Sanyo unveils 'first' waterproof H.264 cam
updated 08:55 am EDT, Tue May 22, 2007
Sanyo Xacti E1
Sanyo on Tuesday rolled out the Xacti E1, one of the company's first truly waterproof camcorders. The watertight shell lets swimmers capture footage one-handed at depths of up to five feet for an hour at a time -- without using an underwater shell, Sanyo says. The use of SD or SDHC cards, in tandem with the use of higher-quality H.264 (AVC) recording formats, also helps the camera record for a long time even while snowboarding or other shock-prone circumstances: up to 10 hours of footage at 640x480 can be captured on an 8GB SDHC card. A new processing engine also improves image quality and is said to capture images as dark as 7 lux at full speed or 2 lux with a reduced frame rate. The E1 further doubles as a still camera, taking 6-megapixel photos with a 5X optical zoom lens.
Support is provided for both Mac OS X and Windows computers; the camera is an ideal solution for capturing iPod-friendly video thanks to the native video format, according to the camera maker. The new, semi-ruggedized Xacti is due to ship in mid-June in blue, silver, and yellow colors at a price of $500 in the US.
