Sanyo announces the first waterproof camcorder. The Xacti E1 model will be available next month for $500. We consider the price fair as the camera records directly on the SD/SDHC cards. It works underwater for about an hour, but the maximum depth is just 5 feet. The Sanyo Xacti E1 waterproof camcorder is perfect for beach activities or water parks.

Besides being a good underwater device, the camera gives you the possibility to use it like a regular camera wherever you want. It is perfect for shooting video or still images using the Advanced Video Codec AVC/H.264. Xacti’s users can record up to 10 hours of 640 x 480 pixels/30fps videos on a 8GB SDHC memory card. The CCD image sensor allows to capture 6 megapixel images and videos and it has 5x optical zoom.

The Xacti E1 features a 2.5″ LCD screen that rotates up to 285 degrees on an axis. The Xacti E1 enables easy playback of recorded video directly on a TV screen. All in all I can say this camera is a true work of art. Pre-orders are available at Amazon.com.

[Product page via Engadget]

The first HD video camera in the world was Sanyo Xacti with 7.1 megapixels and able to record 720p. It wasn’t that great and they knew it. The videos just weren’t clear enough, no way to be HD quality.Sanyo improved the quality of the recordings much more, in the new Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD2. This new model with a new sensor is 7.38 megapixels, has support for SDHC (up to 8GB), ISO1600 certified and goes 920 BR in 720p mode.

We’re waiting it to be reviewed by our staff at DevicePedia.com as soon as we can put our hands on it. Let’s hope this time Sanyo hit the jackpot with the new Xacti DMX-HD2 and that is in fact a better HD video camera.

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