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Model
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| JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| Picture ? | | |
| Manufacturer | JVC 
| Panasonic 
|
| Name | GZ-HD40 | HDC-DX3 |
| European name ? | GZ-HD40 | HDC-DX3 |
| US name ? | GZ-HD40 | HDC-DX3 |
| lowest US price | 559 $ | 2799 $ |
| On the market since | August 2008 | May 2007 |
| Manufacturers URL | link to JVC | link to Panasonic |
|
|
Test preview
|
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | not yet tested |
| test picture 1200 Lux | |  |
| test picture 12 Lux | |  |
Video
|
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| Video formats ? | AVCHD MPEG2-TS
| AVCHD
|
| Recording Medium | Built-in hard disk microSD/microSDHC
| MiniDVD 8cm MiniDVD-DL 8cm
|
| video resolutions EU ? | AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i MPEG2 1920x1080 50i MPEG2 1440 x1080/50i
| AVCHD 1440 x 1080/50i AVCHD 1920 x 1080/50i
|
| video resolutions US ? | HDV 1440 x 1080/60i AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i MPEG2 1920 x 1080/60i
| AVCHD 1920 x 1080/60i AVCHD 1440 x 1080/60i
|
| Max Bitrate ? | 17 Mbit/s | 13 Mbit/s |
| Compression format ? | MPEG2 MPEG4
| MPEG4
|
| on-board memory ? | 120 GB | |
| Optics |
| Optics Manufacturer ? | JVC HD
| Leica
|
| Optical Zoom ? | 10 x | 12 x |
| Wide Angle 16:9 ? | 43,6 mm | 38,5 mm |
| Filter diameter ? | 43 mm | 43 mm |
| Image Stabilization ? | electronical
| optical
|
| ND Filter ? | No
| |
| Exchangable optics ? | No
| No
|
| Image Sensor |
| Number of sensors ? | 1 | 3 |
| Size of image sensor ? | 1/3 inch | 1/4 inch |
| image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ? | 2 Pixel | 560000 Pixel |
| Image Sensor Type ? | CMOS
| CCD
|
| Controls |
| White Balance ? | auto manual presets
| |
| Focus ? | auto manual
| |
| Minimum shutter time ? | 4000 | 8.000 |
| Maximum shutter time ? | 1/2 | 1/50 |
| Apperture control ? | auto manual
| |
| Infrared recording ? | No
| Yes
|
| Expanded Focus ? | No
| |
| Peaking ? | Yes
| |
| Signal Processing |
| Zebra ? | Off 70% 100%
| |
| Histogram ? | No
| |
| adjustable sharpness ? | Yes
| |
| Adjustable color ? | No
| |
| Cinegamma ? | No
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| Black Strech ? | No
| |
| Knee ? | No
| |
| Colorbars ? | No
| |
| Misc. |
| Shot Transition ? | No
| |
| Custom Presets ? | No
| |
| Set Time Code ? | No
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Configuration
|
| Connections |
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
FBAS ? synonymous: RCA, composite | Out
| |
YC ? synonymous: S-Video | | |
YUV ? synonymous: Component Signal | Out
| |
| HDMI ? | Out
| Out
|
DV / HDV (FireWire) ? synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394 | Out
| |
| USB ? | USB 2.0
| |
| Microphone / Audio input ? | Mini-jack
| |
| Headphones ? | Mini-jack
| |
| Lanc ? | No
| |
| Time-code interface ? | No
| No
|
| Genlock ? | No
| No
|
| Accessory shoe ? | Standard
| |
| HD-SDI ? | No
| No
|
| Misc. |
| Weight (without battery) | | 680 g |
| Weight (with battery) | 450 g | 800 g |
| Battery type | | |
| Battery capacity | | |
| Charger ? | internal
| |
| Remote control | Yes
| |
| Size |
| Height | 73 mm | 92 mm |
| Width | 68 mm | 91 mm |
| Depth | 123 mm | 163 mm |
| Relative Size ? | 6 | 13 |
| Viewfinder |
| Viewfinder available ? | No
| Yes
|
| Color Viewfinder ? | | Color
|
| Viewfinder format ? | | 16:9 |
| Viewfinder pixels ? | | 183000 Pixel |
| Display |
| Display available ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Color display ? | Color
| Color
|
| Display size | 2,8 Inch | 3,0 Inch |
| Display format ? | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Display pixels ? | 207000 Pixel | 251000 Pixel |
| Touch Screen ? | No
| |
| External controls |
| Manual Zoom ? | Rocker
| |
| Manual Focus ? | Menu
| |
| Manual Aperture ? | Menu
| |
| Focus switcher ? | No
| |
| ND Filter ? | No
| |
| Exp Lock ? | No
| |
| Gain ? | | |
| White balance ? | No
| |
| Push AF ? | No
| |
| Audio Levels ? | No
| |
Custom Keys ? synonymous: User buttons | No
| |
Audio
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| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| Audio Formats ? | MPEG-1 Layer2
| AC-3 Dolby Digital 5.1 640 kbit max.
|
| Microphone ? | Mini-jack external
| |
| Audio Control ? | auto manual
| |
| Audio levels ? | Screen
| |
Still
|
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| Recording Medium ? | microSD hard drive
| |
| Medium included ? | No
| |
| Effective pixels ? | | |
| Resolutions ? | 1920x1080 1440x1080 640x480 2432 x 1368 | 1920x1080 |
| Standard ? | JPEG Exif 2.2
| JPEG Exif 2.2
|
| Flash ? | No
| |
Misc.
|
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| Specials | -included: dockingstation with USB,AV-Out, component outt and FireWire -maximum bitrate 17 MPbps AVCHD, 27 Mbps MPEG-2 TS
| |
Product Shots
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| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| View 1 | | |
| View 2 | | |
Test results
|
| Test pictures |
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| luminance resolution | |  |
| chrominance resolution | |  |
| lens distortion | |  |
| test small ISO image | |  |
| noise / internal microphone | |  |
| test picture 1200 Lux | |  |
| test picture 12 Lux | |  |
| slashCAM rating |
| Lowlight ? | Good | |
| Resolution ? | Good | |
| Color performance ? | Very good | |
| subj.Picture impression ? | Very good | |
| Optical Zoom ? | Sufficient | |
| Wide Angle ? | Poor | |
| Configuration / image ? | Good | |
| Configuration / sound ? | Satisfactory | |
| Handling ? | Sufficient | |
| Portability ? | Very good | |
| Photo function ? | Sufficient | |
| Optics ? | Good | |
| Dynamics ? | Good | |
| Conclusion slashCAM |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | not yet tested |
Total score ? (maximal 570) | 350 | |
| Pros | + Many manual controls + two formats (AVCHD and MPEG2) + good image and lowlight quality
| |
| Cons | - the controls are hard to getting used to - formats are not arbitrarily mixable
| |
| Conclusion | The possibility to record both HD-consumer formats is a good thing, but some details are missing (the formats can not be combined at playback, no backup-tape, no HDV-recording on SD cards).Nice to see that with this introduction of CMOS sensors JVC closed the gap of lagging behind in picture qualityMany important parameters can be adjusted manually, which is great, but the operation requires a little too much patience and practice.If JVC would have included the rich manual controls of the HD7 this cam would have been a real winner for every ambitioned movie maker. | |
More information
|
| Reviews and Forums |
| [ top ] | JVC GZ-HD40 | Panasonic HDC-DX3 |
| slashCAM Review | GZ-HD40 Review | |
| external reviews/tests | | |
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