Camcorders Losing Weight in Web Era
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
The new cult of Internet video sharing is retooling camcorders so they can serve the mania of Youtube and Pandora TV with maximum convenience by sacrificing picture quality.
Samsung Electronics has introduced a pocket-sized camcorder that is optimized for recording and editing short Internet video clips. The company hopes the handy VM-X300 model will win the hearts of the young generation who indulge in video blogs and who prefer surfing the Internet to watching TV in their leisure time.
The company said that the Internet is key to reviving the shrunken video recorder market, where only a handful of Japanese makers such as Sony, Panasonic and JVC are surviving. Though those traditional powerhouses have built a strong reputation in high-quality camcorders, newcomers such as Samsung and Sanyo are trying to turn the table with their inexpensive, lightweight and handy cams that are specialized for low-quality Internet video formats.
``The spec of our new model is not superior to that of Sony or Panasonic. But we believe what really matters is their value for money,'' product manager Eric Jo said in a presentation on Thursday.
Thanks to South Korea's well-established broadband network, many local news and portal sites as well as community services are introducing their own versions of Youtube. Widely known as UCC (user-created content) here, those video sharing services have been increasingly popular and are boosting the market of recording and editing equipment as well.
Samsung's VM-X300, which is on sale at around 280,000 won, is about the size of a bulky mobile phone. It is capable of shooting videos of 720 by 480 pixels, which look good enough on small PC screens but not as good on living room TVs. Instead, the boot-up time has been reduced from 12 seconds to two seconds, making it an ideal device for point-and-shoot video bloggers.
Sanyo has also brought out a variety of new models, targeting young consumers. One of the latest introductions was the waterproof camcorder Xacti VPC-CA65, which can be submerged 1.5 meters underwater. These Web-tailored camcorders mostly record on flash memory, while many of the high-definition cameras still use bulky magnetic tapes.
The camcorder market has been sluggish for the past few years. Consumers have shunned unwieldy, tech-heavy recorders, and instead opted for handy digital cameras and mobile phones that have recording functions. In 2005, Samsung proudly showed off the Miniket, a hybrid camcorder and digital camera. But its hefty price tag and complicated controls have hindered its sales.
After the long doldrums, a meek sign of recovery is beginning to show this year, Samsung's Jo said.
``We have been concerned that our previous products failed to create a camcorder boom. So we took extra features out from them that we thought unnecessary,'' he said.
Samsung is currently the only Korean player in the camcorder sector. LG Electronics and Daewoo Electronics folded their businesses during the Asian financial crisis. JVC, a Japanese powerhouse, is also considering pulling out of Korea this month.