More Details Revealed Regarding Panasonic PV-GS400

After announcing the new Panasonic PV-GS400 3 CCD camcorder Wednesday, the company is providing CamcorderInfo.com with more information about the camcorder's Pro Cinema mode, which attempts to create a cinematic or movie-like effect using a progressive scan shooting system.

In an interview on Wednesday, Rudy Vitti, the National Marketing Manager of Panasonic's Optical Group discussed the Pro Cinema 30-frame progressive scan effect as something that Panasonic views as an important feature for hobbyist and pro users who comprise the market for the PV-GS400. Vitti also explained that although the PV-GS400 does not have 24-frame progressive scan (24P), a recording feature that records video in a similar manner to that of film, it does have a feature that the company sees eventually making its way down to consumers.

"It's [30P] something that we see, that we took from the pro [Referring to Panasonic's Broadcast Division]. Obviously one of the next things we are looking to bring down to the consumer or prosumer is 24P," said Vitti.

Vitt's comments are significant because Panasonic Broadcast was the first company to bring affordable 24-frame progressive scan shooting to high end consumers, professionals, and independent videographers with their AG-DVX100 camcorder. The 24P feature increased the Panasonic AG-DVX100's popularity. Vitti could not elaborate on how long he believed it would take for 24P to make its way into Panasonic's top consumer camcorders like the PV-GS400. However, he did say the feature will arrive eventually, and that consumers are definitely looking for the feature.

Panasonic provided CamcorderInfo.com with a slide illustrating the Pro Cinema mode, which captures video at a 30-frames-per-second progressive scan rate. The progressive scan is 'cinema-like' because film captures video progressively, unlike the interlaced system which the US video system NTSC uses.

Based on the slide, the camcorder takes the progressively scanned video, and stores the information in the 60-frame interlaced signal used by the MiniDV format and the US television system.

With regard to targeting the PV-GS400 market, Vitti stressed that the PV-GS400 is their top consumer camcorder aimed at hobbyists and prosumers: "The GS200 and the GS400 are targeted for slightly different consumers. The GS200 is targeting high-end consumers, and the GS400 is targeting prosumers and hobbyists."

When the camcorder was announced on Wednesday some details about its specs were vague. CamcorderInfo.com has confirmed that each of the PV-GS400's three CCDs has 1.07 gross Megapixels, 990K effective pixels for still and 690K effective pixels for video. The PV-GS400 has three CCDs, one for green, one for blue, and one for red. Panasonic's PV-GS400 camcorder uses a technique called "Quad Density Pixel Distribution Technology." According to the company, this shifts the green CCD pixels 1/2 of each pixel vertically and 1/2 of each pixel horizontally to achieve the 4.0 Megapixels with effective still pixels adding up to just under 3 Megapixels on 3 CCDs.

Panasonic also clarified that the camcorder will be available in August 2004. Unlike the European and Japanese markets, there will not be a black version available - only the silver version.