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Although Samsung’s MX20 SD camcorder may fall a bit behind other camcorders available on the market for not having an HD video recording feature, it still is worthy of our attention and perhaps money because of one outstanding feature. And that is the facility to directly upload video into YouTube or iPod from the camcorder without needing to transcode the video files.

To some, that feature more than makes up for not being able to capture high-definition video but well for some, that would be a turn off. If you’re one of those who don’t mind the lack of HD quality, you’d be glad to know that the Samsung MX20 nonetheless kicks out some high-standard features that include H.264-enhanced video quality, 3D noise reduction technology, a Schneider lens with 34x optical zoom, Hyper Digital Image Stabilization, advanced face detection technology, a 680K CCD sensor, a swivel hand-grip, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, iCheck and iScene modes and a very important SD/SDHC memory card slot.

The Samsung MX20 SD camcorder will be available in the Japanese market sometime in September. And our Japanese pals will have a choice of either black, white, red or blue. Pricing details are not yet available but we expect this to come with a lower price than most of the cheap HD camcorders currently available. For us non-Japanese camcorder-loving geeks, we may have to wait for awhile before the MX20 gets an international release.

Via [Akihabara News]

Kingston’s Elite Pro line of SD cards just grew a little larger, now topping out at 32GB of storage. The new 32GB card joins the already existing lineup, which included a 4, 8 and 16GB card, and will retail for $308.

Personally, its a little expensive for my taste, but with today’s camera and camcorders capable of higher and higher qualities, it sounds like an option to at least consider. The 32GB Elite Pro SDHC card will be able to capture and store around 6,000 still images at a 10-megapixel quality or eight hours of video at a 6Mbps HD Extended recording quality.

Read [Kingston]

Hitachi is releasing a new high-definition camcorder this coming September to the US market - the DZ-BD10HA HD camcorder. What makes this new camcorder from all the other innovative camcorders released by Hitachi is that it lets users record HD videos using a Blu-ray Disc, hard drive or SDHC memory card.

Aside from its 3 format recording feature, the DZ-BD10HA also offers a slew of features including a 7 megapixel CMOS image sensor, fullHD (1920x1080) video recording, a built-in 30GB HDD, dubbing function that allows users to transfer video recorded on the its HDD or SDHC onto the BD drive with a single push of a button, rich video editing functions, face detection, an 8cm BD/DVD drive, and optical image stabilization.

The Hitachi DZ-BD10HA will be available in US sometime around September with a retail price of around $999. If you can’t wait that long to buy this camcorder, you may want to check out your friendly Japanese electronics store who are already selling the DZ-BD10HA camcorder as it was already released in Japan last a couple of days ago.

Read [Business Wire]

While most people would realize that any USB flash drive and any SD, SDHC or MMC card will work perfectly with the Eee PC, some people will always feel a branded product is better. Perhaps in a marketing plan to take advantage of an already hot name, A-DATA has announced a white Eee PC branded SDHC memory card and USB flash drive.

The memory card, which is listed as “The 2nd HDD for your Eee PC,” seems to be nothing more than an regular 8GB SDHC card with the Eee PC logo on it. As for the USB drive, that also offers 8GB of storage and is the standard A-DATA S701 USB flash drive. Both storage options are listed as being a “special Eee PC edition” and are newly colored white, which will match at least some of the Eee’s. The USB flash drive also comes with a leather carrying strap.

Pricing information was not available for the “special Eee PC edition” SDHC card or USB flash drive, but just a guess—I am sure you will be able to find cheaper, and still reliable memory elsewhere.

Via [Eee Site]

Sanyo has released a new model for their Xacti handheld camcorder series, the Xacti CG9. Boasting of a 9.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, 40MB of internal memory, a 5x optical zoom and H.264 video codec. Sanyo is touting the Xacti CG9 as an entry level video camcorder. Hence the move from the usual Xacti CCD to CMOS, probably to enable Sanyo to put a competitive price to the Xacti CG9 since they are targeting the entry-level video camcorder users. But still, the CMOS sensor will produce decent quality videos and high quality still images as well. The Xacti CG9 also boast of 60/fps video recording capability.

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Panasonic has announced the “worlds first” Class 6 32GB SDHC memory card, the RP-SDV32GU1K and while it may not be the first 32GB SDHC memory card it is the first at a Class 6 speed. At Class 6 you will see a 20 MBs transfer rate and with the large storage available you can record up to 12 hours of high-def video or store about 12,320 10-megapixel images. The new 32GB card from Panasonic will be available in April and retail for $699.

Read [CNN Money] Via [Engadget]

Kingston has increased their SDHC memory card storage size, now available in up to 16GB. The new card will be able to hold up to 7,500 images taken with a 6-megapixel camera or more than four hours of 6Mbps HD video. While its great to see Kingston increasing memory card size, their announcement has come just after SanDisk introduced their new lineup of cards. The 16GB Kingston SDHC card will retail for $231 as opposed to SanDisks $179.

Read [PR Newswire]

SanDisk has once again upped their SD card storage size. Now up to a whopping 32GB. The 32GB SanDisk Ultra II SDHC card is expected to be available beginning in April and retail for $349.99. It will also ship with a MicroMate USB 2.0 Reader and can hold an estimated 8,000 high-resolution pictures or 40 hours of video.

Just in case the price scares you away from the 32GB card, SanDisk will also begin shipping a 16GB and 8GB card in March. The 16GB card will also ship with the MicroMate USB 2.0 Reader and the 8GB card features SanDisk’s Hinge Lock that allows the card to be plugged directly into the USB port. The 16GB card will retail for $179.99 and the 8GB card will set you back $99.99.

Read [Business Wire]

SanDisk has introduced a new, larger microSDHC card in a 12GB size. These new cards are not yet set to hit the market but instead are currently being sent to phone manufacturers for testing and evaluation. Its always nice when a new product is announced that it will be available or even have a set release date, but its still nice to know they are in the works. As you would guess, there was not any mention of pricing either.

According to SanDisk, most people are not even aware of the available microSDHC card slots on their phones and have since created a new campaign to help change that. You can find some more information at Wake Up Your Phone.

Read [SanDisk]

SanDisk has announced a new line of SD cards designed for digital camcorders. The SanDisk Video HD cards are high-capacity SDHC or Memory Stick PRO Duo formats with a unique definition of size. Instead of the more typical GB sized cards these new Video HD cards will be available in minutes, which should make it a lot easier for the camcorder novice to grab the correct card for their needs, of course for those of us more used to the standard GB sizes that will also remain on the cards.

The new cards are said to “exceed the performance required by high definition camcorders” which will offer you a great choice for that shiny new 1080 high-definition camera that you have just picked up. They have fast read times which will allow you to transfer those video files over to your computer in a more reasonable time. With not any mention of just how fast they will transfer, they are mentioned as being “best in class” for video card performance. These new cards will work in any digital camcorder with an available SDHC or Memory Stick PRO Duo card slot. Currently Sanyo, Sony, Panasonic and JVC, have some models to choose from. The Video SD cards will be available in storage sizes to include 60-minute/4GB and 120-minute/8GB, these recording times are based on the HD Standard setting.

The SDHC cards will retail for $79.99 for the 4GB model and $139.99 for the 8GB model, the Memory Stick PRO Duo cards will retail for $79.99 on the 4GB model and $149.99 on the 8GB model. They are expected to be available beginning in March for North America and follow shortly after in Europe.

Read [SanDisk]