Samsung rolls YouTube-friendly H.264 vidcam

Samsung on Wednesday updated its MX series camcorders with a refresh targeted at the web and portable players. The SC-MX20 effectively replaces the earlier MX10 and adds a Web & Mobile mode that records H.264 video in a 640x480 format that can easily be transferred to video websites such as YouTube; it also lets users record home video that doesn't require transcoding to work with iPhones, iPods, and other H.264-aware devices.

At full quality, the MX20 shoots at DVD's native widescreen resolution of 720x480 and can hold up to four hours of footage on an 8GB SDHC card, with premium 32GB cards holding 16 hours. The flash format helps keep the cost of the base camera down and improves its skip resistance as well as its size.

The camera also promises some features not always found on standard definition flash-based camcorders, including its purportedly best-of-class three hours of battery life, 34X optical zoom, and "3D" noise reduction that (along with image stabilization) creates a cleaner image.

While its video should be natively recognized by H.264-capable video editors such as iMovie, the SC-MX20 is bundled with CyberLink editing software to help Windows users and should ship in August for $280 in black, red, and white colors.