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Panasonic HDC-SD9 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Mar 4, 2008 4:42 PM
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Compression (7.0)
The Panasonic HDC-SD5 is Panasonic’s third generation camcorder to use AVCHD compression, and many improvements have been made since its inception in 2006. The first generation was limited to 13Mbps 1440 x 1080 video that was anamorphically stretched for playback. The second generation increased the resolution to 1920 x 1080 in its highest quality, but kept the bitrate at 13Mbps. This latest model increases the max bitrate to 17Mbps.
Manufacturers are already pushing the idea that AVCHD camcorders offer comparable quality to tape-based HDV camcorders. That may be true in a lab where a camera system is connected directly to a computer that performs side-by-side compression algorithms. Out here in the real world where people work with a completely sealed, out-of-the-box camcorders, our side-by-side testing has shown that AVCHD is better than it’s ever been, but still not superior to HDV.
The Panasonic HDC-SD9 offers the best motion rendering we’ve seen to date from an AVCHD camcorder. The compression artifacting seemed to be lower, as well, though the net effect was lessened due to the lower resolution of the SD9’s CCDs. To date, AVCHD camcorders using a single, large imaging chip have always produced sharper looking images. Much interest is centered on our next camcorder for review, the Canon HF10, which offers both the single, larger chip and a 17Mbps bit rate.
There are four quality options for the Panasonic HDC-SD9’s video: HA (17Mbps), HG (13Mbps), HX (9Mbps), and HE (6Mbps). The first two settings record in 1920 x 1080 and can capture in either 1080/60i or 1080/24P. The third setting, HX, records in 1920 x 1080, but cannot capture 24P. The lowest setting, HE, records in 1440 x 1080, and only in 60i.
Media (6.0)
The Panasonic HDC-SD9 records exclusively to SD and SDHC memory cards. SDHC cards as large as 32GB have recently been announced, but the specs indicate that the SD9 may only be compatible with cards up to 16GB. No card ships with the camcorder.
Card media has the advantages of size, shock and weather resistance, and easy replacement. Disadvantages are cost per unit (compared to tapes and DVDs) and limited capacity. If you want a really small camcorder, you’re going to want a card-based medium. Anything else requires a larger body.
The SDHC card slot is located under
the battery slot.
Editing (4.0)
Editing AVCHD footage has gotten much easier since its inception, as more manufacturers have signed on to support the format. The most popular consumer applications include Ulead VideoStudio, Pinnacle Studio, and Apple iMovie ’08. There has been some loose chatter on message boards that the HDC-SD9’s 24P video may be difficult to work with, particularly on iMovie ’08, but we have not verified that ourselves. Any comments from readers would be helpful in this area.
The camcorder ships with two discs. The first is HD Writer 2.5E for HDC, which provides basic abilities to import, edit, and export movies. Also included is a trial version of Pinnacle Studio Plus HD Edition. If you like it, you have 15 days of free editing, so stock up and save.
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