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Midland's mobile video cameras go HD

Midland announced a new line of HD wearable video cameras at CES 2011, suitable for driving, biking, snowboarding, and other sports.

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
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Midland XTC action cam
Midland's action camera is now able to record video in HD. This compact unit only weighs 3 ounces. Wayne Cunningham/CNET

Las Vegas - Known for a line of CB radios, Midland entered new mobile territory last year with wearable video cameras. At CES 2011, the company came out with its first HD video action cameras, the XTC200, XTC300, and XTC350.

The cameras are very compact units, weighing only 3 ounces with 140 degree wide angle lenses, as is common with this type of camera. The XTC200 records 720p video, while the XTC300 and XTC350 step it up to 1080p.

 
Midland XTC action cam
The cameras come with a variety of mounts and accessories, such as suction cup suitable for car use. Wayne Cunningham/CNET

Each model takes up to a 32 GB SD card. With 1080p video taking about 1 GB for each 11 minutes, the card can hold more than 5 hours of video. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries power the cameras.

The cameras can be had with a variety of mounts, such as a suction cup for car use, a permanent mount for helmets, and even a clip suitable for the visor of a cap. There is also a waterproof case.

Typical of action cameras, Midlands XTC models do not include view finders. Nor if there a laser direction finder, as can be found on cameras from Contour. In many ways, Midland is playing catch-up to both Contour and GoPro, each of which previously released HD versions of their action cameras.

Midland's XTC HD cameras should become available within the next few months.