/// HD Camcorder Comparison

Picture ?

Manufacturer

Panasonic

JVC

Name

HDC-SD1

GS-TD1BE (3D-Modus)

European name ?

HDC-SD1EG-S

GS-TD1BE

US name ?

HDC-SD1

GS-TD1

lowest US price

1300 $

1299 $

On the market since

March 2007

April 2011

Manufacturers URL

Test preview

slashCAM rating ?

Satisfactory

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode

Video

Video formats ?

AVCHD

AVCHD
MVC 3D

Recording Medium

SD Card

SDHC card
built-in flash memory
SDXC card

video resolutions EU ?

AVCHD 1440 x 1080/50i

AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
MP4 2 x 1920 x1080

video resolutions US ?

AVCHD 1440 x 1080/60i

AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i
MP4 2 x 1920 x1080

Max Bitrate ?

13 Mbit/s

34 Mbit/s

Compression format ?

MPEG4

on-board memory ?

64 GB

Optics

Optics Manufacturer ?

Leica

JVC HD

Optical Zoom ?

12 x

5 x

Wide Angle 16:9 ?

38,5 mm

42 mm

Filter diameter ?

43 mm

- mm

Image Stabilization ?

optical

optically and electronically

ND Filter ?

Exchangable optics ?

Image Sensor

Number of sensors ?

Size of image sensor ?

1/4 inch

1/4,1 inch

image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ?

520000 Pixel

2070000 Pixel

Image Sensor Type ?

CCD

CMOS

Controls

White Balance ?

auto
manual
presets

Focus ?

auto
manual

Minimum shutter time ?

1/8.000

1/4000

Maximum shutter time ?

1/50

1/2

Apperture control ?

auto
manual

Infrared recording ?

Expanded Focus ?

Peaking ?

Yes

Signal Processing

Zebra ?

Histogram ?

adjustable sharpness ?

Adjustable color ?

Cinegamma ?

Black Strech ?

Knee ?

Colorbars ?

Misc.

Shot Transition ?

Custom Presets ?

Set Time Code ?

Configuration

Connections

FBAS ?
synonymous: RCA, composite

Out

YC ?
synonymous: S-Video

YUV ?
synonymous: Component Signal

Out

HDMI ?

Out

DV / HDV (FireWire) ?
synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394

USB ?

USB 2.0

USB 2.0 OUT

Microphone / Audio input ?

Mini-jack

Headphones ?

Mini-jack

Lanc ?

Time-code interface ?

Genlock ?

Accessory shoe ?

Standard

HD-SDI ?

Misc.

Weight (without battery)

430 g

590 g

Weight (with battery)

490 g

676 g

Battery type

JVC BNVF815U

Battery capacity

1460 mAh

Charger ?

internal

Remote control

Yes

Size

Height

74 mm

102 mm

Width

69 mm

64 mm

Depth

142 mm

186 mm

Relative Size ?

Viewfinder

Viewfinder available ?

Color Viewfinder ?

Viewfinder format ?

Viewfinder pixels ?

Display

Display available ?

Yes

Color display ?

Color

Display size

3,0 Inch

3,5 Inch

Display format ?

16:9

Display pixels ?

251000 Pixel

920000 Pixel

Touch Screen ?

Yes

External controls

Manual Zoom ?

Rocker

Manual Focus ?

Manual Aperture ?

assignable custom key

Focus switcher ?

ND Filter ?

Exp Lock ?

Gain ?

White balance ?

Push AF ?

Audio Levels ?

Custom Keys ?
synonymous: User buttons

Audio

Audio Formats ?

AC-3 Dolby Digital 5.1 640 kbit max.

Dolby AC-3 Digital 2 channel 48 KHz

Microphone ?

Stereo internal
Mini-jack external

Audio Control ?

auto
5 steps

Audio levels ?

Screen

Still

Recording Medium ?

SD Card

built-in flash memory
SDHC card
SDXC card

Medium included ?

4 GB

Effective pixels ?

Resolutions ?

1920x1080

1920 x 1080 3D

Standard ?

JPEG Exif 2.2

Flash ?

Yes

Misc.

Specials

autostereoscopic display

Product Shots

View 1

View 2

Test results

Test pictures

luminance resolution

chrominance resolution

lens distortion

test small ISO image

noise / internal microphone

test picture 1200 Lux

Test image 12 lux auto-mode ?

Test image 12 lux optimized ?

slashCAM rating

Lowlight ?

Good

Resolution ?

Satisfactory

Good

Color performance ?

Good

Satisfactory

subj.Picture impression ?

Good

Optical Zoom ?

Sufficient

Poor

Wide Angle ?

Satisfactory

Sufficient

Configuration / image ?

Satisfactory

Configuration / sound ?

Sufficient

Satisfactory

Handling ?

Satisfactory

Portability ?

Very good

Good

Photo function ?

Sufficient

Satisfactory

Optics ?

Good

Satisfactory

Dynamics ?

Good

Conclusion slashCAM

slashCAM rating ?

Satisfactory

Total score ?
(maximal 570)

328

307

Pros

+ Acceptable wide-angle
+ Good lowlight characteristics

+ More manual 3D control than its direct competitors

Cons

- No FullHD
-3CCDs with pixelshif do not result in full sharpness
-fan

- operation concept
- Image characteristics can not be changed

Conclusion

In our opinion the SD1 is the best AVCHD Cam by Panansonic, and it remains competitive in 2008 thanks to its wide-angle and lowlight characteristics .

In terms of image quality, handling and also the display the JVC is not quite on par with the HDR-TD10.Though the TD1 in return offers a little more manual control, this is partly hidden by an unnecessarily complicated operation.Also the non-changeable, rather extreme color settings are certainly not for everyone.A firmware update could address these criticisms, however, and make the camera much more attractive.Hopefully the standards-compliant MVC implementation will be adopted by more software makers over time.

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