Panasonic Announces Two 3 CCD DVD Camcorders

by Robin Liss

Published on Jan 4, 2006 6:00 PM
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Las Vegas, CES, January 4, 2006 - At a press event at the 2006 Consumer Electronics show, Panasonic announced updates to almost their entire DVD line, including two DVD camcorders which include 3 CCDs - the first of their kind. The VDR-D250 (Specs, ) and the VDR-D300 (Review, Specs, $534.89) feature the same 1/6-in. CCDs. The camcorders feature new 16:9 aspect ratio chips which give an enhanced widescreen mode, a push which Panasonic is making this year.

When asked who makes up the target market for these new camcorders, Rudy Vitti, National Marketing Manager for Panasonic camcorders responded: "Customers who want the highest image quality as well as the convenience of DVD. Obviously there's debate over the pixel quality of DV and DVD, and DV offers the highest quality, but some customers want high image quality and the ease of DVD."


VDR-D300

Panasonic is clearly competing with the high-end Sony DVD camcorders, last year's DVD403 (Review, Specs, $489) and this year's DVD405 (Review, Specs, $649) and DVD505 (Review, Specs, $664). By comparison, the top of the line Sony DVD camcorder this year, the Sony DCR-DVD505 (Review, Specs, $664), uses a single CMOS chips and produces higher resolution stills than the Panasonic model.

The VDR-D250's three 800K gross pixel, 440K effective pixel CCDs combine to produce 2.3 megapixel images like past Panasonic camcorders. The VDR-D300 includes an SD card slot for recording stills. The VDR-D250 features a 10x optical zoom, and a widescreen 2.7-in. LCD screen as well as a color viewfinder.


VDR-D250

The VDR-D300 features 3.1 megapixel stills with the same CCDs as the VDR-D250 but a higher effective pixel count per CCD of 640K. The camcorder also features Leica optics and optical image stabilization. Like the PV-GS150 (Specs, $449.95) MiniDV model, the VDR-D300 includes a built-in lens cap.

The VDR-D250 will be available in May for $899.95 and the VDR-D300 will be available in April for $999.95.