High Definition Camcorder Info Great Deals and Info on HD Camcorders

Review by M. Young:
I got this camcorder for about two weeks already. It's very easy to start operating it even without reading the manual. The touch screen feature is great! You can basically play on the touch screen and see the difference of the picture quality right on the screen. Here's some of the Pro & Con that I think after playing with this camcorder.

Pro:

-Easy to use

-Great video quality (I hook on my Sony 48 inches 1080p LCD screen, the picture looks great!)

-Picture quality is great too if you got enough light when using indoor (outdoor, no problem)

-Indoor video recording is pretty good using backlight function if indoor light is not enough.

-Outdoor video quality is excellent

-Digital zooming is great (I can basically zoom in and get so detail that I can see the pore of the person's face right across of the street with 3 traffic lane in between it.)

-LCD touch screen is great (you can flip the screen too! You can also use fingernail to touch the screen if your fingertip is too big, the screen don't have any problem recognizing your command.)

Con:

-Not enough battery life (got around 90minutes of recording, good thing is that you can see how much time you got left on the LCD screen for recording so you'll know when you need to charge the battery or switch to power cord or new battery.)

-You cannot charge the battery while using power cord!

-The power cord plug on the camcorder is hidden underneath where you put the battery at, so you cannot use both battery and power cord at the same time (very bad when you try to record using power cord, once you accidentally pull the power cord plug, all of the recording stops, and it takes long time for camcorder to get back to recording and it also causes temporary hard drive malfunction while the camcorder trying to recover what you just record.)

-You cannot turn on the light that came with the camcorder to do the recording (it's use mostly as flash function when taking picture)

So far that's what I thought playing for two weeks (without reading the manual.)

Review by Mad Mom:
I bought this camcorder primarily to videotape my daughter's gymnastics meets. I have recorded two so far and the video quality for those is excellent. The lighting in both cases was bright flourescent lighting like you would find in a high school gymnasium. I made a brief test video in my kitchen at night with just one light on and it wasn't so great. I don't know if this would be a great camcorder for birthday parties and that sort of thing. For that you would be better off getting a camera with 720 HD like the Panasonic DMC-FZ35 for less than half the price. It takes great video in a variety of lighting, but it cannot handle some of the very fast action of gymnastics without blurring. But that's another review!

Pros:

- Very large (120gb) built-in hard drive.

- Available SD/SDHC memory card slot.

- Great video in bright indoor or outdoor light - the same video quality as the HDC-HS300 that costs over 00.

- Very easy to use - my 8-year-old was taking pictures and videos and playing them back with no instructions.

- Video is very easy to import to iMovie '09 on my iMac - I just attach it using the included usb cable and a window comes up allowing me to choose the clips I want to import.

- The image stabilization works well - smooth footage without a tripod.

- Zoom is very smooth and adequate.

- Great price if you can get it for under 600 dollars.

- Display shows how much battery life (in minutes) and how much recording time is remaining.

Cons:

- Lacks an electronic viewfinder and an external microphone jack - to get those you need the HDC-H300.

- Probably not great for low light indoors.

- The battery charger/AC adapter are a bit strange but you can live with it - you have to remove the battery to put in the AC/Adapter but the battery will not charge while you are using the adapter.

- Battery life is not very long (about 90 minutes) and extra batteries are pricey - this is the case for most HD camcorders.

- Like probably every HD camcorder, the included software is not so great (although I don't need it for my iMac) and you will have to invest in expensive software to edit the video using a Windows PC.

I researched extensively and for my needs this is by far the best camcorder for the price. It would also be great for videotaping any sports, including indoor sports like basketball.

Update: I've been using it for about two months now. When recording indoors (convention centers, gymnasiums, etc.) the video has good resolution, but often a strange color cast, especially at the start of recording. I don't know if other cameras would be better in this kind of light with subjects that are far away.

Review by E. Kim:
I have been using a previous generation Sony HDR-SR7 high def 60GB hard drive camcorder and been overall happy with that model.

I then waited patiently for Sony's new "XR" series of camcorders and am very pleased with the Sony HDR-XR100. This newer camcorder is the lowest end model of the four new XR series models, which include the HDR-XR100, XR200, XR500, and XR520.

SONY HDR-XR100 PROS:

1. Feels significantly smaller than the previous generation Sony SR models. The dimensions are 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 5 1/8 inch (69 x 68 x 129mm). The numbers may seem only slightly smaller than the previous generation SR models, but in the hand it feels noticably smaller.

2. This camera without battery weighs 11oz (330g) or with battery 14.5oz (410g). The numbers again may seem like only a small difference with the older SR series, but in the hand it feels significantly lighter.

3. Extraordinary convenience of having an 80GB hard drive versus using tape. Just as with the SR series, the use of a hard drive continues to be amazing. I cannot imagine ever going back to using tape. One simply uses the camcorder and everything is instantly saved on its hard drive. Whenever one is ready to export their video files, you just connect it with a USB cable and the computer will automatically download your video files. 80GB allows for 9 hours and 40 minutes of recording at the highest "FH" mode. At the lowest quality mode LP, 80GB will allow for 33 hours and 30 minutes of recording time.

4. Wonderfully easy to use LCD touch screen with intuitive menu options. Even without reading the manual, one can quickly understand how to use their camcorder.

5. Nice indexing of your recorded videos that allow for easy selection of playback through the camcorder LCD. Faces can also be indexed so that you may select your videos by a person's face in an index.

6. Very detailed image quality of the video

7. Allows for capturing still photos at 4.0 megapixels. There also appears to be a "smile shutter" feature that allows the camera to detect when your subject smiles, and then capture a photo. I have not tried that feature yet.

8. Supports same rechargeable lithium batteries used in previous generation Sony SR series, e.g. model no. NP-FH60 or NP-FH70.

9. Can also record on Memory Stick PRO Duo instead of hard drive

WHAT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON THE XR100 (BUT AVAILABLE ON XR200):

1. GPS

2. Flash for photography

3. Larger 120GB hard drive

4. Active interface shoe to power accessories that can mount on top of camera

5. 15x optical zoom (the XR100 has less at 10x optical zoom)

SONY HDR-XR100 CONS:

1. This camcorder, just like all others that use a CMOS sensor, suffer from the "rolling shutter" phenomenon. The video has a slight jittery quality to it when the camcorder is not on a tripod. The more drastically you move the camcorder during recording, the greater the effect. I do not think it's any worse than on any of the contemporary camcorders using CMOS sensors from Sony or Canon.

2. There is no optical viewfinder on the XR-100. I do have one on my older SR7.

3. There is no docking station, which I did have on my older SR7. A docking station made it even more convenient to upload videos than having to fiddle with a USB cable.

4. Noisy low-light video quality is still present. I cannot detect any improvement over my older SR7 for low-light video as it remains quite noisy. Please note that the higher end Sony HDR-XR500 and XR520 have some type of special "backlit CMOS" sensor that Sony reports has improved low-light with low noise capability.

5. As is usual for Sony, you will have to use Sony's proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo format if you want to record onto flash memory instead of the hard drive.

6. My previous generation Sony HDR-SR7 had the lens cover open automatically, but in my XR100, I have to manually flip a small lever near the lens to open it.

CONCLUSION:

Overall I'm very happy with the Sony HDR-XR100 because it is significantly smaller and lighter than the previous generation HDR-SR7 I own, with all of the great convenience that comes from using a built-in hard drive coupled with a wonderfully easy touchscreen LCD. I did not think there were enough differences for me to purchase the more expensive XR200, but you may want to consider the even more expensive XR500 for its possibly improved low-light video capability with the "backlit CMOS" sensor technology that only the Sony HDR-XR500 and XR520 have.

Review by HD Evaluator:
When I purchased an HD camcorder I expected an HD quality picture. Not the case with this camcorder - in normal evening indoor lighting the video is extremely noisy, it was so bad that I burned a disc and took it to the Sony Style store to compare -- I must have received a defective unit? Nope, it seems to be a common problem with this model....the rep in the Sony Style store even admitted that the video quality was really bad. The white balance was also a bit off. The other problem is that the picture is jittery even with the "Steady Shot" turned on and trying to hold the camera as steady as possible. It performed OK in brighter lighting but you shouldn't have to use an old fashioned video floodlight to get a decent indoor image!!!

Back it went for a refund. .If you're interested in purchasing this model check it out in a store first and take it into the lower light home theater room and shoot a sample video before you buy!

Review by Jeffrey Wortner:
I bought this camera last night and am so impressed with it I wanted to post an initial review ASAP since the camera is so new and there are so few reviews out there for it.

To begin, I am new into the HD video, but am a techie and have done a lot of research. My primary objective was to get a camera that took good low light video, so video in my living room with the kids with normal evening lighting looked good. Also important to me was ease of use so my wife can easily grab it and catch the kids and also a small size for ease of carrying to Disney and such.

After doing a lot of research, I initially bought the Panasonic HDC-HS250. One of the popular camcoder web sites claim the new Panasonic cameras with 3 sensors to be the best low light cameras.

Well, I had nothing to compare it against, but I was VERY disappointed in the video taken in my living room with normal incandesant lighting with this Panasonic. I spent about 1 week learning all the camera settings, and no mode or setting improved the low light video. It was fuzzy and grainy with washed out color. Based on the reviews of this CAM being so good at low light, I was beginning to wonder if I just had my expectations to high for this technology, and this was about as good as you get in this range of camera.

I was also not real happy with the outdoor video. While it was mostly good, the greens were far to vivid/bright, and just did not look natural.

I was about ready to settle for this camera, and then this past Sunday I had family in town. After dinner I took a lot of video in the living room of the family. Apon playing it back I was just disgusted in the quality. I then saw the Sunday add for Best Buy which had this new Sony camera which claimed 2X better low light. I searched the internet for reviews, only finding initial reviews with no actual tests since the camera was so new.

I decided to buy the Sony and compare it to the Panasonic. I got the camera home last night and was happy to learn that the charger plugs directly into the camera without removing the battery, so I was able to use the camera immediately (The Panasonic has a goofy system where you have to remove the battery and place in a separate charger, and then you can EITHER charge the battery OR run the camera, not both.).

It still wasn't dark but I took some video and pictures and toyed around with the menu system (I am a man so of course I didn't read the manual!). I found the menu system easy to navigate, with nothing terribly hidden or buried in layers to access. There are some features that I found I will need to read up on, and the MY CAMERA feature very confusing, but I suspect will be very useful after I read up on it and learn how to use it.

I hooked the camera to the HDMI of my 720P TV and was just FLOORED with the quality of the images and video! This is the feeling I hoped to have when I first watched the video from the Panasonic that I never had.

OK, so it is around 7pm, still light out but no direct sun in the house. I have big windows so this presents a tricky backlighting issue for most cameras. The video and picture from this Sony were just a true as life. The camera handled the tricky lighting automatically with no manual backlighting adjustments. I couldn't wait for dark to test the low light but I was really confident that I had a winner here.

While waiting for dark I test the still pics in both video mode and normal camera mode. The pics were FAR superior to the other camera. I just bought a Nikon D5000 SLR, so I have pretty high standards for my pics now, and this camera takes very good pics in either mode. I am not sure if it has a faster shutter mode (probably is) because the pics were a little subject to blurring from movement, but over all they were as good or better then my old Cannon S45 5 MP camera that took some darn good pics.

Review by Angelo Akrobrat:
I am not a professional videographer and am therefore writing this review from the perspective of an average user. I have owned the camera since the day after it was released and have used it quite a bit. I will also continue to update this review as I spend more time with the camcorder.

Decision to buy

I debated between the Sony HDR-CX500V, Canon VIXIA HFS100 HF S10, and Canon VIXIA HFS10. I chose the Sony model because of its HD image quality and powerful feature-set, including the 3" touch-screen LCD screen, 32GB of on-board flash memory, 12MP still camera shots, dual capture mode (video & 8MP still shots simultaneously), etc. I also wanted a camera that had built-in memory but not in the form of a hard-drive, tape or DVD - I've come to learn the hard way that the fewer the moving parts, the less likely my friends are to turn the device into a snazzy paper-weight. The 3-way shake-cancellation was the icing on the Sony cake.

Size / Comfort / Ergonomics

The camera is very compact, and one might be taken back by its small form factor. The hand strap is quite comfortable, adjustable, and secure. As expected the buttons to record, zoom, and swap between photo / videocamera mode are nicely placed for thumb and forefinger. I wonder, however, if someone with large hands may find the button manipulation a bit awkward - but that may be the case with most newer compact video cameras.

Camera / Image / Sound Quality

- I was impressed by the quality of the video, including the various HD options. Of course Standard Mode didn't look good on my HDTV, but it's nice to know that one can capture movies in lower quality if one is running low on memory. A min-HDMI cable can be used to view footage directly on a HDTV.

- There doesn't appear to be any distortion around the edges of the video footage.

- Low-light performance is spectacularly good, beating my expectations.

- The 12MP shots look crisp and even the 8.3MP pictures while shooting video look quite good. The flash is more powerful than most camcorders I considered.

- I would like to get a wide-screen lens but I'm unsure of which one to pick. Sony VCL-HGA07, Sony VCL-HGE07, or something else. Any recommendations?

- The zoom microphone is good and sensitive enough for home use.

Useful Features

- When I first showed my dad some freehand footage of my neighborhood, he thought I was using a tripod! That is how well the 3-way shake-cancellation feature performs. For novices, the 3-way feature operates in 3-dimensions (up and down, side to side, back and forth) and stabilizes any erratic, staccato movements. This feature becomes much less effective when fully zoomed in.

- The small wireless Remote Control is handy, but there isn't anything exceptional about it compared to other manufacturers.

- Instant start-up upon opening the LCD screen. Flash memory also makes the overall recording process very fast.

- The slow-motion capture allows a few seconds of video capture in, just that, "super slow motion." Makes sense for sporting / high speed events, where a parent can capture a child's new baseball swing or triple lutz in great detail

- "Face / Smile Detection" recognizes faces and even creates an index of faces on the LCD. Clicking on a person's face will take one directly to that person's scene in the video footage. Very nice when kids want to see themselves in a long video!

- "Face Priority" allows the user to prioritize a particular face with respect to focus / exposure. Haven't used it yet so can't comment further.

- GPS retains the geographic coordinates of the location (called "geotagging") where the picture / video was taken, and throws it onto a map viewable on the LCD or on your computer. It still feels a bit gimmicky but it can be quite useful for someone who travels a lot (especially on road-trips) and doesn't want to keep manual tabs on where the shots were taken.

- The Assignable Dial can be used to assign manual controls, and can be maniuplated by the right-hand thumb.

- One-touch disc burn requires a particular Sony DVD burner, which is an added expense.

- Haven't used the accessory shoe yet, but will update this review when I do.

Battery

The battery lasts about 90 minutes during continuous video capture from my experience, but this is, of course, dependent on all the features being used.

Software

The accompanying Picture Bridge software was quick and easy to install. It's not very useful beyond its most basic purpose - (1) to transfer content from camera to computer and (2) to convert video from AVCHD format (a compressed high def format that is Blu-ray compatible and has "m2ts" file extension) to more consumer-friendly formats like MPEG. Third-party video editing sofware (like Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, etc.) will be for anything fancier. If I were a Sony Marketing exec, I would have included a trial version of Sony Vegas in the box (to perpetuate the media brand synergy) instead of peddling unessential advertising materials. Silly.

Instruction Manual

The instruction manual is small but detailed, and can get the user up to speed very quickly. Even videocamera newbies will feel at ease after reading through 10 quick pages.

Other

- The camera's menu navigation isn't completely intuitive but it isn't nerve-wracking either.

- LCD screen icons are meaningful and can be turned off too.

- The touch-screen is not as sensitive as I would have liked, but it may be designed that way to reduce accidental touching of the LCD. Hence not a con.

- Night-vision is eerie but effective.

- The camera shell feels luxurious - nothing cheap about it.

- The dark gray gun-metal look is very attractive.

- The Sony HDR-CX520V Camcorder is identical to the CX500V with the exception of more memory - it has 64GB compared to 32GB for this model. For 0 - 0 more, it may be worth it to some.

Cons

- No viewfinder but I can live without it.

- Sony's Memory Cards can be quite pricey relative to the SD cards used in Canon video cameras. But as long as one keeps moving content off the camcorder and re-using the flash memory, it should not be an issue.

- Sony could have thrown in a basic camera case or a bloody Mini-HDMI cable for goodwill given the high price of this camera. Fret not though as there is a perfectly good cable on Amazon at a very fair price: Mediabridge HDMI to Mini-HDMI 10ft cable

- Sony Picture Bridge software isn't great, but I think it's better than Canon's Pixela suite. The process of transfering content to a computer still feels a bit cumbersome.

- LCD Screen stays on during content transfer (via included mini-USB), which is a waste of energy in my view.

- The operation tones used in the camera can either be on full-volume or switched off completely. Does anyone know how to manipulate its volume?

Summary

The Sony HDR-CX500V video camera is a fine piece of work from Sony, and aside from the small set of cons, I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a solid family and "prosumer" video camera. Have I mentioned that I love it?

Review by H. Paul Moon:
I bought this not expecting much and not having seen any reviews on the Web or in print. The product is a couple of months old to market. There's some misinformation floating around out there -- here are a few clarifications and highlights of the product from my week's worth of testing. First, it does indeed shoot at a 16:9 aspect ratio even as the video resolution is 1440x1080p -- you just need to be sure and apply an "anamorphic" pixel ratio (i.e., not square/1:1). Also, it is a fixed focus camera: The benefit is that there's no noisy/slow auto-focusing mechanism, but the con (as with all fixed focus camcorders) is that low light performance suffers somewhat, while close-in subjects go out of focus (though there is a manual macro switch on this product). Big pluses include the fact that it's charged via a super-standard mini-USB connector, and accepts up to a 32gb SDHC card. There is a tripod mounting hole but no electronic or mechanical image stabilization, no optical zoom, and no external microphone/audio in port.

In short, this makes for a great "second-unit" camcorder in cases where you don't want to rough around with your primary HD camcorder, or where you want to strap this onto a skateboard and the like without worrying about lost investment. It's wise to take the native H.264 files that are wrapped in .mov format and convert them to .avi or MPEG-2 .mpg files for further processing/editing/burning, as most systems will stutter trying to decode the native video files at 1080p/30 fps on-the-fly (i.e., even high-end video cards do not necessarily include hardware acceleration for files in this specific format). Although users appear to be especially enamored of the product's 1440x720p/60 fps non-interlaced mode, I'm not convinced that their bias is based on the benefit of double the frames-per-second, instead of the mere shortcomings of their system's hardware playback at 1080p/30 fps.

UPDATE: The following wide-angle lens attachment works perfectly with this camcorder, and I'm tempted to use it full-time as it not only widens your field of view, but in the process mildly reduces the inherent shake of your footage by "pulling back" a little farther.

Sunpak CAM-2110 MagMount 0.5x Wide-Angle Conversion Lens (Large)

Review by J Rad:
This camera has great image quality, and was a great buy. But one thing that frustrated me (before buying) was that I couldn't find much info about the more advanced specs.

But luckily, I have done the homework for you

Here are some things you might want to know:

-The CMOS is 5MP native (resolution: 2592 x 1944)

don't bother with the 8MP it just 'blows up' the image (interpolation)

-The lens, even though the image quality is excellent, is the weak point of this camera. Its a fixed focus without any optical zoom. Theres only digital zoom which decreases the quality the farther its zoomed in, but not too badly.

The 2 focus modes,

Normal: From 30cm to infinity. Best for general purpose video recording. Nothing is really out of focus unless its too close to the camera. Though the image can be slow to clarify on certain patterns such as grass.

Macro: For close-ups. Objects/people look alot clearer/better when focused on than with the normal focus mode, and everything in the background is blurred. But you have to be sure the camera is the perfect distance away from the object so that its in focus.

On the camera, the top setting with the mountain/stick figure is normal focus mode and the lower setting with the flower shape is macro. There are also wide angle lenses available that fit this camera.

-The battery

Battery life for me is very good, but depends on your recording mode, screen brightness etc. Charge to 100% before turning it on (should take atleast 2-3 hours). Also sometimes the light seems to change randomly to show that its charged when its still charging. Theres a defect where the battery is loose inside and rattles around/loses contact with the terminals that make it turn off. Just improvise and put a piece of paper/cardboard below the battery to keep it from being loose.

-The screen is good quality, hard to see in bright daylight. No dead pixels. Camera turns on when you fold out the screen. There are controls on the side for video playback but I haven't had to use any besides 'power'.

-The mic is okay for me, but it tends to record the person behind the camera rather than whats in front.

-Records from AV-IN at 720 x 480 NTSC 29.97FPS

the quality is decent when I record from a satellite receiver (take advantage of this with pay-per-view). When played back on SDTV it looks nearly exactly as the original broadcast besides for some obvious static at the very top of the screen. Format: H264 @ 2.12mbits/sec Audio: AAC stereo 48.000khz BTW you can't do composite-in.

-has TV-OUT with AV-out and Composite-out

You can do everything with TV-out activated that you can do normally, record vids/take pics/change settings. Video and picture quality is terrific, and they load instantly. If you lose 1 of the AV cables, they're the same except for the colors.

-works with my sandisk 4gb Ultra II SDHC memory card

make sure your memory card is 'high speed' or else it probably can't write data fast enough to keep up with the higher quality recording modes. I believe the memory limit is 32gb.

-recording modes:

1080p: 29.97FPS Data rate: 7.58mbits/sec at 1920x1080

720p 60f: 59.94FPS Data rate: 6.04mbits/sec at 1280x720

720p 30f: 29.97FPS Data rate: 4.10mbits/sec at 1280x720

'DVD quality': 59.94FPS Data rate: 3.57mbits/sec at 854x480

'CIF': 29.97FPS Data rate: 750.86kbits/sec at 320x240

All except 'CIF' are 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen)

Image quality is a bit grainy if the room is dark, though you can adjust white balance/exposure settings to fix this. I would say the best overall setting is 720p 60FPS. Theres no stabilization but its really stupid to complain that the footage is 'shaky' when all you have to do is hold your arm more steady/hold it with 2 hands. After all the camera captures exactly what it sees and its lightweight. Theres a tripod mount too.

-tips for playback

The version of quicktime included on the CD is an old version that plays choppy on even the fastest computer. The best way to play back your vids in my opinion is to first:

1. Rename the file from .MOV to .HDMOV

2. Play the file with Windows Media Player

doing it this way uses the graphics card (GPU) to help play the video, instead of just the CPU. 60fps is more intensive than 1080p at 30fps. If you get an error about codecs, look up on google 'k-lite codec pack'.

Now the biggest problem everyone has is that the format of the videos (.MOV) is incompatible/doesn't work right with alot of editing software. Most people convert the video to another format which decreases the quality and takes forever. Are you ready for a simple solution that will prevent you hours of frustration?

The actual video captured is encoded to H.264 codec with AAC audio, the .MOV is just a container file. AVI, MP4, MKV and lots of others can hold H.264 video. So all you have to do is...

Rename FILE.MOV to FILE.MP4

easy as that...now the file should work in sony vegas and any other editing software that supports H264, and also play back fine with supporting media players. To rename on a PC: Tools->Folder Options->View->Hide extensions for known file types (uncheck the box)

(when importing to vegas 8.0 you have to keep trying to drag the file over the window until an outline appears or it will crash, only release the mouse if an outline appears. Keep trying with new codecs if it crashes/won't work, its glitchy)

Review by Bryan E. Anderson:
My sister-in-law showed up last Christmas with a new Sony hard disk HD camcorder. She said she paid over ,000 for it. I pulled my Aiptek out, took some video, plugged it into my plasma and no lie it looked better than hers. I kind of felt bad - I think she was really bummed. If all you're looking to do is just have a camcorder that you can shoot soccer games, outdoor outings, etc.. this is what you need. The owners manual for the HD Sony's is an inch thick and I hardly ever used all the features in the majority of camcorders I have ever bought. I am so pleased with this camera. It works best outdoors in good light and is so-so in low light. The picture is amazing, the battery life is excellent, and you need at least a 4-8 gig SD card.

Review by Cloud Walker:
If you have good lighting and a steady hand the video from this camera is excellent. Best results come with well lit rooms or outdoors during full daylight. Lower light situations are not too bad (perhaps on par with some standard definition videos).

The auto-focus is slow and can cause some blur if the distance to the subject you are recording is constantly changing.

Review by A. Krupa:
Tested three low cost HD camcorders:

1st: Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD100

2nd: DXG 569V Silver Ultra-Slim HD

3rd: Aiptek Action HD GVS 1080P

To give you some background for reference. My primary objects for video are family and pets. I use iMovie and Studio8 for video editing. I have experience with other consumer HD cams such as the Canon HF100 and Panasonic SD100 both in a higher price class. For Photos I use a Canon G9 and have therefore not evaluated photo ability of those tested. My main reasons for considering the three cams are price, convenience, and most important the ease of the file-format. As for now I say no thanks to the AVCHD video format.

For my review I used the following criteria:

Video clip format

Quality of the videos

Quality of sound

Field of view

Focus speed

Feel and quality of the product

Ease of use

Battery live

First up was the...

Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD100:

Video clip format: - MP4- very convenient- played right away on Mac & PC provided you have QT and a strong graphics card. Also played right away on PS3

Quality of the videos: - good picture clarity but light/dark transitions produced too high contrasts & whites were overblown. Unfortunately the auto-focus was a disaster loosing focus for no apparent reason and without change in the scene. Oftentimes it took several camera swings and zooms to re-gain focus.

Quality of sound: - acceptable with the standard low background hissing.

Field of view: - very narrow (very zoomed in like 40-45mm in the 35mm equiv.)

Focus speed: - a disaster, could not stay focused even when on tripod facing a still scene

Feel and quality of the product: - okay feel, somewhat flimsy as evidenced by the port cover overall the camera is not a stellar design.

Ease of use: - buttons in a very inconvenient layout (without being picky here) I oftentimes found myself in the menu trying to start recording with small hands.

Battery life: - too little time with camera to truly evaluate.

Verdict: camera went back mainly due to focus issue and field of view.

Next in line...

DXG 569V Silver Ultra-Slim HD

Video clip format: - .MOV - played right away on Mac & PC provided you have QT and a strong graphics card. Unfortunately required conversion for PS3 use.

Quality of the videos: - fairly acceptable for this price class, not as crisp as the above Sanyo but better low light characteristics and better transitions between lights and darks over the Sanyo. Overall slightly lower quality then Sanyo.

Quality of sound: - no hissing but to faint and distant. In short, barely acceptable

Field of view: - acceptable estim. Around 35-38mm (35mm equiv.& about even with many digital picture cameras)

Focus speed: - this camera did not have autofocus but the fixed focus was very acceptable as long as objects were at least 3' away. The macro mode worked great and the switch was conveniently placed for a quick switch while panning around a room to move in for a close analysis of an object.

Feel and quality of the product: - I was very drawn to this camera for its form-factor, and overall feel. Ergonomically it felt best of the three cameras, it had a quality feel and finish for its price class and a very nice 3" display that was viewable from most angles. Buttons were very conveniently placed alleviating mishaps. The LED light in the front was amazingly bright; it would have been a great little interviewing camera for dim lighting situations if it were not for the poor sound.

Ease of use: - very easy to use, good menu layout but at times the menu items required a second push to accept a setting.

Battery live: - too little time with camera to truly evaluate but it appeared too short.

Verdict: I would have likely kept this model, however after three days of use the SD card spring mechanism failed rendering the camera useless.

I contemplated to re-order the same model but eventually let it go due to poor sound and weak battery live.

And last...

Aiptek Action HD GVS 1080P:

Video clip format: - .MOV- very convenient- played right away on Mac & PC provided you have QT and a strong graphics card., unfortunately required conversion for PS3 use

Quality of the videos: - best of the three models tested, clear, good contrast, truest colors of the three models, good transitions form light to dark areas when compared to the others.

Quality of sound: good, slightly over-modulated but acceptable.

Field of view: - best of the three, guessing 32mm-35mm (35mm equiv. make sure you are using the 720P mode for widest angle)

Focus speed: - no complaints here, quick and precise for this price class

Feel and quality of the product: - somewhat flimsy feel and finish, the 3" display does not have as nice viewing angle as the DXG camera. Aiptek could also have chosen a nicer plastic for the case giving it a modern feel.

Ease of use: - the menu layout is could use a workover but workable.

Battery live: - too little time with camera to truly evaluate but it appears Okay.

Verdict: - So far so good. Should this one not work out for a valid reason then I will consider stepping up to the Sanyo Xacti HD1010.

It's the end of April 2009 now and I love this little camcorder. The results are fantastic; this has been a great companion for me throughout my daughter's first year. Battery life is great. I charge here and there via USB cable after transferring clips to my Mac. You get a good 1.5hr or longer with a continuous clip. I can manage to charge only once per week while shooting multiple 1-4 min clips and occasional pictures every day. Since my original write-up I have managed to shoot hundreds of still images and am impressed with the quality (make sure the lighting is plentiful and keep a steady hand in dimmer situations). Beware this is not a Canon still camera and is not intended to take its spot but I managed to get good results on a continuous basis.[...]

you might have to copy and paste the links into your browser, I am not sure what youtube does after video is uploaded. Oh, don't forget to click on the HD button when viewing the clips. The videos generally play smooth so if there are hang-ups of jagged lines while panning then it is likely your computer. The clips run smooth on my home Mac but get a little jerky on my work PC which does not have a dedicated video card.

July17th update:

Still love the camera and carry it by my side on daily excursions with my daughter. I would like to request the following from you Aiptek engineers: Please consider a different solution for lens protection then the 1980's lens cover, and please work in variable zoom speed rather then the single speed.

Review by Afonso Consulting:
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R24YA5OJYA8S8V This is a video review of the camera after 2 weeks of ownership.