Panasonic Promotion, HMC40 & Blu-ray Player

BobDiaz

BobDiaz

The Professor
Looks like Panasonic has a new promotion, this came in an email last night:
Panasonic’s AG-HMC40 AVCCAM camcorder is the perfect holiday gift for any video professional, because it captures amazing full HD video and 10.6-megapixel stills in a lightweight, 2.2-pound unit. And the HMC40 has just been named Videomaker Magazine’s 2009 Best Professional Camcorder.

The dual-use HMC40 maximizes your creative potential and business opportunities by recording on inexpensive SD cards. Featuring full HD resolution imagers, the HMC40 records for up to 12 hours of AVCHD video on a single 32GB SD card, or in its 24Mbps PH mode**, up to 3 hours of 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 video, delivering images far superior to HDV. And unlike HDV tapes, SD cards can be randomly accessed and immediately played back on a growing number of affordable consumer playback devices.

You’ll enjoy a fast, file-based workflow and professional features such as time/date stamp, manual focus, optical image stabilization and more. The HMC40 has no moving parts in its solid-state recording system and is backed by a 3-year limited warranty***.

The AG-HMC40 combines the capabilities of two professional cameras in one powerful package and at an amazing low price of $2,295 (list price). And from now to January 31, 2010, get a free Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player with SD slot (a $199 value) with AG-HMC40 purchase.
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If you click on the link for more information, you go to a page that says,
From now to Jan. 31, 2010, receive a free Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player (a $199 value) with a AG-HMC40 purchase.
...
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http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...d=361001&catGroupId=112502&surfModel=AG-HMC40


I'm a bit unclear how one get the Blu-ray player. Is it you buy the camera, register, then get it???


Interesting promotion....


Bob Diaz
 
I saw this promotion about two weeks ago at B&H. The BD60 can be found for about $120 on the Net. It has an SD card slot and can play AVCHD from the card.
 
From what I could tell poking around, you get the player via the mail after you register. Sadly, if it's anything like the free P2 by mail promotion they did a while back, be prepared to wait a while...

That said, the cheapest Blu-Ray player is still around $90, so it's not a bad deal.
 
wannabeapilot said:
man i got mine at the end of november :(
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I understand your frustration there's always a cut-off where a person feels that they should have waited.


Depending on where you search for the price, Amazon says the Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player costs $127.49 and Best Buy says it costs $149.99. Not a bad promotion.


Bob Diaz
 
Cranky said:
I saw this promotion about two weeks ago at B&H. The BD60 can be found for about $120 on the Net. It has an SD card slot and can play AVCHD from the card.
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 I'm not 100% sure, but I think it can only "play" still photos from an SDHC card (pretty useless as far as the HMC40, since the stills are pretty weak). If it can indeed play AVCHD video from an SDHC card, I'd like to know (and would probably get one in pretty short order). Has anyone actually played AVCHD video, from an SDHC card, on the BD60?
 
I have the BD35, which is the predecessor of the BD60. They both can play AVCHD clips straight off the SDHC card. Be forewarned, however that the Panasonic Blu Ray players do not reverse telecine or deinterlace the footage. So if you have 24fps footage in a 60i wrapper (ala GH1), then the players will play back interlaced footage which looks awful.
 
Camera Expert said:
Both B&H and Amazon has reduced the price to $1849.00
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Don't forget us! :) New add to cart price on the 40.

Just a heads up -- Amazon is not an authorized US dealer, which means cameras purchased from them are not eligiable for the rebate or the extended warranty.

Jasmine Moore
Administrative Assistant
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858 (US)
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
jasminem@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com
 
BobDiaz said:
B&H is, so I assume you'll match their price, correct?


Bob Diaz
Click to expand...

Doesn't look like it. I tried the "add to cart" to see what price would come up, and got $1895 + shipping. (In addition to having a lower price, B&H is shipping the HMC40 free as well.)
 
I read the PDF (from B&H's site) for claiming the BD60, and it doesn't say anything at all about purchasing from an authorized dealer being required. It does say that the HMC40 must be an authorized US product though, so as long as Amazon isn't shipping gray-market imports, it shouldn't be a problem to claim the BD60 when purchasing an HMC40 from them.

Also, I can't find anything (even in the user's manual) to indicate that the extended 3 year warranty requires purchasing the HMC40 from an authorized dealer. The only condition I can find anywhere, is registering as a user with Panasonic to get the full 3 year warranty (1 year if not registered).
 
B&H is an authorized dealer, but I looked and couldn't find anything to indicate that purchasing from an authorized dealer is really necessary, which kind of surprised me.
 
B&H is an authorized dealer, Amazon is not. The warranty repair center requires a copy of your purchase invoice if you send your camera in for repair, as does the rebate form. Just something to think about.

Come on, guys, if you're concerned about our pricing give us a call! There will be a real human to talk to, not a prerecorded message (remember: we are on Eastern time).

Best,

Jasmine Moore
Administrative Assistant
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858 (US)
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
jasminem@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com
 
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