Pure Digital Camcorder Links with Video Share Sites

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 10/16/2006

San Francisco – Single use digital camera manufacturer Pure Digital announced today that its video recorder is now able to upload video directly to Google Video or the Sony-owned Grouper Networks.

The new version of the Point & Shoot Camcorder, which will ship in November, will feature built-in software that lets users connect directly to Google Video and Grouper Networks when the camcorder is connected to the computer (PC or Mac). The software also supports sending video e-mails and greeting cards through Grouper Networks.

The company also announced a new 60 minute model for a suggested $169, which will join the current 30 minute camcorder on the market. The 30-minute model retails for a suggested $129.

The Pure Digital camcorder records VGA resolution video to internal flash memory. It offers a 2x digital zoom, 1.4-inch color LCD for playback only, and can be sent to Pure Digital-partner retail locations for DVD burning.

According to the company, the camcorder has been picked up by Target, Costco, CVS/pharmacy, RiteAid Pharmacy, Longs Drugs, Ritz/Wolf Camera Centers, and Amazon.com among others.

Thomson sells a version of the 30-minute camcorder under its RCA Small Wonders brand. It will continue to sell the original version and not the model announced today.

The surging popularity of online video sites like YouTube have led camcorder manufacturers to reconceptualize how some consumers are using camcorders. Sony, for instance, singled out online video sharing sites as the principle driver behind its expanded slate of hard disc drive-based camcorders.

For these typically younger consumers, capturing video in brief clips in a format that’s easily transferred to the PC and then uploaded to the Web is the ultimate goal.