Panasonic HDC-HS20

Playback (6.0)

There is a separate playback mode, activated using the mode switch on the back of the camcorder. Video clips and stills are displayed as thumbnail images, which you can select using the touchscreen. You can use the zoom toggle to view one, nine, or twenty thumbnails at a time. All the usual VCR controls are available on the touch screen: play/pause, rewind, fast forward. During playback, the zoom toggle controls playback volume. Unfortunately, you can only skip to the beginning and end of clips if you're using the remote control. To delete a clip, you use the physical button on the LCD panel instead of a touch screen button.

There are a couple of extra features that add flexibility to your playback options. You can sort your videos by date or by custom scene selection. You can also use Panasonic's Intelligent Scene Selection, which will exclude portions of the scenes that the camcorder judges to have been poorly shot (i.e. camera moving too fast, shaking too much, or focusing poorly). There's also Highlight Playback, which will attempt to choose the best parts of your recording and play only those portions. Highlight Playback also includes the ability to pull out the highlights and create a sort of slide show, with the best clips played in succession with music in the background. This is like the Video Snap feature on the Canon HF20, but much more versatile. You don't have to engage the feature prior to recording and you can allow the camcorder to select the best part of each clip. On the other hand, you are stuck with the Panasonic's four music choices (Pop, Classical, Natural, Dynamic) and cannot upload your own music to the camcorder. The Highlight Playback is certainly a handy feature, though we suggest you use editing software if you really want to make a sophisticated slide show.

There's also a bit of internal editing available: you can make simple edits like dividing a scene. There's also the ability to capture a still photo from a recorded video.

The playback interface for still photos is very similar to that of videos. You can filter a thumbnail display by date or you can create a slideshow. The menu options whilst viewing photos, however, are considerably slimmed down from what you can do whilst viewing videos: just Protect and Delete. But don't worry, you can make a pop music slide show with your photos just as easily as you can with your videos.

Connectivity (2.38)

The Panasonic HDC-HS20 doesn't have a lot of options for connectivity, but it has the ports that most users find necessary. Inside the LCD cavity, there is a small compartment with a cunning slide cover to conceal the AV, component, and HDMI outputs. Below this compartment is a separate housing for the USC port and the SD/SDHC memory card slot. We were relieved (if not overjoyed) to find that Panasonic has finally removed all of these ports from their inconvenient location inside the battery cavity. At last, we can watch playback footage on a television without removing the battery and plugging the camcorder into an outlet. Thank you, Panasonic!

The AV, component, and HDMI outputs		The SD/SDHC card slot

Now if only Panasonic would remove one last connection from that cavity, we would be content. The DC power input still resides in this hidden locale, bringing a world of inconvenience to consumers that hope to shoot long stretches of continuous footage. It's not just that you can't operate the camcorder and charge the battery at the same time—other camcorders probably have this limitation and are less transparent about the fact. The problem is that you can't change batteries or switch from battery to DC power without stopping your recording and turning off the camcorder. So, if you plan to shoot for longer than about an hour, you'll need to just stay plugged into the wall for the entire shoot. This is certainly a condition-specific complaint, but a lot of users shoot indoors, where they may want to alternate between plugging into a wall and having the freedom of battery operation.

The USB port		The DC power input

	Panasonic HDC-HS20	Canon HF20	Sanyo VPC-HD2000	Sony MHS-CM1
AV (Composite, RCA)	Yes	Yes	Yes (dock only)	Yes
HDMI	Yes	Yes	Yes (dock only)	No
Component	Yes	Yes	Yes (dock only)	Yes
USB	Yes	Yes	Yes (dock only)	Yes
Audio Input (3.5mm)	No	Yes	Yes	No
Headphones	No	Yes (shares with AV)	Yes	No
Accessory Shoe	No	Yes (hot)	Yes (cold)	No
FireWire	No	No	No	No
S-Video	No	No	Yes (dock only)	No
LANC (Wired Remote)	No	No	No	No
Card Slot	Yes (SD/SDHC)	Yes (SD/SDHC)	Yes (SD/SDHC)	Yes (Memory Stick PRO Duo)
DC Power	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi	No	No	No	No
GPS	No	No	No	No
Docking Station	No	No	Yes	No