Samsung announces VP-HMX10A HD flash camcorder

Samsung's serious about HD camcorders, and is bringing the gear to IFA to prove it. Its new VP-HMX10 HD camcorder records 720p H.264 video with a 10x zoom to an SD (and hopefully, SDHC) flash card. Apparently Samsung is also launching an integrated memory version dubbed the VP-HMX10A, which has 4GB of storage built in, SD expansion, and a 3 second "Quick Start" so you never miss the action. What's the German word for hotness?

[Thanks, James]

[Wojtek @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:38AM]

Geil!

[camdigg @ Sep 5th 2007 9:00PM]

WoW!!! The perfect camcorder, Samsung HMX10!!!
I want to buy this camcorder.
Flash animation about HMX10…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=imbtmfU862U

[Twitchy @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:44AM]

Scharf wie Pfeffer!

BTW, what's this little beauty going to set me back?

[Dan @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:46AM]

£500 for the VP-HMX10 and £550 for the 4GB VP-HMX10A, no 'apparently' about it. Both out next month.

http://stuff.tv/news/samsungs-camcorder-threesome

[Jesse S @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:53AM]

Flash? AKA shit quality. Consumer HD cameras suck already, even with MiniDV. HD ON FLASH?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I laugh at the idiots that buy this expecting good quality video.

We went over this last hd-camera post, I think that one was about a blu-ray camera. Same Jesse S here.

[martin @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:06AM]

@Jesse

Please tell me where's the connection between storage medium and quality? Digital is digital, on SD(HC), HD and miniDV. You say that miniDV sucks? I'm sure you're wearing a 10 kg Pro-Cam on your shoulder to make a holiday movie.

[Jesse S @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:14AM]

I'm not saying MiniDV sucks. It's the best format avaible on camers unless you spend a shit load on it. And you have to digitize MiniDV, it's not digital (unless I am an idiot in that department.)

But basically, the bandwidth on SD MiniDV cameras is already maxed out. So, to fit HD video on the MiniDV tape for the same amount of runtime, it has to be compressed more. It's not lossless compression, so you lose data (unless you spend a crap load of money, SD MiniDV is compressed too, but HD is worse).

Flash and HDD cameras have even LESS bandwidth, so the video has to be compressed even MORE. That means HD has to be compressed even more, again.

Consumer HD, flash, and hdd camers have really terrible quality compared to SD cameras, of even the format. And anything less than MiniDV is even worse.

[Michael @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:57AM]

MiniDV is digital all the way. 1's and 0's recorded to tape.
But I'll give it to you that the compression is greater and the quality is technically less. But remember that we're dealing with newer compression formats like H.264 versus old compression formats. Even though they are compressed more the visual quality is still good. What's more important here is the lens and the chips signal to noise.
I'm very excited about these kinds of cameras. Non of these camera companies are going to give us uncompressed consumer cams, so you have to lower your standards. When you do, they're actually kinda nice for what they are meant for.

[Rob @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:10AM]

Hmmm. VHS tapes have no compression. DVDs, HD-DVDs and Blu-ray all have compression. So, by your logic, VHS must be better quality than all these other formats, since higher compression means lower quality, regardless of advances in compression technology.

Seriously, Jesse, compression is just one of many elements that make up the overall (subjective) issue of quality. There are plenty of high-end HDV cameras being used for pro productions. And a high-end HDV camera uses the exact same compression ratio as a lowly consumer HDV camera. So when you say "Consumer HD cameras suck already, even with MiniDV," and then in another post say it's all because of the compression, then you're saying every HDV camera sucks, since HDV cameras all use the same compression. I don't agree with you that all HDV cameras suck, neither would a lot of pros. And what's with all the name-calling? It makes you look twice as stupid.

[maniu @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:12AM]

Jeesse S.

I disagree with you!! I love flash, hate tapes!!. Why the hell you think you cant fit hd on flash?!! 8gb i more than enough for home movie. With proper compression you can fit 720p 5.1 movie on standard dvd with excellent quality. Beside, i radder copy past than record from this stupid tapes. One down side is that you cant buy sd card every time you ran out of memory(Yeah you can:) but its not to cheap:P)

[Jesse S @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:21AM]

You completely misunderstood what I said.

You CAN put HD on SD, or any other format you like. But it is highly compressed. It just does not look good.

Think of a flash or HDD camcorder as a cameraphone. It looks like shit, but it can look good.

[humpty @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:54AM]

Its using the AVCHD codec @ 720p.. so, it should be decent quality if you have a non-1080p native set... the limiting factor here are the optical specs, processing, and single imaging sensor.

This seems like its aimed at the soccer mom who just wants HD.

[Infinityv @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:09AM]

I'd be interested in this, not everyone is looking to spend 1.5k on a camcorder and imo theres nothing wrong with flash.

[kombizz @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:31AM]

don't mind to use the SD card if it properly works.
http://www.ephotozine.com/u30254/gallery/676443

[Jonathan @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:50AM]

@kombizz why do you keep spamming the comments with photos of some random accidents?? What's up with that?

[humpty @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:52AM]

I'll hold out until someone offers a 3ccd (or cmos), 1080p 24fps, 64+ gb SSD camcorder... all for under $2k.

[Dan @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:43AM]

These were out on show last week in London at PlayBite - already well covered everywhere else. Been caught napping there have we, Engadget?

[Rob @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:22AM]

People are such believers in the quality of 3-chip cameras, and so a bunch of manufacturers have been throwing these at consumers. Problem is, the chips are so tiny they don't perform well at all. Rather than just clamoring for 3-chip cameras, attention needs to be paid to the size of the chips. Just look at recent consumer camcorder ratings and you'll see cameras with one big chip are outperforming cameras with 3 small chips.

[DanDurand @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:08PM]

I'd be interested in this cause it looks small enough to conceal on my person and light enough not to make a difference.

I often go on day hikes where I wish I could bring my camera gear but I'm not about to lug my HVX up and into the Santa Monica Mountains.

And even compressed flash HD would be superior to my old HI-8.

[Mike Odizzle @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:20PM]

I think the literal transliteration for 'hotness' in German would be 'heissighiet' or something to that effect. Geil actually means denotatively 'horny.'

[Twitchy @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:45PM]

'Geil' does mean 'horny', however it has in recent years been increasingly used in colloqial language as a worthy expression for 'seriously cool' or 'extremely cool'.

[Bob @ Sep 25th 2007 12:16PM]

"Hot" auf Deutsch ist "heiss". If I remember my oh-so-long-ago college German.

First, the sensor has to have the resolution. It needs to be large enough to catch a lot of light on each of those pixels. *Then* worry about the compression. GIGO.