June 7 - Akihabara released some information on a new Samsung camcorder today. The main feature of this particular camcorder is that it can go from off to recording in about 3 seconds.

Although this is a very obvious mask to distract the consumer from the fact that it really doesn’t have much else that is remarkable at all, there is still a very real audience for a camera like this.

America’s Funniest Home Video may get a breath of new life, since there will be a flood of hilarious reaction shots that previously were too quick to catch.

Some of the other features are the ability to record in MP4 ASP format at a resolution of 720×480 with about 30fps. Read more here.

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May 21 - Fujitsu announced earlier today a new product which stands to significantly upgrade current consumer-level camcorders.

The new product is an H.264 chip, model number MB86H51, which is capable of encoding and decoding 1920×1080 video in real time. This has the potential to really bring high definition recording to a much more broad range of consumers.

The H.264 chip will also feature a very minimal 750mW power draw and 256MB of FCRAM. Fujitsu will make the chip available to manufacturers on July 1 for about $250.

Expect quite a few manufacturers to pick up this beauty of a chip and throw them into some new models by the end of the year. Read more here

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May 7 - In a world where high-definition picture is speeding towards the norm, there has been one area where technology seems to be a step behind the rest. Camcorders, in all of their forms, have made huge leaps in recent years, but they aren’t quite keeping pace with the new displays, cameras, and HD players on the market.

Sony and JVC, who have both had very successful camcorders in the past, have decided to make the plunge into HD camcorders with hard drive storage. Although both of the rigs offered by JVC, the GD-HD7, and Sony, the HDR-SR7, are capable of utterly stunning video, there seems to be a bit of fine tuning needed before HD camcorders can really take off.

David Pogue of the New York Times published an interesting article detailing the triumphs and shortcomings of these new HD camcorders. What sets these particular models apart is that they both utilize a hard drive for video storage, as opposed to the mini-disk format that has been so popular in the past.

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April 10 - Panasonic has just unveiled a new line of HD plasma TVs in a hosted press event. Among the featured equipment were 2 lines of new 1080p plasma TVs, the PZ700 and PX70.

The PZ700 line, exclusively a Japanese release, includes the now standard perks like multiple HDMI slots, SDHC card reader, and a full HD resolution of 1920×1080. However, a new feature allows compatibility with the SD1 and SD3 models of Panasonic’s HD camcorders. This will support AVCHD, Advanced Video Codec High Definition, videos for the whole line of TVs. Both 42-inch and 50-inch screens are available.

For release state side, there is the new PX70 line of plasmas. The features are comparable to the PZ700 line, with the unfortunate exception of the nifty AVCHD compatibility, and they will vary in size from 37-inches to 50-inches. One member of the PZ700 line, the 50-inch version, will ship to the US as well, without AVCHD support. Read more here.

For a full range of reviews on plasma TVs check out The Perfect Vision

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