Miscellaneous Sightings (I)

Hitachi is in the Blu-ray camp and they have joined forces with the rest (e.g. Sony, Panasonic) to promote the Blu-ray standard at their booth.

This is JVC’s next generation 5 MegaPixel 3CCD MiniDV digital camcorder (GR-X5). The specifications sound swell, but don’t be fooled by the numbers as its 5 MegaPixel specification is only for digital still pictures while its video camera uses three 1.33 MegaPixel CCD to capture rich color images. The camera comes with a 10x optical zoom lens (still camera goes up to 8x only) and a 2.5-inch dynamic backlight LCD monitor. It’s PictBridge compatible, so users can print pictures off the camera to any of today’s latest inkjet and dye-sub printers.

The JVC Everio GZ-MC500 is the latest 5 MegaPixel digital camcorder with 3CCD technology. Unlike the GR-X5 which uses MiniDV tapes, the GZ-MC500 comes with a 4GB Microdrive as storage for all its recorded digital video clips and still images. The camera also comes with a separate SD card slot for more storage expansion. The Everio GZ-MC500 will come bundled with CyberLink’s PowerProducer, PowerDirector Express and PowerDVD. It is expected to be available in March with an advertised value of US$1,799.95.

The tiny MPIO One portable media center is possibly the smallest player you can find. It comes with 1GB worth of memory to store photos, movies and audio files and a tiny full color OLED display that allows you to view photos and watch movies. It has built-in FM radio, FM recording and voice recording too. What more could you ask?

Yes, there’s more to the MPIO One. If you feel it’s lacking in capacity, the MPIO One comes with optional accessories such as a portable 20GB HDD and a CD player.