Sony Announces NXCAM Professional AVCHD Camcorder

Sony announced their first professional camcorder to record in the AVCHD format, or Advanced Video Codec High Definition. AVCHD was originally developed by Sony and Panasonic in 2005 and is the same format that underpins current Blu-ray Disks.

The Sony NXCAM features three 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS Sensors recording through a 20x (29.5mm ~ 590mm 35mm equivalent) Sony G lens at 24Mbps onto either Memory Stick Duo media or an optional 128GB Flash Memory Recorder which provides 11 straight hours of recording. The NXCAM is essentially a reworked and upgraded HVR-Z5U, replacing the tape deck with two Memory Stick Duo slots.

The Sony NXCAM records 1920x1080 at 60i, 24p, or 30p and can record 1280x720 at 60p. If for some reason you think it's still 1995 and you've never heard of AVCHD, recording in standard definition MPEG-2 at 9Mbps is also possible. All of these will be viewable through a 3.2-inch 921K LCD or a 0.45-inch 1,227K Electronic View Finder. The PAL version records in 50i, 25p, and 50p.

For those hand held shooters out there the Sony NXCAM boasts a new SteadyShot feature dubbed Active SteadyShot which will provide 6.6x more stabilization then previous SteadyShot equipped models. The NXCAM also comes with a built in GPS receiver to embed GPS metadata while recording. Time and Location are recorded and can be displayed during playback. Location can also be displayed graphically with third-party software.

Sony has stated that the NXCAM will see a worldwide release in early 2010. While a price has not yet been released, expect it to be around the current price of the Sony HVR-Z5U, which currently retails for just over $4,000. If you can read Japanese follow this link for press release www.sony.jp/professional/News/info/pb20091118.html