Sony Corp. has announced its smallest high-definition camcorder to date.

The HDR-CX7, which is due to go on sale in June, records 1080i high-definition video directly to a MemoryStick Pro Duo card. Until now its camcorders have relied on MiniDV tape, DVD discs or hard-disk drives to store video, but the memory card slot and associated electronic take up less space and mean a smaller, lighter camera.

Using a memory card also means that getting video into a PC is as easy as removing the card from the camera and slotting it into a card reader. The video must still be copied to the PC's hard-disk for viewing, but a software upgrade due mid-year will make it possible to watch video directly from high-speed Pro Duo- or Pro HG-type MemoryStick cards on both a PC and the PlayStation 3.

The flash memory-based recording also helps reduce power consumption and noise over other methods. But it doesn't come without disadvantages. Memory cards are quite expensive, and users will be able to store only about 30 minutes of video on a 4G-byte card in the camera's highest quality mode.

Behind the lens is a 3-megapixel image sensor, and the camera can also capture 6-megapixel still images, Sony said. Other features include a 10x optical zoom lens and a 2.7-inch wide-screen, touch-sensitive LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor.

The CX7 weighs 450 grams and measures 69 millimeters by 67mm by 129mm. It will cost about US$1,200 in the U.S.

Sony will also begin selling two hard-disk drive-based HD camcorders in June. The HDR-SR7 has a 60G-byte drive and the HDR-SR5 a 40G-byte drive. The SR7 comes with the same 3-megapixel image sensor used in the CX7, while the SR5 uses a 2-megapixel sensor. In the U.S. the cameras will cost $1,400 and $1,100, respectively. Prices and launch dates for other markets have not been announced.

All three camcorders record in the AVCHD format, which was developed by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and uses MPEG4 compression.

On Thursday Sony also announced an update to its Vegas 7 video editing software that adds support for AVCHD files. An upgrade for the consumer "Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition 8" software, adding AVCHD support, will be available from July, Sony said.

After tumbling for more than four consecutive months, prices on dynamic random access memory (DRAM) may sustain rapid decrease in the coming months, causing memory chip makers to continue losing money. Nevertheless, as the demand towards computers increases in the second half of the year, towards back-to-school season, the prices may start to rebound, according to DRAMeXchange.

Price of one 512Mb DDR2 PC2-5300 (667MHz) chip has decreased by 53% in the last twelve months from $5.21 to $2.37, which is not really negative for large DRAM manufacturers as they continually implement new manufacturing technologies and, considering that prices remained pretty high till mid-December, 2006, hardly anyone suffered from changing pricing in 2006. However, starting 2007 memory pricing has been tumbling rapidly and may soon hit the bottom.

The persisting price declines have pushed DRAM makers to the verge of losing money. Migrating to more advanced fabrication processors, and boosting shipments of 1Gb chips will be two key factors in deciding how the respective DRAM makers perform in the second half of the year, according to market tracker DRAMeXchange.

The current declines in the DRAM contract price have been much bigger than originally expected, the research firm claims. This has been mainly attributed to the weak seasonality in the PC market, and huge imbalance in the demand and supply chain. DRAM makers have been forced to sell their chips at particularly low prices, as their monthly capacities continue to enhance. However, with the inventory levels of PC makers now running lower and seasonally weak second quarter coming to its end, DRAM demand may start to pick up, which will result in memory pricing rebound.

Computer hardware developers tend to start shipping new hardware to PC manufacturers starting in mid-June so that the latter could prepare new systems for the back-to-school season. The increase in demand towards hardware in overall will indisputably cause memory price increase.

The ongoing price declines are dragging DRAM makers to the brink of losing money. In response, manufacturers are trying earnestly to further cut down costs, notes DRAMeXchange. For instance, Micron recently announced the successful development of the 1.5V DDR2 chip using the 78 nm manufacturing process. The smaller voltage is capable of saving approximately 24% of power. As Micron owns a larger ratio of the less cost-effective 200mm fabs, it is introducing chips with special specifications, in order to avoid the fierce price competition in the commodity DRAM market. For Samsung and Hynix, they have begun to run test trials using the 68nm and 66nm process, along with increasing the shipment ratio of 1Gb chips for 2H07. On the other hand, Taiwan manufacturers are continuing to boost the capacity of their 300” fabs. Needless to say, amid the rapid capacity increase, the cost down mechanisms being introduced by the DRAM manufacturers will play an instrumental role in their future competitiveness.

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