Panasonic SDR-SW20 First Impressions Camcorder Review by Michael Perlman Published on Jan 21, 2008 7:00 AM
Related Articles News: Panasonic SDR-SW20 underwater cam first impressions review posted

Compression
MPEG-2 compression has been around for a while now, featured on Panasonic’s first SD-based camcorder, the SDR-S100 (Specs, $1199). MPEG-2 video files are compatible with most computers, identifying as .MOV files, which can manually be changed into .MPG files by simply renaming the file extension. The SDR-SW20 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1199) records MPEG-2 video to SD/SDHC cards at the following bitrates: 10Mbps (XP), 5Mbps (SP), 2.5Mbps (LP). Video shot in XP and SP modes is recorded at 640 x 480 resolution while video shot in LP mode records in 320 x 240 resolution.

If the SW20 garners enough popularity, it would be great to see an HD underwater camcorder in the future.

Media
Solid state memory card recording is snowballing in popularity. Standard definition models have been in the market for at least three years, and HD is catching up. Canon recently announced the high definition HF10 and HF100 (Specs, Recent News, $1199), which record to SDHC cards. Sony released the HDR-CX7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1199) (Review, Specs, Recent News, $882.95) in mid-2007. The benefits of solid state memory include compact size, endurance, and ease of use. Tapes need to be rewound and DVDs need to be formatted and finalizes. That’s not the case with flash. If you drop a hard disk drive (HDD) camcorder, you’re risking everything you’re shot due to potential damage of a scratched disk. Unless your camcorder has a run-in with intense heat, water, or serious impact, those little SDHC cards will hold their own.

On the downside, SDHC cards do not offer long recording times like HDD and tape do unless you drop some serious cash for a higher capacity card. A 16GB SDHC will hold about 3 1/2 hours of video in the highest quality, which is great. However, a typical 16GB SDHC card will run you anywhere from $160-200. A 4GB SDHC card can be found for around $50, but your maximum recording time will be under an hour. MiniDV/HDV tapes cost roughly $8 a pop and offer a full hour of recording. Flash is an enticing concept, but the price of new technology may steer consumers away.

Editing
In our experience, the SDR-SW20’s files are a snap to handle, much like any of Panasonic’s standard definition MPEG-2 camcorders. Simply rename the .MOV file extension to .MPG and your video files will be recognized by most major NLEs. For our Underwater Video, the reps at Panasonic had placed the SDR-SW20 into LP mode, which explains the tiny 320 x 240 resolution.

Video shot in XP or SP mode will fill the screen up a bit more with 640 x 480 resolution, but just be cognizant of the amateurish appearance of your shots. The SDR-SW20 is in no way a professional camcorder, and is solely geared toward families who want to dip their heads in the water for five seconds at a time. You can stretch the frame out to fit 720 x 480 in an NLE, but the already compromised resolution will be compromised even more.