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Canon jumps on AVCHD high-def bandwagon

The iVIS HR10 is a decent performers for the price

Until we get HD DVD or Blu-ray technology into consumers video cameras, it seems the line-up of camcorders that use the AVCHD codec to compress HD TV images onto existing media will continue to expand. The latest, from Canon Japan , is the iVIS HR10.

The ¥140,000 (£583) camcorder goes on sale in August in Japan. It records to 8cm DVD-R/RW and DVD-R DL disks at a resolution of up to 1440 x 1080(i) pixels. It's not full 1080p HD, but Canon machines are generally decent performers for the price, so we can let that slide.

Extras included

The lens features a typical 10x optical zoom. Still resolution (snaps are dumped to a miniSD card) is just over 3 megapixels and the unit weighs 650g when loaded with a battery and a disk. Incidentally, why do makers bother to tell us how much their gear weighs without a battery or media anyway?

Otherwise, the specs are similar to many other consumer cameras at this price. Although the inclusion of an HDMI out port and Corel software for AVCHD editing (Windows only, Mac fans) are a nice touch. As with most Canon video cameras, it's hard to recommend the iVIS based on appearances, however.