CES 2008: Camcorders Retooled, Not Redefined

At CES this year, camcorder makers brought out their newest lines of digital camcorders. Sony topped the list with 16 new models, with prices ranging from $250 up to $1400. New entries from Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung, and others fell more or less within this range. Some new standard definition miniDV tape models were even cheaper than the lowest priced Sonys. (As always, there were also some lesser-known companies announcing new camcorders—both SD and HD—that fell into my "Too Good to be True" folder.)

Since Sony had the largest introduction, it's instructive to see what types of Handycams they debuted. In short, they left out only the kitchen sink. The new models run the gamut of high-definition and standard-definition formats and storage types, including hard-drive, flash-memory, miniDV tape, miniDVD disc and combination-format models. Zooms and features vary from model to model.

As in years past, manufacturers continued to offer a variety of camcorder types, which generally tends to baffle as much as benefit the average consumer. What's more, I didn't see any radical developments in these new models. But I did notice some interesting new features and trends.

One new trend is that some manufacturers, namely Sony and Panasonic, are including face detection in camcorders for both video and still photos. As with digital cameras, this feature attempts to set the optimum focus, exposure and color for skin tones. And when still shots are taken, it may also set the proper amount of flash.

Some of the new camcorders with face detection include several HD Sony Handycams, including the 120GB hard drive-based HDR-SR12 ($1,400) model (Click on image above for a closer look) and the DVD/flash-based HDR-UX20 ($1,000). Two Panasonic camcorders also feature face detection: the dual-format HDC-HS9 (about $1,100) with a 60GB hard drive and a slot for a high-capacity SD card and the ultracompact HDC-SD9 (about $800), which has only a slot for a high-capacity SD card.

As you could have guessed from my description of Panasonic's HDC-HS9 and Sony's HDR-UX20 (click on image on the right for a closer look), another trend that continues is the dual-format camcorder. Hitachi was the first to create a hybrid camcorder that allowed you to store video on either a hard drive or burn it to a DVD. That's still an option on several camcorders from different manufacturers, but more camcorder companies seem to be promoting that fact that you can store video on a memory card (for Sony, a Memory Stick; for others, an SD memory card. Both are now available in 16GB capacities.)

Moreover, Canon has introduced a new HD series—Vixia. (Click on the image at left for a closer look.) What's striking about one of these, the Vixia HF10 ($1,100), is that it offers the option of storing video on two types of flash memory: 16GB of internal (non-removable) flash memory or via an SD card memory slot that can take either an SDHC (up to 16GB of memory) or SD memory card. Sony offers three options on its UX20 Handycam: DVD, removable Memory Stick, or 8GB of internal memory.

One development I found intriguing runs counter to the trend of replacing older, seemingly dated video formats: Standard-definition camcorders are still entering the marketplace. This year, Sony (with 10 SD models), Canon (with 9), JVC (with 7), Panasonic (with 6) as well as other manufacturers did not seem to shy away from the older format simply because high definition was redefining other tech areas, such as TVs. Part of the reason may lie in what many people use camcorders for posting videos on the internet, for which high-resolution quality isn't a practical format. (However, most HD camcorders can also record in SD and lower resolutions.)

Many camcorders continued to shed weight and reduce in size. Sanyo released the Xacti HD1000, which they claim is the smallest and lightest 1080i HD camcorder.

There were some fun surprises in the Standard Def models as well. Stepping out from its usual black motif, JVC introduced some bright colored models, such as the hard-drive-based GZ-MG330 model (around $450) that comes in silver, red, and blue (Click on image at right for a closer look). And Panasonic claims its SW20 is waterproof, as does Sanyo's Xacti E1.

There were no new models from Hitachi, although the two Blu-ray camcorders (DZ-BD70A and DZ-BD7HA) announced a few months ago were on view. These let you capture and store high def video on higher capacity mini Blu-ray discs, instead of traditional miniDVD discs, and then play those discs in a compatible Blu-ray player or optical drive on a computer. (I know of no camcorder that stores high-def video on HD DVD discs.) What is news is the fact that if Blu-ray is indeed winning the High Def war over the HD DVD format, if you buy one of these camcorders, chances are you won't be stuck with a device that uses an outdated format.

—Terry Sullivan