Sanyo shows all-HD Xacti camcorder line
updated 08:40 am EST, Wed January 21, 2009
Sanyo Xacti 2009 in Japan
Sanyo today gave an early look at its camcorders for the year with a slew of new updates in Japan, all of which are HD models. The FH11 is one of Sanyo's first horizontal camcorders in recent memory and captures its 1080p video either to 8GB of internal memory or to Class 6 SDHC cards. It now supports the full 24Mbps bitrate and 60 frames per second of the H.264 codec. This and the vertically-oriented but SDHC-only HD2000 also shoot still photos at 8 megapixels
Both also have 10X optical zoom, improved noise reduction, low-resolution slow motion modes up to 600 frames per second, and a unique reverse sequential shot mode that keeps taking still photos while the shutter is pressed and holds a buffer of over a second or more from before the shutter release. Sanyo ships the HD2000 first on February 6th for Japan and the FH11 on April 24th.
Launching at the same time are Sanyo's first HD-capable waterproof cameras. The horizontal WH1 and vertical CA9 both shoot 720p but are rated at IPX8 levels of protection against full submersion in water up to 4.3 and 4.9 feet respectively. Both capture stills at 9 megapixels and rely primarily on SDHC cards for storage, though zoom factors are different: the shorter CA9 is limited to 5X zoom while the WH1's longer body allows 30X. The two Xactis ship within a week of each other, delivering the CA9 first on March 13th and the WH1 on the 19th.
Sanyo's fifth and last camera launch, the CG10, replaces the older HD800 and is 2.5 percent smaller and 10 percent lighter, making it the smallest-ever Xacti HD camera. It too shoots at 720p and captures 8-megapixel stills. The camera arrives on February 20th.
International plans aren't included in this latest launch, though Sanyo ports virtually all its camcorders to the US shortly after Japanese releases. [via Impress]
