Panasonic HDC-SX5 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Video Performance
The Panasonic HDC-SX5 records 1920 x 1080 interlaced video in the AVCHD format. It features three 1/6” CCDs, each with a gross pixel count of 560,000, and an effective pixel count of 520,000. The processing is done by Panasonic’s HD Advanced Pure Color Engine. The chip set is a downgrade from last year’s HDC-DX1 and HDC-SD1, Panasonic’s first-generation AVCHD camcorders. Though the pixel count is the same, both of those models had three larger, 1/4” CCDs. This means that each of those little light-collecting pixels have shrunk, reducing their effectiveness in low light.

However, the resolution has increased since last year. The previous generation of AVCHD camcorders recorded in 1440 x 1080 anamorphic, outputting a 1920 x 1080 signal. This year, both the HDC-SX5 and the HDC-SD5 actually capture in “full HD,” or 1920 x 1080. While we can’t definitely say that the final outputted video looks any sharper than last year until we test, looking at the video on a Panasonic plasma monitor was impressive.

In bright light, we can expect to see the same performance as last year’s HDC-SD1 and HDC-DX1. Overall, the color performance tends to be very good in Panasonic three-chip camcorders. The biggest detriment to video quality in the DX1 and SD1 was the AVCHD compression. Panasonic allowed us to shoot footage to SDHC cards during the event and take it home for analysis. The camcorders we tried are not official production models, so we can’t use them for actual testing, but they must have felt pretty confident. Shooting at the event only allowed us to see what the picture looked like in bright light. What we did see was that the motion artifacting problems from the previous generation may have improved. It's too early to be definitive on this, but we're holding out hope. The motion trailing on the HDC-SD1 and DX1 was problematic.

Low Light Performance
As we stated above, the size of the three imagers has decreased since last year’s HDC-DX1, which usually means a diminished low light performance. The lighting in the room at the press event was pretty good, so we’ll have to wait for testing to figure just what effect the new chipset has. Previous AVCHD camcorders from Panasonic have shown that compression artifacts mingle with the noise to create a general fuzziness in low light.