Panasonic's HDC-SX5 and HDC-SD5 3CCD AVCHD camcorders, again

Panasonic just announced the availability of their HDC-SX5 and HDC-SD5 3CCD AVCHD camcorders for the North American and European markets. Just for the sake of confusion, these appear to be the exact same cameras already announced for Japan under the HDC-DX3 and HDC-SD3 models. As such, we're still looking at 1920 x 1080 recordings direct to SDHC cards (the SD5) or to 8-cm DVDs (the SX5) with built-in optical image stabilization. The only real news then is the date: September 2007 for an undisclosed price though likely around $1,200 (including tax) like their Japanese brethren.

Update: Ah, found the differences: the SX5 and SD5 are about 20% smaller and lighter than their DX3 and SD3 cousins.

Read -- HDC-SX5
Read -- HDC-SD5

[Z @ Jul 30th 2007 7:53AM]

From what I can understand, this means full 1080p recording. Finally!

1080p, 3CCD's, SDHC, OIS, small form factor, good looks... I'm liking the SD5. Now I know what to ask for when the holidays come around. :)

[Asterra @ Jul 30th 2007 8:48AM]

Yawn. The miserable bitrate limitation of this camcorder (and most on the market) means that footage will be heavily artifact-laden. The Canon HV20 remains the easy winner. Read some reviews. Save a few hundred dollars. Get a better picture.

[raswirsky @ Jul 30th 2007 10:41AM]

The difference between this camera and the previous SD-1 isn't 1080p, it's true 1080i. The SD1 actually records 1440x1080 instead of the "true HD" resolution of 1920x1080. But it's still "i". The wouldn't get 133 minutes of HD on an 8GB card if it were P.

[Joe @ Jul 31st 2007 3:28PM]

I'm not so sure this justifies the increased price tag. The HDC-SD1 is only $789 on Amazon, dropping in price everyday, and it is by far adequate for anyone's needs.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000LO92EK/ref=ord_cart_shr/103-1270725-5344636?tag=freeplefav-20&%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

I plan on picking myself up one soon, with a $65 8GB SDHC card from Newegg. 1080i is enough for me. The video looks unbelievable.

[Tim @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:13AM]

Yes, but where was this camera for the Transformers premiers..

[KC @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:29PM]

Here are the specs:
http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/videocamera/hd/global/products/hdc-sd5/specifications.html

What I don't get is how do you get 1080x1920 (2,073,600 pixels) from "520,000 effective pixels"??? (which is roughly one fourth of 1080x1920).