Sanyo's new Xacti DMX-HD1 camera maintains the same form factor as previous Xacti cameras, but kicks the resolutions up to 720p. There's a bit of an added bonus for 5G iPod owners: videos recorded in "Web-HQ" can be transferred to and played from your iPod. Furthermore, the camera can record at 60 frames per second, which I believe is pretty rare for a consumer-level camera. Hubba hubba.

Sanyo Electric Corporation will release the "DMX-HD1," which can record MPEG-4 video at 720p, as the new model in the "Xacti" movie camera line in late February. Its price is 126,000 yen. An SD card is not included. Production for the first month is planned at 5,000 units.

While maintaining the same body design as the Xacti C series, the new camera supports the recording of 720p video. The format is MPEG-4. SD card is used as a recording medium, and cards up to 2GB can be used. Sanyo said, "It seems that it can also recognize 4GB cards formatted with FAT32, but basically, we'll only officially support cards that conform to the upcoming 'SDHC' standard. Also, if the card isn't a High Speed model or a card that supports high speed writing/reading, videos cannot be recorded in high bitrate modes."

If using a 2GB card, roughly 40 minutes of 720p video can be recorded. The external dimensions of the camera are 80 x 36 x 119mm (W x D x H). The body alone weighs 210g. When recording, it weighs 235g. Since the DMX-C6 measures 68 x 23 x 108mm (same) and weighs 140g/159g, this camera is bigger and weighs more than the C series.

Recording modes range from HD-SHQ (1280 x 720, 30fps, 9Mbps) to Web-HQ (320 x 240, 15fps), and when using a 2GB card, respective recording times from 28 minutes 45 seconds to 7 hours 39 minutes.

The camera contains a 1/2.5 CCD with a whole pixel count of 5.36 million (5.1 million effective). It is equipped with a new lens made by Konica Minolta, and under 35mm calculations, has a focal range of 38mm ~ 380mm and 10x optical zoom. Its F value is 3.5. Under Macro mode, the focal distance can be as short as 1cm. It is also equipped with electronic stabilization, and set to be available is a 2x tele lens and 0.6x wide lens. The price of each lens is 7,500 yen.

The recording format is MPEG-4. Videos recorded in Web-HQ can be transferred to/played from a 5th generation iPod. Also, while the newest model in the C series, the "DMX-C6," offered a feature that would create interim fields in video recorded at 30fps and play them back at 60fps, the HD1 can record at 60fps. However, this is only when using 640 x 480 TV-HR mode; 720p cannot be recorded at 60fps.

Videos that are recorded at 720p can be cut-edited in the camera itself. Included is a cradle-style docking station, and through a special cable pass D4, S-Video, Composite, and stereo audio output. The USB 2.0 Video Class is also supported, so using an SD card reader or USB cable means recorded video files can easily be transferred to a PC.

Ulead's "MovieWriter 4.0 SE" DVD authoring software and "PhotoExplorer 8.5 SE Basic" video/still image management software are bundled. Also included is "Motion Director SE 1.1," which can correct shaky video and create panorama images.

While recording video at 720p, still images can be recorded. The camera features the newly developed "Platinum Engine" image processing LSI that also functions while recording video. Still images can be recorded at resolutions from 640 x 480 to 3680 x 2760. 1 coma in 0.2 seconds, with a maximum of 3 images is also supported. A popup style flash is on the camera.

Other functions include "Talking Navi," which informs users of the camera's status and gives warnings, "Wind Noise Reduction" for reducing wind noise, and a voice recorder function that can last as many as 33 hours. Included with the camera is a remote that can control recording/playback, a docking station, AV cables, and AC adapter.

The "DB-L40" (1200mAh) battery is included and is lithium ion. It has a larger capacity versus the existing "DB-L20" (720mAh), and allows for about 60 minutes of continuous recording or 150 minutes of playback.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060111/sanyo1.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4/0601news-j/0111-1.html