Sanyo unleashes two iFrame compatible Dual HD camcorders
By Laura June 
posted Oct 14th 2009 12:48AM
posted Oct 14th 2009 12:48AM
October 13, 2009
Chatsworth, CA, October 13, 2009 – SANYO North America Corporation (SANYO), today introduces its high-end Dual Cameras, the VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A, as the world's first camcorders to offer compatibility with iFrame, a next generation video format designed specifically to allow users to easily import, edit and share high quality videos. SANYO's Dual Cameras have always been at the forefront for compatibility with computers as well as online applications and networking. The two models announced today feature the iFrame video mode, which records in the same format used to edit on a computer, dramatically speeding up the processes of importing, editing and sharing movies across multiple platforms and devices. These camcorders will be available nationwide through national and regional retailers beginning October 13, 2009, with a suggested retail price of $599.99 for the VPC-HD2000A and $499.99 for the VPC-FH1A.
"SANYO is proud to be the first manufacturer to offer camcorders that are compatible with the iFrame video format. This format offers a major breakthrough in reducing the time it takes for consumers to import, edit and share high quality video," said Tom Van Voy, General Manager of the Consumer Products Group for SANYO North America. "In addition to this new video format, our Dual Cameras also offer the ability to shoot 8-Megapixel photos as well as a number of video modes, including Full HD 1080P/60fps, making them the perfect choice for sharing high quality movies with family and friends, for video bloggers or budding videographers."
iFrame is a computer-friendly video format that has been specifically designed to simplify the process of working with video recorded from a camera. With iFrame, the video recorded in the camera is in the same format that will be used for editing, which means that importing video is fast and file sizes are small. This translates to quick and easy editing and sharing of movies across multiple platforms and devices. This new format can also be used with both Mac and PC compatible applications due to the use of standards-based technologies such as H.264, AAC, MP4 and MOV.
The HD2000A and the FH1A Dual Cameras are automatically programmed to default to the iFrame mode for ultimate ease of use and convenience to the user. In addition to the iFrame video format (960 x 540), the cameras can record in High Definition 1080P (1920 x 1080), as well as high speed video formats for slow motion playback. The two new models are nearly identical camcorders in two different body designs. The HD2000A is in SANYO's signature vertical form factor while the FH1A is a traditional style camcorder shape (horizontal).
Dual Cameras conveniently record photos and videos to SD/SDHC media cards (sold separately) and are thumb-operable for key functions, with separate video and photo buttons for easy switching between shooting video and photos. Unlike conventional camcorders, there's no need to switch modes, enabling the capture of those once-in-a-lifetime moments as the cameras can take both stills and videos simultaneously. Main Features: VPC-FH1A and VPC-HD2000A These highly advanced cameras not only offer a standard 1080i (interlaced) format (recording at 60 fields per second), but with the SANYO proprietary CMOS engine, recording is also available in an impressive 1080p (progressive) format, offering ultra-smooth, professional-looking 60 frames per second. The cameras also offer 8-Megapixel still photos, sequential shooting, and a number of modes including macro photo capability.
Other Features include: -- iFrame video format H.264 960 x 540 (30fps) -- Full 1080p HD Video (60fps) -- 8-Megapixel Digital Photos and High-Speed Sequential Shooting (12fps) -- High Speed Recording/Super Slow Motion Playback (240/600fps for 1/4 or 1/10 playback) -- 3-inch wide LCD Monitor (FH1A), 2.7-inch wide LCD monitor (HD2000A) for HD Playback -- 10x Optical Zoom for photos -- 16x advanced zoom (more area included than standard zooming, 160x digital zoom) for video -- Digital Image Stabilizer (Movies & Stills) -- 'Face Chaser' technology (up to 12 faces) for photos/videos -- HDMI Output (FH1A); HDMI Digital Interface via Cradle (HD2000A) -- Optional lenses: Tele, Wide, Semi-Fisheye -- External microphone input (HD2000A) -- FH1A and HD2000A are available in Black -- Cold shoe mount for external light or microphone (HD2000A)
iMovie, Mac, and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Works with iMovie logo is a trademark of Apple Inc. The iFrame logo and the iFrame symbol are trademarks of Apple Inc.
For more information about the SANYO: VPC-HD2000A, please visit http://us.sanyo.com/VPC-HD2000A VPC-FH1A, please visit http://us.sanyo.com/VPC-FH1A About SANYO SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. is a multi-billion dollar, leading company for energy and environment, providing solutions for environment, energy and lifestyle applications based on its brand vision 'Think GAIA.' SANYO North America's Consumer Solutions Division (SANYO North America is a subsidiary of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.), based in Chatsworth, California, is a service and sales division that markets digital projectors, digital still cameras, digital media camcorders, home appliances, security video equipment, audio systems, portable and mobile electronics. For more information on SANYO, please visit http://us.sanyo.com. Source: SANYO North America Corp.
Chatsworth, CA, October 13, 2009 – SANYO North America Corporation (SANYO), today introduces its high-end Dual Cameras, the VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A, as the world's first camcorders to offer compatibility with iFrame, a next generation video format designed specifically to allow users to easily import, edit and share high quality videos. SANYO's Dual Cameras have always been at the forefront for compatibility with computers as well as online applications and networking. The two models announced today feature the iFrame video mode, which records in the same format used to edit on a computer, dramatically speeding up the processes of importing, editing and sharing movies across multiple platforms and devices. These camcorders will be available nationwide through national and regional retailers beginning October 13, 2009, with a suggested retail price of $599.99 for the VPC-HD2000A and $499.99 for the VPC-FH1A.
"SANYO is proud to be the first manufacturer to offer camcorders that are compatible with the iFrame video format. This format offers a major breakthrough in reducing the time it takes for consumers to import, edit and share high quality video," said Tom Van Voy, General Manager of the Consumer Products Group for SANYO North America. "In addition to this new video format, our Dual Cameras also offer the ability to shoot 8-Megapixel photos as well as a number of video modes, including Full HD 1080P/60fps, making them the perfect choice for sharing high quality movies with family and friends, for video bloggers or budding videographers."
iFrame is a computer-friendly video format that has been specifically designed to simplify the process of working with video recorded from a camera. With iFrame, the video recorded in the camera is in the same format that will be used for editing, which means that importing video is fast and file sizes are small. This translates to quick and easy editing and sharing of movies across multiple platforms and devices. This new format can also be used with both Mac and PC compatible applications due to the use of standards-based technologies such as H.264, AAC, MP4 and MOV.
The HD2000A and the FH1A Dual Cameras are automatically programmed to default to the iFrame mode for ultimate ease of use and convenience to the user. In addition to the iFrame video format (960 x 540), the cameras can record in High Definition 1080P (1920 x 1080), as well as high speed video formats for slow motion playback. The two new models are nearly identical camcorders in two different body designs. The HD2000A is in SANYO's signature vertical form factor while the FH1A is a traditional style camcorder shape (horizontal).
Dual Cameras conveniently record photos and videos to SD/SDHC media cards (sold separately) and are thumb-operable for key functions, with separate video and photo buttons for easy switching between shooting video and photos. Unlike conventional camcorders, there's no need to switch modes, enabling the capture of those once-in-a-lifetime moments as the cameras can take both stills and videos simultaneously. Main Features: VPC-FH1A and VPC-HD2000A These highly advanced cameras not only offer a standard 1080i (interlaced) format (recording at 60 fields per second), but with the SANYO proprietary CMOS engine, recording is also available in an impressive 1080p (progressive) format, offering ultra-smooth, professional-looking 60 frames per second. The cameras also offer 8-Megapixel still photos, sequential shooting, and a number of modes including macro photo capability.
Other Features include: -- iFrame video format H.264 960 x 540 (30fps) -- Full 1080p HD Video (60fps) -- 8-Megapixel Digital Photos and High-Speed Sequential Shooting (12fps) -- High Speed Recording/Super Slow Motion Playback (240/600fps for 1/4 or 1/10 playback) -- 3-inch wide LCD Monitor (FH1A), 2.7-inch wide LCD monitor (HD2000A) for HD Playback -- 10x Optical Zoom for photos -- 16x advanced zoom (more area included than standard zooming, 160x digital zoom) for video -- Digital Image Stabilizer (Movies & Stills) -- 'Face Chaser' technology (up to 12 faces) for photos/videos -- HDMI Output (FH1A); HDMI Digital Interface via Cradle (HD2000A) -- Optional lenses: Tele, Wide, Semi-Fisheye -- External microphone input (HD2000A) -- FH1A and HD2000A are available in Black -- Cold shoe mount for external light or microphone (HD2000A)
iMovie, Mac, and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Works with iMovie logo is a trademark of Apple Inc. The iFrame logo and the iFrame symbol are trademarks of Apple Inc.
For more information about the SANYO: VPC-HD2000A, please visit http://us.sanyo.com/VPC-HD2000A VPC-FH1A, please visit http://us.sanyo.com/VPC-FH1A About SANYO SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. is a multi-billion dollar, leading company for energy and environment, providing solutions for environment, energy and lifestyle applications based on its brand vision 'Think GAIA.' SANYO North America's Consumer Solutions Division (SANYO North America is a subsidiary of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.), based in Chatsworth, California, is a service and sales division that markets digital projectors, digital still cameras, digital media camcorders, home appliances, security video equipment, audio systems, portable and mobile electronics. For more information on SANYO, please visit http://us.sanyo.com. Source: SANYO North America Corp.
SWEET! I've been looking for something like this.
These look good. But it's 16x optical zoom, not 10x.
Sorry dude. It's 10x optical, 16x "advanced" zoom.
I think the lens is a "10x", but there is 16x video zoom, which I would guess includes cropping, since the video is smaller than the sensor's native resolution.
Native is 3264x2448, so 3264/1920=1.7 (and of course the cropped at the top and bottom)
Hopefully the 1.6x increase, then, is with the digital image stabilization.
@Greg
You and I are both right. It *is* 16x optical zoom... but just for video. I went to the product pages for each of these vidcams and here is a direct quote from Sanyo's site for both products:
"The HD2000A features an amazing 16x Advanced Optical Zoom for video. With Sanyo’s 16x Advanced Optical Zoom Technology the field of view is increased to approximately 44 millimeters (vs. 77mm for more conventional zoom). The overall zooming range is F=41.7-666.9mm (35mm equivalent). The photo zoom capability is 10x Optical Zoom with an F=35.7-357mm range (35mm equivalent)."
And the same identical quote is used for the FH1A, too.
So iFrame isn't HD?
yeah the iFrame (960 x 540) format is clearly inferior... it could possibly be a new low end replacement for Standard Deffinition on netbooks.
Who else is looking forward to a format higher than 1080p? Quad HD anyone?
Worse, according to the press release, it's 30fps. Really? I mean, I guess that's fine for certain applications, but...
Are storage and processing limitations so bad that we can't use 1280x720x60p for basic home video recording, or 1280x720x30p? You can always make your video lower-resolution or lower-framerate to put on YouTube or your iPod, but you can't really get data that's not there if you want to make it higher quality....
... Of course, if you recorded at 3840x2160x120Hz, you could evenly drop down to 1920x1080 progressive or interlaced, 1280x720 progressive, 60fps or 24fps, with no interpolating and easy resizing of 2x2 and 3x3 chunks of pixels evenly to one pixel.
san-yo-cam
Very cool, I'd like to get me one of these.
Appleism "iFrame" lol no one cares, but what i do care about is the tall camcorder, very nice
yea, because iFrame has such a stupid ring to it.... they should have went Microsoft and called it Frame7
The next time someone uses "i" in their product name, I'm going to poke out their eye.
@ mrmckeb
wouldn't it make more sense to poke out their "i"?
@all things considered: Possibly, however, I wanted people to know that I was also being literal.
Wait, does this mean the Apple iFrame will sport a resolution of 960x540? On a 10.3" display?! Ha-ha!
Possibly the lamest joke ever...
I bought a sanyo sacti once, non-standard mini usb plug, tiny battery, little angle of view for the screen. Hopefully this has an improvement.
I recently bought a sanyo where the LCD went bad and the trouble I went through trying to get it fixed convinced me that I'd never be buying another sanyo. Even when they agreed to fix it I had to send it in to some nowheresville camera repair shop who then wanted to charge me $40 to look at it. The camera was so underwhelming as it is that it just was not worth the trouble. A lesson in getting what you pay for, it felt like this headline come to life:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sanyo_praying_area_man_doesnt_send
I have the Xacti HD1000 (from 2007) and it has a great view angle (which is even better with the wide angle adapter lens) and its battery (still) lasts a very long time.
Why do I feel I'm reading a Apple advert on how great is iFrame? C'mon engadget, not even 720p?
Hey, it's a feature!
Both look good...
I own an FH1 already. Does that mean that mine is now obsolete??? Or will they offer a firmware update?
I know people like to rag on AVCHD but I always found it vastly superior to HDV, and had no problems editing it. Would definitely like to know more about this new format however.
The only thing "lame" about AVCHD are all the NLE vendors who refuse to support it. I am all for a new codec/standard that all NLE's will work with. But your ragging on AVCHD is getting old, Engadget.
AVCHD is excellent... I've never seen better quality out of a pro HD camcorder than what comes out of our new Panasonic AG-HMC150. It makes HDV, and every other MPEG-2-based standard, look like total crap.
The fact that it's an end-to-end format makes it all the more attractive, and most of us are just waiting on Apple to update the FCS suite to edit it natively without capturing to ProRes (and provide us with usable BD authoring tools).
GAHHH, I'm still pissed... I can't believe I read this here. I don't know what beef the author has with it, but they're just WRONG on so many levels. Apple's support of AVCHD may be "super-lame", but the format itself is awesome.
Engadget is a tech site, and AVC is the unified present and future of video capture and delivery. Get with the damned program.
They still using digital image stabilaizer......
That's weird, it IS an Apple format. They just published this knowledge base article today outlining what the iFrame format is and they reference these two cameras specifically: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3905
Aww man! I just bought an HD2000 too. I sure hope they offer a firmware update. I can't imagine much else has changed on the camera. After all, they added only an "A" to the product code. :P
How soon before Apple sues the MPEG licensing body for publishing specs that talk about GOPs that start with I-Frames?
What problem does "iFrame" solve? My tiny Canon does 1080p30 AVC to flash. WTF do I want this 1/4 HD POS format for again?
Super lame AVCHD? The only major difference between iFrame and AVCHD is that AVCHD is 1920x1080 while iFrame is 960x540 - 1/4 the resolution. Both are H.264 and AAC. Both support pretty much the same encoding tools. The only benefit from iFrame is that if you want to share it at 960x540 then you don't have to do anything. I'd bet that a lot more NLEs support AVCHD than iFrame, since it's a real standard and not proprietary Apple stuff.
Engadget, please check your facts!
I would like to know what Sanyo considers the " forefront for compatibility with computers" as the footage shot with the HD2000 is nowhere near the forefront for compatibility with Premiere Pro CS4, Imovie nor Final Cut Pro.
Yes, you can easily transfer the footage from the camera to you computer, but that's where the inconvenience ends. If this is Sanyo's or the software vendors fault I don't know. The files needs to be transcoded to be easily edited, which is a major waste of time and disk space in my opinion.
And as far as I'm concerned, the iFrame format is a major step back resolution wise and doesn't deserve the attention of a newspost at engadget.
All this being said, I love my Sanyo HD2000, it shoots beautiful progressive images at 60fps. I'd just wish the footage had better support in editing applications and that Sanyo would stop bragging about forefront compatibility.