Sanyo Xacti HD700 – The New Smallest and Lightest HD Camcorder

By Editor • Sept. 27, 2007

Sanyo has announced a new high definition camcorder in it’s popular Xacti line. It is claimed to be the smallest and lightest 720p camcorder on the market. The Xacti HD700 is small, however, it is equipped with a large 1/2.5″ CCD yielding an amazing 7.1MP.

The Xacti HD700 incorporates a ‘new ergonomic design’, which allows the lens to be level with the ground when mounted on a tripod. It has been created and designed into a novel shape, creating a curved minimal body size without affecting performance.

One downside of the small size is a shortened optical zoom of only 5x, one-half the zoom power of the lowest average zoom for a normal-size camcorder. The Xacti HD700 lens has an aperture range of f/3.5 – 4.7, with a focal range of 6.3 – 31.7mm (35mm equiv= 38 – 190mm).

Features

5x optical zoom lens
Large, 2.7-inch LCD
SD/SDHC memory card slot
True random access
Ergonomic design
Mac OS compatible
Includes Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0
HDMI high-definition output
Digital image stabilization
Innovative docking station included
Playback directly onto a HD or standard TV screen
Remote control included

The new Xacti HD700 also doubles as a still camera offering face detection (up to 12 faces at once), ISO settings up to 3200, and a built-in flash.

According to Sanyo, the Xacti HD700 uses the same new optical processing engine found in the previously announced Sanyo HD1000, which is unique in its ability to process images quickly with lower power consumption.

In addition to utilizing Sanyo’s proprietary H.264 codec, the camera only needs 4.0 watts of power, made possible through the combination of two engine chips into one single and miniaturized fast-processing image engine.

Price and Availability

The Xacti HD700 camcorder is priced at $599.99 (US MSRP) and will begin shipping by the end of October.