Panasonic HDC-SD1 Reviewed. Jaw Dropping Quality

When shopping for a Hi-Def camcorder, you have four choices of media recording: DVD, MiniDV, hard drive and flash memory. Among these, flash memory-type camcorder hasn't quite taken off until SDHC comes along with high capacity format and improved speeds. SDHC can cost you an arm and a leg if you don't invest wisely on the media. ($120 for a 4GB, ouch) So, why should one pick a SDHC camcorder like the Panasonic HDC-SD1? By using flash cards for video recording, Panasonic has the advantage of creating one of the sleekest camcorders, measuring just 2.9" x 2.71" x 5.6" and weighing just 17.4 oz. That's just a tad heavier than the slim DVD burner we covered earlier. As the flash card takes up so little room, the HDC-SD1 has plenty of space for a 3" widescreen LCD, 5.1 surround sound mic and 3 CCDs lens. Digital Trends describes the video quality as jaw dropping. Though, you will be also surprised to find that the bundled 4GB card will only hold 40 minutes of 1080i video and that not one sample video/image is posted in the review.

Filed under USB Webcams & Digital Cameras