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stars
"Beautifully built camera. This is the future, but probably not ready for prime time" on by albanyeardoc
Pros: Beautiful build quality. Amazing Hi Def picture, amazing zoom mic
Cons: Hi Def does nothing for you if you do not have a Hi Def burner
Summary: Bought and returned the camera because the file format ACVHD was not supported by any video editing formats.
The good: I then returned the other camera (JVC) when I saw that the new NERO 7 does support the format. I am now able to use the camera, download and edit video and output it to a standard DVD (I do not have a high def burner or player).
If you do not have a high def burner this camera does you no good unless you are archiving the video on a computer in the hopes that in a year or two the high Def recorders will be mainstream to purchase. The regular def video is acceptable but on par with a middle road camcorder. The hi def images when connected to my TV directly are unbelievable (like a Dicsovery Channel HD show). Nero 7 does pretty well for now though.
The zoom mic and sound is amazing. The miz zooms as you zoom in. Has great macro feature.
The bad: does not support larger than 4gig chips. Makes no sense. The chip is formated in a wierd file structure and you cannot simply dump the videos from the card but have to do it using the camera as a hard drive.
The ugly: If you are not a true geek and are not filling to "fight" with this technology do't bother. There is a high hassel factor with this new video format. Short of that this yhing is amazing.Updated
Several comments after using the camera. I have used it to record various "medical" events. The zoom is excellent. The video quality of even the regular def video when outputted to regular DVD via Nero 7 is far superior to any regular camcorder I have ever seen . Amazing resolution even when zoomed in close and superb colors. The 4 gig chip gets you about 45min of video which is about the staying power of the battery anyway. Class 2 chip seems to work well. Have never heard of class 6. Where can I get it and will it make a difference?
I have a love hate relationship with this camera. Super small, no moving parts, and incredible image quality. Cannot wait for the HD burners to come out and come into the price range of the "normal person." 4 gig chips are getting cheap. $68 today. Will be half this in a few months. Will keep this unit. It is a ground breaker and will go into my museum along with my Apple 2C, Mac, original Ipod,and a few others. Each one I bought and had a blast with. PS. Sony sucks. I am still mad at them for the micro MV camcorder I bought that was never supported (ie. "movie shaker"). They should be ashamed of themselves.
This camera is the future, but just a little ahead of its time.
- 3 replies to this review
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The review states that the SD1 doesn't support > 4gb cards. I'm using an 8gb card with my camcorder. Others are also. It must be a SDHC card and should go up to 32gb. It's not formatted in any "weird" way either, and you can use a SDHC reader (about $10 shipped) instead of hooking the camcorder up via a cable.
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Thanks for the info about the 8MB card! I need to know how easy it is to save it, edit it, and burn it to a DVD. I will most likely not be checking this so if you can please email me at mattulberg@yahoo.com
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This is TRUE! I just got off the phone with Panasonic Technical Support (800-211-7262). They barely knew anything about this camcorder because it's so new, but they were able to verify the above statement to be correct.<br><br>Also, the 4GB card that Panasonic gives you is Class 2. I would recommend a faster card, like a Class 6.<br><br>Here's a link to a performance test site:<br>http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2094768,00.asp<br><br>Good luck.
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