Performance

The picture quality of Panasonic’s AVCHD is only so-so at the 13 Mbps bitrate that the HDC-SD1 records in its highest quality mode. The HDC-DX1 records at the same bitrate so I expect the video quality to be the same as all the imaging glass and circuitry is the same.  Because I could not extract the video from a DVD to my laptop, I was unable to do a direct comparison or post an example video for more analysis. Apparently, you need the software that comes with the camcorder to copy the video over to a computer’s hard disk in order to play it back or edit it because popping a finalized DVD into my laptop’s DVD drive didn’t allow me access to the video files, even with ISOBuster (a data recovery program). The computer thought the finalized disk was blank although it played fine in the camcorder. The video quality should be the same as the HDC-SD1, which is to say better than DV, but not as good as HDV.   Low Light Performance

The low light performance of both the new Panasonic AVCHD cams is a plus since three 1/4" CCDs were used to achieve a low light sensitivity of 6 lux. I was unable to do much low light shooting due to the constraints of the display booth. However, the dim areas I was able to shoot looked very good on this camcorder.

Format

Compression

The HCD-DX1 compresses its video identically to the HDC-SD1 using the H.264 Advanced Video Codec at a maximum 13 Mbps variable bitrate. Two other, lower quality bitrates of 9 and 6 Mbps may be selected to extend the record time just like on the HDC-SD1. The interlaced frame is recorded in anamorphic widescreen with 1440 x 1080 pixels (1.333:1 pixel aspect ratio). Because the video is anamorphic, the playback software or hardware needs to stretch out the horizontal pixels or the image will appear to be squeezed vertically. Unsqueezing the frame is normally done automatically by the display software or hardware so the user never has to think about it. This frame size and scanning method are essentially the same as HDV, except HDV uses MPEG2 encoding instead of H.264. H.264 compresses the video more than HDV, and its image quality fails to match HDV in our testing. When we can get an HDC-DX1 into our laboratory for more comprehensive testing, we’ll post the results of our analysis.   Media

The HDC-SD1 uses 8cm DVD DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD-R disks to record video for approximately 14 minutes in HF mode (13Mbps), 21 minutes in HN mode (9Mbps), and 31 minutes in HE mode (6Mbps). The considerably more expensive DVD-R DL (dual layer) disks are available to double those record times.   Editing

Panasonic had no information on the software that will be provided with the HDC-DX1. However, some type of software will be necessary to extract the video files from the DVD or play it back on a computer. Although I tried several methods, I was unable to get the MPEG Transport Stream files off the DVD and onto my computer so they could be played. Many folks will be disappointed to learn that they cannot play these AVCHD encoded DVDs in their standard DVD player. A Blu-ray player or an appropriately configured computer will be required for playback. Editing AVCHD will also require a robust computer system with dual core processors.

Tour

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The Front**

Identical to the HDC-SD1, the HDC-DX1 has a Leica Dicomar, 4 – 40mm, F1.8, 12x zoom lens (equivalent to a 38.5 - 462mm 35mm lens). A shutter-style lens cap to protect the lens from harm opens and closes as the HDC-DX1 is powered up or down. The lens hood accepts 43mm diameter filters. A photo flash unit for still pictures is to the left of the lens. Below the photo flash are some slots which I surmise are ventilation ports.

  **The Right Side **The right side of the HDC-DX1 is dominated by the circular DVD mechanism outer cover. As best I could determine with the camcorder on a security pole mount, laying fingers over the top of the DVD cover should provide a good grip for all but people with very small hands. Panasonic provides its standard loop strap that may be adjusted through the Velcro fastener to snug the camcorder in the right hand.

  The Back

The rear of the HDC-DX1 has several notable features. At the top left is the large eyepiece for the 0.44 in., 183K pixel color electronic viewfinder (EVF). The eyepiece pulls out from the camcorder body to clear a larger battery, but it does not tilt. I believe the EVF will prove to be a highly desirable feature on this camcorder, especially when focusing manually. Trying to use the LCD for focusing in bright light will prove to be problematic. Also, keeping the LCD panel shut will conserve a little battery power which you will recognize later as an important consideration.   From the back, you can definitely see the bulge created on the right side by the DVD mechanism. The mechanism creates a curving ridge onto which Panasonic mounted controls. At the very top of the ridge is the new zoom toggle that replaces the older zoom slider Panasonic used for years. The zoom toggle has a very professional feel – silky smooth – and is a big improvement over last year’s slider. The zoom toggle doubles as a volume control during playback.   Below the zoom toggle is the photo shot button. This placement is tough. I had significant difficulty reaching the photo shot button without affecting my aim on the subject. Still photos of 1920 x 1080 are taken to the SDHC card when the photo shot button is pressed. Directly below the photo shot button is the menu pushbutton that activates the menu display on the LCD and EVF. When menu is pressed, the joystick activates to permit navigation through the menu options to view and select options. Below the menu button is the delete pushbutton. One of the nice features of DVD and SDHC is the clips and pictures are individually accessed unlike serial media like tape that requires fast forward and fast reverse while watching date/time or timecode indications to locate a specific clip. Each clip on the DVD and SDHC card gets its own icon and can be randomly accessed. To delete a video clip or still picture, it is selected on the LCD/EVF, then a press of the delete (trashcan) button erases it.   To the right of the menu button is the Access/PC LED. This LED lights up when files are being accessed on the SDHC card from a computer to remind the user not to power off or otherwise interrupt the file transfer. Directly below this is the mode dial. The mode dial is similar to the one on the HDC–SD1. A small detent on the right side must be pressed in order to turn the dial from the power off position and on to one of the three other positions: video record, video playback, and PC which is used to transfer stills from the SDHC card to the computer. To the left of the mode dial is the record/pause pushbutton. Below the record/pause pushbutton is the Disk Eject slide switch. When pressed upward, the disk mechanism door opens to allow inserting or removing a DVD disk.   Below the electronic viewfinder is the battery compartment. Although it looks like the standard DU series battery will fit, it will not. The battery is a special design that incorporates a chip that monitors charge and displays the remaining time available on the LCD and EVF. Panasonic reports the battery only powers the HDC-DX1 for 40 minutes of continuous recording using either the LCD or EVD in highest quality (HF) mode, but will last 90 minutes in playback mode. This means you’ll need a couple of batteries and three DVDs (or two dual layer DVDs) to record an hour of video. There is no word yet on whether Panasonic will make a higher capacity battery available to extend this extremely short record time.

  On the left side, the 3.0 in., widescreen, 251K pixel LCD panel dominates when closed. Like the HDC-SD1, the back of the LCD and its hinge mount are coated with an enamel-looking, pearlescent white coating. The LCD is very sharp with vibrant colors. The menus are particularly easy to read. But, like the LCD on the HDC-SD1, I cannot say how it will hold up in bright sunlight. A redeeming feature is that the user has the EVF to fall back on when the LCD display can’t be used in bright sunlight. Like all Panasonics, the LCD panel can be rotated 270 degrees around its horizontal axis to permit viewing the scene when the camcorder must be positioned above or below eye level.   When the LCD panel is opened, the ports and controls inside the LCD cavity may be accessed. At the top left of the cavity is the Power LCD button with the Auto-Manual-Focus button to its right. Below these button is the reset button and on its right is the SDHC card slot. The SDHC card slot will accept both SD and SDHC cards. No card is provided with the HDC-DX1. Immediately below the SDHC slot is the HDMI port which has a soft rubber cover when not in use.   On the bottom of the LCD cavity is a row of ports behind a hinged cover. From the left they are: AV-out port for analog video and stereo audio, USB 2.0, component video-out, and an external low impedance microphone jack.

  The Top

The top of the camcorder is relatively unremarkable. At the front under a perforated cover that outlines the placement of each of the five microphone elements is the zoom 5.1 Dolby Digital surround microphone system. Panasonic is pushing the 5.1 surround as a key distinguishing feature from other camcorders because their implementation offers a zoom feature.  On the audio system Panasonic set up to display the HDC-DX1, the zoom feature sounded good.  To help make audio more flexible is the microphone level adjust feature that is accessed through the menus. Microphone level adjust permits turning off the automatic gain control and adjusting the mic (either internal or external) level to allow increased dynamic range.   To the rear of the top, under a hard plastic cover, is the cold accessory shoe. That cover is going to be a problem for noise as it rattles around when open, if you can find a microphone mount that will clear the bulge of the disk mechanism on the right. I tried to fit my RØDE Videomic on the shoe, but the disk mechanism housing contacted the locking knob on the RØDE and I could not get it to fit. The RØDE is a very popular, inexpensive shotgun microphone and will need a shoe extender or flash bracket to work with the HDC-DX1.

Auto / Manual Controls

Picture & Manual Control*

Automatic Control*

Panasonic is well known for fully automatic control over exposure and focus, and the HDC-DX1 is no exception. The automatic functions operated smoothly and accurately in the shooting conditions offered in the Panasonic display booth.   Overall Manual Control

Iris, gain, shutter, and white balance may all be controlled manually on the HDC-DX1. This range of manual control is a Panasonic hallmark. The joystick is used to select and adjust a parameter manually using the menu. Icons representing the parameter being adjusted and direction arrows are displayed on the LCD screen to aid adjustment. The user positions the joystick appropriately to change the parameter.   Zoom

Like the HDC-SD1, the HDC-DX1 has a 12x optical zoom. I was able to achieve a very slow crawling zoom using the new, improved zoom toggle. In addition to the optical zoom, digital enlargement of the image may be selected (digital zoom). There are two digital zoom ranges of up to 30x or up to 120x.   *

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**Focus
HDC-DX1 implements Panasonic’s automatic focus control well. Manual focus is also available. In manual focus, the user may opt to use manual focus assist.  A small window in the middle of the LCD screen opens and zooms in on the image to show the focus area in more detail (click here to see this feature in action). I found it was better than using the LCD or EVF alone.    *Exposure & Aperture

The HDC-DX1 has an automatic exposure range from F1.8 to F16. Automatic exposure controls operated quite well in the Panasonic booth’s lighting conditions.   Shutter Speed

In video mode, the HDC-DX1 uses a default 1/60 shutter speed. The shutter can be adjusted in video mode from 1/60 to 1/8000 in a wide range of increments. In still photo mode, shutter can be set between 1/60 and 1/8000. In progressive photo shot mode, the range shifts from 1/60 to 1/500.   White Balance

The automatic white balance control on the Panasonic HDC-DX1 appeared to function well enough in the unnaturally ideal lighting conditions of the booth (featuring a perfectly-lit beach scene with attractive, live models). Manual control over white balance is available via the menus. Automatic settings include outdoor and indoor options – hardly a plethora.   Gain

When the iris reaches its maximum aperture of F1.8,  and the picture is still not exposed brightly enough, gain (electronic amplification of the image brightness) can be employed. up to 18 dB (three f-stops) in 3dB increments. Gain will be activated automatically unless it is overridden.   Other Manual Controls

The HDC-DX1 does not have any additional manual controls.  

Still Features

**Still Features
**The HDC-DX1 shoots a maximum 1920 x 1080 still (2.1 Megapixels), which is in the 16:9 aspect ratio to the SD or SDHC card.

Handling and Use

Ease of Use

The HDC-DX1 is relatively easy to use for shooting and playing back video. However, I found that the need to format a new DVD disk before using it and to finalize it after shooting was constraining – one cost of the "convenience" of DVD. Finalizing the disk is particularly constraining as it must be done on the AC supply and takes 6-8 minutes. Of course, you can format a bunch of disks in advance of shooting and finalize them after all shooting is ended. But, this is just extra overhead that mitigates the ease of use that random access media like DVD should provide.

The DVD loading bay opens from the right. *  *Handling**

As best I can tell with the security feature inhibitions on the display models, the HDC-DX1 fits well in the hand. The only exception is the position of the photo shot button which I could not reach without shifting my hand in a way that altered the aim.   Menu

The menus are very readable. Colors are vivid and paging through the menu options is quite logical.

LCD and Viewfinder

Like the HDC-SD1, the LCD is sharp, bright and colorful. Having an electronic viewfinder is a plus, even if the extendable eyepiece doesn’t tilt. The smaller SD1 does not have any EVF, a feature rapidly disappearing from camcorders striving for the "ultracompact" category.  

Audio / Playback / Connectivity

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround microphones, with zoom function, sound great on an appropriate sound system.  A plus is the external microphone input with microphone level adjust control and audio level display on the LCD/EVF. There is no headphone jack so a user wanting to monitor the recording will have to use adapters on the AV cable.   Playback

Video can be played back to appropriate displays using the AV, component video and HDMI cables.   ConnectivityThere are output ports for USB 2.0, HDMI, component video, and analog audio-video (AV). There is a 1/8 in., unbalanced stereo phone jack input for a low impedance microphone. Neither this camcorder nor the HDC-SD1 offer analog inputs, which allow you to convert your old Hi8 or VHS camcorder footage to the new digital standard. Analog inputs are getting very hard to find on camcorders these days.

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Other Features

Other Features

The HDC-DX1 offers zebras (overexposure indicators), color bars for calibrating the color editing parameters, and manual focus assist. A new feature on Panasonic camcorders this year is Guide Lines, which aid in aligning the camcorder’s frame to the scene. There are up to three options for Guide Lines on the HDC-DX1: horizontal, Grid 1 and Grid 2. Horizontal superimposes three horizontal lines over the scene on the LCD display. Grid 1 superimposes a grid of 9 boxes over the scene. And, Grid 2 superimposes a grid of 60 boxes over the scene. These Guide Lines help the shooter align the camcorder’s frame to the scene for best composition.

Comparisons / Conclusion

Conclusion

The HDC-DX1 is a heavy, DVD-based camcorder that shoots in AVCHD which so far does not achieve the picture quality of HDV. Unlike it sibling, the HDC-SD1, it has an electronic viewfinder that essential to almost all shooters, but particularly the enthusiast. Record times are a problem that is alleviated somewhat by dual layer DVDs. There are options for extended record times, though they come at the high price of reduced image quality. Nevertheless, the HDC-DX1 seems to be a better choice than the HDC-SD1 for the serious enthusiast who chooses AVCHD as their recording format.