Is the HDC-HS300 Panasonic's best HD camcorder yet?

Does Panasonic's latest HDC-HS300 prove that AVCHD has at last come of age?

Make no mistake, 2009 is the year of AVCHD. It's taken a couple of years to really get the new high definition format implanted into the consciousness of digital video users, but thankfully the take-up of HDTV displays has helped companies like Panasonic, Canon and Sony enormously when it comes to gaining that all-important critical mass for HD camcorders.

The current new crop of AVCHD models from Panasonic is further evidence that HD has now taken a grip on the market, with a range of product offerings designed to entice everyone from the complete beginner to the dedicated enthusiast.

The HDC-HS300 is aimed very much at the latter. It's a superbly featured 3MOS (three MOS imaging devices) camcorder that has just about everything a user with around £900GB to spend will want - manual controls, mic input, dedicated headphone output, 120GB hard disc drive as well as a SDHC memory card slot, touch screen LCD control and much, much more.

In short, it seems that Panasonic has packed it with the kind of features we've asking for since it first introduced AVCHD in late 2006. How does it handle? How does it perform? Do we like it?

You'll have to read the review to find out.

Claim your free 6GB SDHC Memory Card with this Panasonic camcorder at Amazon.co.uk

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