Panasonic NV-GS400

The Panasonic PV-GS400 replaces the popular PV-DV953 as Panasonic's offering at the low end of the prosumer three-chip camcorder spectrum. Competitively priced and compact, it's made to appeal to video enthusiasts who want the color quality of a three-CCD camera and a modest amount of manual control but aren't dreaming up any feature films.

Upside: With a 12x, optically stabilized Leica Dicomar zoom lens; a trio of 0.25-inch CCDs; and a 3.5-inch LCD, the PV-GS400 looks like a promising basic three-chip camera. It's souped up with photo- and consumer-oriented features, too, including 4-megapixel still output, MPEG-4 video creation, and simultaneous video and 1.2-megapixel still recording.

Downside: As three-chip cameras go, this one is relatively basic and doesn't offer the latest prosumer-oriented features. Panasonic is touting the PV-GS400's 4-megapixel photo output, which it achieves not by using a 4-megapixel sensor but via what the company calls Quad Density Pixel Distribution Technology. Whatever that means, it's sure to involve some kind of software processing that may degrade image quality.

Outlook: The announcement of the PV-GS400 initiates a competition in two areas: In the three-chip camcorder category, this Panasonic takes on Sony's new DCR-HC1000. As a combo device, it faces off with Samsung's forthcoming oddball Duocam SC-D6040, a single-chip camera that uses two separate sensor/lens combinations to capture video and native 4-megapixel stills. We're anxious to see where the chips fall when the PV-GS400 ships in August for US$1,500.

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