It's no surprise that Panasonic, along with competitors like Sony and Canon, are pushing the high-definition camcorder market hard. After all, we're now buying HD-Ready televisions like there's no tomorrow, so what's the point of having them if we'll only be watching standard definition video from the likes of MiniDV and regular DVD camcorders?

Along with its sister product, the HDC-SD5, the new HDC-SX5 is one of two new AVCHD camcorders from Panasonic that are designed to take advantage of our new high-def displays by offering the full 1920 x 1080 pixel high-definition resolution.

The main difference between the two models is the ability of the SX5 to use not only high-capacity SD cards but also 8cm DVD discs for recording and playback. The SX5's added ability to record and play standard definition DVD is a further bonus.

Design and layout

Unlike its small SD5 sibling, the SX5 is a large and chunky beast - and for good reason. In addition to facilitating the recording of Full HD video to SD and DVD media, it also allows clips to be copied from SD to DVD within the unit itself.

What's more, the increased functionality means that its power requirement is much higher too - after all, spinning DVDs at a consistent speed requires a lot more battery power than is needed to write to an SD card.

The result is a large Lithium-ion battery pack that juts out of the back in such a way as to get in the way of a user's nose when using the colour viewfinder during recording.

That said, it does give an impressively long operating time in both continuous and interrupted modes: we managed to get much more than the quoted 50 minutes' continuous mode time when recording to DVD at the highest HQ setting and 95 minutes to 4GB SDHC card.

The SX5 is quite cleverly designed, if a tad bulky for those users looking for a cam that can be slipped into a pocket or bag.

Its impressive glossy grey and black two-tone finish certainly makes it look the part, but it's when used on a good tripod that its mass comes in useful. With the exception of a few buttons that sit inside the 2.7in widescreen LCD recess, all the main operating controls nestle around the main multi-function Power Dial under the operator's thumb position at the rear.