Canon CEO Announces Canon's Entrance into High Definition Camcorder Marketby Robin LissPublished on Sep 13, 2005 2:00 PM 
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New York - "In the digital video camcorder we will introduce models that will support the HDV standard that will support high definition video recording," said Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai at his keynote for the Canon EXPO 2005 event in New York, officially marking Canon's entrance into the high defintion camcorder market.
While Mitarai did not expand on the camcorder, the model which will be announced tomorow at 10:30 AM eastern was first shown at the International Broadcasters Convention in Amsterdam this past weekend. Canon had the camcorder in a glass box on the show floor; when asked about the product, Canon officals said that it would be announced to the EXPO. However, a source close to Canon told CamcorderInfo.com that the camcorder will cost under $10,000 - $12,000. Additionally according to the source, the camcorder will shoot at 1080 interlaced lines of resolution but will not have a 24 frames progressive scan mode. The source also stated that this would be the only HDV camcorder which Canon would announce at the EXPO.
Canon is one of five camcorder manufacturers who are part of the HDV consortium. The HDV format was first intorduced by JVC. Eventually, Canon, Sony and, Sharp agreed that they would produce consumer and prosumer high defintion camcorders under the format. Panasonic is the only major camcorder manufacturer who has not announced an HDV camcorder, however, the Panasonic broadcast group has announced a high definition solid state model.
In addition to mentioning HDV technology, the other major product announcement that Canon made at the event was that they would be entering into the display business with three technologies, Surface-conduction electron-emitter displays, projection displays and OLED displays. Their new work in displays will be used in their video cameras, said CEO Mitari. Canon has partnered with Toshiba to manufacturer the displays. Mitarai said that they intend to build the business into a new competitive area for Canon.
Canon EXPO is an event which the company throws every five years. It starts tomorow morning with a press conference where further details about the Canon HDV camcorder are expected to be announced. Canon will feature both new and existing products at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York. The EXPO will also be heled in Tokyo and in Paris.