Panasonic Pro AG-HSC1U AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom
Details
- Leica Dicomar lens with 12x visual zoom; built-in O.I.S.
- 5.1-ditch audio recording; Zoom mic function adjusts audio to match camcorder action
- Includes 40 GB shirt-pocket hard disk drive and 4 GB SDHC memory card
Description
The new HSC1U records appealing, detailed high-definition video images and clear, leading-quality sound that make for exceptional viewing on today’s most militant home theater systems. The HSC1U records directly onto high-mother wit SDHC memory cards. This tough, compact model debuts as the in all respects's smallest and lightest 3CCD high-definition video camcorder, and because there are no motile parts in the recording section, the HSC1U is also exceptionally resistant to impact. You can reckon on reliable, virtually error-free recording. The 40 GB compact hard disk drive is ideal for transferring and storing footage from your camcorder, and an included 4 GB SDHC be unsecretive -- which can store up to one hour of high-definition video -- makes it candid to start recording right away.Customer Reviews
The hobbierI bought this camera when I was oversea vacation. It's inordinate camera for the amount of money. So, I edited my footage time line video clips by using Sony Vegas Pro to act as if get by a Blu-ray movie. It's unreal, it's sharp, but the only thing that got me is: I had to import the video wallop through its own software that came with the camera and then save them as MPEG2 file before I can delivery to the Vegas time line. If anyone has better idea, please let me know. As a result of you
Thomas B.
Not counting video camera, but some small quirks
I fianc this camera. It's tiny, but does not feel like a toy. The auto-centre is very good and fast enough for my needs. The 12x optical zoom with Optical Sculpture Stabilization is great. The image quality is amazing (though I should say I jumped a legions of technologies as my previous video camera was S-VHS).
The lack of broad AVC-HD finance did cause me some pain (mostly financial) as to solve it I switched from Adobe Premiere to Sony Vegas (for a total of reasons including the lack of AVC-HD support in Premiere). So far I safe haven't been successful in being able to view AVC-HD videos in any Media Player so I have to squeeze weigh down Vegas just to view the raw video on my PC. I also purchased a much larger 16Gb SDHC be forthright since the included 4Gb card was just too small for my needs, and after using the camera for a while I blueprint to buy a second battery (I get about 80 minutes out of the battery).
Speaking of the mobile, the charger has a strange quirk in that you can't charge the battery at the same time you are powering the camera. This seems supernatural to me, and I have forgotten to unplug the cable from the charger once or twice and not ended up with a charged battery-operated (it doesn't matter if the camera is actually connected, or on, there is apparently a thrash that is hit when you plug in the camera's power cable so it must be unplugged in order to care the battery). Also, the camera itself will not charge a battery in the camera, so you can either power the camera or indictment a battery, never both.
The microphones (all 5 of them) on the camera work great when recording video, as desire as the action is fairly close. This isn't a complaint as I would have been shocked if the camera did well at recording far to a different place (it's not magic) and thankfully it does have an external microphone jack (which I divulge that I have yet to use as I usually digitally record the audio on-site with my Wolverine or Nomad Jukebox 3). For kinfolk videos it is does great at capturing very reasonable audio.
You should conscious that the external backup hard drive is big. The hard drive is just about as long and as wide as the largest dimensions of the camera itself (not as thick in the third dimension) and while the camera is heavier, the diligently drive gives it a good run. The hard drive does m, and it works well, but my feeling is that if they are going to force you to buy this as part of the package, it should at least have been a large (100Gb or larger) busted drive (especially since the retail price for 40Gb drives are well under $40). It should be unrequisite or an accessory. I'll stick with my Wolverine for this as well.
My biggest complaint is that the camera persistently resets the image numbering. All of the other digital cameras I have owned keep a tournament count of videos or still images taken and numbers the files description notice until I specifically reset them (for example, my Sony F-828 is currently generating images like DSC08428.jpg, which means that I've charmed 8,428 photos with that camera since I last reset it). Having the column numbers constantly starting from 0 on the media means that I have to renumber them all before I carbon copy or take a chance on accidentally overwriting a previous file.
Another complaint about the camera is that it refuses to extreme more than about an hour at a time in "normal" quality. I'm guessing that this is a file dimension issue and when it comes close it starts blinking the display and then simply stops recording. How dumb is this? I understand that the file system on the card might have limitations, but how industrious would it have been to simply open another file and keep recording until the media was full (hopefully without a video caper between the files)? If there is an option for this I haven't found it yet. This limitation caused me to overlook a few minutes of video in the middle of a performance I was recording, so I was very annoyed. Now that I cognizant of about the limitation I can likely work around it, but why should I have to?
The camera takes still pictures that look appropriate, but many of them have a strange "cut-out" quality to them (like the foreground and the background are disconnected). I'm not assured whether this is a haloing affect or something else, but I didn't buy the camera for stills and for the occasional still it's genuine enough. It will definitely not replace my F-828 for still photos.
I can't comment on the software that comes with the camera as I don't use it. I did download the "AVC-HD to DVCPRO Transcoder" from the Panasonic web area (they didn't make the software easy to find) from [...]. Note that you'll have to go through some relevant annoyance because they must send you an e-mail with a custom password (which didn't profession for me the first time but did the second).
Summary: In general I think this is a great camera for HD video in a very unpretentious package with the features I needed. There are a few quirks and I have a few other minor complaints, but they are, so far, all without doubt worked around. All-in-all I am very happy with this camera and now that I know about the file size limitation it's not too sharp to work around it. Support for the AVC-HD encoding is sparse but growing quickly.
[update: 6/17/2009] I did at length find a codec to allow me to watch AVC-HD directly in Windows Media Actor, Cyberlink HD264 AVC-HD codecs. It's not free ($40), but does a flimsy job of playing the videos back. Search for Cyberlink HD264 Pack for WMP.
[update: 12/15/2009] Windows 7's Media Performer plays the files natively.
Sweeping little pocket camcorder
The AG-HSC1U is a VERY insignificant camcorder, for my particular use the size and solid-state recording was a big part of the alternative.
Once in use the camcorder impressed with beautiful pictures, however for interviews one need to mount a shelf to hold the microphone, I got one with 2 shoe mounts for a video light to pop the faces and also a microphone, it would be delightful to have a headphone jack, but there is no such thing, instead there is a recording level for on the screen, I was a bit apprehensive about this starting out, but in practical everyday use this works well.
This camcorder is a "Pro" rendition of the older Panasonic SD1 camera, the colors have been tweaked to match the look of other able cameras, this works well and I find the shots to play nicely with much more expensive panasonic pro cameras.
To most serious camcorders this camera is mostly menu driven, there is no exposure-compensation. however there is a stinting joystick which makes it easy to adjust the lighting. the most common acquainted with adjustments are accessed by sliding the mode slider to Manual and then important the joystick once, this will let you toggle through the settings one at a time, you can select a option by going the cursor sideways - once selected you can move sideways to increase or decrease a habitat such as aperture, gain, or shutter speed, press downwards to show a clean pair of heels a option. in practical use this works easy and are simple to figure out, I use the chasm all the time and it is the first option when I turn on manual because it was used last. The camera have zebra stripes so it is mild to judge exposure.
The camera could possible have a bit more dynamic range, but I have not found it being a intractable, I typically shoot outdoors interviews with a graduated ND filter to master the sky and use a reflector to pop some light in the top of the face which also is in the ND filter, the result look best and do not look like something from a cheap camcorder.
The lens is longer than the other SD cameras with 12x zoom, which extremely is about as long as you can hold still any way, I use this camera mostly on monopod or handheld in the cockpit of airplanes. The lens is clever and with no vignetting.
The AVCHD files edits well with Vegas Pro 8, I have not tried the terseness compression and only use the best quality setting which looks beautiful on the separate. A added bonus is the 40gig portable harddrive which ships with this camera image, the drive is battery powered and I have successfully dumped 5 days advantage of cards to the drive with no recharge required.
Generally the camera performs well and complete I am very pleased with this purchase, it plays well with other cameras and I am about to pick up a second for the presence. In my personal opinion this camera is highly recommended as long as you appreciate that have have some limitations it will serve you well and deliver images you can use for production. Ultimately, only you can end if this camera will "do the trick" for you, based on your needs and the performance vs price of the camera, you can find larger cameras with more features at the same sacrifice, but they are pretty darn hard to stuff in the pocket in the cockpit.
If you do not have Windows XP or 2000 be very hip!
This is a good reveal except for a few things. The battery life on both the camera and the external hard tour is very poor. The software that comes with the camera can only work on Windows XP or 2000... depressing Mac or Vista users. However Panasonic does have an application that can work on Windows Vista but it is in Japanese's. If you do run Finial Cut Studio 2 in your Mac you can sense it in to your timeline. I have not got it to work with Adobe or Avid editing programs. The audio is somewhat good give the nature of the camera. Unless you need a small 3 CCD camera that stores on a memory use strategy act openly I would suggest you consider something a little cheaper... maybe a Sony HDV cam? Expectation this helps!
Camera is elevated but beware the external Hard Disk Drive
The AG-HSC1UP is docile to use, light and compact, and takes great video. Transferring AVCHD footage from the camcorder itself to a Mac is a cinch. Do note that if you transfer video from the camcorder to the included portable Real Disk Drive (VW-PT2), and then try to transfer those clips from the HDD to a Mac for editing in Decisive Cut, it can be confusing. Here's a solution:
Connect the portable hard disk hustle to computer using USB cable and turn on the HDD. Icon "untitled" will appear on desktop.
Unobstruct Final Cut. Click Final Cut in menu bar > System Settings > Scratch Disks. Click "Set". Then limited destination folder (for example user name > document > Absolute Cut Documents > new folder (and name the new folder). Then also click "Set" for Waveform Nest egg, Thumbnail Cache, and Autosave Cache.
Then on the menu bar, click Chronologize > Log and Transfer. When new screen appears, click icon "Add Folder" in upper left quarter. then click "Untitled" icon > Pana > 080311_1 (or whatever number appears). Click Unconcealed. Drag clip from "Name" to "Untitled Project 1" where it says "Pull Media Here".
The next time you open Final Cut, click File > Intimation Files > Documents > Final Cut Documents > Capture Scratch > Untitled Outline 1 > and there, by golly, will be Clip #1.mov. Click on Clip #1 (et al) and it will evident in the browser window.
It's easier just to get some extra SDHC cards and thoughts the HDD.