Panasonic HDC-SD9 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
November 24, 2009 | Posted by admin 
- Capture high-definition video to flash memory; 1920 x 1080 progressive recording
- 10x optical zoom; Advanced Mega Optical Image Stabilizer
- Face detection technology; Intelligent Shooting Guide
- 5.1-channel surround sound; Zoom mic feature
- Compatible with SD/SDHC memory cards
Product Description
Use of the super-small SDHC/SD memory card helped Panasonic to create the world’s smallest and lightest 3CCD full-HD camcorder. The SD9 fits comfortably in the hand and can be used for long periods without causing fatigue. Panasonic full-HD camcorders record horizontal pixels at an HD resolution of up to 1920 pixels, which results in a total of around 2,070,000 pixels. And with progressive scanning, our hi-def camcorders provide twice as much data per picture as conventional interlace scanning. This means you get breathtaking images with exceptional resolution and detail. Combine that with a 1080/24p format, which lets you capture scenes with a rich, film-like quality, and you can see why Panasonic full-HD camcorders take visual expression to the next level. With Face Detection offered for the first time for recording moving pictures with a video camera Panasonic makes it easy to capture beautiful faces and clear backgrounds even in dim or backlit scenes. This new function, which can detect up to five faces at once, automatically adjusts the exposure and smooths skin tones according to the ambient brightness, so faces are bright and easy to see. The new Intelligent Shooting Guide function helps you get magnificent shots by displaying a text message in the LCD monitor, telling you which settings are best for the current shooting conditions. With Intelligent Selection Playback, poor or inadvertent shots (such as shots of the ground or overly dark scenes) are skipped and all normal scenes are played while viewing. Panasonic’s Advanced Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) suppresses the effects of hand shake as you shoot. The system uses gyrosensors to detect hand shake, then shifts a lens and adjusts the optical axis to compensate. This all happens a remarkable 4,000 times per second. And because the system is optical, no image quality is lost. Thanks to Advanced O.I.S., the images you capture look incredibly clear, sharp and beautiful on a big TV screen.
Categories: Panasonic | 
Tags: 3CCD, AVCHD, Camcorder, Definition, Flash, HDCSD9, High, Image, Memory, Optical, Panasonic, Stabilized, Zoom | 
5 Comments »
This is a potentially great camera but has one serious flaw, it does not import into iMovie. I have also read that is crashing other video editing software.
Check the forums at Apple BEFORE you purchase this product. Apple has stated that IF it fixes the problem it won’t be until the next software update.
No point in reviewing any further, if it doesn’t work in your editing software why bother?
Rating: 1 / 5
Please look at the iMove 08 support forum. There is a thread on the front page titled hdc sd9. There is absolutely no person who has been able to fix the crashes between the camera and iMovie 08. Apple is silent. There is hope for a fix soon, as the camera is likely to be popular. It is irresponsible for anyone to claim ANY LEVEL OF COOPERATION between this camera and iMovie 08. APPLE and PANASONIC NEED TO GET IT TOGETHER QUICK OR THIS CAMERA WILL CRASH AND BURN.
Rating: 1 / 5
The single still picture taken from this camcorder is blurred and too bright compared to the video or a picture grapped from the recording/recorded video, even on the same scene and light condition. There must be exposure defects from the product. Also the HD video has lower sharpness than Canon or Sony, and is blurred on bright spots on high contrast condition. I think the factory should recall this product.
Rating: 1 / 5
bought this camcorder a couple of days ago. Loved the crisp images in BRIGHT light. Tried to load film to imovie08 and it promptly caused it to crash. Imovie08 crashes every single time. So if you own a mac and are using imove you are out of luck. Lots of rumors about apple fixing problem in the latest update of ilife/imovie but I am not going to wait. Going to take the 15% restocking fee hit and getting something that allows me to edit on my mac. Check out the apple discussion boards and see what others are saying.
Rating: 2 / 5
After reading the other 3 reviews, I was pretty excited to get this camcorder. I was super excited when I opened the box and saw the size of this camcorder – it’s definitely a very nice small size and handles well (although the joystick is hard to use)
After I charged the battery and started shooting a few sample videos – that’s when the disappoinment started. I have a 47″ Visio LCD HDTV, and if I play the video directly from the camcorder to to the HDTV it looks pretty good – so long as you’re not shooting after the sun goes down. The problem is that’s not how you watch videos you record with this camcorder (unless you plan on buying a new SDHC for every hour of video you shoot) – you need to encode the videos.
This camcorder comes with a trial version of Pinnacle Studio 11. I encoded the videos I shot (which come off the SDHC cards as *.MTS files) using Studio 11 using a variety of formats – and they all look grainy when played back directly on my 24″ 1980×1024 LCD monitor or streamed to my HDTV. In fact, even using the ‘HD Writer’ software that comes with the camcorder (which can play the *.MTS files directly) the video looks grainy with lots of artifacts. I can’t tell if this is AVCHD or this camcorder, but I don’t really care – it doesn’t look good.
I also downloaded trial versions of Nero 8 and Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition hoping to compare their outputs with Studio 11, but sadly both of them could not import the *.MTS files that this camcorder produces – so good thing Studio 11 could.
I should point out that I even bought the Extreme III SDHC SD card that has a 20MB write speed so I could shoot video at the highest quality setting (this camcorder can encode at 17MB). Sadly, this made little difference – even shooting video outside.
The video appeared more grainy and choppy than I would expect from an HD camcorder. I upgraded from a two year old DVD camcorder – and sadly the video from this camcorder looks only ~20% better when played back on my quad-proc computer with a 1900×1080 monitor – or on my HDTV.
All in all, a big disappointment. The camera looks very cool and small – but first and foremost I want to be able to record great looking HD video – and this little camcorder doesn’t do the job. I’m going to send it back and wait for the Canon VIXIA HF10, which releases in April and has a bigger chip (1/3 CMOS as opposed to the 3 1/6 chips in this unit).
If all you’re going to do with the video you shoot is encode standard definition DVDs you’re probably fine. But if you want to encode Blu-Ray or stream high definition video to your HDTV, I’d pass.
Rating: 2 / 5