Panasonic Announces three MiniDV pricebreaking camcorders at CES, including PV-DV953 under $1,500, and the PV-DV203, PV-DV103 and PV-DV73by News EditorPublished on Jan 31, 2003 12:00 AM 
|
|
CamcorderInfo.com LIVE at CES 2003
Panasonic has announced five new MiniDV camcorders at the Consumer Electronics Show and it seems they are working aggressively to grab marketshare from competitors with a price war. Panasonic announced five MiniDV camcorders, including the PV-DV953 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $899.88) for under $1,500 MSRP, the PV-DV203, PV-DV103 (Specs, $233.32), PV-DV73 and PV-DV53 (Review, Specs, $199.06).
The PV-DV953 is certainly the biggest announcement so far in the camcorder industry here at CES. The three CCD camcorder was announced with MSRP of $1,499, meaning it will be the first three CCD camcorder to break the $1,500 price barrier, blowing away the much more expensive 3CCD entry camcorders of Sony and Canon and JVC.
The camcorder features a Leica Dicomar lens and 3 CCDs. Although the press release did not clarify, we are asuming each CCD uses one Megapixel. Each CCD is dedicated to Red, Green and Blue producing a high quality video signal. The PV-DV953 features a 10x telescopic optical zoom lens and a 700x digital zoom. The camcorder also includes an SD card slot, upon which MPEG-4 and digital still images can be recorded too.
The PV-DV953 also includes a 3.5 in. LCD screen, Zebra-Pattern Over-Exposure Warnings to indicate overexposed image areas, shooting data recording which records Select AE Mode, O.I. S. On/Off, White Balance, Shutter Speed, Iris, Gain setting to tape, a three-mode Microphone Input Level control that lets you set the input level in 14 precise steps. Although the press release did not specify, we are assuming the camcorder has manual control over focus, zoom, shutter speed, and hopefully gain. We think that this is the same or similar camcorder as the Panasonic NV-MX5000 which was announced in Japan last year.
The next camcorder Panasonic announced is the MiniDV PV-DV203. Quoting the Panasonic press release "Each model measures a barely-there 3-3/8 inches high, 2-5/8 inches wide and 4-7/8 inches long, making this line of mini DV camcorders among the smallest in the industry."
As well as recording to MiniDV cassettes, the PV-DV203 can record MPEG-4 video to SD cards through the SD slot. They camcorder can also record still images however the press release did not specify the still resolution just saying that it is "1.5 times the resolution of standard-recorded stills." The PV-DV203 includes a night shooting mode, a 10x optical, 700x digital zoom, a color viewfinder and LCD, and a Firewire port. The camcorder will be available in March and carries an MSRP of $599.
The PV-DV103, is similar to the 203 except apparently it doesn't include an SD slot. The PV-DV103 will be available in February and carries an MSRP of $499.
The last two MiniDV camcorder Panasonic announced break with their typical line naming style. The first, called the PV-DV53, features a 2.5 in. LCD screen, as well as a Firewire connection.
The PV-DV73 (pictured left) upgrades the PV-DV53 with an additional USB port. It also has an SD slot for recording digital still images. The camcorder includes an 8 MB SD card and a 3.5 in. LCD screen.
The PV-DV53 will be available in January for $399.00 and the PV-DV73 will be available in March for $799.00.
These announcements totally break with tradition. We were expecting a 603, 703, 403 and 103. We do not know if this means they are abandoning the 100s line, or just reducing it, or will announced other camcorders later in the year. The Panasonic press releases were very unclear and raised many questions. We will try to get the many questions we have about the camcorders answered as soon as possible and post them for you.
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
