Sanyo has upgraded their Xacti CA-65 waterproof camcorder with the new Xacti DMX-CA8. The DMX-CA8 retains much of the same features as its predecessor except for the addition of an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor and a “Face Chaser” function.
The DMX-CA8 is JIS IPX5 and IPX8 certified, which means that it can withstand one hour of being submerged into water up to 1.5 meters (just under 5-foot) deep. The DMX-CA8 can record video at 60fps with MPEG-4 AVCH/H.264 compression. Like its predecessor, the DMX-CA8 also sports a 5x optical zoom lens. To make the camcorder special, Sanyo threw in a “Face Chaser” function which can track six faces when filming a video or twelve faces when the camcorder is used for still images.
Otherwise, the DMX-CA8 also offers a digital image stabilizer, wind noise reduction, talking navigation, support for SDHC cards up to 32GB and a 2.5-inch color LCD display. The DMX-CA8 will be released in the Japanese market sometime in May 2008.
Via [Akihabara News]
From all the sites i have seen, the languages can be changed to english.. its just a matter finding someone that speaks japanese to go through the menus and work out where you change it..
I'm from the Philippines and having a seminar here in Japan. Just yesterday I bought a Sanyo DMX-CA8. The product impressed me so I bought it thinking that I can find an english translation manual in the internet. But so far I havent found one. So, I am requesting and appealing to Sanyo mgt if you can provide me with the manual of the said product with english translation so that I can maximize the use of it. As of now I am helpless and I know that I cant return the goods anymore. I hope that Sanyo would give favorable response on this matter once they read this comment.
i ended up buying one from hong kong. In the box there was a manual for various languages.. including english
Unfortunately its a small manual (about 5cmx10cm) and is bound so its impossible to be able to photocopy. Having said that, they do exist, so if you ask sanyo themselves, i am sure they can supply one for you.
thanks for your response. I hope I can find the email address of sanyo customer care so that I can email them directly. But as of now I dont have such information.
everyone has there own opinion.. personally i think sanyo has a great item… yes its not the best quality video.. yes its customer support is not great.. however where else can you get a half descent underwater (to 1.5m) camera for about $350? the only thing that comes close, is the panasonic one, which is not as good, has pathetic still shots and is twice the pricetag.
As to making smart a55 comments.. i never said I found a site, I said I have a printed english manual from sanyo.. Did you call Sanyo to find out how to get it, as it definetly does exist ( I have one, so do many other sanyo users in australia)?
On a last note, if you go out buy a dvd from a different region then where you are… Is it the dvd's manufacturer fault the the dvd may not work, or be in another language… or is it the buyers fault, for being neive/trying to cut the importers costs/making an uneducated decision/etc etc? you show me a better product with the same or better specs as the sanyo's product for a cheaper price, and then i will agree with you.. Until then, maybe sanyo aint crap, but someone else is..
Thanks again. That's very helpful. Okay I'm crap and uneducated and I pay for it.
Maybe a way forward is to put a line on the packaging: "crap, naive and uneducated consumers, please refrain from purshasing this product "
I bought the Xacti DMX-CA8 in Japan. I didn't think twice about the fact that all menus are set in japanese as I expected it to be a straight forward thing to do to change the language through the settings as I did with the Minolta I had bought back in 2002. But no! I'm stuck with the Japanese menus and to date the Japanes manual as well!! I can't find a User Manual in english on the internet! needless to say I am not impressed! Also came with it a software called Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 which you can only use if your PC's operating system has CPU that supports the SSE2 instruction set. Mine doesn't so again I'm stuffed! I regret ever looking at this thing right now.
Not so long ago I got this in my Inbox as a response to myfirst comment on that matter:
"From all the sites i have seen, the languages can be changed to english..its just a matter finding someone that speaks japanese to go through themenus and work out where you change it.."
But after reading you I now know that I am not the only unfortunate victim of that lack of customer after sale care! and this is no consolation. I thought I'd wait sometime as perhaps Sanyo has some logistic probs of some sort and that they'd get it right but I still haven't got a english manual. To whoever sent me this rather useless comment,1) my wife is Japanese and 2)if you really found a site where I can get hold of an English manual please send me a link to it.
Sanyo's crap. That's what I say.
I bought my camera in Akihabara, Japan and have the same problem. On the camera, the only language option is Japanese. I feel like the sales guy could have warned me!
Does anyone have a firmware link or anything?! Please help! It's been almost a year since the last request!
not sure how you can upgrade firmware, however the version i have, has all languagres.. maybe get someone that speaks japanese to help you set it to english.. for me.. press menu, then go down to option menu 2, then 5th menu item is languages.. you have to be in the normal menu, not the simple menu.. pretty simple
Thanks Tesaro, but it's not a matter of being able to read the Japanese. I have some Japanese skills ad my Japanese friends have looked too. It's that the Camera simply doesn't have other language options in the language menu, only Japanese. I think it is like this because I bought in Japan. Like I said, I think the cameras sold in Japan maybe don't bother to include other language options…
My only hope is finding the firmware which doesn't seem to exist.
Thanks for taking the time to try and help though.
If you bought the Japanese model you are stuck with only Japanese as the language option. Notice that the code dmx-ca8 is specific to Japan only. The international version of this camera has a different code.