Panasonic HDC-SDT750

Playback (6.5)

There's a small mode dial on the side of the HDC-SDT750 that allows you to switch between playback, video, and photo modes. Playback mode on the camcorder is fairly normal: clips are arranged as small thumbnails and you tap on said thumbnails to play your video back full-screen. The only confusing thing about this setup is in its organization. 1080/50p clips aren't displayed with the 50i clips as thumbnails, and you must click on a few little icons and menu options to find them. We're also not very impressed with the VCR controls on the SDT750, which are displayed on the bottom of the LCD during playback.
 

Clips are arranged as small thumbnails in playback mode.		The VCR controls are touch-sensitive onscreen buttons.

For playing back 3D content shot with the SDT750, you must view the clips on a 3D-capable television. Depending on what 3D TV you use, the television may or may not detect the videos as 3D automatically and display them as such. We viewed 3D clips on the Panasonic TC-P42GT25 TV, which immediately recognized which videos were in 3D and displayed them appropriately. An added bonus of this HDTV was its SD/SDHC memory card slot, which allowed us to playback clips directly from that (including 3D clips), without having to connect the camcorder to the television.
 

Connectivity (6.0)

The HDC-SDT750 has the same connectivity features as the Panasonic HDC-TM700. Inside the camcorder's LCD cavity you'll find a collection of ports covered by a flip-down door. Behind this door is an HDMI terminal, a USB port, an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot, and a Multi-AV port that supports both AV and Component output.
 

The HDMi, USB, Component/AV ports, and memory card slot are all located here.		The mic and headphone jacks are up front.

On the right side of the camcorder, near the front, you'll find an external mic and headphone jack. These ports are fairly well protected by a plastic cover, but the hand strap on the right side does get in their way at times. Behind and above these two ports is another cover that conceals the accessory shoe slot. You cannot insert accessories directly into this slot, but you must instead install the slide-in shoe adapter first (then you can mount accessories to it). We like that this side-mounted slot keeps accessories out of the way from your fingers, but it is also very easy to lose the slide-in adapter... and if that happens you're out of luck until you purchase a new one.

The camcorder has no internal memory, so you'll need an SD/SDHC/SDXC card to record video.		The slide-in soe adapter is easy to lose, but it keeps the HDC-SDT750 compact.

There's one more port on the back of the HDC-SDT750, but you must remove the camcorder's battery in order to find it. When you do so, you'll see a small DC-input port that allows you to run the camcorder off of wall-power. The problem with this setup is that you must remove the battery pack in order to switch power consumption over to the AC adapter. This means if you start a long shot while on battery power, and your battery becomes depleted, you must stop recording in order to switch over to the wall-plug. It may be a minor nuisance, or an issue that isn't very likely to come up, but it is a notable problem nonetheless.

The VW-CLT1 3D conversion lens comes with the camcorder.

When considering the connectivity features of the HDC-STD750 we must also note the camcorder's 3D conversion lens, although this "feature" should be readily apparent to anyone purchasing the camcorder. The conversion lens mounts to the front of the SDT750 and locks in place by screwing into the filter thread. The conversion lens cannot be connected to previous Panasonic models (like the HDC-TM700) because the regular lens on the STD750 has two connecting slots that allow the 3D lens to fit on its front.

 

Panasonic HDC-SDT750 Comparisons
Canon HF S21	Sony HDR-CX550V	Panasonic HDC-TM700