DanLin.net

Being new parents to our 10 week old daughter we decided to get ourselves a HD camcorder so we can capture all the little moments early on. Having looked around in the market for awhile we decided on getting the Panasonic HDC-SD1 based on the following criteria.

1. Tapeless recording to removable media
2. 3 CCD for better color saturation
3. Compact in size for easy transport and handling
4. 1080i or higher for best quality playback on our TV set

Right off the bat the first criterion narrowed us down to just a few choices. We looked at the Sanyo Xacti HD1 and HD2 pretty extensively and was really close from pulling the trigger when we first heard about the HDC-SD1. The Xacti would have been great regardless but the fact that the HDC-SD1 is a 3-CCD camcorder is what sealed the deal for me. The other main difference in picture quality is the Xacti shoots in 720p vs. the Pany’s 1080i. It isn’t that big of a deal for most people and some may even prefer the progressive mode but we are happy so far with the decision.

The HDC-SD1 uses the new AVC-HD format co-developed by Sony and Panasonic. Compared to the previous consumer HD format (HDV) which records in MPEG-2 at a bitrate of 25 Mbits, AVCHD is based on H.264 (a variant of MPEG-4) and records at only 18 Mbits. Although the bitrate is lower than HDV, the higher and more advanced compression actually produces equal if not better quality images. HDV also shoots non-square pixels producing videos at 1440×1080 where as AVCHD shoots at a full 1920×1080.

One of the biggest complaints so far in all the reviews on the Web is the lack of editing solutions for the recording format. As of today, there are no NLEs that support this format. Ulead’s DVD Movie Factory 6 apparently is able to edit AVCHD videos but I have not tried it first hand so I can not comment on the effectiveness of the application. What I really need is for my NLEs of choice (Premier Pro for Windows and Final Cut Pro on the Mac) to add native support for this new format but that may not come for awhile. For the time being, I am stock piling video footage on DVD data discs for that day when my computer is powerful enough and Adobe and Apple decide that AVCHD is a worth while format to support.

The camcorder is about the size of a can of soda (or beer if you prefer. and Bud Light I do) and comes with a decent amount of gear to get you going immediately out of the box. A 4 GB SDHC card is included that will allow you to shoot 40 minutes of footage at the highest setting. This is ideal for someone who wishes to back up to standard single layer DVD-R or DVD+R discs as they store just over 4 GB of data per disc. Also in the box is a USB cable for connecting the camera to the computer as well as component and composite cables for outputting to your TV set. No HDMI cable is included but you should be able to pick one up for about 15 bucks online. Just don’t get fooled by your local Best Buy or Circuit City into buying a $100 cable. HDMI is a digital interface and it will look the same regardless which cable you use. The only difference will be the sturdiness of the cable so find one that looks like it will last awhile. One of the quirks with the camcorder is that it does not have the battery attached to it externally as most camcorders. It makes for a very clean exterior but prevents the use of a larger capacity battery. Fully charged the battery will last you about an hour so sooner or later you will need to buy a second battery. You can however power the camcorder on AC but while it is plugged in, you are not able to charge the battery at the same time. The battery door on the unit has a covered port that might be used in the future as a dummy insert which connects to a large external battery pack that can be mounted below via the tripod mount. As of today no such battery pack exists but it would be very nice when it does.

SDHC card, AC, Composite, Component and Mic-In ports.

HDMI and USB2 ports. (Quit eyeing my stack of quarters!)

Top of the unit with its built-in 5.1 surround microphone setup. Probably not gonna get a whole lot of definition in the surround sound is my guess.

LCD screen in the open position. Duh.

Battery door. Note the little plastic notch that comes out to reveal a port for future external battery pack. Perhaps.

Back of the unit where a normal view finder would be. Except here we just have the dial for changing camcorder functionality and a joystick for controlling menu options.

LEICA lens!!! (whatever.) and the 43mm lens mount for wide angle and telephoto adapters.

The lens of the unit is Leica branded but in today’s world, that might just be a marketing ploy to gain some brand credibility. The pictures do look very good so I’ll leave that decision up to you. The camcorder will also take a 43mm adapter for added telephoto or wide angle abilities. The rest of the camcorder is pretty minimalistic with much of the manual controls buried within the menu system via a miniature joystick near your right thumb. It takes a little getting used to but it is not too bad. I will mostly use it on auto mode as it is not a camcorder intended for professional use. There is no viewfinder which I am assuming is an intentional omission to save space as well as costs. Panasonic is making the assumption that consumer camcorder users will mostly use the flip out screen for monitoring and they are probably right with that assumption. The only thing the viewfinder would have been nice to have is to conserve battery life since the standard battery does not particularly last very long. Getting the files off of the included 4GB SDHC disc is a little bit quirky as it required you to have the AC adapter plugged as well as the battery in place. Once it is connected the camcorder is automatically recognized under Windows XP as a Mass-Storage Device and file transfer via USB2 is fast and trouble free.

The easiest way to get your AVCHD video on to your TV right now is to connect directly to the camcorder using an (not included) HDMI cable. The quality if the video is astounding. Color reproduction and sharpness are as good as anything I’ve seen coming out of a consumer camcorder. Both indoors and out the camcorder handles the light very well on auto mode. Playing the video back on the computer is still a bit of a challenge. The files the camcorder produces have a .MTS (Mpeg Transport Stream) file extension. Using CoreAVC Codec you will be able to simply rename the files to .AVI and play them back from Windows Media Player. However if your machine is not top of the line the playback will be unacceptably choppy. I have tried it on my Pentium 4 2.8GHz desktop with 2GB of RAM as well as a Centrino 2GHz laptop with 1 GB of RAM and neither of which is fast enough to produce good enough frame rate on playback.

There are just a couple of other hands-on reviews on the net right now at the time of this post that talks about developing a work flow for this video format. Most of them required multiple applications for decoding and remixing the video and audio stream back into the format of your choice. Having read and tried some of the solutions online, I decided that I need to find a solution for me that is much simpler and straightforward using software packages I already own on my system.

What seems to work well for me right now is transcoding the .MTS files using Nero Vision 4 (Part of the Nero 7 Ultra edition Bundle). Nero Vision 4 is a similar software package as Apple’s iMovie on the Mac platform. It has basic editing features and will allow you to burn the resulting project to standard definition DVD-Video compatible with regular players at 480i or 480p. It also has an export to video feature that is semi-customizable to produce down-sampled DV footage to allow advanced editing capabilities in an NLE.

One product that specifically has caught my interest is the HD-Connect MI by Convergent Design. It allows you to plug in an HDMI signal and hardware transcodes on the fly to a HDV stream via IEEE-1394. This is definitely a work around for the time being until AVCHD is widely supported. At $700, you need to really dig deep to find reason for this right now. Especially when you can buy a consumer HDV camcorder such as the Canon HV10 for not much more. I still think its a cool product and maybe someone will make a similar box for less money with just component-in and 1394-out (HDV).

These are just some first impression of having played with the HDC-SD1 on the first day. I am generally very pleased with the video quality of the camcorder as well as the portability. It is however a first generation AVCHD device so if that scares you maybe you will want to wait. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting as my baby girl refuses to pause her growth while Panasonic irons out the wrinkles. Once the editing solution appear this will be a great solution for home-based HD content creation. Many people are making predictions on when that’s going to happen but I will spare all of us but omitting my own at this point. For what I am looking for right now it is the perfect product in the market today. Circuit City and Fry’s Electronics are selling them in store for $1299 while Amazon.com has it for $1100 with free shipping and no sales tax to most U.S. shipping addresses (you know what that means.) Check back later and I will be talking more in-depth about this camcorder once I have had more time with it.

Click to view 1920×1080 still photo taken with the HDC-SD1

Update: (April 2nd, 2007) Akihabaranews.com has a video overview of the camera. It should give you a pretty good idea of what it looks like, how it operates and physical dimensions. That’s if you can stand the music in the background long enough to watch the whole thing.

I have had the Treo 700p for nearly a year and I am very pleased with it. I have nearly eliminated my need for a mp3 player because of its capabilities in music playback. The only problem is the stock headset was pretty mediocre and uncomfortable while no one seems to make a good enough quality headset that works well in both music playback and phone calls.

I first purchased the Seidio headset from EverythingTreo.com expecting a lot. After all, the price tag for these gobs of wires and some plastic was shock inducing $55 plus shipping.

Seeing that they were the in-ear style at this price range I wanted them to be great. My expectations were soon shattered as the music playback quality was lacking both high and low range at any volume. Apparently these guys at Seidio had decided to go cheap on the ear pieces. Using the headset for phone calls was very good. But again at this price range, it’d better be.

Just last week I was using my Treo during a workout and one of the ears just went out on me. That was a bit of a problem so I promptly contacted EverythingTreo.com but I was referred to the manufacturer instead since I was apparently out of the store’s return policy. A couple of emails and a trip to the post office I am left here with no headset while waiting for a replacement.

While on a little shopping trip to Target today I saw this ‘Just Wireless Headset Adapter’ for 15 bucks. It allows me to plug in my stereo headset of choice and at 35 bucks cheaper than the Seidio I was sold.

Just as I was thinkng that it could not be my lucky day. I was right. Although it works for the Treo for both music playback, allows the use of my own headset and even decent phone conversations, it does NOT play the audio back in stereo as it claimed. Sound comes out of both ears but it is the same track for both. I’m not sure if it just picks the left or the right of if it actually mixes the 2 into 1 but I am again disappointed at my new Treo accessory. I guess it will have to do for now while I wait and see how the replacement programs works at Seidio. If anyone knows a good set of wired stereo headphones for the Treo I’d appreciated your recommendations.

Ning is a company that has been around for about 2 years now and this week they finally launched a product that is worth discussing. They are near the forefront of commoditizing social networks by allowing people to create vertical social networks based on their interests. Conceptually this is pretty cool and as it is free, it might have put fiveacross out of business had they not been acquired by Cisco earlier this month.

From a development and design perspective, the product is very beautifully made with gratuitous Web 2.0 UI features. Usability is very intuitive and setting up a social network is literally a few clicks away. I tested the service and created my own trendy Web 2.0 social network called ThunderAndLight.Ning.com.

Today’s social networks are like the message forums of the 90’s and the blogs of 2003. Ning to me is the PHPBB and Wordpress of social networks. The only difference is that it is free but not open source. I can see a lot of small organizations like schools and churches begin building social networks of their own using services like this. Ning’s business model currently looks like purely advertising driven and they are betting on the vertically integrated model to drive enough traffic to build revenue.

Founded by Mosaic co-creator Marc Andreessen and his protege and Stanford Business School grad Gina Bianchini (Link to Flickr profile), cash and industry connections are not likely gonna be problems. Let’s just hope this vertical market thing lives up to its hype.

My Rotted Brain comrade at jeremyoswald.com recent blogged about the discovery of the new steak taquitos from Taco Bell. In typical new product review fashion, I have purchased my very own set of grilled steak taquitos today and here are the “unboxing” photos exclusively at DanLin.net.

The external of the packaging:

Peering inside the ‘box’ at the actual product:

As seen previously from Jeremy’s Taco Bell rumor post, this is the internal packaging

Complete view of the product with the optional accessory: guacamole sauce

View of the optional accessory by itself

There you have it, the rumored Grilled Taquitos in all of its delicious glory

Sacrificing my own possession for my audience’s viewing pleasure. I opened the external enclosure of the taquito to show the internal workings of my Grilled Taquito. What a work of art.

First test of the product. Awesome as expected. Even without the optional accessory attached

Getting a second opinion on the product quality. As expected, unparalleled excellence

Getting ready to plug in the optional accessory

Perfect fit. It is exactly as it is advertised. I couldn’t be more pleased with it

My seal of approval (Extra bonus of a hot blonde chick in the background just to spice things up even more.)

Thank you. Say it sexy like Ricardo Montoval Montalbán, “CARRRRRRRNE ASADA”. Now go get your own.

Apparently people are clamoring on to anything on the Web that is talking about the Google TV Hoax. It’s the only reason why people were flooding to my blog in record numbers this last Monday shortly after my post went up. See GAnalytics screen shot below. Since my last post about the Secret Beta/Hoax I have concluded it is most likely a hoax than anything else. The user interface mocked up by Erickson and crew just does not look scalable and the whole fiasco about his buddy Gary Castle posting an anonymous video with a 2 day old YouTube acoount pretty much sealed the deal for me.

These are big numbers for my standards….