Location:Home » Photo & Camera » All Digital Camcorders » Panasonic HDC-HS9 AVCHD 3CCD 60GB Hard Drive High Definition Hybrid Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Great little cam/cameraJuly 26, 2008 1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love this piece of equipment. While it is expensive; I got a great price at Amazon.com compared to going to Best Buy. Versatile and easy to use with beautiful sharp video and snapshots which I paired with a Panasonic Viera HDTV and my video life will never be the same.
Buy GREAT electronics Panasonic - NEVER A SONYqJuly 26, 2008 1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have always purchase Sony camcorders but the last few years Sony has become very bad quality and breaks down all the time. I am so pleased and very happy with my new Panasonic camcorder. I have never had a Sony camcorder that could perform like this new Panasonic.
I recommend Panasonic and this camcorder. Also recommend NEVER to purchase any of Sony junk products.
Great camera especially for the cost.June 19, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Love it. The only "bad" thing is how grainy it is when recording inside without a lot of bright light. But from what I've read and heard most are this way.
Great camera, now fully Mac compatible!June 11, 2008 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
As some of the earlier reviews have pointed out, this awesome little camera suffered from lack of support in Apple's editing applications like iMovie 08.
Well that's all in the past. With the release of OS 10.5.3 and QuickTime 7.5 a few days ago, the HDC-HS9 (and the non-hard drive HDC-SD9 as well) are now fully compatible. You can easily import and edit your HD movies in iMovie, in all the camera's formats.
I love this camera. My only complaint is that spare batteries are absurdly expensive. Other than that, it's fantastic.
Taking it backMay 9, 2008 10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've had this camcorder for almost a week, and like any new gadget, I've been using it quite a bit. Here are my thoughts.
It fits great in the hand and is easy to handle. It has a small size for a Hard Drive camcorder and easy to shoot and hold. Image stablization works well and the zoom is good.
BAD: I played the video on my plasma, and while the footage I shot outside was beautiful - the clips shot inside were very soft and in some instances pixelated - even with the interior lights all turned on for max lighting. The room I was shooting in has multiple windows and lots of natural light, so this should've not been an issue. These clips didn't live up to the moniker "High Def." From what I've learned from several blogs, this is something to expect to some extent from many consumer camcorders - even HD versions. That would probably be tolerable, but what I didn't count on is that the footage shot with this camera crashes Final Cut Express 4 and iMovie. I'm no techie, but from what I've been told Panasonic does something a little extra to the AVCHD format that iMove and FCE can't abide. There are work arounds, but I'd rather just use a camera that doesn't require workarounds. This has been documented on multiple blogs, which I should've consulted before making the purchase....I have Macs at the house, and the included software doesn't work with Macs. SO - I'm taking it back and will probably exchange for the Canon Vixia HF10 which I've read good things about. If you're not a Mac user and don't use iMovie or FCE for editing, this is a pretty nice option. Otherwise, get ready to learn workarounds or buy a non-Panny camcorder.
