I received the unit and have been testing it out in various shooting settings and resolutions. Right away I really appreciated the .mp4 format of the recordings and the simplicity of working with the files (on a Mac w/iMovie9). Honestly, on a fast mac, working with any of the size/formats the camera records seems to be quick and easy.I'm a little disappointed that the iFrame format doesn't turn out to be a big of a deal as I thought it would be. iFrame is a nice compromise between 720p and 480p with low file size and a wide screen format. Shooting 720p @ 30fps seems to work just as well, with Quicktime deftly handling bouncing the clips down to a variety of formats including ipod, appletv, 480p, 720p, etc.
There are two slow down modes, the slowest the files do not play natively on my mac.
The transfer speed seems a tad slow thru the USB connection to a known USB 2.0 connections. Remedied with the purchase of a third party card reader, which is also mush easier than using the base stand for transfers.
The unit lacks a usb or video connection on camera so you have to use the stand or a card reader for transfers.
On tripod this cam works well. Hand held noticed some camera shake issues that seem to be inherent with the xacti line as opposed to the Canons (based on reading other reviews). Turning the motion stabilization of or off didn't seem to make much of a difference in informal shooting sessions. iMove seems geared to take a very long time to analyze clips for shake. best to get a tripod or monopod for better shots.
The still image quality is just ok. The 8 megapixel claim falling far short as the camera bumps it down to 2 megapixel while shooting video. Even in photo shooting mode the images leave a bit to be desired. Adequate for trips and events, but not worthy of replacing a good point and shoot.
I noticed some bluish glowing spots in some videos early on. The lens is wide angle enough to have some reflection problems. Zooming in, just a little, get's rid of the glowing spots.
The various shooting modes worked fine for around the house and yard. The 1080p highest quality mode seems to be struggling to remain sharp, even in good light. For the price you almost can't compare this cam to those costing thousands more. Despite this subtle flaw the hat tips to the Xacti when taking into considering the time and HD space saved using the native .mp4 files, along with easy archivability, and native playback with no transcoding.
Under studio lighting it was easy enough to use the many menu controls to set the white point and exposure, as well as adjusting the settings. One trick I've found that can dramatically improve low budget set shots is to use the exposure and focus lock commands to keep the Cam from hunting or altering the exposure while shooting in a attempt to get the best shot. The little thing, means well but sometime you have to think for it.
Overall a nice and small, modern, consumer cam. With some tweaks high quality shots are possible. For mAc users the easy accessibility makes the Xacti a strong contender though the iFrame format, at least for now, may be more hype than feature. Last years model might do for those not willing to for out extra to early adopt.
The camera has a cold shoe to mount a light or a microphone. It has a mic jack and an earphone jack. It comes with a dock and remote control that can be connected to your computer, external hard drive, or TV with HDMI, composite, component, and usb. All cables are included except for the HDMI. You can even plug the dock directly into an external hard drive and offload the video files onto it.
It does have image stabilization for both the camera, and the video. The camera takes pictures equivalent to a point and shoot, and has a pop up flash. (you have to manually turn it on not automatic) The video is equivalent to other HD cameras, and I am happy with the low light performance. There are many manual settings you can use to improve the low light quality. ISO settings to 3200, exposure compensation, white balance, and so on. You can make shortcuts to the settings using the toggle switch.
A few negatives:
The lens cap is too small and pops off. I solved this by buying a 40.5 UV lens filter to protect the lens, and the cap snaps firmly into the filter.
You cannot plug a USB cable directly into the camera. You have to use the dock. It would have been much more convenient if you could charge the camera with the USB. You can plug the power cable directly into the camera. That doesn't help if you don't have an outlet handy.
All the video cables are used on the dock only. This doesn't bother me too much. I just leave the dock near my TV. I don't plan on playing video from the camera anywhere else except for at home.
If you record constantly for about 20 minutes, (video file hits about 4GB size), it starts a new file, and there may be a gap of missing video. This is not because of the camera, it is a limitation of the SD card formatting, but other cameras deal with it much better. This doesn't bother me either, because these types of cameras are not meant to be used for constant use. Home videos don't need to be that long, and you shouldn't be boring your relatives to death like that.
The zoom is difficult to use for still photos if you have the video set to HD (16:9) and the photo set to 4:3. You can zoom in to the subject, but the subject you had framed correctly in 16:9, now appears further away in 4:3. Using the same aspect ration for both video and photo resolves this problem. There is a photo preview button.
I am very happy with this camera, and I will actually get to enjoy editing my home videos right away without waiting hours to transcode my videos before I can start. I'm sure there are other cameras that have better quality, (at a higher price), but what good is it if you just let the videos sit in a closet, on a tape or SD card, and never do anything with them?!
Buy Sanyo VPC-HD2000A Xacti 8MP High Definition 1080P (Black) Now
I'm not a video boffin, so don't really understand the techno stuff, but I really like my new video camera. It is easy to use, compact, and really quite an attractive piece of equipment. It also seems to have really great video quality, as long as you have a steady hand as I understand there is no image stabilisation wizardry. It also has a great battery life and stores a good amount of video or pictures on a 16GB card.The only negatives I've found so far are that it doesn't have a brilliant still picture quality, it seems to be the equivalent of any point and shoot still camera, but then I think this is true of all dual cameras.
It is also much better in good light, but manages fairly well in artificial or moderate light.
So for those amateurs out there, I would reccommend this camera, but shop around as you can get them for as little as £350/$550 (new).
Hope this helps, I spent ages researching different cameras before buying this one, and I haven't yet regretted it.
Read Best Reviews of Sanyo VPC-HD2000A Xacti 8MP High Definition 1080P (Black) Here
I'll be honest, I started getting skeptical when I started seeing the reviews here. Lots of commentary about people not receiving proper tech support, horrible stabilization, and lack of gapless recording. These seem far from reasons to warrant a single star, but alas, I still took the plunge. I played around with the Canon HFS100 before settling with the sanyo due to the major savings for basically the same CMOS sensor and lens aperture. I use a Velbon 540 and stabilization is not an issue even when running. For anyone on the fence about this, really look at the stuff posted on vimeo using stabilizers and wide angle lenses. Now Like I said, this camera is for tinkerers, if you know what the roadblocks are and don't mind them, get ready to enjoy a truly amazing camera. Who is this not for? The average Joe and Jane recording Bobby's Piano recital will hate this thing, just like they would hate a DSLR.PRO's:+Image quality and optics among the best for a consumer camera under $2000.
+External Mic input
+60FPS means semi-slowmo shots that turn out awesome.
+high speed recording neat even if it lacks quality.
+Lenses and filters available to shorten DOF and do wide angle or telephoto shots.
+H.264 is easy to work with, and lightning fast to transcode using nvidia's badaboom.
CON's:
-zero stabilization (fix: buy a Manfrotto 585 for $99)
-internal mic on back of LCD (odd, real odd)
-not for "My MOM"
-some of the interface is quirky.
-no electronic viewfinder.
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I love Xacti cameras. The gun form is easy to hold. The buttons aren't perfect but the camera is easy enough to point and shoot. Memory card video cameras (rather than tape, dvd or hard disk) are great. Top range Xacti cameras are pocketable and produce superb video quality. This one even produces reasonable quality stills. This and other top of the range Xacti's have an external mike input, sadly lacking in many competitors, and for me, for vlogging and documentary type stuff, *essential*.But the trendy new compact H.264 video format and the sheer quality of the video is a problem. Unless you have a very powerful computer (mine a 3.5GHZ Dual Pentium with 2GB RAM, is insufficient) then the video files produced will not play back in with video/sound in sync using Windows Media player. I have heard that some people are getting okay playback using Quicktime but my Quicktime, the lastest at the time of writing (7.5), is jumpy and in slow motion by turns. I get best results with a free player called zplayer but the video is smooth and the audio is synched only when the display is the size of a large matchbox.
The preview in your editor will be very choppy too, and you will not be able to "scrub through" the video to find appropriate places to cut and splice etc.
Clever people here and on Vimeo are recommending that we transcode the H.264 files before editing or playback using appropriate software. But if you have to do that, then you are almost back in days of tape capture. The beauty of memory card video is that you can drag and drop video files to your editor time line, and use them on the fly without having to go through a capture/transcoding process. What a pain in the butt.
If you do not edit your video and upload files from the card to Youtube then fine. Youtube will do the work and the videos look great. But I want to edit, and therefore preview, my videos.
My old HD2 from about three years ago on the other hand has many drawbacks. It is not nearly so good in low light. The video definition is not half as good. It looks clunky and has no curves. And above all the frame rate is lower, low, so action shots and even panning often produce nasty jumps and zigzags. But since it uses old, standard Mpeg-4 video files, which play back and edit easily even on 1.x GHz computers, for YouTube vloggy, documentary stuff, faces talking, or children playing if seated, the quality of the HD2 is ample and the video format is easy to view and edit on any computer less than 10 years old (in my experience, though there are others that have problems). For non-arty, non-action, documentary-type Youtube vlogging, the old HD2 is difficult to beat. It is smaller too. See my youtube account, timtak1, for videos taken by both cameras.
The HD2000 has an acceptable battery life. You need to buy a couple of extra batteries with the HD2. But then I will be buying another battery or two for this camera
Finally about stabilisation...I think the people complaining about stabilisation are dreaming. Is there any video camera this small that is stabilised effectively? I doubt it. If a camera weighs only a few ounces then stabilisation is going to be a problem. A television cameraman told me that he doubted that pro TV cameras were ever going to get much lighter or less heavy than a human head because pro cameramen want the weight to produce stable shots. I use two hands, put my elbows into my body, or just take care, and get acceptable results. If you want more stability then add weight. Use a monopod (recommended) or a tripod. Or buy a bigger camera. This one fits in your pocket and can take video worthy of Hollywood at only $500. Maybe there are cameras this size with software stabilisation that really works, and perhaps a few years there will be many. But right now, I guess that those that are are complaining about stabilization are used to use much bigger heavier cameras and are overlooking the basic facts of physics: intertia or whatever. Perhaps Sanyo should sell a metal weight that can be attached to the tripod screw.
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