Sony has unveiled a new high definition camcorder that is much smaller and lighter than its previous model. The HDR-HC1 is Sony's attempt to expand the market for high definition video cameras. Currently HD camcorders are used mostly by professionals because they are quite big and are costly. High Definition camcorders produce much sharper quality than standard camcorders. The new HD camcorder can fit comfortably in a consumers hand and is not as expensive.
The HDR-FXI is Sony's previous model and was selling for about 400,000 yen. The new HDR-HC1 will cost 180,000 yen ($1,684) and will go on sale initially in July. "We wanted to further develop the market for HD camcorders and knew that significantly decreasing the size of the product would be key," Keikichi Chiba, general manager of Sony's Personal Video Divsion said.
High definition (HD) is a standard for digital video that Sony defines as 1,440 Pixels by 1,080 scanning lines of Resolution. Since it captures many more pixels it produces a far more detailed picture overall. Sony decided to use one complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor instead of the 3 charge-coupled devices (CCDs) (which was used in the HDR-FXI) to help reduce the size of the device.
Source:
Reuters
Sony (Press Release)
