Customer Reviews

Sanyo Xacti HD1000 4MP MPEG4 High Definition 1080i Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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!

I have a Sony HDR-SR1, which I've had for a year and loved, but it only comes out when I know I want to shoot video... and so I've missed some spur of the moment footage because I simply didn't have it with me. I bought the Xacti to carry around all the time.

First off, this camera was designed to work with the Mac, and even comes wiht iTunes and Quicktime on the DVD in the box. There is a version of Quicktime 7.20 which has come out since which has a bug in it that prevents displaying the video. I expect that as of 6pm today-- when Leopard ships-- there will be a new version of quicktime that resolves this issue, so it should be resolved at any rate by the time you read this review. There is a workaround that I'm using to watch my footage-- I simply copied the H.264 component from Quicktime 7.16 (on the DVD with the Xacti) over the H.264 component on my 7.2 quicktime in /Systems/Library/Quicktime... and its working perfectly now-- editing in imovie, etc.

The camera has some great 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.

I have recently purchased a Sanyo Xacti HD1000 and love it.
My main requirements were:
1. Small so that I can take it anywhere.
2. Easy to transfer video to computer for editing and back up
3. Shoot great video
4. Take a decent photo in a pinch.
This camera performs all perfectly. I don't have one complaint!
I have just replaced a Panasonic 3ccd mini DV camera that took great video but was much more bulky than the Sanyo Xacti, it took forever to get the files on to the computer and was difficult to navigate from one clip to another. You would have to rewind or fast forward the tape to replay your clip from the camera.

Another great feature about this camera that I did not know until I received the camera was the ability to plug an external hard drive directly to the camera and use it for backing up and replaying files. This is great if you want to bypass putting the files on the computer. You can plug the camera into your TV via HDMI (or you're A/V receiver like I am doing) and play your videos through the camera to your TV. It comes with a remote control that allows you to use the camera just like a DVD player with menus to navigate your saved pictures and videos. How easy is that! When you add the external hard drive you are not limited to the files currently on the SD card in the camera and the playback quality is perfect.

I also purchased the 16gig HCSD card and the 32gig card will be out in January I hear. That's over 5 hours of pure HD content on a card.

One caveat that comes with this camera in regards to computer play back. You will need a newer computer to take advantage of the full hd 1080i, 60 frames per second video or you can reduce the quality to alleviate the strain on your computer. "Reduce the quality" does not mean all of a sudden your video will look like garbage. Even taking the quality down to 720P at 30 frames a second will be a huge improvement over any standard definition camera. The cameras capabilities exceed the capabilities of most older computers. This is not a bad thing. If we only expected Sanyo to release cameras capable of playing on most peoples three year old computer we wouldn't have this great piece of technology and we would all be complaining that only the people in Japan get the good stuff.

Something to keep in mind. If you are like me, your parents might have had an 8mm film video camera that they shot home movies with. We would set up the movie projector and the screen, feed the film through the reel and watch soundless, grainy, jerky video and it was GREAT! Any camera you by today will be an incredible improvement but you have to have the camera with you to shoot. Debating the image quality from one camera to another really doesn't matter if you don't carry the camera with you to record your memories. When you look back at your "home movies" 20 years from now when the video cameras will be 1000 times better than whatever is out there now you will still love the memories you caught. Don't agonize over reviews stating the ever so slightest advantage from one camera to another. Make a list of what you really want to do with the camera and how you will use it and find the best camera that suits those needs.

If having an easy camera to use in your pocket at all times to catch the moment is important to you, this could be the perfect camera.

After owning and returning the Sanyo Xacti HD700 I'm pleased to say that after 1 month with the HD1000, I love it. The model is far from perfect but it's the smallest 1080i camcorder on the market and truly jacket pocketable. Here are the major points for/against:

1. No optical image stabilization included. EIS just doesn't do as good a job and with a small cam any movement is exaggerated more so than with a big cam. This can be partially overcome by practicing good technique - learn how to hold your arms at your side and pan and breathe slowly. I use the analogy of skiing - many people complained that shape skiis helped poor skiers ski better than they were capable of on conventional skiis. With a cam this small and no optical IS, good technique is everything. I've also found that when possible, mounting and holding on a monopod (my cheap version of SteadyCam) greatly reduces hand shake. Shooting 720p at 60fps is amazing as there's very little jitter (jagged lines on screen) if you pan too quickly - not the case when using 30fps or slower.

2. Autofocus hunts around a lot and isn't as quick as Canon/Sony/Panasonic models. This took a while to get used to, using the manual focus and focus lock along with spot focus helps. This is my biggest complaint and I hope a future firmware update will alleviate.

3. As mentioned by many, it's an average low-light performer; not recommended if all you do is shoot indoors. There's also the problem that the wide angle part of the lens isn't that wide so shooting indoors is problematic.

4. HD quality is great, but it's not Discovery channel HD. Don't buy into the HD hype that a sub-$1000 cam can beat $5000+ cams. Given the size of the cam the quality is amazing - watching on a computer monitor doesn't do it justice. I HDMI outputted to to a 46" Sony Bravia LCD and all I can say is WOW. Once you've seen HD you can't go back to SD. Sure there are cams like the Canon HV20 that give better image quality at about the same price, but as of this writing, no cam that is pocketable. Furthermore in bright daylight, the HD quality holds its own against any consumer HD cam - the only people who will vehemently disagree are pixel peepers - the rest of us sitting 6ft or more back from the LCD screen can't tell the difference.

5. Photo quality is not as capable as similar small point and shoot cameras. But, given the size of this cam, I have room in the other pocket to carry my trusted Canon PowerShot SD870. In bright light the HD1000 photo quality is very good, but just don't expect it to beat a dedicated point and shoot. Keep in mind I'm a semi-pro photographer so I place a lot of emphasis on still image quality.

6. Very little MP4 file support in current video editing software. I've found that with tape I used to tape for 10-30min at a time. With digital MP4 I learn to shoot in spurts, 2min here, 1min there, 4min etc rather than trying to get the entire event without pausing. This makes it easier to watch short clips later and join together in editing. The cam also allows minor editing so I trim out bits I don't like before I download the MP4 files off the SD card.

7. Problem of workflow and what to do with all those MP4 video files; can't easily store away like tape archives. Be prepared to start buying external hard drives and doing regular backups. With tape, you'd fill the tape, transfer to computer to do any editing and then store the tape. With SD card, it's too expensive to keep buying them so the files are best offloaded to external hard drives, which are then backed up to DVD or another external hard drive.

8. It looks like a gun, even the Sanyo manual warns of potential of misunderstanding. Be careful of whipping out the HD1000 at night or pointing at anyone too quickly, especially in countries with relaxed gun laws :) The pistol grip design does take getting used to but I find it more comfortable now to hold than conventional cams - the other reason being I don't tape for an hour at a time but small segments.

9. Plastic lens cap isn't attached to cam (or built-in retractable) and easy to lose. Get a UV filter for the lens. Since this cam will probably live in your pocket and get used a lot it's quite easy to scratch the lens.

10. 1080i video requires latest modern Core2Duo computers to playback. My Mac can't play the 1080i but there are some codec workarounds until Apple fixes Quicktime. Windows users have more codec options but it is still taxing on the PC. Be warned, if you don't have the latest and greatest PC you're not going to be watching videos smoothly or doing any editing.

Whereas the mantra in real estate is location, location, location, for the consumer camcorder segment, it'd suggest size is everything. I recently sold my Panasonic PVGS500 which was a top performer in the consumer SD cam line. One of the reasons I sold that cam and didn't buy the comparably sized Canon HV20 was that I rarely brought the cam with me. It was too big and required its own carrying bag. It's like the guy who owns the Ferrari but never drives it because he worries it will be dirty or scratched. The HD1000 comes with me everywhere and is instant on! Previously there were so many missed moments that many times it was easier to film with my Canon point and shoot camera. BUT, there is no comparison in HD video quality once you've seen the HD1000 in action.

The HD1000 won't live in your pant pocket - too thick - but it fits perfectly in any jacket pocket. The HD700 was more pant pocketable but the video quality and performance just doesn't compare and even at $300 I'd hesitate ... yes the HD1000 is just that good! The sweet spot for me is filming in 720p and 60fps mode. 60fps is quick enough to capture most objects in motion smoothly and fluidly. 1080i gives slightly more detail, but the file size is also larger. Until video editing software catches up I'd suggest keeping the HD1000 at 720p/60fps.

The ability to playback the movies directly connected to the dock and external hard drive (Xacti File Library) is also a nice touch until BluRay or HD format DVD's become commonplace.

In conclusion, the HD1000 was one of my top useful gadget purchases of 2007 and one that is likely to be used weekly rather than living in my desk drawer.

****** Jan 2008 Update ******
I still love this camcorder. I've discovered that it is drag and drop easy to edit on the Mac using iMovie 08. iMovie and Final Cut Express 4 will both convert the H.264 files to Apple Intermediate Codec when imported - all done behind the scenes. Doesn't take long on my Intel iMac to do this conversion and then the file can be easily trimmed, titled, etc and one button publishing to .Mac web gallery.

The focus hunting still annoys me but the workaround is to setup your focus beforehand manually and adjust when needed. All things considered, I've taken more family videos with this HD1000 than I ever did with my full-size camcorders. The HD quality still continues to astound me and when Sanyo releases an update to the HD1000, this loyal convert will be happy to upgrade.

I first purchased the Sanyo 700 series HD camera and was not satisfied with the EIS or quality of the video as it relates to clarity and saturation. I played back the video on a relatively fast core duo machine with Nerovision and was very disappointed. The HD1000 is a little larger in size, but the quality of the 1080p video is just amazing. I also have the Aiptek GoHD camera and the 720p video on it was more superior than the Sanyo 700 series camera despite its 5mbs playback. My problem with it was the lack of a buffer and no image stabilization. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I went to a college homecoming football game and shot the halftime activities with the HD1000 and brought the camera home and hooked it up to my Vizio 47 inch 1080p TV and the video was most impressive. The size, portability, battery life, EIS, build quality, image clarity and color saturation are all pluses for Sanyo. I have considered the Panasonic SD series, Sony, Canon HG-10 and all I can say the best value for me is the Sanyo. Further, I have used the library function and attached a 250GB usb drive and the camera does all that is advertised. I do not however like using the camera for playback so I have on the way a TVIX 4100SH with a 300GB drive to drop my Sanyo HD footage on and use as a playback device in native h.264 format . I almost missed a most important point: SD ram, no harddrives to crash or tape. Playback on the HD TV was as smooth as my local HD TV channels. Bottomline: 5 STARS!!Sanyo Xacti HD1000 4MP MPEG4 High Definition 1080i Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Initially, I had purchased the Xacti HD2, basing the purchase off reviews from Amazon. Boy, what a let down. Awful HD picture quality: muddied lows, over-exagerated highlights, FisherPrice-like compression. Yet, the SD (standard definition) quality was spot-on. Seeing as I was looking for HD, though, I returned it and began reading reviews for the HD1000; initally I was wary that Sanyo would offer up the same shortcomings as it had with the HD2. Not to worry. Sanyo has done its job and then some with the HD1000 ... so long as you keep the camera in 1440/60fps mode.

Low light produces only a little more noise than one would expect with most other cameras on the market right now, and in daylight this camera outputs some of the most beautiful footage I've seen from a consumer-grade HD camera. Do yourself a favor when you get this camera, and set aside the bucks for at least an 8GB HCSD card. Anything less ain't worth it.

Just like with the HD2, stay away from the camera's highest setting, and you'll be impressed with the results. Well worth the price.

UPDATE: As of December 18, 2007, this camera is sold cheaper than the HD2 on Amazon. PLEASE do yourself a favor, save some money, and get this above the HD2. You'll thank all of the good reviews for the HD1000 later.

I recently bought this video camera as I didn't want to go with the current trend of camcorders that tout 1920x1080 but are actually 1440x1080 anamorphically squashed recording (pixel aspect is 1.33). I also wanted a video camera that used SD cards rather than tape or built in hard drives. SD makes getting the file onto the computer the easiest it's ever been. I have an MP3 player that accepts SD and I use it to connect to my PC to move the files over. No more capturing from tape. One of the greatest features of this video camera is the ability to connect a small portable hard drive to transfer your videos over to. Think about it... you only need one SD card, say 16gb, and an inexpensive portal hard drive (80 gb are as low as $60). Then, when the card gets full you simply dump the video files to the hard drive, erase the card, and continue recording all over again! It's a cheap and effective way to increase your available recording time while traveling rather than buying a bunch of pricey SD cards.

The HD1000 is simple to use and produces great results. Don't be mistaken - you are NOT going to get video that looks like what you see on HD broadcasts. Those cameras used for broadcast cost $7500 and higher. You will however have great video that looks better than anything you've ever seen on the prior generation of DV cams. And while some of the 1440x1080 cams may produce more impressive video the other features of this cam make it extremely worthwhile. I've found the indoor lighting footage to be much better than my older Canon DV cam. The sensor in this cam is fairly big at 1/2.5". But even better, I've found if indoor shooting looks too dark you can create a shortcut operation assigned to the joystick to increase exposure value. You simply increase the exposure value (EV) by pushing the joystick to the right. I went from somewhat dark indoor footage to excellent looking indoor footage.

Editing the footage was simple and easy with the trial version of Vegas Pro 8 I downloaded. You can even re-encode back to the same MP4 format. But even cooler is the camera's function to do simple edits IN CAMERA with no quality loss. You can cut and join clips with no quality loss which is an invaluable feature. The HD1000 has a cold accessory shoe and a microphone in jack. With an external microphone you can adjust the input gain sensitivity which is great to avoid clipping when recording loud sources like a concert. It's also super small an light - so small you can fit it in your jacket pocket.

The HD1000 can have a harder time focusing in some low light situations but it's tolerable and you can use a type of manual focus by selecting the targets range. The camera functionality on this camera is great. I've recently changed over to taking all my pictures in 16:9 since I prefer viewing pictures on our 52" Samsung LCD and this camera will take 3.5 megapixel images in 16:9, even higher in 4:3. The images look fantastic. They won't rival a higher end digital camera but they look excellent for a dual function video camera.

As a last note - the MP4 files this camera records video as WILL play perfectly fine in a PS3 or XBOX 360 as both support AVC. For the PS3 you just need to make sure you put the video files in a folder called VIDEO or they will not show up. Again - create a folder on your SD card or USB stick (whatever you're using) called VIDEO and put your .MP4's in there. Beware of sample video clips on the net cause the 1080 interlaced footage looks so much better on an LCD TV than it will on a computer screen at lower resolution than 1920x1080. Also, a lot of the clips on the net are re-encoded to DivX and whatnot so there is some quality loss.

I highly recommend this camera if good video & picture quality, portability, ease of file transfer, or fast motion recording is important to you.

This product is amazing for the price. It has great color very crisp greens, blues, and reds. Very small and light weight fits into the palm of your hand. I found the menus to be logical and the controls easy to use. You also get a remote control to use for play back and recording. It comes with a docking station you can use to record HD video directly to an external hard drive or computer. The anti-shake feature works great. I recorded a scene doing a chase like sequence and it was very smooth. The camera works pretty well in low light however it does start to get a bit of grain when lighting is too dim. You can control your aperture, shutter speed, and iso manually. The cameral has output for headphones and input for an external microphone. It will also allow you to take photographs with a flash that will do red eye reduction. The videos on my 50" plasma look as clear as real life. Overall I am very pleased with this product and don't regret buying it at all.

I've had this camera since just after it launched. I have used it in a number of situations and have found that it performs quite well - doing what it says it will do and doing it quite well. I recommend the camera - if you have the tools to support it (more on that below). In summary:

Pros:
1. Compact - carry it with you all the time if you want
2. Easy to use
3. Good feature set
4. Good video quality

Cons:
1. Occasional focusing issues
2. Videos are limited to 4GB

The details
First of all, I find the camera itself very easy to use. The controls and menus are extensive and intuitive. I've been able to set this camera up for a variety of shooting situations easily and with consistently good results. Once you understand the settings you should use, you can get great quality video from this camera.

I have noticed occasional focus issues, but they've never been a significant problem. Other than that, the camera itself performs marvelously. Also, be aware that the video files are limited to 4GB. The camera warns you, but if you're shooting long sequences (40 minutes or more) be prepared to stop the camera at an appropriate point and start the recording again with a new file.

When plugged into my 1080p TV through HDMI, the highest resolution video looks spectacular. I'm not sure what the reviewers who talk about "webcam" quality were doing, but that has not been my experience. The video quality for me has been consistently amazing.

You'll also read other reviews here that talk about a wide range of difficulties people have had editing and rendering video - specifically for DVD. I experienced some of these problems as I figured out how to use the camera and get the media into DVD format. The biggest problem you'll face if you want to record and manage the highest resolution footage is having the computing power to edit the footage. 1920x1080 video demands VERY high processing power to edit. If you don't have a high-end core2 duo processor and lots of RAM (and the software that can take advantage of its power) it will be very time consuming (if not impossible) to edit and render high-def video.

But let me say this, unless you're producing blu-ray or HD-DVD video (or simply showing the video straight from the camera) you shouldn't be shooting in the highest resolution. Remember that standard DVD video is a 720x480 pixel frame. So, if you shoot at one of the medium resolution settings, you have more than enough pixels to get great DVD video - and you're not taxing your editing system unnecessarily. You still need a good computer, but it's a reasonable process.

So, once I understood some of these issues, I have been able to produce extremely high-quality DVDs with this camera. I'm very pleased. I'm even considering getting a second camera so I can do multiple camera shoots.

I love this cute HD camcorder. My priorities are as follows in order:
1. small enough to carry around anywhere
2. Better video quality than miniDV
3. Easy video editing

I don't do video editing usually but this product allows editing the video from the camcorder without PC. Even the files in external hard disk can be edited without PC connection. Wow! This is enough for me. The picture quality is very good and far enough for consumer market. Yes in indoor it is not HD quality but it is on par and enough for me.
The focusing and image stabilizer should be improved especially in indoor. But I'm happy with the purchase.