusable for up to five years when recorded on once daily, at full capacity (100%); when used at half capacity (50%), the cards can continue to record for up to 10 years. A notification is given (in the camcorder’s LCD/viewfinder or the card reader’s display) as the card approaches the end of its life cycle.

Hi There!
As promised, we took the requests about the “Dancing Dots” back to our engineers in EU and Japan.

I just saw the tests of the new 3 files to reduce them. I strongly believe it will satisfy 90% of people. For those who compare HPX301 with Varicam, RED or HPX3700 or any other 2/3″ sensor camcorder my recommendation is they buy any of those high performance camcorders.
But for less than 10K Euros, there is not better Full Size Shoulder camcorder (now even better with the new files).

Keep watching http://www.panasonic-broadcast.com. Soon the files will be available.

Regards Jaume

Jaume as far as I am aware the only camcorder people are comparing the HPX-301 to is the Sony EX-3 which sits at virtually the same price bracket. Anyone who compares a 1/3″ camcorder to a 2/3″ needs their head seen to as they say in Glasgow.

Most professional cameramen/women compare like for like. I think it has been Panasonic’s misunderstanding of the marketplace that led you to produce a 1/3″ camcorder when it should have been 1/2″ chips like the EX-3.

Who do you consult when producing the specs for a new camcorder…don’t you look at what the competition are producing. I have been told most manufacturers ask end users their opinions when designing equipment but I think your designers are asking the wrong kind of people. I would be only to glad to help and as you know I don’t mince my words (Glasgow expression). 

That offer goes out to all camcorder manufacturers, if Panasonic had given me a prototype HPX-301 soon enough maybe this conversation could have been avoided.