Panasonic's cheap 3CCD digital video camera

Digital Media Thoughts notices that Panasonic has dropped the price on the PV-GS120, their three sensor digital video camera, to just $699. Normally it's hard to get massively excited something like this, but Jason Dunn breaks it down for us:

To understand why this is such a big deal, you need to look at the other cameras on the market today. The term CCD (Charge Coupled Device) referrs to the light sensor the "sees" what's going on. Single CCD systems have one sensor to record red, blue, and green. This is typical of most digital cameras today, both still and video. A three CCD system, however, has one sensor per primary colour type - the result is a much truer-to-life image. Especially in video, 3CCD systems make an enormous difference in quality, and thus are highly coveted.

3CCD digital video cameras often cost as much as three or four thousand dollars, so to have one this cheap is a good sign of things to come.