SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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very sharp and colors arerepresented faithfully. Its quality is just under good HDVcameras at a fraction of the cost or hassle. The auto-focusworks very well but can hunt in low contrast situations.The Xacti has a mic input which is great for pro/semi-proapplications. It's low light capabilities are average, butin bright light it's great keeping highlights in check. Theincluded dock works as a charger & card reader and can evencopy files to a tethered USB drive without a computer ifdesired.This camera shines when placed on a tripod and shot usingthe 720P60 mode- the results are stunning!

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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very sharp and colors arerepresented faithfully. Its quality is just under good HDVcameras at a fraction of the cost or hassle. The auto-focusworks very well but can hunt in low contrast situations.The Xacti has a mic input which is great for pro/semi-proapplications. It's low light capabilities are average, butin bright light it's great keeping highlights in check. Theincluded dock works as a charger & card reader and can evencopy files to a tethered USB drive without a computer ifdesired.This camera shines when placed on a tripod and shot usingthe 720P60 mode- the results are stunning!

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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this camera - Looking forward to receiving the wide angle so I can sit at the front of my classes without having anyone's head in my way. All I can say is this camera rocks. My grades are definitely going to skyrocketThis video recorder also takes amazing still photos with up to 8million pixels - Can take pictures while you are recording as well without any interruptions B&H Video had my camcorder in my hands in two days - You guys rock!!

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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this camera - Looking forward to receiving the wide angle so I can sit at the front of my classes without having anyone's head in my way. All I can say is this camera rocks. My grades are definitely going to skyrocketThis video recorder also takes amazing still photos with up to 8million pixels - Can take pictures while you are recording as well without any interruptions B&H Video had my camcorder in my hands in two days - You guys rock!!

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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features compares to my sony-- more resolution options and it actually is higher resolution (1920x1080 at 60fps vs 1440x1080 at 30fps for the sony).

But the really compelling things is that this camera can live in your pocket and always be there.

It docks conveniently and will even act as a USB cam while docked if you want. Changing settings on the fly is really convenient- a lot easier than the sony. It does seem to have mroe difficulty focusing than the sony and it doesnt' have the niteshot feature or super-slo-mo that the sony does.

But the final straw that makes me love this camera-- since it shoots MP4 natively, you just copy the files over to imovie events folder and start up imovie. There's none of the long, tedious and hard drive consuming conversion that you need to do with AVCHD files (like the Sony and Panasonic cameras make.)

This alone make this a great camera for quick turn around shooting- you can shoot during the day, edit at night and post to the net that night.... its a really convenient workflow.

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

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in full HD on an external hard drive and be played back directly through the camera dock to the TV is brilliant. And the ability to edit clips in camera is a real marketing advantage over the competition. It works well, too.

Now the cons:
I'd hesitate to recommend this to people with small hands, as it is bulky enough to be "barely" hand-holdable by someone like myself with fairly large hands. My wife certainly couldn't hold this with one hand.
If you are expecting stellar, cable-channel quality HD from this, forget about it. The single weakest point for this camera, from my perspective, is that it doesn't deliver anywhere near the razor sharp, crystal clear images in full 1080i HD mode at full resolution that you would almost be led to expect from the marketing. On my 42 inch Samsung HDTV LCD, to which the HD 1000 was tethered with an HDMI cable, the picture was quite clear but fine detail was muddied even at low ISO with NR off in bright sunlight. My dog's hair and blades of grass, both shot under bright sunlight, looked slightly watercolored and nowhere near what I would call "razor sharp".While a quantum leap up from miniDV, to call this full HD may be technically correct but is, in my opinion, visually misleading. To misquote the late hon. Lloyd Bentsen: " I knew HD. HD was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no HD ".
You like reviewing on your PC, you say? Again, forget about it. Unless you have the latest and greatest computer hardware and oodles of patience to find, download and install codecs, you won't be able to. As simple as that. My PC is two years old, and it can't even handle the 720p/30 fps resolution , much less the full 60 fps 1080i. Now, this is NOT a flaw or a fault of the camera, since other AVCHD cameras have similar backward-compatibility problems with hardware and software that just can't keep up with the huge processing demands of the AVCHD format. But it's still something you should know before you plunk down $ 800.
The lens, big and lovely and fast as it is, still has the infamous Sanyo blue spot, and it is visible even under indoor lighting conditions if there is a bright light anywhere in the picture. Nowhere near as bothersome as in past iterations, but it hasn't gone away either.

I am undecided whether to keep it or not right now. If the price was less, say $650, it would be a very good value for what you're getting. But at $ 799, I can't help but feel I overpaid considerably taking into account the number one selling point, the hyped image quality, which just isn't there. And while the camera is more compact than many competitors, it is still bulky enough you're going to need a LARGE belt/waist bag for it, so the other selling point becomes a bit weaker too. This isn't a compact camera anymore.
The HD 700, when it comes out, will have very nearly the same image quality, absent the 1080i mode, be MUCH smaller, cost $ 200 less, but also have a much slower lens. Not having one or having been able to do a side by side, I'd have to say that all things being equal, the HD700 is probably a better value proposition unless it has some major shortcomings.

Conclusion: very good and definitely a huge bound in the right direction for Sanyo to compete with the more established marques. But is the image quality good enough for the steep price tag? I don't think so. But by all means see for yourself, since everyone has different trade-off tolerances.

SANYO Xacti VPC-HD1000 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Flash Memory - 16:9 - 2.7 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - 10x Optical/10x Digital

...

in full HD on an external hard drive and be played back directly through the camera dock to the TV is brilliant. And the ability to edit clips in camera is a real marketing advantage over the competition. It works well, too.



Now the cons:

I'd hesitate to recommend this to people with small hands, as it is bulky enough to be "barely" hand-holdable by someone like myself with fairly large hands. My wife certainly couldn't hold this with one hand.

If you are expecting stellar, cable-channel quality HD from this, forget about it. The single weakest point for this camera, from my perspective, is that it doesn't deliver anywhere near the razor sharp, crystal clear images in full 1080i HD mode at full resolution that you would almost be led to expect from the marketing. On my 42 inch Samsung HDTV LCD, to which the HD 1000 was tethered with an HDMI cable, the picture was quite clear but fine detail was muddied even at low ISO with NR off in bright sunlight. My dog's hair and blades of grass, both shot under bright sunlight, looked slightly watercolored and nowhere near what I would call "razor sharp".While a quantum leap up from miniDV, to call this full HD may be technically correct but is, in my opinion, visually misleading. To misquote the late hon. Lloyd Bentsen: " I knew HD. HD was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no HD ".

You like reviewing on your PC, you say? Again, forget about it. Unless you have the latest and greatest computer hardware and oodles of patience to find, download and install codecs, you won't be able to. As simple as that. My PC is two years old, and it can't even handle the 720p/30 fps resolution , much less the full 60 fps 1080i. Now, this is NOT a flaw or a fault of the camera, since other AVCHD cameras have similar backward-compatibility problems with hardware and software that just can't keep up with the huge processing demands of the AVCHD format. But it's still something you should know before you plunk down $ 800.

The lens, big and lovely and fast as it is, still has the infamous Sanyo blue spot, and it is visible even under indoor lighting conditions if there is a bright light anywhere in the picture. Nowhere near as bothersome as in past iterations, but it hasn't gone away either.



I am undecided whether to keep it or not right now. If the price was less, say $650, it would be a very good value for what you're getting. But at $ 799, I can't help but feel I overpaid considerably taking into account the number one selling point, the hyped image quality, which just isn't there. And while the camera is more compact than many competitors, it is still bulky enough you're going to need a LARGE belt/waist bag for it, so the other selling point becomes a bit weaker too. This isn't a compact camera anymore.

The HD 700, when it comes out, will have very nearly the same image quality, absent the 1080i mode, be MUCH smaller, cost $ 200 less, but also have a much slower lens. Not having one or having been able to do a side by side, I'd have to say that all things being equal, the HD700 is probably a better value proposition unless it has some major shortcomings.



Conclusion: very good and definitely a huge bound in the right direction for Sanyo to compete with the more established marques. But is the image quality good enough for the steep price tag? I don't think so. But by all means see for yourself, since everyone has different trade-off tolerances.