There are plenty of Blu-ray players and recorders around now that can handle the AVCHD format designed to efficiently compress high-definition video into an MPEG-4 stream, but the latest product from Canon is the first we've seen that cuts out the middle man and records direct to disk from a camcorder.
The DW-100 is a stand-alone DVD burner that will cost around ¥40,000 (£180) in Japan when it is released in March next year (why announce it now then?) intended to suck AVCHD straight up a USB straw from a video camera. Unfortunately for high-def fans, the setup will work only with a Canon camcorder.
Canon can't
The camera in question is Canon's iVIS HG10, which came out in Japan last summer, and two options are available for getting video onto a TV screen. The first involves connecting the camera to the TV and using the iVIS remote control to flick through media on its hard drive.
Failing that clumsy method, most users are likely to hook the drive up to the camera and burn their video to a standard DVD, which will then play in a PS3 or other compatible machine. Nice, but unless Canon makes the DW-100 work with other video cameras, we can't see this one taking off.