Panasonic engineers have managed to come up with the World's first SD memory card HD video camera in the form of HDC-SD1. It can capture 1080i HD images onto SD/SDHC memory cards and can record up to 90 minutes of HD images on a 4 GB SDHC Memory Card in HE mode (approx. 6 Mbps).

Measuring 74 x 69 x 142 mm, the HDC-SD1 is the world's smallest and lightest HD video camera to date (As a consumer HD video camera which supports the AVCHD format). Users can enjoy the luxury of recording and playback of high-resolution digital images and 5.1-channel surround sound, thanks to the AVCHD format compatibility, an HD digital video camera recording format Panasonic developed with Sony sometime ago.

The HDC-SD1 boasts of a 3CCD imaging system designed particularly for HD shooting, provides a higher color resolution which is more than double the resolution of conventional image sensors. This in turn helps the users to use the camera n get great images even under low light conditions as low as six lux. Also the newly developed LSI helps to implement the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 technology used in the AVCHD format.

Perhaps the most talked about feature is the microphone zoom function, wherein the microphone zooms simultaneously as the camera zooms in on the subject and records the sound around the subject in the distance. Certainly one hell of a feature to boast off!. Other additional features include, 1.7 second quick start-up, "black-box" technologies and Optical Image Stabilizer. The HDC-SD1 will hit the shelves in Japan on December 1 and will be available at a suggested price of 1,300.00 euros.