Probably in order to provide an improved level of visibility for its products, the Japanese company Sanyo has decided to wait a while longer before announcing the 2009 update to its Xacti line of camcorders. However, the wait has been quite worth it, since the new gadgets provide interesting features, probably the most important one being the fact that we're dealing just with Full HD (1080p) or HD (720p) models.

Hence, Sanyo's updated 2009 lineup includes five new camera models, namely two waterproof HD models (DMX-WH1, DMX-CA9), a stylish Compact HD unit (DMX-CG10) and two Full HD 60p cameras (DMX-FH11, DMX-HD2000). Similar to their predecessors, the fresh Xacti Dual Cameras combine the benefits provided by digital still cameras and camcorders into one unit, offering the freedom to take both photos and videos separately. Moreover, since they use the AVC/H.264 format, transferring the videos from the new Xacti cameras to a computer and later on to the Internet or other portable devices is quite an easy task.

Now, it's time to take a quick look at what every fresh model from Sanyo has to offer, and we'll start with the waterproof HD models, the DMX-WH1 and DMX-CA9. Both feature the manufacturer's proprietary waterproofing technology and have received the IPX8 (full water submersion) classification. Hence, both devices can be safely used underwater, albeit at different depths, namely 1.5 meters for the DMX-CA9 and 3 meters for the DMX-WH1.

It's also interesting to note that the DMX-CA9 is also capable of shooting 9-megapixel photos, while the DMX-WH1 has been equipped with long-range 30x optical zoom. Both models sport image stabilization systems, as well as face identification systems, and are slated to arrive in stores over the course of March 2009.

Next, we'll talk about Sanyo's two Full HD models, the DMX-HD2000 and DMX-FH11, both of which are capable of recording videos in 1920 x 1080 pixel resolutions, at 60fps. They're also capable of taking 8-megapixel shots even while simultaneously recording Full HD movies and, by using real-time interpolation technology, the resolution of the photos can go up to 12 megapixels.

Additionally, these two cameras also sport a 16X zoom, which practically increases the area being shot up to 5 megapixels. The DMX-FH11 comes packed with 8GB of built-in flash memory (but also supports the addition of SDHC cards up to 32GB), while the DMX-HD2000 only supports the latter storage solutions. The DMX-HD2000 is actually the first of this new family to arrive on the market (early February), while the DMX-FH11 should hit the shelves in late April.

The last Xacti camera unveiled by Sanyo is the compact (just 171 grams) HD model (DMX-CG10), which records movies using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video compression and delivers 10-megapixel photos with a very good level of clarity. It's also equipped with a 3-inch, 230,000 pixel Wide LCD display, and packs 3D DNR digital noise reduction technology. The ETA for the DMX-CG10 is late February.

 
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