Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has announced "HDC-SD3" consumer camcorder able to record HDTV video at so-called "full HD" resolution (1920 x 1080p). It uses SD memory cards as recording media. Market debut is slated for April 25, 2007 with no SRP set, but the company expects street pricing to be around ¥150,000.
Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) already released a full HD consumer camcorder ahead of Matsushita. However, JVC's product had the drawback of high encoding bit rates stemming from MPEG-2 video encoding format it is based on. In contrast, Matsushita's latest product employs MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, which allows lower encoding bit rates despite the same picture quality as that achieved by MPEG-2. Specifically, the HDC-SD3 records video in AVCHD format, which has made it easy to record full HD video on SD memory cards and other media with smaller capacity compared to small size HDDs.
The camera module of the predecessor "HDC-SD1" already shot video at 1920 x 1080p resolution as well. However, this camcorder downconverted the video signals shot at 1920 x 1080p into 1440 horizontal pixels, compressed them in H.264 and recorded the video in AVCHD format. This is because there was no H.264 codec LSI that supported full HD yet achieved sufficiently low power. The challenge of the previous camcorder was that image quality degrades when displaying recorded contents on the screen even if it is a full HD television because the contents were once downconverted into 1440 x 1080 resolution before being restored to full HD again.
The newly developed codec LSI uses only about 550 mW when encoding. Forty minutes of full HD video can be recorded in a 4 GB SDHC card at a constant bit rate (CBR) of 13 Mbps (dubbed HF mode). Video that can be recorded in the same capacity memory card extends to 60 minutes at a variable bit rate (VBR) of 9 Mbps and 1440 x 1080 resolution (HN mode) and 90 minutes at a VBR of 6 Mbps and 1440 x 1080 resolution (HE mode).
The packed secondary battery allows continuous shooting for about 1 hour. To meet request from users for a long-life secondary battery, Matsushita prepares "VW-VBG260" Li-ion secondary battery, which allows about 2 hours of continuous shooting, and "VW-VH04" holder kit used to connect the battery to the camcorder.
Matsushita plans to simultaneously launch HDC-DX3, which uses DVD as recording media, along with the HDC-SD3. Street pricing for this product is expected to be around ¥140,000.
Nikkei Electronics |
Nikkei Monozukuri |
Nikkei Automotive Technology |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
| The magazine for electronics designers and managers. | Design You Won't Regret - How to Reduce the Risk of Accidents | The comprehensive automotive technology magazine. |
Copyright © 1995-2010 Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
All editorial content and graphics on this Web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright owner.
