Osaka, Japan — Panasonic announced its second generation SD-based camcorder in Japan today, alongside a new 4GB SD card and faster versions of its existing cards.
The SDR-S150 will replace the company’s existing SD-based camcorder, the SDR-S100. The new camcorder will continue to offer 3CCD technology and will accept the new 4GB SDHC memory card. The product will be launched in the U.S. in August, the company said, with more details released shortly.
The camcorder offers optical image stabilization in its Leica Dicomar lens and Panasonic’s LSI Crystal Engine image processor. Using the new 4GB card, the unit can record up to 50 minutes of MPEG2 video in the highest quality mode or up to three hours and 20 minutes in LP mode.
Concurrent with the camcorder launch is a new SD card based on the SD High Capacity (SDHC) specification. The new 4GB SDHC card has a data transfer speed of up to 5MB/s.
SDHC memory can only be used only in SDHC-enabled host devices and not simply any SD slot. Standard SD cards can be used in SDHC host devices, the company said. The new SDHC card will be differentiated from existing SD cards with a new design and packaging.
The new SDHC spec will enable the SD card to achieve a capacity of up to 32GB, Panasonic said.
Panasonic also announced new SD cards, shipping in August, that will conform to the SD Card Association’s new Class 2 SD Speed Class specification.
According to Panasonic, the Speed Class specifications were establishedto standardize data transfer speeds (Class 2, Class 4, and Class 6, with guaranteed increases in speed from one class to the next), rather than relying on the different standards of individual manufacturers. Panasonic’s cards will bear a “Class 2” logo on the packaging and the card and will be available in capacities of 256MB to 2GB. The 4GBSDHC will also be a Class 2 card..
