Panasonic will introduce a consumer handheld 3D camcorder Wednesday morning at the company’s media event at the U.S. Open.
The company is officially launching its new 3-year partnership with the U.S. Open by working with CBS Sports to produce the first-ever 3D coverage of the tennis tournament.
The company is also expected to introduce a lens adaptor that will allow for extreme close-ups in 3D, something that has been a challenge to date since the two lenses for 3D are too far apart to be able to capture the same object between them up close.
The very next day on Thursday, Sept. 2, Panasonic is also partnering with Verizon FiOS on the 3DTV production of the NFL preseason football game between the New England Patriots at the New York Giants.
Update Sept. 2: Panasonic’s new consumer 3D camcorder is the $1,400 HDC-SDT750, to be available in October. It has a removable dual-lens 3D conversion attachment which turns the 2D AVCHD-standard (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) 1,080p HD unit into a 3D recording system. The 3D content can played back by connecting the camera to a 3D-capable HDTV with an HDMI cable or by inserting an SD card with 3D content into the appropriate slot on a 3D HDTV or a Blu-ray player connected to a 3D TV.
The unit records side-by-side, right- and left-eye 3D video at 960 by 1,080 pixels, but it cannot zoom while in 3D mode since that would require the lenses to pivot individually in order to maintain the correct perspective for 3D recording.
— By Scott Hettrick