Camcorder News

April 22, 2009 - Earlier this year, many people predicted Canon would announce a professional tapeless camcorder at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in 2009. With the economy lagging, however, it seems new camcorder announcements at NAB have been cut back. Few manufacturers have released new products and most have carried over a large portion of models from previous years. Over the past few years, Sony, JVC, and Panasonic have each released a line of memory-card-based pro camcorders, while Canon continues to rely solely on its tape-based HDV models.

Since Canon is a leader in production of flash-memory-based consumer camcorders, it seems natural the company would want to jump into the market with professional products. 'It is definitely something we're working on,' remarked Tim Smith, a representative from Canon. Mr. Smith couldn't offer a firm launch or announcement date, but he conceded it was a market Canon wanted to be involved with. The presence of numerous pro features on Canon's flash-based, consumer camcorder, the HF S10, also suggest the company is moving towards a tapeless camcorder for professionals.

If Canon does eventually release a tapeless pro camcorder, it is unclear as to what compression system will be utilized for capturing video. The company could choose to develop a pro AVCHD camcorder, work with an existing compression system developed by another manufacturer, or develop their own compression codec. Mr. Smith pointed out that the Canon 5D Mark II, a digital SLR camera with HD video capability, utilizes a Canon proprietary H.264 codec that is contained in a Quicktime MOV wrapper. Its possible Canon will use that same codec, or a tweaked version, on a pro camcorder in the future.

Meanwhile, on display at Canon's booth were a number of third-party, tapeless video recording devices that are compatible with Canon's pro HDV lineup. The third-party products included firestore devices from Focus Enhancements, which connect to camcorders via their FireWire ports. The firestore devices allow for direct capture of HDV video footage and bypass the need for tape recording.

The Ki Pro video recorder from AJA	Focus Enhancements firestore device

Hooked up to a Canon XH G1S was a Ki Pro video recorder made by AJA Video Systems. The Ki Pro recorder accepts raw, uncompressed HD footage via an HD-SDI input and stores the footage on HDD or solid-state modules. Video footage recorded onto the Ki Pro are produced as Apple ProRes 422 QuickTime files that are fully compatible and ready to use with Final Cut Pro. Essentially, the device acts like a video deck recorder, except no tape is involved. The Ki Pro recorder also features a ton of ports: HDMI-in/out, Composite and Component-out via BNC, XLR-in/out, RCA audio in/out, LANC connectors, and WiFi support for controlling the recorder wirelessly. The video recorder will be available soon from AJA at a cost of $3995. Hard disk drives for the recorder come in sizes of 250GB ($269) and 500GB ($379). Solid state drives will be available in sizes of 64GB or 128GB, but prices have not yet been released.