Samsung fires off six camcorders for your shootin' pleasure
By Cyrus Farivar 
posted January 7th 2007 5:21PM
posted January 7th 2007 5:21PM
Samsung's gone and announced not one but six, count 'em six, new camcorders ranging in price and features, some of which are of interest to the tapeless set. We haven't gotten our hands on any of 'em just yet, but we've got a spec sheet, so we'll give you the rundown. But first, a more traditional cam: the SC-D372 MiniDV camcorder, which sports a Schneider lens, 34x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD, and a 680,000 pixel CCD that shoots at 800 x 600 for still images. It'll be released sometime in March for $270. Next up is the SC-MX10 micro camcorder, which despite its "ultra-compact" design, still has that 2.7-inch LCD. This one will also record in DivX and has 34x optical zoom and a 680,000 CCD, and the standard SD card slot. However, you'll have to wait a full eight months to drop $320 for the SC-MX10, as it won't hit until September 2007. Moving on, there's the SC-DC575 DVD camcorder, which as the name implies, saves its videos to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and dual-layer DVD+R formats. There's also a four-in-one memory card slot in case your still running on something other than SD. Sadly though, this $450 cam won't be released until May. The fourth one on our list is the SC-X300, which apparently will let you shoot DivX video in the toughest environments that you can find. It shoots at 720 x 480 at 30fps, displayed on its 2-inch screen, will zoom up to 10x, and includes an SD slot and USB. When it gets released in September, you'll have to throw down $480 so you can bring it along on your toughest of missions. The penultimate cam, the SC-DX10 (pictured, with a front view on the next page) can record both to its internal 4GB flash drive or to DVDs (single and dual-layer formats). It's got a 26x optical zoom lens that compliments its single megapixel CCD. This one won't hit until August for $630. Our last, and yes, most expensive ($850) camcorder that Samsung is announcing is the SC-HMX10 "high-definition" (we don't know exactly what) that has 4GB of flash storage, a 2.7-inch screen, a 1.5 megapixel CCD for still photos, a 10x optical zoom and the predictable SD slot and USB port. But alas, you'll have to wait until September to toss up that much coinage for this heavy-duty camera.
I'm lovin the flash drive
"...for the tapeless set... First up is the SC-D372 MiniDV camcorder..."
Tapeless MiniDV eh?
Anyhow, recording in DivX is a weird design decision. Why not standard MPEG-4? I guess it must be for people who don't want to edit their video.