CES - Bert Desmond, Panasonic
Bert Desmond talks about a new consumer camera from Panasonic that records HD video. There are a number of very nice features on this camera including being a 3CCD camera. But one of the cooler features is that it does this recoding not onto a tape, but onto a SD card.
Full Transcript:
Bert Desmond: My name is Bert Desmond and I am the Vice President of our optical
group here at Panasonic.
Benjamin Higginbotham: We are looking at this nifty new AVC-HD camcorder. Can
you tell me a little bit about what that is?
Bert Desmond: Well, it’s a really great new introduction to high definition
recording for the average consumer. It has an optical image stabilizer, it has
3-CCD image capacity which is gonna give you the best quality video and it also
has long zoom at 12 X. In addition it will record with 5.1 channel surround and
has what we call as zoom microphone, which allows you to captures the
center channel, focus on center channel when you are zooming and then when you
pull back on your zoom, at that point you are getting the full effect of 5.1
again.
Benjamin: That’s cool.
Bert Desmond: So very unique product
Benjamin: So, what make this camera unique or little bit different than the
current high definition cameras out there, in the consumer round at least, is
that there is no tape, No HDV tape?
Bert Desmond: No tape, no disk.
Benjamin: No tape, no disk, no moving parts, what you record on to?
Bert Desmond: Well you record on standard SD card.
Benjamin: How much room can I get recording HD on to an SD card?
Bert Desmond: That’s a great question, I am glad you asked it. We are
incorporating and including a 4 gigabyte SD card with the product. With that
card you are gonna have 3 recording modes available to you. You will be able to
record at either 30, 60 or 90 minutes, plenty of time.
Benjamin: I assume that’s like a quality setting, so 30 minutes will be
the absolute highest quality, you can get and as you have to determine what you
are looking on quality or time?
Bert Desmond: Yes, correct.
Benjamin: Alright, it seems like it’s a perfect mobile blogging camera.
Its small, its portable, is that what is target market is or who did you
design this camera for?
Bert Desmond: Oh, we actually designed this camera for the average consumer, who
is looking to capture high quality home video for their enjoyment and make it
easier for them to take it where they wanna go and not have to sacrifice on
quality. In addition with the SD removable media, it’s the easiest way to move
your memories directly from the camera right to a PC.
Benjamin: So, speaking off, what can I edit my media in?
Bert Desmond: Well there is an editing being worked on right now by Pinnacle. We
should hear some announcement soon from them in regard to that.
Benjamin: Okay, so Pinnacle being part of Avid at this point, the consumer
group?
Bert Desmond: That’s correct, absolutely. But I want to make one more point
which is very-very important and that’s that our select plasma televisions, you
can remove the card right from the camcorder and stick it right in to the plasma
display and enjoy true high definition quality directly from the card, directly
to the plasma, its very easy.
Benjamin: I am a home user and I just got an recording of my kids birthday party
and I wanna show the neighbors next door, I just take that SD card right out of
the camera, pop in the plasma and hit play, no editing, no nothing just straight
up right on the screen full high definition quality?
Bert Desmond: That’s correct, how great is that.
Benjamin: That’s pretty cool too. So is that on Panasonic plasma is only
that have a SD cards or …
Bert Desmond: Yeah only select models of Panasonic plasma.
Benjamin: What’s the target ship-date and price point for this device?
Bert Desmond: We will be delivering this to the market in early April and right
now we are targeting it at $1,499.99
Benjamin: That includes that 4 gig SD card.
Bert Desmond: That’s right.
