Panasonic to Introduce AVCHD Camcorder in Late 2006 or Early 2007

by David Kender
Published on May 11, 2006 2:00 PM



May 11, 2006 - In an interview with CamcorderInfo.com, Panasonic today confirmed that they plan to introduce camcorders into their product line that use the new AVCHD format, also announced today in a joint venture with Sony. AVCHD is a new high definition DVD format designed specifically for camcorders to fill the gap while Sony and other manufacturers struggle to find a way of implementing Blu-Ray into their camcorders.

As to when camcorders using the format could hit shelves, "I don't think it will take that long,” stated Burt Desmond, Vice President of the Optical Group in Charge of Product and Marketing for Panasonic. “It could possibly be in late 2006 or early 2007 depending on the market."

”In the past there was kind of an advantage to having a tape where you would have lossless compression,” continued Desmond, “in the HD space you're going to have less compression on tape than will fit on a disk. In that sense we think a disc will be more efficient and user friendly."

Though Desmond did not name specific models or prices, he did state that they intended to “provide a product that meets the size that weight requirements that would make it compelling for a consumer.”

Panasonic was able to provide a number of additional details on AVCHD’s implementation. Camcorders with AVCHD will be able to use all major DVD media – DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM – but it will be up to the discs’ manufacturers to choose to adopt the format.

Though today’s announcement was limited strictly to camcorders, they were able state that all Blu-ray home DVD players will be equipped to handle the AVCHD format. This did not extend to other DVD players, however. Panasonic stated that no player would be able to play back AVCHD without pursuing a licensing arrangement of the new format.