Official Site Bumtion Network: Sanyo Xacti HD1000 High-Definition Camcorder

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Sanyo Xacti HD1000 High-Definition Camcorder

Posted by Bumtion Network

When it was first introduced, Sanyo's Xacti HD1000 came with the tag of “world's smallest full-HD camcorder”. While that title has been lost, and is now being contested in a world-wide battle of miniaturization, the HD1000 still weights in at only 300 grams (9.5 ounces) and delivers very real ease of use in a small and attractive package. The $800 is dangerously close to the more powerful models from Canon, Sony and Panasonic, but the HD1000's unique form factor and strong photo capabilities help it create its own niche.

The 1/2.5-inch 4 megapixel CMOS sensor is the largest in any consumer camcorder, and records interlaced 30fps video at a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080. 720P ( 1,280 x 720), 640 x 480 and even 320 x 240 are available. Full HD and 720P use a 12Mbits/sec compression, which means an SD or SDHD 8GB memory card is good for 90 minutes of footage. 720P is recorded at 60fps, which gives the HD1000 an advantage over HDV camcorders when filming fast-moving action. However, the heavy compression partly eliminates this advantage.

MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression is used by the HD1000. This allows for small file sizes and long recording times, but results in even less image than the already mediocre AVCHD format. Problems have been signaled by many users with codec compatibility on both PC and MAC systems.

A docking station holds all of the non-audio ports of the HD1000: USB, component, composite or S-video, and most importantly a HDMI port for streaming HD directly to a television.

Image quality is mediocre, but absolutely passable. Gone are the neon colors of previous Sanyo models. Saturation is still strong, but without destroying color accuracy. Noise handling is ok under normal light, but compression artifacts can be easily seen in the HD1000's images. Dynamic range is not bad, and the camera does a good job of handling scenes with big differences between highlights and shadows (meaning that it maintains a pleasant image, not full details across the image's range). Under low-light conditions noise shoots up tremendously.

The HD1000 was never meant to compete with the HV30's and HC7's of the world. Yes, there is a huge gap in actual video performance, but it does “small and unassuming” better than the above mentioned cameras.

The 10x zoom lens opens up to f1.8 and has a 35mm equivalent field of view of 38-380mm. 38mm won't look wide-angle and that could bother some users. Image stabilization is electronic, not optical, which besides not achieving very good results, has the unfortunate side-effect of eating away at the total resolution of the image.

The 2.7-inch widescreen LCD has a 230,000 pixel resolution. There is no viewfinder.

Manual control is achieved through a joystick. There have been some complaints that it is too small, but I suspects they originated from people who don't actually use this camcorder. The diminutive joystick is in line with the camera's small size and sleek design.

Control over focus, aperture, shutter and exposure is all done through the menus. Aperture goes from f1.8 to f8 and shutter speed can be ramped up to an unimpressive 1/500. Auto-exposure is achieved through multiple points, center metering, or spot metering. Auto-focus can use nine point or spot focusing.

Other features include face detection technology that is supposedly able to detect up to 12 faces at the same time, and a built-in flash that pops up, but can only be used for taking photos.

The HD1000 is a real hybrid camcorder, with a sensor that is large enough to rival those of compact still cameras (without achieving the same image quality). Unlike Sanyo's HD2 camcorder, which sports 7 megapixels, the HD1000's 4 megapixels are not much by photo standards. Its stills have a maximum resolution of 2,288 x 1,712, or an interpolated 3,264 x 2,448, and can be captured in photo mode or while recording video.

The HD1000 has real audio features, with an internal microphone, and a mic jack that supports the addition of an external microphone. There are two audio channels, and control over audio level is possible. A headphone jack is available.

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