The Official Panasonic HDC-SDT750 3D Camcorder thread - Page 3

The 750 is a nice consumer camcorder with a gimmick. On the other hand, the HPX370 can record in different broadcast standards, none of which support 60P.

The lack of a 60P mode does not make the 370 inferior. Put their two images side-by-side, and the better lens, sensors, and control will record a better image.

So what are you calling a gimmick, the 3D lens or 1080 60p. You probably meant the 1080 60p but you'll probably respond by saying both. I'm sort of neutral when it comes to 3D out of the TM700 since it's using half the resolution.

Speaking of 1080 60p, you'll find a whole bunch of videos on line with people recording in 720 60p and slowing it down and starting off with 1080 60p is far better. Plus 1080 60p is really a native format for 1080p TV's than 60i.

I'm not entirely convinced of that. It's true that the AVC-intra 100 codec with its 100Mbs bitrate is superior to the AVCHD 28Mbs, and the high quality Fujinon lens has better optics. But once you have experienced the incredible fluidity of native 1080p at 60hz, then 1080i becomes visually inferior. And after spending more than $10000 on a professional camcorder, someone should have that capability at their disposal IMHO. I guess Panasonic would have to upgrade their AVC-intra codecs to support that speed though...

You can get the SDT750 from B&H for only $1,119 and that includes the 3D lens and the full warranty. Why so cheap you ask?, well, it's an open box item so it could have been a display model. For anyone's who's interested, I'd call and see what's the story behind it before you purchase it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Camcorder.html

Panasonic got some videos up on YouTube that "tries" to educate the viewer into how to use the SDT750. Their are 4 parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvRMDCyJQR4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wECQ48t4RZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDNVVDMi41s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_UK5y-HtBM

I'd say release they should also release the TM750 outside Japan for the people who'd rather have built in storage than 3D.

A good deal of the 3D you see in the theaters may be considered "professional", but it's quite often not real 3D. After James Cameron's "Avatar" (which wasn't just filmed in actual 3D, but Cameron collaborated with Sony to design a new 3D camera that actually did 3D correctly, based on how your vision works -- it's nice to have that kind of budget on a film), everyone scrambled to deliver films in 3D. Sadly, most of those were already in production, in 2D. So they used various algorithmic tricks to try to fool you into thinking there's 3D. That's usually what delivers the cardboard cutout look... software splits things up into "background" and "foreground" from the 2D originals.

So yeah, a consumer 3D camera might actually produce better results.

I'm not so concerned about that, as the fact that 3D has become such a gimmick for the CE companies. I spent a good 3 years building a fully functional HDTV toolchain: cameras, software, Blu-Ray writer, HDTV, etc. I started out pretty early, too, so I've been through two HDTV disc players (the first was an HD-on-red-laser DVD player that could play my videos authored to WMV9 or DivX-HD, but few commercial discs), several camcorders (including a TM700 and an HMC40), three HDTVs (the first generation TV died, replaced four years ago with a 71" DLP, and last summer, one for the kids), etc.

I'm not ready to go through that all again, just to get something fairly questionable. To start with, the television: I think active LCD shutter glasses are going to be rejected by the public, and fairly soon. I was kind of sad that Mitsubishi went that way with their DLPs, even though a DLP could support polarized 3D and use passive 3D glasses... same principle (and in fact, same tech -- most theatrical projectors are DLP) as you get in the theater. I'm pretty much going to wait for that problem to be solved before diving into 3D. Curiously, Sony did an upgrade to Vegas Pro that now supports 3D editing. Equally curious, no support for 3D Blu-Ray yet in DVD Architect... not sure they have a plan for what you want to do with 3D. Guess they just wanted to be able to say "we had it first". Sony as a company, of course, is all about the 3D: they did a PS3 update for it, they're pushing 3D TVs and Blu-Ray players, they'll probably have a camcorder or two at CES in January. The industry as a whole is looking to replicate that upgrade cycle I described for HD, now for 3D. And once that's done, in 5 years or so, they'll be ready to push 4K. That's one I'll probably buy into (though they'll need the PS4, and multi-layer Blu-Ray discs)...

Yeah, that's fairly interesting for small devices. I think it's essentially some spin on the lenticular overlay system, which has been in use for 50+ years.

Folks may recall this from the "3D" or "motion" postcards you could buy at your local boardwalk, or probably other tourist traps. Or if you got into stereoscopic photography back in the days of film... a friend of mine did, and the photos were printed this way (you could also get them printed as pairs, for a stereoscopic viewer, but the standard way was a flat photo with a plastic lenticular lens over the top). This worked, but a bit fuzzy.

3M may have found a way to make this look "clean", and not get weird for non-3D material. We'll see.

I haven't tried it, but I'll bet you the lens would technically work on the TM700. The SD750 detects the presence of this lens, and tweaks the software to produce whatever version of a TS file it's making with the 3D information included. The TM700 would produce a stereo pair on a normal 1920x1080 frame... it would have no knowledge of the 3D lens. You would need support in your NLE to turn this into a proper stereo output of some kind (for example, MVC on Blu-Ray).

I've been using this cmaera for about 10 days and it's nice. It definitely has some restrictions, here's a brief review I posted some place else with some thoughts on what makes the best 3D footage.

Having shot footage ranging from dancing kids to canal locks and contact juggling, I think the best thing to do to get a good 3D effect in your footage is to make sure there is something in the 'sweet spot' (between 4 and 10 feet) of the camera, and something in the background. I tried to do different things with creating multiple levels of depth, but I think the most optimal situation is to have a close subject and a pretty bare background.


When I watched the world cup soccer this summer, I noticed that wide shots aren't really ideal for 3D, but when the camera got down to the field level with players close to the camera, that's where 3D shone.


Also, I think people expect things to pop out of the screen when they think 3D. This, unfortunately, is not something you should expect to happen very often when shooting 3D footage. It's like real life, how many times do you really see things coming right into your field of vision? Unless you're a baseball pitcher, of course. I tried to get some effects like that by placing my 3D camcorder between two jugglers and them tossing their clubs right past the camera (I was a little nervous about that), but even then, I find that the default zoom distance of the SDT750 to be a little too close to be ideal. However, when I shot someone doing contact juggling with one of those crystal (polyester) balls, the effect was out of this world. Similar when I taped someone juggling 5 balls on the ground and I was standing on a table looking down, that was great as well.

So, I still think 3D film is very situational. I don't want to call it gimmicky because I do agree it adds a whole new level to watching video/tv, but it really depends on the context of what you're filming.


I think I'm going to visit a fencing school next and see if I can get some good footage there.

The SDT750 now costs $1,252.39 at Amazon brand new.
Definitely a much better price than $1,399.95 which is what B&H is still selling it for.

I guess Panasonic is still nervous about bringing the TM750 over to the US. For sure that would have caused the TM700 to go from $750 to $700 by now.

For people who usually use EBAY, it might be beneficial to get the SDT750 at Amazon and sell the lens if you want the updated stabilizer. This is what I might do.

This link has a picture showing some of the details. The 2.9 and 9 inch LCDs are apparently already in production and may be what is in the Nintendo 3D device according to a number of websites. Part of the idea here is that the LCD at this size is not much more expensive to make than a regular LCD panel, and of course, there is no expense for glasses. The basic idea is to send different images to the left and right eyes so fast that it registers as one 3D image (120 MHz) if viewed at the correct distance. And if you move out of the sweet spot, you apparently see a normal 2D image without blurring.

http://thirdmagazine.com/2009/11/03/...-your-display/

What's the easiest way to share 3D footage with other 3D TV owners? I tried to copy the mts file to another SD Card but looks like VieraTools needs additional meta data that's located in different locations on an SD card. What can I change the movie format to that will allow it to be read off an SD Card without having to worry about menus and such?

It now costs around $1,200 so like I said before, if you can easily sell the lens, you could get a good deal out of this new camcorder.

If I was at the right site, your company have it for $1,075.00. That's a remarkable deal for a brand new camera.

So if I was able to sell the 3D lens for $450, the final price of the SDT750 is now $625.

Still, CES is very close.

Folks, I've been holding off on buying the TM700 and noticed the HDC-SDT750K is very comparable in price on Amazon. Is the HDC-SDT750K the 2011 version of the TM700? Is it an "upgrade" and any reason not to jump on the HDC-SDT750K now? Thanks.

It is an upgrade from the 700 in that it has the new hybrid OIS, the same as in the 900. Compared to the 700, there is no internal memory. So, performancewise in 2D the 750 is perhaps better than the 700, and you get the 3D lens (which of course) you can take off.

The reason to act now is that I am sure the production of this camera has stopped and there will be no more soon.

Can someone confirm if the fan noise issue has been resolved with the 750?

I think it's almost the same although the cooling system on the TM900 is different.

"I think it's almost the same although the cooling system on the TM900 is different."

Could you provide the evidence for these assertions? On what basis do you "think" it's the same, and where do we get the info on cooling system changes?

Thanks, this can be very useful.

I placed the order today. Then read the posts regarding the fan noise. Thats a bummer. Can someone tell me if the noise is audible in recordings using the built-in mics ?

Also, what the extension of the files it creates ? Can I upload and view those files on utube ?

Can I play those files on my PS3 ?

I should have asked all these questions before.

If you are worried about fan noise, you should use the audio manual capability of the camera (something Sony camcorders do not have). In auto mode there is auto gain control. This pumps up the voume in quiet settings. Thus, when the fan is potentially audible - which is in quiet settings - the agc amplifies whatever noise there is. In standard manual audio if things are quiet the recording is quiet. Many of the reports of hearing fan noise recorded are from users using the auto audio mode. Setting the audio levels manually is good technique even if there is no fan - you get the full dynamic range of the sounds - quiet stuff is soft, loud sounds are loud. Turn off agc and set the levels to -12db. There are meters to tell you if teh sound is too loud or too soft.

Thanks for the info on fan noise.

Are you referring to the production of the 750 that has stopped or the 700? I thought the 750 just came out in 2011.

I have no need for 3D and the lack of internal memory doesn't bother me as I prefer having cards anyways. So is $779 something I should jump at for the 750?

The TM900 replaces both the TM700 and the sd750; that's why the prices for the latter two have come down a lot.

The 3D lens is an accessory you can sell on eBay. With the 750 you get the upgraded stabilziation over the 700; if you can sell the lens it will be very much cheaper.

Thanks for your help. I just ordered the 750 and will try to sell the 3D lenses online.

I still haven't purchased the 750 yet since no local store has any.
A question I have is will I be able to remove the SD card and just download the files to the computer through a card reader, then do editing through software?

I don't want to connect the camera to the computer.

Yes you can, the camera comes with HDWriter Software that allows you to import the video from the SD Card to your PC. Roxio will also allow you to do this, as would any other software that can process AVCHD clips I would imagine. Or you can just copy all the files over, including thumbnail and index data that gets stored on the card.

OK thanks
I think I got to quit thinking and just buy the dam thing.

I see BH photo says the 750 is discontinued.
Panasonic site says its backordered.
Any idea whats up