Panasonic HDC-HS20

Audio Features (2.5)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 comes equipped with a built-in 5.1 channel surround sound microphone. Surround recording uses four discrete microphones, two front-facing and two rear-facing, then digitally creates a composite fifth channel. It's a good piece of technology for recording decent sound, but Panasonic has once again placed the microphone right on top of the camcorder, where stray pinky fingers can easily muffle or scuff the microphone. Larger hands, especially, will find it difficult to stay out of the way for clear sound recording.

The top-mounted microphone can be easily scuffed by stray pinky fingers.

This is a shame, since the HS20 does not come with an external microphone input or accessory shoe. You'll have to rely on the built-in microphone and just concentrate on keeping your fingers clear. On the bright side, Panasonic offers a surprisingly robust set of audio tools for this little built-in microphone system. This is the same tool set that was available on last year's HDC-SD100 and HDC-SD9, minus a couple of features. The microphone can be set to either Surround or Zoom and levels can be left to auto of controlled with a combination of AGC (Auto Gain Control) and manual settings. For trickier sound situations, Set +AGC mode allows you to lower or raise the decibel levels in order to keep the levels out of the red zone. Set +AGC gives the user a screen containing levels for 2 front, 2 back, and 1 centre microphone. A decibel meter is located in the centre of the screen, allowing you to adjust the sensitivity from -30 to +6 decibels. While recording, a small level meter appears on the screen in the lower-right corner.

There's also a wind cut feature for dampening some of the stray background noise caused by a blustery day.

The Set +AGC tool on the HDC-HS20 is nearly identical to the one from last year's HDC-SD100 (pictured above).

Other Features (4.5)

Faders
Nothing says early '90s like the excessive use of fades. The HS20 doesn't offer a large variety of cheesy fade effects; like most consumer cams, choose between a normal black or white fade. You can always use post-production editing to get the PowerPoint-like dissolves and wipes.

Auto Ground Standby (AGS)
To prevent 45 minutes of dizzying soil and ant documentation, turn on Auto Ground Directional Standby. When the HDC-HS20 is left recording and the camcorder senses that it has dropped below its normal horizontal recording level, it will automatically shut off. This will save you battery life and precious space on your memory card.

Pre-Record
Pre-Record constantly records three seconds of footage that is stored to an internal cache. The moment you hit the record button, the three seconds before you hit the Record button are added to the beginning of your clip. As long as the camcorder is pointed towards the action, it will compensate slightly for your slow reflexes.

Quick Start
You can activate this feature in order to get the camcorder open and recording a hair faster than normal. We're not sure this is much of a feature to brag about—most camcorders these days power up and start recording very quickly. Pre-record is far more likely to help you out in a pinch.

Video Light
The HS20 has an optional video light that you can set to on, off, or auto. You won't get a lot of illumination from this tiny lamp, but it may help you out in a pinch. If you're searching for how to activate the light, look inside the LCD cavity. This is one of the few physical buttons located outside the touchscreen menu interface.