{"id":112151,"date":"2010-02-12T18:34:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T23:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schubincafe.com\/?p=1539"},"modified":"2010-02-12T18:34:08","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T23:34:08","slug":"panasonic-3d-camcorder-show-us-the-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/2010\/02\/12\/panasonic-3d-camcorder-show-us-the-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Panasonic 3D Camcorder: Show Us the Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 3D-in-the-Home “supersession” at next week’s HPA Tech Retreat, one presentation is titled “Are You Nuts<\/em>?” \u00a0I thought of that at today’s Panasonic pre-NAB press conference.<\/p>\n

\"BT-3DL2550_SLANT

Panasonic's $9900 BT-3DL2550 monitor uses passive cross-polarized glasses<\/p><\/div>\n

\"AW-HS50_front

The Tiny AW-HS50 HD switcher includes a multiviewer<\/p><\/div>\n

Let me emphasize from the outset that I was not<\/em> thinking about Panasonic in the “nuts”\u00a0category. \u00a0As best I could tell, no one from the company lied, which is my highest praise at press conferences. \u00a0No one avoided questions. \u00a0There was legitimate news (such as an inexpensive P2-to-USB adaptor, two tiny HD switchers, and a small HD pan-tilt-zoom camera optimized for IP networks). \u00a0I also think Panasonic builds good equipment.<\/p>\n

\"panasonic_fullhd_3d\"<\/p>\n

No, the people I thought were nuts were some potential customers for something the company sort of unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), an integrated (one-piece) 3D camcorder (shown above) to be delivered this fall at a list price of $21,000. \u00a0Panasonic said it had received thousands of inquiries about the product, some seeking to buy it sight unseen.<\/p>\n

It was those blind-faith customers that I think are nuts. \u00a0Here’s why (and also why I said Panasonic only “sort of” unveiled the product at CES):<\/p>\n

The camcorder has twin zoom lenses. \u00a0What is their widest angle? \u00a0Their tightest? \u00a0Panasonic representatives at the meeting didn’t avoid the question; they said it hadn’t been determined yet.<\/p>\n

The camcorder will be capable of some amount of stereoscopic convergence. \u00a0How much? \u00a0Again, it has not yet been decided. \u00a0Also undecided, for this one-person, compact camcorder, is whether or not there will be any mechanism to tie convergence to focus.<\/p>\n

One Panasonic representative did<\/em> point out that the spacing of the lens centers is smaller than that of an adult human’s pupils and will not be getting bigger. \u00a0Based on a rough measurement I made, it appears to be about 57 mm. \u00a0That puts an outer limit on the maximum diameter of the lenses, which, coupled with the fact that the system uses 1\/4-inch-format image sensors, means it will not be the most sensitive camcorder on the market.<\/p>\n

When a journalist at the press conference inquired about using the camcorder for cinema content, a Panasonic representative emphasized that it had those 1\/4-inch-format image sensors. \u00a0He got high points from me for that answer.<\/p>\n

\"tinySo what is<\/em> the intended market? \u00a0At $21,000, it seems priced too high for most consumers. \u00a0At CES DXG showed a pocket-sized $400 3D camcorder (shown here to the left) with a 3D viewfinder (something Panasonic’s AG-3DA1 lacks), albeit non-HD and with much<\/em> smaller lens-center spacing.<\/p>\n

In the professional, HD realm, 3D-One offers four 3D camcorder models, all with nominal adult-vision lens spacing, 3D viewfinders, larger image sensors, and specified lenses and convergence. \u00a0Their CP-20 is shown below. \u00a0I wrote about them here in September: http:\/\/schubincafe.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/walkin-in-a-camera-wonderland\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"3D-One<\/p>\n

At the press conference, Panasonic indicated receiving inquiries ranging from dental to military applications, including sports. \u00a0But a 57-mm lens-center spacing doesn’t lend itself to long-distance 3D shooting in a sports venue.<\/p>\n

So, who is really<\/em> interested in buying what Panasonic says will be a made-to-order product? \u00a0At the press conference, the company announced a way to find out. \u00a0Starting today, they will accept orders for this device of unknown optical capabilities, but each order is to be accompanied by a non-refundable <\/em>$1000 deposit.<\/p>\n

Panasonic hopes to learn much from this first-generation product. \u00a0Maybe we all<\/em> will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 3D-in-the-Home “supersession” at next week’s HPA Tech Retreat, one presentation is titled “Are You Nuts?” \u00a0I thought of that at today’s Panasonic pre-NAB press conference. Let me emphasize […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10736,10748],"tags":[11024,69,2861,10892,11025,11026,11027,4641,11028,11029,315,116],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}