Digital Video - January 2008 - (Page 48) REVIEW PANASONIC AG-HSC1U (continued from page 18) The other side of the camera has another plastic-covered port with the USB 2.0 and HDMI connections. The battery fits underneath, slides easily in place, and is recharged with the included VWAD21 charger. (It won’t charge by plugging the camera into the wall outlet.) On the rear of the camcorder is the power switch with off, camera, playback and JPEG still settings, as well as a record button in the center. There’s also a menu button on the lower left, a trash icon (similar to a still camera) on the right and the smallest toggle button I’ve ever seen. I never liked the Panasonic AGDVX100B’s toggle — this is even smaller. On the top are the still image button and the zoom toggle, which is recessed so deeply into the camera’s body that it’s hard to operate. You have more than one speed level — more or less pressure changes the zoom rate — but it’s not accurate enough for feather zooms. The same rocker switch also controls the volume for playback. MORE IN THE BOX The camcorder ships with cables and a nifty, gray fabric pouch for camcorder transport that offers no protection. (You’ll want something sturdier.) The package also comes with a 40GB hard drive with SD card reader (VW-PT2ZP), which stores roughly 900 minutes of AVCHD video. Powered by a 90-minute CGA-S303 battery or AC, the bundled VW-PT2 hardhard drive has few features. With an SD card slot on the front, it illuminates when accessing or when an error occurs. In the center are a large cancel button and an even bigger copy button. An LED graph tells when the drive is at 50 percent, 75 percent or full. There’s even and on/off switch and an HDD safety button on one side, with a covered port on the opposite side along with the AC/charge port and a FireWire input/output. I took the HSC1U on an outdoor shoot, and it performed well. However, as I have said in reviews of other lower48 dv january 2008 priced HD items, keep your expectations in check. With its small CCDs and lens, its images don’t match the quality of camcorders like Sony’s HVR-Z1U — but it is less than half the price and has a compact shape that’s perfect for discreet HD shooting. As for manual settings, you can control the gain, shutter speed, iris and more. The camcorder also offers a number of shooting modes. There are too many menu levels for my taste, but you do have control. With enough footage to begin editing, I realized that this was the first camera I’d seen in a while without a FireWire port — it does have a USB 2.0 connector, which is technically faster than FireWire. I decided to use the hard drive’s FireWire connection. I loaded the enclosed editing software, HD Writer Version 1.0E for SD1, the only program I had that could read the footage shot with the camera. Your current choices include Corel’s Ulead Videostudio 11 Plus and Pinnacle Studio 11 Plus and Ultimate. Apple Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 offers AVCHD support through its new Log and Transfer interface, while Sony Vegas 7 only supports AVCHD files from Sony camcorders. The software loaded easily, but my Sony Vaio laptop’s 1GB RAM wasn’t enough to allow smooth playback (you need 2GB). The footage did transfer from the SDHC card when I inserted it into the hard drive/reader, though it took quite a while to load. The good news is that the NLE software is nothing out of the ordinary, with drag-and-drop icons that make it easy to use. I used the camera in one of the classes I teach, and the 5.1 channel surround actually works, but not with the separation you’d want. There was a slight delay between each sound source, but with the microphone elements that close together, it’s really more of a bargain basement surround sound solution (not completely unexpected, considering the price). The positives for the Panasonic HSC1U are its small size, affordable price, three-CCD technology and an included hard drive and reader. The few negatives include the lack of a viewfinder and manual features that are difficult to access. Plus, the AVCHD technology is still new, so your editing choices are severely limited at the moment. DV Chuck Gloman is an award-winning producer/director of photography with more than 800 commercials to his credit, and is director of the TV/Film Department as well as an assistant professor at DeSales University. Contact him at chuck.gloman@desales.edu. www.dv.com http://www.dv.com
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