Photos: Panasonic's HDC-SD9, as simple as ABC(NET)

FYI, the name game can be a confusing one in the gadget world. HDD -- hard disk drive -- and HD -- high definition -- are easily mixed up. SD cards and SD -- standard definition -- are even worse. Panasonic has only gone and launched an HD camcorder with both 'HD' and 'SD' in its name: the Panasonic HDC-SD9. Not to be confused with a space station sitting on the edge of a wormhole -- that's DS9 -- the SD9 is one of the smallest 1,920x1,080-pixel shooters going.

We first met the SD9 at CES. We decided to get this small and light HD camcorder in for review, PDQ. It's very small indeed at just 65 by 67 by 126mm. The sloping profile fills your hand at the back, so controls are in the right place for even the biggest fingers.

It records AVCHD footage and boasts three 1/6-inch CCD sensors. These each record a separate RGB colour -- red, green or blue -- which is intended to record more colour information to give richer colours than a single sensor.

There's more acronymity in the feature set, including advanced OIS -- that's optical image stabilisation to you and me -- keeping footage steady and blur-free. Face detection is also included and scene modes such as portrait, sports and surf and snow. How well these work will be tested in our in-depth review, ETA ASAP.

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 is available now for £420. Click through the photos for an HDMI surprise, an interesting fact about Pakistan and possibly even a LOL or two. -Rich Trenholm

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