Panasonic cranks out prototype of small HD video camera

Panasonic is showing off a working prototype of a small, and likely cheap, high-definition video camera this week at Ceatec, a high-tech trade show taking place near Tokyo.

At its booth at Ceatec, the company has two versions of the camera, which is about the size and shape of a hard drive video camera. At CES earlier in the year, it showed off wood models of prototypes.

Currently, HD video cameras are for only the true video fanatics. The cameras cost close to $1,800 and are fairly large. If you whipped one out at a kid's birthday party, people might think you're filming an episode of "Cops." Some companies have released small cameras that provide some HD features, but they don't do full HD.

Manufacturers are trying to both drive down the price and shrink the size of the camera. Earlier this year, Yoshi Yamada, CEO of Panasonic North America, said the company was aiming to release such a camera in 2007 at a price around $1,000. Start-up Ambarella is also producing chips that will let camera makers come out with HD cameras around $800.