Panasonic and Sony have jointly announced a brand new HD digital camcorder format called “AVCHD”. The AVCHD format will allow recording of SD and HD footage onto already available 8cm Mini DVDs. It records using the popular H.264 codec for video and AC-3 or PCM codec for audio. So is AVCHD going to be a success or a big fat flop?
In terms of video resolutions, AVCHD supports 480i, 720p, and 1080i. Video is captured at 18Mbps, less than the 25Mbps of standard DV footage. However, the H.264 codec is a much more effective codec, so we may see an equal or even superior image quality. Footage is recorded at a 4:2:0 sampling rate in an 8 bit format. Also, 24p is supported!
Depending on the settings, audio can be recorded using 5.1 or even 7.1 surround sound. Bit rates range from 64-640kbps for AC-3 encoded audio to 1.5Mbps for PCM.
What’s the obvious downfall to this new format? It uses the good old 8cm DVDs that current camcorders use. Take that 18Mbps data rate and divide it into a 1.4Gb disk and you get a whopping 11 minutes per disk. I mean come on… I predict good wow factor but poor response.
However, if they make the footage easily editable and start pumping out some dual or triple-layer 8cm discs I could probably be persuaded otherwise. Only time will tell.
