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Camcorders

Record HD video to hard drive, BD, and flash

Few things work better for getting consumers to adopt a new format than making it convenient. Hitachi's follow-up to its DZ-BD7HA Blu-ray camcorder does just that. Along with being able to record videos and stills in full HD (1,920x1,080) to a 8cm BD/DVD drive (that according to Hitachi is 20-percent quieter), you can capture "up to 4 hours 20 minutes of 1,920x1,080 video or 8 hours 40 minutes of 1,440x1,080 video onto the built-in 30 GB HDD." There's also an integrated SDHC slot that'll let you record video … Read more

Canon ups bitrate, adds storage in fall AVCHD camcorders

No, you're not experiencing déjà vu. The iVis camcorders Canon, Inc. announced on July 22 have been reannounced by Canon USA, plus one. There are a few differences this one. For one, we've got a review of the HF11 all ready for your perusal. For another, we here in the U.S. get an extra, more expensive hard-disk-based model than in Japan. And finally, we've got real American pricing and availability info for all.

The HF11 is a higher-end linemate for the popular HF10; it adds a higher bit-rate 24Mbps recording mode and an … Read more

Review: Sony Handycam DCR-SR45

It's probably not good when the bulleted features for a camcorder don't include anything about video quality or the components used that would suggest that the camcorder has good video quality. Such is the case with the Sony Handycam DCR-SR45. Sony's Web page for the SR45 lists hybrid recording (it'll store video on its 30GB hard drive or to Memory Stick Pro DUO cards), built-in zoom mic, Quick On button, a 40x optical zoom/2,000x digital zoom, and 2.7-inch touch panel.

To be honest, along with its ease of use and compact size, these … Read more

Bouncing around with a ball-shaped camcorder

Another day, another ball-shaped device. But this time, it's not a digital still camera. It's a camcorder that's smaller than a ping-pong ball.

The DVR CamBall hails from Korea, and housed within the tiny physique are all the necessary components for capturing 320x240- or 640x480-pixel video clips. It has an SD memory slot to expand the capacity to 8GB.

All in all, it is a fully functional digital camcorder minus the LCD screen for framing or playback.

It doesn't help that we don't understand Hangul (the Korean writing system) and the page doesn't have … Read more

Sanyo's flashy Xacti HD700 follow-up adds a megapixel

And the mini-camcorder cavalcade keeps rolling on. Well, in Japan at least. Sanyo premiered its latest HD pocket-corder, Xacti, Wednesday in Japan. The DMX-HD800 records at up to 720p at 30fps in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, and does so with an improved 8MP CMOS sensor.

There are some other tweaks to the specs that you can view on Sanyo's Japanese Web site (Google translated for your pleasure), but all-in-all it looks like another decent offering. (Though, personally, I find the gold and pink colors a bit too "look at me, I've got a camcorder.") The DMX-HD800 … Read more

Sony Handycam DCR-SR45 does entry-level right...so far

Announced back in January, Sony's Handycam DCR-SR45 standard-def camcorder is the entry point for the company's hard disk drive-based (HDD) camcorders. As I mentioned Friday we're wrapping up our review of the DCR-SR45, but I wanted to give you a quick rundown of what to expect from this compact camcorder in case you're in the process of picking out a camcorder with a street price around $400 (far be it for me to hold up your summertime video recording).

So far, what I like about this camcorder is its size (3x3x4.4 inches), weight (12.3 … Read more

HDD camcorders: More storage equals more opportunity to lose precious memories

Earlier in the week we posted a review of the JVC Everio GZ-MG330, a good, basic compact camcorder with a 30GB hard disk drive (HDD) for recording anywhere from around 7 hours to nearly 40 hours of digital video, depending on quality mode. We're also currently testing the Sony Handycam DCR-SR45 that similarly offers copious recording times on a 30GB hard drive (check Crave on Monday for a testing update). Both models also come in step-up versions with 60GB capacities. More storage space, especially in the case of fixed-media camcorders, is great since it means longer recording times.

However, … Read more

Canon updates AVCHD flagship camcorders

Canon today unveiled two new AVCHD camcorder models that will be available in Japan in September for the Japanese equivalent of about $1,300. The iVis models--the overseas version of the Vixia brand--will include an addition to the HF line of flash-based camcorders and a replacement for the HG10 hard-disk based unit.

The HF11 is a higher-end line mate for the popular HF10; it adds a higher bit-rate 24Mbps recording mode and an increase to 32GB built-in flash memory, up from 16GB. The hard-disk-based HG21 has the same innards as the HF10/11 and gets a boost to the 12x … Read more