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Canon's VIXIA camcorders go social for the new year, get improved low-light performance
It's the most wonderful horrible gadgety time of the year -- it's CES time. And that means dozens, nay, hundreds of companies issuing annual refreshes of their product lines. Canon is amongst the legions launching upgrades and its VIXIA line of digital camcorders are not getting left behind. The company's M and R lines are both getting refreshes for 2012 that include boatloads of enhanced connectivity -- including the ability to share over WiFi and DLNA. They can even connect to an iPad or iPhone and directly post clips to YouTube and Facebook using the Movie Uploader app. Under the hood is an all new CMOS sensor that has improved low-light performance and the HF M-series has selectable scenes not just for video, but audio as well, ensuring you get the best sound on your clips. The VIXIA HF M52, VIXIA HF M50 and VIXIA HF M500 camcorders are scheduled to hit shelves in March for $750, $650 and $550, respectively. The budget minded VIXIA HF R32, VIXIA HF R30 and VIXIA HF R300 will arrive at the same time priced at $550, $450 and $350. Check out the gallery below and the PR after the break for a few more details.
Panasonic prices its 2011 HD and 3D camcorders, options for budgets great and small
Panny dumped a truckload of camcorders on us at CES this year, and now that we've finally dug ourselves out the company just piled on the MSRP and release information for the lot. It's okay, we can deal, and here are the highlights: The new 1MOS full HD models, the HDC-HS80, HDC-TM90, HDC-SD90, HDC-TM80, HDC-SD80, HDC-TM40, and HDC-SD40 (phew) are priced between $350 and $600, all offering 1920 x 1080 recording, but only the HDC-TM90 and HDC-SD90 will do 1080p60. All write to SDXC and the HDC-TM40 and HDC-SD40 are the lightest full HD models the company offers, weighing just .39lbs. The company's new 3MOS models, the HDC-SD800, HDC-TM900, and HDC-HS900 are priced at $850, $1,100, and $1,400, all managing 1080p60 and, if you add the $350 VW-CLT1 conversion lens, will shoot in 3D as well. All write to SDXC, while the TM900 has 32GB of storage internally, and only the top two models offer a 20x zoom lens with manual focus for "increased creativity." There are a few SD shooters as well, the $250 SDR-S70, $270 SDR-T70, and $350 SDR-H100, all also sporting SDXC support. Full pricing in the PR after the break, and lots more details in the earlier announce post from CES.
Flip S1240W priced at $280 in Best Buy's systems, reads an awful lot like 'Slide HD' to us
Our army of Best Buy informants has struck again, this time delivering an internal systems entry that references an S1240W model from Cisco's consumer division, described as a digital camcorder. Aside from the obvious appearance of the Flip name in the top right corner, the retail box dimensions listed herein -- 7.7 by 1.5 by 3.6 inches -- seem an almost perfect match for the recently spied Flip Slide HD product box. At that time, we were furnished with supplemental pics pointing out 16GB of built-in storage for up to four hours of video, and today we can add a price and potential release date to the dossier. April 18 is the reputed "in stock" date for this Flip shooter, with a $280 "regular retail" price shown on the other snapshot we've come across (see it after the break). That means we've only got a few days of mystery left before Cisco flips the covers away. [Thanks, Jae]
Mustek intros DV700TZ, DV530TZ camcorders
Mustek looks to be trying to make the low-end slightly less so with its latest pair of digital camcorders, packing some decent specs into its new DV700TZ and DV530TZ models while still keeping the price down. The DV700TZ is the more capable of the two, with 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, and a 7 megapixel CCD, able to capture "broadcast-quality" 720 x 480 MPEG-4 video at 30 fps. That's done with the aid of the cam's built-in 64MB of memory or, more likely, an SD card you'll have to supply yourself -- which will also let you take better advantage of the cam's built-in MP3 player. Taking things down a notch, the DV530TZ packs a 5.3 megapixel CCD and captures video at the standard 640 x 480 resolution, with a 3x optical zoom and an LCD of unspecified size rounding out the specs. Look for both cams to be rolling out shortly, with the DV700TZ coming in at $300 and the DV530TZ setting you back $230.
Samsung's VM-DC560 26x optical zoom camcorder
Ever since the first digital camcorders hit the market, manufacturers have competed with each other to see who could up the digital zoom on their cameras to the highest level, each time proudly displaying their camera's capability to turn light into pixelated nonsense with stickers on the side of the lens. Although Samsung is guilty of placing absurdly high digital zooms on its cameras as well, the company's recent unveiling of the VM-DC560 with a 26x optical zoom -- which doesn't result in quality degradation, unlike digital zooms -- certainly makes amends. Besides the peeping tom's best friend of a lens, the VM-DC560 also includes a 1.1 megapixel CCD (presumably for still shots), a dual layer recordable mini-DVD drive, and a 2.6 inch widescreen LCD, all in a relatively standard looking gray case. No word on pricing or availability, although we'd bet on birdwatchers in the far east being the first to get their hands on it.
Bella Catapult enables camcorder-to-iPod recording
Camcorder accessory manufacturer Bella has just announced a new device that will let you toss those MiniDV cassettes straight out of your bag and replace them with your iPod or nearly any other USB 2.0-compliant storage system. The Catapult, as it's known, is a paperback-sized digital encoder that plugs into any standard or HD camcorder with a FireWire port and processes the video as you're recording, eliminating the need to convert your footage later on. Besides saving time and offering access to higher storage capacities, the Catapult also enables your cam with a number of features not available out of the box, such as time-lapse recording, remote trigger capabilities, and both pre- and post-recording ability. Pre-recording is an especially attractive option, as it seems to buffer whatever your CCD is capturing for a preset timeframe, allowing you to essentially "turn back the clock" and preserve events that already happened once you hit the record button. Bella tells us to expect their new product sometime during the second half of the year, for some amount of money less than $300.[Via T3]
