Sanyo rolls out GH2, CG102, CG20 1080i camcorders in the US
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 4th 2010 3:44PM
posted February 4th 2010 3:44PM
Sanyo just announced a trio of 1080i camcorders for Japan last week, and its now gotten official with some ever so slightly different model for the US, which look to just be the beginning of a new wave of Sanyo camcorders rolling out in the coming weeks and months. As you can see, these ones a bit more subdued than their brightly colored Japanese counterparts, and Sanyo has naturally changed the model names to keep everyone on their toes (they're now the VPC-GH2, VPC-CG102, and VPC-CG20). You'll still get the same 1080i video and either 14- or 10-megapixel still images as before, along with a somewhat unique 12x "double-range zoom" on the GH2 and CG102, which apparently lets you switch between a wide-angle and telephoto zoom for videos. Sure, full 1080p would have been nice, but it's hard to complain too much with prices of $229 and $199.
and here i thought i wanted to buy the: rca ezwonder 300hd.
looks like i know what im getting once they come my way.
the one on the right suits me nice.
NOBODY should be buying interlaced equipment in 2010. Come on, this garbage is a relic of the '30s. Don't vote for it with your dollars and perpetuate the scourge.
It's bad enough that the ATSC allowed interlacing to persist in our "new" digital-TV standard. The only way to kill it now is to reject it as consumers.
I'll consider getting the CG102 to replace my flip Mino HD that I ruined in the wash and have been unable to restore. The CG102 seems to do more at a comparable price. doesn't look as portable though.
I like the Xacti concept but the video quality that they produce is just a little subpar each time.
I'm getting into DSLR HD video now and I'm really excited at the prospect of manually focusing the subject. I think the whole fuzzed out background and fuzzing-into-out-of-focus with the foreground object lends a really nice cinematic effect.
Anybody know how these do in low light (ie, without the built-in light/flash)? Especially for stills...
On my Canon, I can get some nice nighttime shots by turning off the flash.
@(Unverified)
I've got a CG10, predecessor to the CG20 listed here, and, admittedly, its low-light stills are not great. I took some afternoon shots in my finished basement with the blinds open on all three windows. It is a darker room, but the shots from the CG10 were a little disappointing. I may have achieved better quality by fiddling with the settings, but honestly, I can't imagine they would have improved that much; the noise level was pretty high. Outdoor photos and video I took with the camera during the summer turned out nicely, though.
As I've since replaced my Sony point-and-shoot with a Canon PowerShot SX200IS which also does 720p video, I'd like to do a comparison to see how video compares on the two devices.
Come on... if it can do1080p30 [source: translated read link], give it 1080p24 support too. How hard can it be?
Where have I been? You can buy a 1080i camcorder for $200?! Man I feel old..
I had a Xacti for a few months until it failed. Then I discovered that the warranty for parts was only 3 months and the process of getting it repaired was painful and I would not know how much I would have to pay without sending it in, paying for shipping. Not the kind of service I expected. If the quality of these Xacti models is going to be the same as previous ones then you are probably better off with the alternatives, independently of the specs.
Well, CG20 is the only "pocket cam" that has a 5x optical zoom AND stereo mic (Sony Bloggie is mono :( ). It seems a nice cam, better than the Samsung HMX-U20 which have just a 3.6x "intelli-zoom" (digital zoom in video mode).