Panasonic shows off a pair of pro-level HD camcorders

Looks like Panasonic's trying to get a two-month jump on NAB, holding a press conference last night to announce the AG-MHC150 prosumer HD camcorder. The 3CCD MHC150 is based on the popular DVX100 / HVX200 design, but ditches the tapes in favor of capturing AVCHD to SD. Images are captured through a optically stabilized 28mm Leica lens at up to 1080p/60 resolution, with audio coming through the built-in XLR jacks. We probably won't get pricing until this bad bot gets formally introduced at NAB, but Panny says it'll ship in the fall. There's also a new institutional and event AVCHD-to-SD model, the 1080i AG-MHC70, which offers a 12x stabilized Leica zoom lens and 1080i res in a $2,495 shoulder-mounted package, which Panasonic says will hit in April.

[LondonConsultant @ Feb 14th 2008 2:00PM]

Looks like a good camera. But it's annoying that Panasonic is currently being all coy about this camera's bit rate: it's more than 13 Mbps, but probably less than 20 Mbps. Does anyone know the actual bit rate or has this been classified as a state secret?...

[Will H. @ Feb 14th 2008 2:03PM]

i likey. me havey please.

[iggy @ Feb 14th 2008 2:09PM]

Now what do I do with my brand new DVX-100B I brought a month ago????

[Darkest Daze @ Feb 14th 2008 2:25PM]

Send it to me?

[Dustin @ Feb 14th 2008 2:29PM]

If you live in America, it seems that now the best thing to do is sue Panasonic for having the audacity to update a product shortly after you purchased it! How dare Appl...I mean, Panasonic do that!

[aesthetical @ Feb 15th 2008 7:54PM]

why did you buy a 100B?
unless it was for your home video's
SD is on the way out. Even HDV is starting to look dated

[Mike @ Feb 14th 2008 2:46PM]

just a small correction "DVX100 / DVX200" theres no such thing as a dvx200 it would be hvx200. but 1080p/60 for a prosumer camera sounds amazing. wonder how sony/canon will respond

[rcappo @ Feb 14th 2008 3:07PM]

Maybe the TV studios will start switching all of their shows to HD (1080 or 720) now. Any flavor of HD is better than SD (640x480, not the SD memory storage).

[Shane @ Feb 14th 2008 3:34PM]

Cameras are only one part of the equation, rcappo...

Unfortunately there is a LOT of other infrastructure in a broadcast facility that needs to be updated in order to support HD. Most of my local stations are only passing the network programming in HD (if they have a DTV signal on the air at all yet). Local programming still looks like crap from most of them.

Even though the FCC has mandated a switch to DTV over the air by 2009, they have not mandated that local broadcasters actually provide an HD signal...In other words, you may wind up with a DTV signal that is still just the same old crappy 480i material (maybe upconverted to 720p or 1080i if you're lucky...).

The good news is that the new DTV equipment is inherently capable of HD in most cases...It's just going to take quite some time before some broadcasters upgrade entirely to an HD signal path.

[JAson @ Feb 14th 2008 3:18PM]

I am really happy these things are becoming so prevalent. Viva la HD!

[shmengie @ Feb 14th 2008 3:27PM]

grammar nazi sez: '...a optically stabilized...' can not has gramrz.

[Russell @ Feb 14th 2008 8:15PM]

Come on, drop this pixel shifting crap and give us a true 1080p sensor, and a nice large one at that in one of these bodies with HDD/P2 card/SDHC card support... Less than $3k too. :)

We really need a "digital rebel" of the HD camera world.

You either buy a crappy consumer cam or a crappy prosumer cam... That's right, both are crappy for the price compared to how good the $8k+ cameras are.

[John Wallace @ Feb 14th 2008 9:30PM]

We actually have a P2/MiniDV variant of this exact camera at the TV station I work for. It's very handy.

[jnoel @ Feb 15th 2008 1:28PM]

AVCHD sucks. Dont believe me?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=998

[Joseph A Borg @ Feb 17th 2008 1:33PM]

Digicams would be a new foray for me: it's either an affordable and revamped canon HV20 to play with or, if really a ground breaker get the scarlet. After selling my eye balls obviously. It has to provide a performance edge

[Andy @ Mar 6th 2008 1:14PM]

You asshats! it'll cost the same as a sony EX1, but instead of having 35mps full bandwith HD, it's going with the .H264 compression system, which isn't superior in any way, shape or form. Its lense and the AVCHD codec are both inferior to the other prosumer HD cameras out there. The only potential thing this camera has as a leg up on the HVX-200 or EX1 is that SD chips are so cheap, because they're antiquated technology. AVCHD is consumer grade technology. bottom line. it's great for your $1000 Sony palmcam for filming home movies. If you're going to bother to drop $6000 on a camera, get a HVX or EX1. now, if this thing costs $4000, it'll be a contender.