Customer Reviews

Panasonic HDC-DX1 AVCHD 3CCD High Definition DVD Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You really have to be in the Blue-Ray camp to enjoy this camera fully. If you have a Sony Play Station 3 you're set for playback and the future with Blue-Ray for High Definition movies. Otherwise you will need a Blue-Ray player for playback of the miniDVDs and any other regular DVDs you record to. Also, so far it's one of the last camcorders from Panasonic with 5.1 sound and High Definition recording, which is a big plus for sound. It's seems the newer camcorders are actually going backwards with 2 channel sound instead of 5.1. With Nero 8, which you'll have to buy separately, you can copy movies to your computer for editing and burning back on to a larger size regular recordable DVD, i.e., DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+-RW or DL disks (they don't have to be Blue-Ray recordable DVDs). The camcorder records Blue-Ray format to regular DVDs. You just have to remember that they still won't play back on a regular DVD player, you'll need a Blue-Ray player or a Play Station 3. There have been complaints about this, but you're recording High Definition video now, so why would you except to play it back on a lower quality DVD system? This camera is for the future. If you want a DVD recordable camcorder, there are cheaper, less capable models that that do that. But if you want High Definition recording, with 5.1 sound, then this is the camera to get. One other thing to remember, the recording process to a miniDVD whether it's with this camera or any other miniDVD camera is different than with tapes. The miniDVD will have to be finalized if you want to use it outside the camera on a DVD player (Blue-Ray or not). There is an extra step involved from tape recording. Some people just don't understand this and complain. The one thing about this camera is that you can only finalize using the A/C charger and not with the battery in the camera. This means you'll probably shoot video and finalize the disks at home, not outside where you are shooting. Other miniDVD camcorders may allow finalizing with battery power which may be more convenent to do, but I don't find not having this a drawback for this camera.

I bought this camera to compliment my 46 in. Samsung Full HD LCD TV. The picture was very nice although the 30 mins. limitation of the DVD writeable media and the need to finalize the disk was a setback. I donot have the Blue Ray player yet so I connected my LCD TV using DVI to HDMI cable to my HTPC Windows Vista running on Dual core AMD 64 and an HD video card to view the HD picture taken from this camera and I am really pleased.

I purchase the HDC-DX1 about a month ago and have been very happy with the picture quality, the picture enhancement features, etc. I was disappointed to find out after my purchase that I needed special software to download the content to, and edit it on, my computer and probably need a Blue Ray DVD burner to be able to create edited disks. I haven't worked with the software yet, so be sure you understand the implications of buying a camera with a format that is not the standard format used by most digital cameras.

I bought this from Amazon over two weeks ago and used it to shoot about 2 hours of video in different places and conditions. I would rate this an excellent camera for the Price. Sure, there is stuff out there but considering the price that this is the cheapest Hi-Def. camera at nearly half the price. 3CCD really make a big difference in dynamic lighting conditions and this camera took on the challenge. Playback on Sony Grand WEGA 50" at 1080i was excellent. Be mindful that Cameras' used in Discovery/National Geographic are in the range of $30k - $45k. The marginal gains are un-economical for my purposes. Again, extremely pleased and would Highly recommend it. Thanks Panasonic. A+.

Forget about posting your videos to the Internet. The format it records in won't play in browsers. And there's no software anywhere that will convert it. Be prepared to wait for the door to open any time you need to take out a disk. Wait about 30 seconds. The door pops open. Insert a disk. Wait another 30 seconds. OK, so take your videos and the disk is full. Now wait again, because the disk must be finalized to play it in the camera. Want to play it outside the camera? OK. Remove the battery. Plug the adapter cord into the camera. Plug the other end into the charger. Plug in the charger. Hunt through the menus until you find the option to finalize the disk for playing elsewhere. Now wait 10 minutes for it to process. Want to transfer videos to your computer? Make sure you use the USB cord supplied. Make sure no other USB devices are plugged into your computer. Make sure you're using Windows XP. Computer won't recognize the camera? Sorry. That can happen--the camera isn't guaranteed to work with any computer.

If your looking for a HD Camcorder stay away from the AVCHD. I went with straight recommendations and now I'm stuck with video I can't get on any of my computers. I still haven't got a straight answer on how to play the disk except by using the camera itself. I shot a whole vacations full of video only for the camera to keep telling me the disks can't be read. I went to the panasonic site and the link I needed was down. I would not have bought this format had I known what I know now...but it's your money. I'm probably selling it if anyone wants it cheap.

Love the camera, but with only 17 mins of high definition available on a dvdram disk, I wish it came with a hard drive, but excellent camera for the price.

I got one a couple of years ago for pro use. 3 times the mini dvd was unformatable and I could not properly transfer my footage. I now need to get something more reliable and regret wasting my money on this. I used verbatim dvds (good quality) and about 10% could not even be recognized.

This camcorder is really good if you have a couple of extras. You need a program called ISO BUSTER which you can download online. This program allows your computer to read the disks, otherwise you can't get your files onto your computer! I also recommend Sony Vegas as a fantastically stable and versitile editing program. It's a lot like Windows Movie Maker except it doesn't crash and has a lot more features and effects. The video quality is excellent. Make sure you have a fairly fast computer for video editing but I guess that goes without saying. Stills look much better taken directly from the HD video rather than the camera function
!

I bought this camera and it works well, however there is no way to transfer the high defintion .M2ts video files it creates and then edit them using any professional non-linear video editing system. The commercial editing program I've tried, claim to be able to do that, but they fall short and lock up and crash almost immediately.

Owners of Panasonic AVCHD camcorders, such as this one, are now stuck with waiting for Sony to update it's NLE program "Vegas" that will offer universal support. Sony Vegas 7 software now supports editing files from Sony AVCHD camcorders, but not panasonic. The panasonic and sony HD camcorder AVCHD formats differ slightly.

If I had to do all over again I just buy the sony HD camera.