Sanyo's
Xacti line of pocket-friendly HD camcorders have been almost universally praised... when shooting outdoors. When trying to log clips in dim light, however, the story has been quite different. The outfit's
VPC-HD2000, which was unveiled at CES this year, came out looking decently strong from
PhotographyBLOG's review. The handheld packed in "more features than you'd expect," but the lofty price tag kept it from being a real contender. Sadly, the poor low light performance was grandfathered in, though the broad range of selectable ISO options were appreciated nonetheless. All in all, reviewers seemed to hold back on giving their wholehearted recommendation due to its price and the so-so image quality; in other words, you should probably avoid this one until its successor comes out, after which the MSRP may better reflect the benefits.
posted Feb 12th 2009 8:19PM
People bashing your face in 3...2...1...
Ow! That hurt! That's the last time I'm listening to you.
I miss those days when your post on engadget can be low ranked and the result shown instantly. those days are long gone with most of the post are "neutral"
LOW RANK MEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How does this compare to the Sony handycam?
Well, it uses industry-standard SD cards, instead of Sony's magical memory dreamgate-stick-whatever bullshit, and it records directly to the friendly & convenient MPEG-4 video format, and HandyCam doesn't. Another could-be-great Sony product full of hobbling, proprietary crap. Shame.
Not a handycam but this is it.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/cam-high-definition-on-memory-stick/hdr-tg3e
I've looked into the TG3, it might have better image quality, but it prohibits the use of adapters on the lens. On the Xacti HD2000, you can use super wide angle adapters if you need to. On the Sony, there is no way to do so (unless you glue on a metal ring for one of those magnetic adapters; not a very elegant solution). I personally like the form factor of the Xacti better. It's a bit nostalgic too, reminds me of those little 8mm film cameras from the 60s and 70s. I may just look into getting a lightly used HD1010 instead since the improvements on the HD2000 isn't drastic enough to warrant its asking price.
'bashes Pauls face'
Done.
Idiot.
Hmm, to low rank or to report, that is the question.
Don't you have some math homework to do or something?
The concerns I have had with my Xacti includes the lack of optical image stabilization which is compounded by the lack of having a wider angle to start with. Even outdoors where colors come out great, the playback on a big screen is often compromised considerably by even slight shake and jiggling. I would not get another HD camcorder unless it has an excellent anti-shake system including optical and digital options. It is also important that wide angle attachments can be added, but I wish they would just start at like 28mm or wider in the first place as the more zoomed in you are, the more any shake is noticed on playback, you almost have to use a tripod for most things which defeats the small form factor. I agree with the comments, low light performance on these been below average and white balance has been off in some situations especially indoors, forcing you to usually use custom settings. I'd like to see Sanyo improve battery performance or ship these with a 2nd battery. I do like the size, the many options, the ease of recording onto the memory cards, mic options, the build quality and ability to easily edit files. They are so close to having a great product, but they need to listen to these major issues that are pretty consisten from all reviewers and get it right in all aspects and keep the price down esp. when performance is not the very best in all lighting.
My concern would be getting shot by the police while waving around and pointing my ominous, black, pistol shaped camera.
@ least you would have it on camera. Your remaining family will benefit from the lawsuit.
haha, true
i'd agree if you had the lcd closed on it. When recording people will have the lcd open and then it looks a lot more like a camcorder.
Dual post? http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/02/12/sanyos-xacti-vpc-hd2000-pocket-camcorder-gets-reviewed/
Oh and the idiots over there don't actually review the HD recording capabilities.......
Just get a Jazz elite 178 hd cam for $99.99 and it does 1080i with hdmi out built in. save yourself hassel and money.
I think this device has potential, but...
- Low light and image quality issues remain.
- Instead of OIS, they offer EIS only, which is as worthless as digital zoom
- No touchscreen
- No HDD (not that it has to have one), but considering the price...
And they're asking $800 USD?
No thanks.
How is this much different than the previous model?
I agree, i have the HD1010 and its a great little camera in good lighting conditions. Low light is a problem and because of that this line should start at a more conservative $600 msrp... 800 is just to much for consumer level low light image quality. I'd prefer OIS also as the EIS doesn't do anything noticable. It really helps if you have one hand on the LCD edge to help stabilize and your elbow against your body. as for touch screen? not necessary and a HDD would be overkill, throwing in an 8-16gb flash though isn't out of the question in that price range. As far as i can tell the 2000 isn't worth the "upgrade price" i'd reccommend people interested in the camera to look for an hd1010 which are more conservativly priced these days.
@sdwells
Thanks for the feedback.
A touchscreen may not be labeled necessary, but it makes interfacing with the menu system quicker and easier, and more pleasant, as you don't have to spend time scrolling around to what you want before you select it. You can simply go right to it with your fingertip.
I mentioned a HDD, but I also mentioned it doesn't have to have one... just some internal memory of some sort (16 or 32 GB flash, perhaps?) would be nice to see, considering the price.
The review didn't really talk about video much. I've had the HD1000 and have the HD1010. I'm wondering about video image stabalization and low light performance. Doesn't really sound like Samsung improved the quality in anything, just raised the resolution. I haven't really found simple snapshots with the HD10xx's to be on par with $200 digital still cameras.