Stay up-to-date  / latest developments in video technology

We keep this as a permanent page and add the latest features of MiniDV (tape), DVD, HDD, Flash Memory (card / fixed) and professional video.

Use this information along with the ‘sales’ info on our website to buy your next camcorder.

DVD specific (latest features)
Choose the media you want with multi-format ease. Some can record and play DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL, DVD-R discs and SD/SDHC Memory Card. With the DVD-RAM disc, you can record again and again on the same disc, up to tens of thousand times. You can record repeatedly on DVD-RW discs as well, and they are well-suited to editing. While you can record only once on DVD-R DL/DVD-R discs, they can
be played back on almost any kind of Blu-Ray player or recorder, you can record on whichever kind of disc works best for you.

HDD specific (latest features)

Disc capacity up to 120GB and more

General features,can apply to all camcorders (depends on brand and model)

• Three 1/5-inch CCDs for full HD recording

• Smooth slow Record
  A high-speed recording - and a slow-motion playback option is particularly attractive to videographers who plan to shoot video for sports training. Fast motion 300 frames per second recording, with the ability to slow down the playback afterwards is useful for analysing your golf-swing or other things too fast for the human eye to detect. In addition, you record an audio track to narrate the video footage.

• Cinematic Mode Perfect for creating your own movie masterpieces, Cinematic mode lends a 24 frame film-like effect to your recordings.
• Face Detection technology for video and still images
• widescreen touch-panel Xtra Fine LCD screen
• 5-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor Technology)
• Dual Record While recording video in High Definition you have the ability to capture still images directly to Memory.
• Face Detection technology recognizes up to 8 faces anywhere in the frame and automatically controls focus, exposure, and color to help capture smiling faces brightly and clearly. Face Detection also helps make skin tones look natural without affecting other colors in the image.
• Optical image stabilization
  The optical stabilization system reduces blur caused by camera shake and vibration, so your images stay crisp and clear. This optical stabilization system achieves an even higher level of smoothness without the image degradation that can occur with some digital stabilization systems.
• Tele Macro Function Images shot in the Tele Macro Mode help your subject stand out by properly focusing the subject while leaving the background unfocussed. Using the zoom at full magnification, you can shoot macro close-ups while maintaining a distance of 60 centimeters from your subject. This makes it much easier to capture extreme close-ups without your body or camera casting a shadow on the subject and while keeping the background in soft focus.
• HDMI connectivity provides a simple, high-quality video and audio connection, with the ability to transmit HD video and 5.1-channel audio directly from the camcorder to compatible HDTVs via a single cable.
• Switchable HD/SD format recording Record and play back both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video.
• One-touch disc burn Easily burn a DVD copy of your footage using the supplied software. Simply connect the camcorder to your PC via a USB cable and press the One-touch disc burn Button.
• Web Camera Function With the camera connected via USB cable to a PC, start up Windows Messenger and the camera instantly turns into a web camera. Ideal for teleconferencing over the Internet, or for surveillance camera use.
• Surround sound Experience real presence in sound with camcorders have five microphones which separately record sounds from the front, sides, and back. When played on a Dolby Digital 5.1-channel home theater system, the resulting sound is incredibly lifelike. When zooming in on a subject, the sound also focuses on the area right around the subject.
• Super NightShot Infrared System With the Super NightShot Infrared System, you can capture video in total darkness (0 lux) up to 10 feet away.
• Dual-format AVCHD/MPEG-2

About AVCHD

"AVCHD" is a new high-definition (HD) digital camcorder recorder format (Advanced Video Codec High Definition). The format employs MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) codec for video compression, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) or Linear PCM for audio codec. This makes it possible to develop HD camcorder recorders which achieve compact size as well as high-quality video HD video images onto 8cm DVD media or SD/SDHC memory card. It is used in some of the world's most innovative electronic products such as laptop computers, MP3 players, PDAs and cell phones.