Gearfuse

 

When it comes to SD (SDHC) card camcorders, few would deny that the Sanyo Xacti line is indeed one of the most popular products if not the best and most successful in the market. Digital camera giant Canon is planning to take Sanyo down with their new PowerShot TX1, equipped with a similar 7MP CCD sensor and the ability to record HD videos up to 1280×720pixels 30fps. What’s more is that Canon fitted in an optical anti-shake lens with 10x optical zoom, their DIGIC III image processing engine, other proprietary technologies such as face-recognition autofocus. The TX1 is also a lot smaller than the Xacti, measuring 29.0×59.9×88.8mm and weighing 220g. Sanyo must be very worried when Canon quoted the suggested retail price of 500USD (a whooping 300USD less than the Sanyo Xacti HD-2), you would lose the HDMI output and the ability of taking still pictures in the middle of video recording, but who cares, you can do a lot with the 300 bucks you save; besides, we have more faith in Canon optics. We have a picture of the TX1 flipped open after the jump.

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You know there are always moments that you want to capture with good-enough digital photo, especially in the middle of movie recording? And those screenshots off the moving pictures are never good enough, even when we have HD recording nowadays. Well, Sanyo’s Xacti line of pocketable digital camcorders might just come into the right place, because these camcorders can take great digital prints in the middle of movie recording. The company has updated their flagship model this morning with a CCD of 7.1 Megapixels effective, low light performance was also improved so that the camcorder can work in environments as dim as 7 Lux (down from 14 Lux on the previous model), ISO can go up to 1600. Also, 8GB SDHC cards are now officially supported, this is good for 3 hours of HD-SHQ movies at 1280×720 pixels 9Mbps, or 21 hours of VCD quality movies. The Xacti houses a lens with 10x optical zoom (38-380mm f3.5). Digital anti-handshake during movie recording and HDMI/D4 output are both in place. The improved battery life allows you to take movies non-stop for 85 minutes or 180 photos straight. With all that power, the DMX-HD2 still keeps the compactness of the Xacti line, measuring 80×36x119mm and weighing 235g. The DMX-HD2 will be on shelves by March and will sell for a very reasonable 800USD, keep in mind that this is also the world’s smallest and lightest High Density camcorder. — Sam Chan

Press release [Sanyo Japan]