Advertisement

Highly defined video

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0

Sanyo, which pioneered the ultra-portable camcorder segment with its Xacti line, has unveiled the VPC-HD1 - the company's first attempt at supporting high-definition (HD) video.

A key advancement in the camcorder market is the adoption of HD video (1,280 x 760 pixels), which provides more than twice the resolution as regular VGA video (640 x 480 pixels).

Many new camcorders from the likes of Sony, JVC, Panasonic and Sharp now offer HD video support.

Not only does the Sanyo model offer better video quality, but it does so at a list price of US$800 ($3,200), which is about half of the price of other HD video-enabled camcorders.

The big compromise for the lower price is that Sanyo's model records video with MPEG-4 compression, as opposed to that MPEG-2 standard used by its peers in the HD category. Most of its rivals use MPEG-2 because the technology enables clearer video footage. According to Sanyo, the VPC-HD1 will record video at a bit rate of 9.3 megabits per second (Mbps). Its rivals record video at 25 Mbps.

Part of the reason for Sanyo's decision to use MPEG-4 likely stems from the fact that it generates smaller files. The VPC-HD1 uses SD cards for memory storage, so MPEG-4 would enable more footage to be captured.

The use of SD cards has kept the size of Sanyo's Xacti series small and ultra portable.

Advertisement