The SANYO Xacti HD1a is an upgrade to the Xacti HD1 and like its predecessors looks like a winner. The first thing you notice about the new High-Definition Digital Media Camera Xacti HD1 is its new iPod friendly mode. There is a video recording mode which is optimized for the video iPod and other video media players. Another new feature is the selectable 16:9 wide-screen still picture mode and the inbuilt camera editing features.

Oh and if you like your stuff to be one of a kind then you surely dig the Xacti HD1a as its the world's smallest and lightest high-definition digital media camera. The camera has been thoughtfully designed and can capture both 720p high-definition video and 5.1 mega-pixel digital still images on a standard SD flash memory card. Users can capture 3.8 megapixel stills in 16:9 shooting mode and powered by high-precision LSI (large-scale integration) circuitry for top notch image processing.

The SANYO Xacti HD1a sports a 2.2-inch LCD display with 210,000 total pixels which is also be able to rotate up to 285 degrees. The handicam also includes a 10x optical zoom lens which when combined with the 10x digital zoom, produces a whopping 100x zoom. The HD1a can capture decent images via its 5.36 megapixel (total) CCD and both videos and stills can be captured simultaneously. The HD1a measures 3.1" W x 4.7" H x 1.4" D and weighs about 8.3 ounces (including battery and a standard SD memory card).The HD1a can capture up to 21 minutes of 720p HD video per Gigabyte on a standard SD or SDHC memory card and 42 minutes on a 2-Gigabyte card or 84 minutes on the upcoming 4-Gigabyte SDHC card.The SANYO Xacti HD1a will be available in September for $699.99.