Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've had mine for several months now and have had the opportunity to use it in a variety of environments.
First, the pros: the build is better than anything I've seen from Sanyo to date. It has a nice heft to it, the controls are much smoother and more precise than in previous models ( allowing for less herky-jerk zooming ), and it looks like something out of the future. The flash is quite powerful, the lens seems to have none of the ghosting issues that plagued some of the earlier models and controls flare well even in oblique sunlight. It has a threaded lens so you can attach a 40.5mm protective filter as well as Sanyo-branded wide-angle, fisheye and teleconverter lenses. The menu system is intuitive like few I've seen from any manufacturer, the LCD is clear and bright ( if not razor sharp ) and the camera and SD compartments have now been separated from one another as well, with the ( long life ) battery being under the hand grip.
Ease of playback on an HDTV with the included base docking/charger could not be simpler, and the Sanyo Image library feature that allows movies to be stored in full HD on an external hard drive and be played back directly through the camera dock to the TV is brilliant. The ability to edit clips in camera is a real marketing advantage over the competition. It works well, too.
The camera seems quite durable, and after several months of use there is not one scratch on it. The fact that a lens cover is supplied and that it is a squeeze-type bayonet type is very nice by comparison to some of the primitive lens covers on other Sanyo models.
The camera has a vast variety of selectable options for metering, white balance, exposure, programs, movie and picture quality, saturation and color effects, flash modes, exposure compensation etc etc. It will take you quite some time to find out how to use this camera to its fullest potential.
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.
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 AVC/h.264 cameras have similar backward-compatibility problems with hardware and software that just can't keep up with the huge processing demands of the format. But it's still something you should know before you plunk down $ 700. Especially for Mac users. I'm not one, but discussion forums are a-twitter with angry Apple fans who notice that QT is not handling the full 1080i files.
The lens, big and lovely and fast as it is, still has the infamous Sanyo blue spot, which although barely visible still shows up in some shots, particularly indoors if there is a bright overhead light in the picture. I happen to notice it because I've had previous Sanyo models and was looking for it. You might not even notice it, it's that faint.
I was at first undecided whether to keep it or not, especially since at the time I bought it the price was $ 799 and the cheaper HD 700 had not yet launched. When it did launch, I ordered one , thinking it might be a cheaper and more compact but otherwise fairly similar model to the HD 1000. Wrong! After two weeks of side by side testing, the HD 700 was returned and I felt much better about the higher price of the HD 1000 considering the superior optics and video/images. It's worth the extra bucks.
It's worth noting that one of the more intelligent features is to have supplied the camera with a "Normal" and "Simple" mode. The normal mode allows more creative control; the simple mode automates the camera functions for those who just want to get good pictures and video without necessarily wanting to fudge around with settings.
Conclusion: very good and definitely a huge bound in the right direction for Sanyo to compete with the more established marques. It won't give you HD like a professional broadcast HDTV camera will, but try putting one of those in your pocket!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sanyo Xacti HD1000 4MP MPEG4 High Definition 1080i Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
The SANYO Xacti HD1000 camcorder combines the superb image quality of full 1080i high-definition video with 4 megapixel still images in a single compact and elegant design.Full 1080i HD Recording, 10x Optical (f/1.8) HD Zoom Lens,4 Megapixel still photos, 2.7" Widescreen Display, Advanced MPEG4 AVC/H.264 Format, HDMI high-definition output, Records Directly to SDHC Memory Cards
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