Panasonic Japan Announces 3CCD MiniDV and DVD Camcorders

January 5, 2007 – AV Watch reported this morning that Panasonic’s Japanese division has announced two new camcorders, the NV-GS320 and the VDR-D310. Both feature three 1/6” CCDs with an 800K gross pixel count and optical image stabilization. Panasonic has not yet announced corresponding camcorders for the US market, though, they are likely to come on January 7th during their press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Watch CamcorderInfo.com extensive for CES coverage for information as it develops.

 

The NV-GS320, the prefix of which is typically converted to “PV” for the US market, and the VDR-D310 share a number of common features. Both have a f/1.8 – 2.8 lens with a 37mm filter diameter and 10x optical zoom. A widescreen 2.7” LCD (123K resolution) and an EVF (113K resolution) are affixed to the camcorders.

 

The VDR-D310 comes equipped with a mic jack but no headphone jack. The NV-GS320 has neither. Both will offer the zoom mic feature that works in tandem with the lens zoom. The NV-GS320 has ports for DV and USB 2.0 to export stills while the VDR-D310 also has a USB 2.0 for stills and video.

 

Both camcorders have ports for SD and SDHC cards. Still resolution sizes in the VDR-D310 include 640 x 480, 1280 x 960, 2048 x 1512, and 1920 x 1080. The NV-GS320 offers still resolutions of 640 x 480, 640 x 360, 1280 x 960, 1600 x 1200, 2048 x 1512, and 2048 x 1152. The NV-GS320 can also double as a 320 x 240 web camera.

Panasonic NV-GS320

 

The VDR-D310 is compatible with DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, and DVD-R Dual Layer.

 

Panasonic of Japan has set the retail price of the VDR-D310 at approximately $800US and the NV-GS320 at approximately $630US. Both are scheduled for a January 25, 2007 release. Full product information is available from Panasonic on the VDR-D310 and the NV-GS320.