With all of the incredible technological announcements at CES, it is hard to stand out from the crowd. Even so, when Panasonic announced that it would be releasing a camcorder that could shoot in both 2D HD and 3D HD using an interchangeable lens adapter, we just had to see it to believe it. The camera has a Full HD 3MOS sensor, can film at 1080/60p, has a manual ring, a 20x zoom, and a 3.5 inch touch-screen LCD, and 32 GB of internal memory. Of course the camera also has the ability to record on an SDXC card for hours of 3D video. Instead of listening to us go on about its features, take a look at the camera in the video below and judge for yourself. There is no price set for this product.

2,700 companies with more than 20-thousand products were on display at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and the Videomaker staffers had a hard time narrowing down their focus. This year’s show had a record 140-thousand attendees, which proves good for the economy, but difficult for personal navigation.

Videomaker editors Dan, Scott and I, along with sales staff Isaac and Terra and our CEO and founder, Matt York, all braced ourselves for the battle while Susan, Julie and Derek held the fort at home. Julie, Derek and our intern Jackson, have been feeding you news when available, and you’ll be reading about more in the upcoming weeks.

But for today, our first day back in the office and still reeling from the trip, I’ll provide you with a bit of color cometary and share some of the fun before we get into too much serious stuff.

Sure that I was an inch taller than when I started the week due to blisters and callouses, I approached my last meeting of the event with trepidation. I received a vague text message to meet some guys in the back of the convention center for a ride to a “demo.”

5 other journalists and I were taken to a gun range for the demo – a test to see if we could destroy a rugged portable hard drive. And we did try.

Robb Moore, founder of ioSafe, had a message he wanted to share with anyone who uses a computer for important data – back it up. And protect it. Moore designed his products to do just that – protect your data, regardless of water, fire, major catastrophes and clumsy people.

Last year, Moore showed off the ioSafe SoloPRO desktop drive, a tough-as-you-can-get drive sealed in a steel case. (Read Videomaker’s Reveiw of the ioSafe SoloPRO.) Moore threw the SoloPRO in a fire pit, dropped it from an extreme height and drove over it with a tractor – all to prove a point that these drives can take a beating. (See BBC’s report here.)

In this year’s demo, the drive in question is a small portable drive of the kind video producers might take on location. Due to its weight, the drive, in ioSafe’s Rugged Portable line, can’t take extreme fire conditions like the SoloPRO, but that’s not its purpose. It’s made to go in the field and work in the field and survive in the field despite clumsy videographers carrying enough gear to challange a pack-mule, who also shoot in all sorts of climate and conditions while still trying to maintain good footage.

Fun and games aside, the purpose of the demo was to show that the drive is very rugged, and can stand up to nearly anything. Since it’s a portable drive that is perfect for the on-the-go video-shooter, (no pun intended), it needs to be tough, and to withstands the little drops and ‘oops’ we throw at gear in the field. This “Full Metal Jacket” design is light-weight, made of titanium or aluminum, runs 3.0 and price starts at $150, depending on size, which can range from 250GB to 1TB.

So, to the demo we go.  Moore took a few photos of our gathering at the American Shooters Range with Jerry spotting for safety, then loaded the photos onto the drive. He then first demo’ed the drive’s water-tight ability by dunking it in a water-filled fish-tank, then after drying it off with alcohol and canned gas, he plugged it into a laptop and the data was still good.

Then he aimed a shotgun at the drive, hanging 30 feet away, and plastered it with pellet craters, and the drive still produced data. Shooting it once was kind of interesting, but he then let the journalists have their hand at trying to destroy the device. One by one 5 guys and I shot at the drive, and it continued to stay tough and the data safe.

Finally, we all opened fire on the drive with an M16 machine gun. Chris Foreman, of ars technica clipped it, breaking the drive apart. The drive finally met its match and wouldn’t load up, but Moore did some on-site data recovery, and lo and behold, the data was still intact. After that, the rest of us got to shoot the machine gun at the drive, and I drilled it - yes, that hole was done by me, Jennifer A.K.A. Annie Oakley.

Of course, more than one M16 shot at the drive is probably going to destroy it, but no one plans to go to these extremes to damage a hard drive.

So, why the theatrics? Because we’ve all done it – moved or deleted files stupidly, or had a drive fail unexpectedly, and now that camcorders aren’t shooting to videotape but to drives and cards, somewhere someday, that data might disappear unless it’s backed up.

ioSafe has backup plans that promise a 99% chance of recovery, and when recovery goes to extreme measures, this can cost you in the thousands. And that’s nothing to joke about.

Check out the reports of Chris Foreman of ars technica, Steven Mostyn with The Tech Herald and Nick Barber of IDG News Service . They are quite fun and entertaining.  I had a simple point-n-shoot camera with me and wasn’t able to collect the best footage. After all, when you’re told you’re going out into the desert in a long low black car with darkened windows accompanied by 7 men, you don’t want to lug a bunch of gear around, just in case you need to high-tail it out of there in a hurry! On the other hand, that “drive” proved to be a very interesting story. Watch for more product reports and stories from the 2011 CES show all week.

Sony’s HDR-TD10 is the world’s first “Double Full HD” 3D consumer camcorder.  You read that right, “Double Full HD”! The camcorder employs an integrated dual lens system, which includes two of each key component – double Sony G Lenses, double “Exmor R” CMOS image sensors, and double BIONZ image processors.

The dual recording system allows 3D content to be recorded in 1920×1080 Full HD resolution and viewed with 3D active glasses on 3D-capable HDTVs or in Full HD 2D on non-3D displays. All 3D footage can also be played back without glasses on the camcorder’s 3.5-inch Xtra Fine LCD 3D touch screen. Other innovative features include, 10x optical zoom with Optical SteadyShot image stabilization with Active Mode and iAUTO are offered in 3D mode. With 64GB of flash memory, the HDR-TD10 will be available in April for about $1500. It looks like 3D might actually be here to stay with this latest offering from Sony.

Panasonic introduced three new Full-High Definition (HD) 3MOS camcorders to its 2011 line, the HDC-TM900, HDC-HS900 and HDC-SD800. The new full-HD camcorders feature 1920×1080 resolution with 1080/60p recording to create crisp, detailed videos, and can also shoot 3D videos when used with Panasonic’s optional 3D Conversion Lens.  Incorporating Panasonic’s 3MOS system – an advanced technology used in professional-level equipment– the new camcorders record bright, low-noise videos, even in low lighting. Other top-of-the-line features include a manual ring (TM900/HS900 only) for increased creativity, a 20x zoom and an intuitive 3.5” touch-screen LCD on the TM900 and HS900.

With the 3D conversion lens, users can take video recording to the next level and record 3D images with Panasonic’s new line of 3MOS camcorders. Once recorded, consumers can play back the 3D images or video on a 3DTV.

The HDC-TM900 and HDC-HS900 feature 3.5” LCDs, while the HDC-SD800 features a 3.0” LCD. Not only do the models include wide screens, they are now easier to use with advanced touch operation that allows for extremely smooth shooting and playback, with new touch operation functions.

At the heart of Panasonic’s advanced processing system is the high-sensitivity 3MOS sensor with 7.59 million effective motion image pixels (2.53 megapixels x 3). The 3MOS sensor separates light received through the lens into the three primary colors – red, green and blue – processing each independently for professional-like color quality, detail and gradation.

The new models also feature the Crystal Engine PRO, which instantly processes the large amount of data that goes into full-HD quality for extremely clear, crisp motion images. The improved Crystal Engine PRO increases sensitivity and reduces noise by 45 percent compared to Panasonic’s conventional models, resulting in brighter images with minimal noise when shooting under low-light conditions. Intelligent Resolution technology ensures sharp, beautifully colored motion images, while Intelligent Zoom enables high-powered 20x zooming, correcting the image degradation that occurs in ordinary digital zooming.

Pricing and availability for the Panasonic HDC-TM900, HDC-HS900 and HDC-SD800 camcorders will be announced 30 days prior to shipping date.

Every once in a blue moon, there are so many changes in current video technology that I feel it is worth my time to imagine what the future with this technology will be. Now I know it’s usually a rookie error for someone to write about what’s coming in the future since it changes just about every minute of the day, but honestly, it’s too fun not to try.  Besides, when the pace of technology only grows more rapid with time like it has, it’s probably a good idea to throw one’s hands up and realize that time will most definitely make anyone who dares to presume about the future look foolish.

There was a time when a person could buy a piece of technology and expect it to be at the relative top of technological advancements for almost a year, but alas, those days are far behind us. This is not all bad however. Even though I might have to endure buyer’s remorse within a week of having bought a new piece of video equipment, I also know that by the time I buy my next camera or computer I will have already seen the good and the bad of two generations worth of technology. This means that I have a great chance at buying a real solid piece of advanced equipment by the time my old one wears out. Plus, nothing beats that feeling of knowing you finally have the ability to do what others around you have been doing for years. In light of these facts, let’s take a close look at what is coming around the corner in the world of camcorder technology.

Everyone knows that the more megapixels in an image, the sharper and clearer it is. Given these facts it is exciting to note that Canon recently announced that they have developed a sensor that can pick up 120 megapixels of data in one image. This means there is definitely 13,280×9,184 pixel images in our future. With this kind of clarity, you may actually be able to take a picture of the Eiffel tower and zoom it in to see your friend’s face clearly from the top. Unless you’re making a billboard there may not seem to be a valid reason for a 120 megapixel image for now, but with rapid advancements in the space on hard drives, the better question might by why not?

We truly live in an advanced age in which camera companies are putting video functions in their DSLRs. With this revolution, camcorders suddenly went from sensor sizes of 5 mm or less, to sensor sizes of 24-35 mm or more – not to mention the addition of interchangeable lenses. While this has been a real boon to image quality and shallow depth of field capabilities, some camcorder companies are not satisfied with just that. Instead, companies such as RED are making sensors that are 186×56 mm across allowing video shot at 28K and stills shot at a whopping 261 megapixels. Now granted, there are no televisions in the world that can view the entirety of a 28K film and there isn’t even a 28K camera out yet (as RED loves to tease with information well before they actually produce a product) but you can rest assured that the day is coming. Already we’ve seen 4K and QuadHD televisions at tradeshows like CES with resolution so fine that you can count the amount of noodles in the Ramen a man is eating far off in the background of a scene.

Even the camera and camcorder companies are beginning to give us a glimpse into how they see the future. We reported in an earlier blog that Canon believes the future will hold cameras that can go from macro focus to 500 mm zooms all with one lens while taking such high resolution video that you can simply use a frame from the video and zoom and crop it in Photoshop on your computer at a later date. While this sounds fantastical, at the rate that technology is changing now, it’s not hard to imagine that a camera like that is not too far off in the future. Simply put, there seems to be enough demand for higher end products – and technology is quickly catching up. So here’s to hoping that it’s only a matter of time before pictures and video become so high in quality that it almost won’t matter how wide you shoot a scene – it can always be scaled up and cropped later.

People love entertainment. The technological developments over the last decade have not only proven people’s desire for entertainment, but the demand to access it from anywhere at any time. Though it was possible to watch movies, surf the web, and visit video sharing sites from a laptop or cell phone, there always seemed to be something missing – live TV.

Mobile Digital Television became a reality at CES this year. The first devices for television-from-one’s-pocket were being demonstrated by manufacturers and broadcasters. Some of the devices being offered to consumers include the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook, Samsung Moment Mobile Phone from Sprint, LG Mobile Digital Television, and Tivit (an adapter for current Wi-Fi Phones and Laptops).

Though the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) announced way back in October 2009 that they had approved a television standard for mobile recievers, and now the devices exist to make that a reality, mobile DTV is not yet readily available for everyone. Earlier this month the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) announced that they would be launching a consumer showcase to gauge the interest in Mobile Digital Television. The lucky folks in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area will get the first taste of live TV from anywhere their hearts desire.