Footage faff
The 1080/50p format the HDC-SD600 records can be a
prickly beast, however, when it comes to doing anything other than
viewing it back via the camcorder itself. Plug the unit into a lovely
big 1080p telly via
HDMI and you'll be able to enjoy your top-quality recordings in all
their progressive glory. But pop out the SD card and stick it in a laptop or games console and
you might be less happy with what you see.
Even a relatively powerful PC may struggle to play 1080/50p footage smoothly without the correct software. We tried a number of different media players with varying results. QuickTime couldn't open the files at all, Windows Media Player stuttered throughout, and even good old VLC had a tough time -- and this was on a quad-core computer with 8GB of memory.
Only Nero Showtime and the supplied HD Writer AE 2.1 software were able to facilitate smooth playback of our 50p test clips. Likewise, editing can be awkward without first converting your recordings to another resolution or format, since few applications support Panasonic's take on 1080p.
This is a situation that may change very soon, however, as software updates could be released to accommodate Panasonic's codec, and in the meantime there are workarounds. It's also not an issue that affects any of the HDC-SD600's standard 1080i recording modes, which can also produce some images of excellent quality.
It's a shame that the old issue of HD video format incompatibility has to raise its ugly head again, just as the world was settling into AVCHD. But it's really the only problem we have with the SD600. If you were to press us, we might admit to being mildly annoyed by the cramped and occasionally awkward touchscreen control system. We are slightly miffed by the absence of a bundled HDMI cable -- but it's a problem in no way unique to the SD600.
We could also raise the point that, as mentioned earlier, colours can sometimes come across as unnaturally strong. In many respects, this comes down to a matter of taste. And in any case, it's only something that affects full auto mode and can usually be corrected by setting the white balance yourself. Apart from these eminently forgivable issues, there's honestly not a huge amount to complain about here.
Conclusion
The fact that Panasonic has produced a camcorder
with such high capabilities at such a low price point is something of a
marvel in its own right. We'll admit that £600 is still a considerable
slice of anybody's disposable income, but if you care about quality and
you're not too worried about full manual operations, we're sure you'll
find it easy to look past the HDC-SD600's minor drawbacks.
Edited by Nick Hide
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realspeed 28 November 2011
Good: excellent video quality for me TV standard
Bad: connecting to external DVD writer which has to be mains powered, hard to find
Comment: I am please with it overall, it fits nicely into a coat/trouser pocket. The disk that comes with it takes some getting used to and downloading video files takes a time as they have to be converter first. Best done via camera which cut down transfer time. Wind noise can be a problem and there is no way to cover the mic although there is a built in program to reduce it.
Just been to Egypt on a cruise and gave it a good test in bright sunlight and in evening entertainment on board. The camera performed exceptionally well in both lights even though I only used auto settings.
Would I recommend it yes, but suggest going for the SD700 instead for the external mic fitting
Malcolm McDonald 2 December 2010
Good: Build Quality, Remote Control, Manual and Automatic Focus
Bad: Edge Enhancement,
Comment: I bought the Panasonic SD-600 after glowing reviews, it seemed to be the perfect camcorder for my needs, as a home cinema fan with a large 104 inch full HD 1920x1080p projection setup, i tend to notice issues on formats like blu ray and i write reviews for my own website on such issues.
I have now had this camcorder about five weeks and i have unfortunately spotted it's achilles heel, The camcorder sharpens edges, it doesn't matter if you set the sharpness to -5 or 0 it sharpens the edges which results in annoying halo's, an example of this is someone wearing a dark coat against a white snowy background, check the outline of their body and you will notice a thin line around it, that's the sharpening effect in play.
Edge enhancement should never be used on high definition content as it results in very unpleasant image quality and introduces problematic things such as halo's around buildings and people. it's often noticeable in high contrast area's where you have darker objects with a light background, it is so annoying, now i know a lot of people cannot notice these types of issues and thats why DVD movies sold so well, most DVD's are riddled with this issue but HD content is supposed to be detailed enough to not need sharpening, why it's on the Panasonic camcorder i cannot say but it's a major flaw, it's the only major flaw with the camera but it's a huge one.
In my opinion most of the perceived image detail on this camcorder does in fact comes from the sharpening effect, it's not real detail, real sharp high definition detail does not require sharpening, it's an illusion and unfortunately it's cost me a lot of money to find this out.
I am very disappointed with this camera, i cannot live with edge enhancement, halo's are just ugly and not what you expect with high definition material.
Christos Horattides 20 July 2010
Good: Video quality and great stills!
Bad: For less that £80 more , you can get TM700
Comment: Great for shooting video and stills for family events or travelling.And this is what I usually do. I got rid of my TZ5 (gave it to my children) and I take stills with my SD600.
The problem is that although the tag price shows that it is £200 cheaper than TM700, you need around £120 to get a 32Gb SD card (No memory is supplied with the camera) when TM700 has already a 32Gb SDD. So don't be fooled by the tag price. It's NOT that cheaper from the TM700.
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