July 9, 2008 9:28 AM PDT

Samsung's new YouTube-friendly camcorder

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The SC-MX20 will be available in August for $279.99.

Each month seems to bring a new YouTube-centric digital camcorder and July is no exception: Samsung has announced the SC-MX20, a $279.99 model that's the successor to the SC-MX10. It'll arrive in stores in August and come in blue, black, red, and white.

According to the news release, the camcorder has a 680,000-pixel CCD sensor that delivers a 720x480-pixel resolution that allows the SC-MX20 to capture video with "stunning color and clarity." That may be a slight exaggeration, but the new model does feature a Schneider lens with 34x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD, advanced noise reduction (3-D Noise Reduction), Samsung's allegedly improved Advanced Image Stabilization, and Face Detection, "which can automatically detect up to five faces and adjust focus to ensure better composition." According to Samsung, the value priced SC-MX20 shares some features found in its higher-end SC-HMX20C, including its design.

What makes the SC-MX20 YouTube-friendly is a special Web and mobile-shooting mode that simply tells the camcorder to shoot video with YouTube-optimized video settings. According to the release, "By selecting the Web & Mobile mode, the camcorder's resolution is automatically adjusted to 640x480 (H.264 / AAC / MP4) and optimized for use on Web sites. Unlike other camcorders, users can easily import video from the SC-MX20 and play it on MP3 players and other portable multimedia players supporting H.264, without having to convert the files." Some CyberLink software is thrown in for editing and customizing video files.

As for memory, the SC MX20 has a slot for SD/SDHC (up to 32GB) and MMC+ memory cards, though the camcorder doesn't come with any memory, which means you'll have to supply your own card. According to the release, "thanks to H.264 compression, when in full resolution and when set to fine mode, users can record up to four hours of footage using an 8GB memory card, eight hours using a 16GB memory card, and up to 16 hours using a 32GB memory card. Furthermore, the SC-MX20 features the longest battery life in its class, lasting up to three hours."

While the overall specifications don't appear to be all that different from those of the SC-MX10, we're hoping the tweaks are really more than just tweaks. We'll let you know when we get our hands on one.

Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.