Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Sanyo has announced the world's first waterproof Full HD consumer video camera with optical zoom. The Sanyo DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti has a 14.3-megapixel CMOS sensor capable of capturing full-resolution stills at a speed of one frame per second (fps), and 2-megapixel stills at 7fps. The lens has a focal range of 6.8-34mm, equivalent to 38-190mm in 35mm terms, and an almost constant maximum aperture (f/3.5 at wide angle, f/3.7 at telephoto). Waterproof down to a depth of 3m for up to 60 minutes, the Sanyo DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti can be used underwater while snorkelling. As a video camera, it can shoot Full HD footage while taking advantage of Sanyo's "Double Range Zoom" technology, which changes the size of the video capture area on the image sensor. Compatible with Eye-Fi and SDXC memory cards, the Sanyo DMX-CA100 will be launched at the end of this month."

Sanyo is the latest camera manufacturer to release a camera aimed at helping us record our active lifestyles in HD no matter what we do. The DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti is waterproof to 3m for 60 minutes though I am not sure whether that's when the battery runs out or when the water finally works it way in! This is definitely one for the beach lovers and snorkellers out there but as it doesn't mention that it's rugged, be careful not to drop it!

"The SANYO R227 will make your life easier by finding you the stations you want to listen to while you pretend to work. As Sanyo’s vice president, Tom Van Voy states, the device needs no tethering to a computer. It seems that it has an own database for Internet stations. Oh, and it looks quite ugly. You have to wait until January to get one for $169.99."

Living in a digital household means being able to listen to your music collection all over the house. Over the years, I've experimented with a wide variety of music streaming solutions, including Internet Radios, old laptops and PDAs. While Internet radios are a great way to stream music while using relatively little power, I've found them too expensive for what they offer. Also, if I want to stream my own music, I need to set up something like a shoutcast station. In the end, I found the best solution for me is a low-fi solution; my server plays music through mpd with a web interface and it broadcasts on an FM transmitter. This solution allows anything that can pick up an FM signal (which is still a LOT of stuff) can play my music. Just have a radio in the kitchen? No problem! Like to sing in the shower? No problem! Out in the yard raking leaves? No... well, you get the picture. Has anyone found a good, low cost solution for in home streaming? Solutions like the Sanyo R227 are great, but hit the wallet.