Toshiba brings high definition camcorders to South Africa

Toshiba Computer Systems has announced that it will be launching its Gigashot A Series range of high definition camcorders to the South African market to compliment its existing Camileo range of camcorders. Toshiba’s Gigashot A Series is one of the world’s lightest high definition, hard disc-based video cameras. “Easily integrated with notebooks and other peripheral devices, the Gigashot A Series will allow people to record, edit and burn home movies in HD quality,” comments Reon Coetzee, Toshiba’s marketing manager for South Africa and Africa.

“With the ever-increasing proliferation of high definition TVs in South Africa, consumers and professionals, alike, have the need to use their investments to their full potential while they wait for TV broadcasters to become HD-ready,” he says. Featuring both 1080i full-HD motion capture and high-quality still image capture, Toshiba’s Gigashot A Series includes up to 100GB of inbuilt hard disc capacity for hours of High Definition video.

The A Series includes SD/SDHC card expansion slots – allowing up to 32GB of additional storage space for still images. Weighing in at just 495g, the A series captures interlaced Mpeg video at true 1080i high definition resolution (1920 x 1080/1400 x 1080 pixels). It includes a Fujitron with 10x optical and 80x digital zoom capability (focal length: 4.5 to 45mm) using a single 1/3-inch CMOS image sensor. The two variants of the A series – the A40F and A100F – include 40GB and 100GB of storage space respectively, being able to store up to 12 hours of high definition and 23 hours of standard definition video.

This handy camcorder includes a 3-inch widescreen TFT colour LCD display, electronic image stabilisation and various white-balancing technologies to suit even the most demanding home and professional users who expect crystal-clear images every time. Connectivity options across the range include component video and an AV-out for displaying images on a TV.  An HDMI port connects the camcorders to a high definition TV and a mini-USB port makes PC-connectivity easy.

“Being able to record precious memories or make high-quality film productions is one way that Toshiba aims to help drive the adoption of a digital lifestyle - helping people make the most of their technology investments,” Coetzee concludes.