Sanyo ships Xacti VPC-FH1, VPC-WH1, VPC-TH1 and VPC-CG10 camcorders
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 2nd 2009 9:01PM
posted Apr 2nd 2009 9:01PM
posted Apr 2nd 2009 9:01PM
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Big Bird yellow Now Available
nnnnnooooooo....
its submarine yellow. yeah!!!!
damn good deal, now i just need money to be able to go to the beach.
Pool voyeurs unite? Awesome. .>
My old Sony Sport Walkman! You've been reborn as another device I'll never really need the extra waterproof protection for!
hahaha yes!!!
I wish my cameras were waterproof. I like the idea of being able to wash them and rinsing off any dirt.
"Digital Image Stabilizer (Movies & Stills)"
Yeah, thats right. Digital IS & not optical. Even on their top of the line one.
The people at Sanyo all need a beating for putting these cameras out with garbage stabilization. Or how bout we just dont buy them. Yeah, that'll work too I suppose.
Show me a better waterproof camcorder?
I have been waiting on pre-order to get one of these for the summer on the boat and the jetski.
its not like they are very expensive. Sanyo top of the line = canon low end. What do you expect?
it's not always about the best image quality. good editing and interesting subject matter makes up for the marginal difference you might see between this and a canon.. so I say to you all it takes is a little creativity and imagination sometimes..
You guys are missing the point. Its got nothing to do with being waterproof (which not all of these have) or image quality.
What idiot decided it would be a good idea to slap on a 30x (or even 10x) optical zoom on an HD camera & leave off optical image stabilization. Try zooming in all the way & see how good your footage looks later on. Your viewers will be getting motion sickness guaranteed.
Oh, and I wouldnt say a $500 camcorder "isnt expensive". That'll buy some quality cams these days. Face it. These are overpriced rubbish that dont even take quality stills either. But what do you expect from Sanyo I guess.
could i piss on this and not break it
YES! And I strongly recommend the yellow one for that.
first
Show me a better waterproof camcorder?
I have been waiting on pre-order to get one of these for the summer on the boat and the jetski.
I could have sworn you just said that.
Release in Canada???? I've been looking for the VPC WH1 since I saw it in Popular Science, Must Have's. I've got an Olypus Digital Waterproof camera but found in Hawaii that I needed video to get good scubba shots. This certainly fits the bill. Now if I can find one in Canada.
dell is already selling them.
What do you think is better, this or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 ?
I realize the DMC-TS1 is a camera, but it also takes movies underwater.
I don't care about zoom much, or the camera part.
Just video, both do HD. So which is better doing video underwater (or above) ?
'this' is the VPC-WH1
so the Sanyo VPC-WH1 VS Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1
both same price, $399.99
I will totally own that yellow monstrosity.. i've been looking for a waterproof camera for diving photography, and also looking for a HD camcorder for other purposes..never thought of combining the two needs until now.. and at that price point! WOW! Totally getting it!
Uuummm all these diving comments, am I the only scuba diver here that goes deeper than 3 METRES!
I mainly snorkel, if i ever go deeper than 10 feet it is only for short bursts..Honestly this thing costs peanuts more than a underwater still camera only..
I like the fact that the VPC-FH1 will do 448 x 336 @ 240 fps, as well as the stated 1080p @ 60fps. I don't think anyone else has a consumer level camera that'll do 1080p yet.
I actually just took delivery of my FH1, $429 through Buy.com, and I am already impressed with it. Coming from a MiniDV Sony, this thing is light without feeling flimsy, the controls are smooth, the still image quality decent. The remote control is the size of a CF card and unfortunately doesn't have a way to stick it on a keychain, so figure on me losing it soon.
Haven't played 1080p video back on the television over the not-included HDMI cable yet, but will when I get home. Yes, it's got compromises, but nothing really horrendous yet. I'll be checking on battery life this weekend. If anyone cares, I'll probably post an unboxing on my Flickr account.
WHat are the shortcomings youve discovered so far? I am really thinking ill buy this camera soon
So far, no major complaints. Fits well in the hand, startup time is quick, controls are simple and straightforward. I played with the 240fps and 600fps slow-mo modes a little... cute but not sure how much I'll use them. Oh, and as I do with all such devices, I turned off the digital zoom.
This is nice!
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_TZ7_ZS3/index.shtml
Just got my WH1 yesterday and it's a major letdown. Sanyo uses a completely proprietary implementation of H264 codec which really screws the gamut of the video. The videos play fine using camera's Playback feature, but if you try playing them on Mac or PC the brightness and contrast are way out of whack. Tried using different codecs on both my Mac and Vista - they appear as if someone hit "100%" contrast and 50% brightness on all of them. Stay the hell away from this one, at least until they update the firmware.
Okay my surf buddies and I chipped in on this camera and it arrived last week. It is freaken Awesome!! We tied a little foam float to it in case we drop it and took it right out into the waves. The footage is clear and crisp, it could focus a bit faster, but as long as you don't zoom in and out constantly it does pretty good. The waterproof thing seems good so far, I have had it about 5 feet down and it took a tumble with me in a wave of about a 5 ft face and no problems. Extra batteries are cheap too, I got some from Wasabi power for $12 each and they actually have a longer life than the one it came with. With a 16G card you can film about 4 hours and the Wasabi battery last 3.5hours, which I was very happy with, we haven't had a session long enough to run it out yet. Great camera for $400, which is really about the same price as no waterpoof HD cams.