September 25, 2007
Toshiba Gigashot A100F with 100GB hard drive
by Dhiram Shah
Toshiba Japan has announced the Gigashot A series of digital camcorders with support for full HD recording (1,920×1,080). The camcorders come with a 1.8 inch hard drive in capacities of 40GB and 100GB. The onboard Real-V engine engine reduces picture noise even in a dark place and adjusts the bright part of the picture in real time. Recording is done in 1,920×1,080i/1,440×1,080i resolution at 60fps in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format. Audio recording is done in 16bit/48kHz at 384 kbps bit rate. With three recording modes XQ/HQ/SP the A100F with the 100 gig hard drive can record upto 12 hours of full HD video and 23 hours of standard video. The 35mm Fujinon lens has a diameter of 45mm and offers 10X optical zoom. The Gigashot has a 3 inch LCD supporting 320 x 240 pixels and a SDHC compatible SD card slot.
The Toshiba Gigabeat A series will go on sale in Japan from mid November with the A40F (40 GB) 158,000 Yen ($ 1375) selling for and A100F (100GB) for 188,000 Yen ($ 1640).
60fps (ie 1080p) seems unlikely and isn’t available on any other consumer camcorder. Full HD on consumer camcorders means 1080i at ‘full’ 1920×1080 resolution, not 1080p as it often does on TVs.