Easy underwater camera

Last update: June 5, 2007 - 4:42 PM

$500, www.sanyodigital.com

Aspiring Cousteaus now can record all of their undersea adventures on video, provided their adventures don't take them deeper than five feet.

Just in time for swim season, Sanyo is releasing the Xacti E1, which it says is the first camcorder that can record underwater without a special housing. For each gigabyte of memory on an SD card, the Xacti can shoot 75 minutes of video in the MPEG-4 format at 640 pixels by 480 pixels. That means an 8 GB SDHC card can hold up to 10 hours of video. Memory cards are not included. The camera comes with 18 megabytes of internal memory.

Sanyo expects the Xacti E1 to be available through online retailers by mid-June.

The 8-ounce camera, with a 5X optical zoom, is rated waterproof at 5 feet for up to an hour. It comes in blue, white or easy-to-find-on-the-pool-bottom yellow.

The Xacti doubles as a 6-megapixel still camera and records audio in stereo -- even if all it picks up is "glub, glub."

CHEAP DIGITAL RADIO

$60, www.radiosophy.com

The cost of receiving digital AM and FM signals will drop this week as Radiosophy releases its HD100 receiver for less than $60 with a rebate. The HD100 pulls in HD Radio signals, a digital format that is broadcast alongside standard radio by more than 1,200 stations in this country. The next least expensive digital receiver is $160 with a rebate; most start at $300.

The HD100 is a 2.2-pound compact receiver with built-in speakers. It has a play-through auxiliary input, a headphone jack and an alarm clock. AC power is required.

The radio has an internal AM antenna and a pull-out FM antenna. Both can be replaced with external antennas. Because digital signals are limited to 1 percent of the power of a station's analog transmission, HD receivers often need external antennas for clear sound on far-off signals.

A display screen shows station call letters, song and artist details and -- depending on the station -- brief updates on traffic, weather, news and sports.

NEW YORK TIMES

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