World's *est: Sony HDR-TG1 1080p Handycam
Sony has announced a new portable flash memory-based camcorder with a typically awkward name, the HDR-TG1 Handycam, which takes as its defining quality its ability to shoot 1080p video in a "world's smallest" package. (They don't actually give the frame rate, but let's presume 30.)
Of course Sony has saddled the HDR-TG1 with its expensive, proprietary memory card format MemoryStick PRO Duo Mark2, mitigated only slightly by the fact that they ship with a 4GB card in the box.
Small, flash-based camcorders are my latest obsession, but considering this little twerp will ship in Mary for $900, I think you'd be much better off going with something that uses DV tape. If you're putting the videos online, you'll be destroying the 1080p quality in the first place; if you're just saving videos for later, why not use a less compressed format to make archiving easy and onerous to limited disk space? I mean, yes, solid state camcorders are clearly the future—I just don't think they're this year's future.
(The Handycam isn't actually in a translucent case if that weren't obvious, although I sort of wish it were, despite being fully aware that every last gadget that has come in a clear case has been really ugly.)
Press Release [Sony.com via CrunchGear]
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I don't know who Mary is, but that sounds uncomfortable for her.
Poor Mary...
I sure wish Sony would make it obvious if this was a 1080i or 1080p camera. Gadget blogs are saying one or the other, and the spec sheet on the Sony website is rather unhelpful.
If it's 1080p, then it's something special. If it's just a 1080i, then there are plenty of competitors already on the market.
Do I wait for this, or buy a Sanyo HD1000 now?
I was hot for this camcorder until I realized that it had no anti-shake. Bummer. DEALBREAKER! Instead, I'm saving my pennies for the Canon VIXIA HF10, which does shoot in 1080p at either 24 or 30 FPS. It's a tad larger than the Sony, but the Canon's picture quality will blow the Sony away.
Not the smallest.
Toshiba’s unbelievably tiny HD1 HDTV camera is world’s smallest
"We knew HDTV cameras were getting small, but had no idea they could be shrunk to a size scarcely larger than a sugar cube. That’s about the dimensions of a tiny camera Toshiba will roll out this month at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention in Las Vegas. The 2.3-ounce IK-HD1 is just 1.6 inches square, and even though it’s the smallest HD camera in the world, there’s still enough room in there for three CCD chips that can crank out glorious 1080i broadcast-quality color."