Samsung has announced two new "near high definition" camcorders in the K Series. The SMX-K40 and SMX-K44 only record in standard definition (720 x 480) resolution but Samsung claims that this is upscaled to near HD quality when viewed on a high definition TV via the HDMI output.
The SMX-K40 records onto an internal 16GB SSD while the SMX-K44 records to external memory cards.
Fairly standard features include image stabilisation, 52x optical zoom plus 65x "intelligent zoom" enhancement, plus onboard video editing via Intelli-studio.
The camcorder seems to be aimed at those who don't want the expense of a full-blown HD model but want to be able to view footage at the highest quality possible.
I'm not wholly convinced about the "near HD" claim. You could surely get a similar effect, albeit with more effort, by burning a DVD of video taken on any SD camcorder and playing it back on an upscaling DVD player.
It will be interesting to see how good the quality is. Certainly there are more features than available on the cheaper, ultra-portable HD camcorders like the Flip Mino HD, but if you're looking for true HD filming and a decent feature set then it's definitely worth spending a bit more on a full HD camcorder.
I know, pretty obvious eh? I just hope no-one falls for Samsung's "near HD" claim and ends up being disappointed.
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