February 5 - 3:40pm EST   Canon today followed up on promises made at CES by setting out launch details for its 2009 camcorders. The VIXIA series HD line has been pushed back slightly and will see the flash-based HF S100 and HF S10 sell for $1,100 and $1,300 respectively when they ship in early March. The HF200 and HF20 will sell for $750 and $900 but are now set for early April despite using partly older technology. The lone DV tape entry, the HV40, arrives last and sells for $1,000 in early June. [full story]

January 12 - 7:15am EST   Canon launched its 2009 VIXIA line this year at CES with several storage options that range from pure flash to hard drives to MiniDV. The line-up includes the HF S10, a 32GB internal flash memory camcorder with an external SDHC slot, the HF S100, the HF S10's cousin which lacks the internal flash memory, using only an SDHC slot for storage, the HF20, offering 32GB internal flash memory and an SDHC slot, and the HF200 is similar to the 20 without the external SDHC slot. All four flash-based models get built-in face detection, which alerts the auto-focus mechanism to track people's faces and they all record at 24Mbps, the fastest bitrate possible for the AVCHD format. [full story]

January 5 - 10:25am EST   Canon this morning unveiled a complete overhaul of its camcorder line starting with its VIXIA HD camcorders. The HF S10 and HF S100 are both the first Canon video cameras to sport the new DIGIC DV III chip and produce better overall image accuracy while adding support for live face detection, an improved auto exposure system and the ability to capture 8-megapixel still photos. Either can also record 1080-line AVCHD (H.264) video at up to the maximum 24Mbps supported by the spec. [full story]

August 12 - 3:10pm EDT   Kingston today has set a new ceiling for its storage with a 32GB version of its Elite Pro SDHC card. The capacity is enough to store as many as 6,000 10-megapixel JPEG shots or six hours of low-bitrate HD video; users of Canon's new VIXIA camcorders can still shoot nearly three hours of full-quality footage. The card is fast enough to handle both formats without stuttering with a guaranteed Class 4 (4MB per second, or 32Mbps) transfer speed. [full story]

August 7 - 9:35am EDT   Canon has quickly followed up on earlier Japanese releases with North American versions of its new VIXIA HD camcorders. The new models are all Canon's first to record their AVCHD (H.264) video at a full 24Mbps bitrate that produces better detail and color accuracy. Appropriately, the flagship HF11 doubles the capacity of its predecessor with 32GB of built-in flash memory, which is enough to hold two hours and 55 minutes of full-quality 1920x1080 video. It also has an SDHC card slot to potentially double that storage without the extra girth of hard drives or tapes. [full story]

July 22 - 9:50am EDT   Canon gave Americans an early preview of the updated VIXIA line on Tuesday with the Japanese launch of two new versions of the HD video cameras. The HF11 is unusual among camcorders for building in a large amount of flash-based memory: it incorporates 32GB of the motionless storage and gives videographers as much as 12 hours of HD shooting in the AVCHD (H.264) format without skipping or adding the bulk of a full hard drive. Full-quality 1920x1080 nets about two hours and 55 minutes, but an SDHC card slot allows recording time to potentially double. [full story]

January 7 - 12:25pm EST   Canon's time at CES has been spent introducing a completely new line of HD video cameras and upgrading its standard-definition models. Called VIXIA, the premium range is entirely HD-capable and relies largely on tapeless storage. The HF10 serves as the flagship by using 16GB of internal flash memory and offering an SDHC slot that can accept as much or more storage in removable form. This allows it to capture as much as six hours of HD video in AVCHD format just on built-in memory while offering the instant response and skip protection of the flash format. A second model, the HF100, shares the same features but uses only removable SDHC cards for video. [full story]