Customer Reviews

Sanyo VPC-CS1 High Definition Camcorder and 8 MP Camera

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Before it arrived, I was a bit sceptic about such a feature-rich camera being so small and cheap. I've had a few cameras, including Sanyo and Sony and this one surprisingly came out on top with respect to picture quality for both video and still images. Handles outdoors and indoors shooting very well. Adjusts to changes in light conditions very quickly and effectively, resolution is just what they promise in its specs. Screen is excellent - you can actually appreciate HD picture quality on it somehow. Did not expect that on a pocket camera. Movie trasfer is very simple with Windows 7 - you just take the card out and plug it into your PC. They also managed to squize all connection ports right into the camera - no need for a docking station, when connecting to a TV. But you do need to take the battery out to charge it, as it was noticed in other reviews. Not a big problem for me though. Video slot cover, battery cover and SD slot cover feel rather thin and you are afraid to break them when taking them out or putting them back, but so far they turned out to be pretty solid, actually. And you need to look very carefully at the camera to realize where all the slots are hidden, but, hey, Sanyo had very little space to play with when designing such a little camera - can't blame them. One somewhat serious drawback is the location of recording buttons, as it was pointed out in earlier reviews. Can't push them without shaking the camera and auto-stabilization does not compensate for that much (especially annoying for still shots). But you get used to that after a while (just hold the camera with both hands when starting/stopping the recording).
Overal, great experience. My girlfriend never liked taking video cameras with us to vacation trips as they where too bulky to carry around and distorted her "style" :). This one, however, she loved and uses it all the time. So I guess it's a stylish little camera...

For the price, the small compact size, and having HD on top of that made this my choice to get as my compact camcorder for vacations, etc. This is what I found in my short month of testing and using the camcorder: Because of it's small lens (I'm assuming), it does not let enough light in for indoor shooting so some shots may be darker indoors or it may take time to adjust to the indoor lighting so the subject being shot becomes more clear. Outdoors, the video comes out really well! I noticed that because of it's small size and the shakiness of one's hand, the video comes out shaky/jerky and does not look like the image stablization can compensate for this. If you have a steady hand and scan the scenery slowly, it looks pretty awesome. It could have used better gripping material and a little change in the shape to grip onto the camera better as others have said. To zoom I have to use my other hand as it is too hard with the grip the way it is but that is not a problem for me. I'm not sure about the 8 megapixel claim on the still pics, but that is why I have a digital camera where 5-6 megapixels is good enough for me.

Overall, I guess I couldn't have expected much more (but was hoping) for the price and size of the camcorder. As I use it more, I'll comment on it later. I love the size of the camcorder and using the SDHC memory cards and it will make it easier for vacations, etc. I also have not used other compact camcorders so maybe they have the same issues as this one. I got the Sandisk Ultra II per Amazon's recommendation that turned out to be the renamed Sandisk Ultra per Beach Camera - see my review on that.

I waited 2 months for this camera to come out. The look and feel is wonderful. The pictures are no good. Sanyo advertises that the pictures are 8mp, but once I started reading through the manual I found the camera is take 3mp pictures and converting them to 8mp size. End result you get grainy pictures that you can do nothing with. It defeats the purpose of the camera feature all together.

The videos are very good when playing them back on the camera. When trying to play them back on my PC or television I was dissappointed with the grainy videos. Even at Full HD 1080, I can say I was disappointed.

The one thing I thought was amazing was the 3D sound. I was amazed at how the audio playback came across when playing it on my surround sound.

I also noticed the video skips when trying to playback in Media Player. Using the software that came with the camera things played fine. That was extremely irritating.

I kept this camera for 50 days before I had to send it back.
With all that said I had to send the camera back. I will probably go with the Kodak Playsport which is $150 cheaper and is waterproof.

Initially I chose the Sanyo Xacti CS1 because of the price. At $299 it was much less expensive than the camera I had been looking at. I liked the small size of the camera, and hoped that a third of the thing that the company said would prove to be true.
I bought the camera in March, just as it was being released in the states. I purchased extra batteries too because they are usually the biggest shortcoming with anything electronic. I went on vacation in June, so I had 2 months to learn the camera's shortcomings and my own. I learned that a 4 gig card could hold a couple of hours of video. I learned that my aging computer was not adequate to the task of processing the HD video, but my wife's much newer laptop was. I discovered that the HDSC cards work best if you format them on the computer before attempting to use them in the camera.
The camera took really nice HD video, and good still pictures if you have a steady hand. The button for still photos is above the zoom button, so for best results I used 2 hands to take pictures. My old 35M cameras could use a cable to snap a picture it would be a nice feature on a camera like this. Despite that I barely recognized some of my photos taken in low light because they were clear and bright.
I took about 80 gigs of up close live video, indoors and outdoors with good light and with poor light. I'm extremely happy with it. The only problems with any of my videos was due to my penchant for taking 360 degree panoramas very rapidly. A wise man told me that you should hold the camera at one spot for at least 10 seconds and either slowly sweep to the next shot or close one shot before starting another. I could have waited until now and purchased the camera for about $100 less, but I'd have missed some recording some great caves, castles and cathedrals.

I purchased this as im a web vlogger and I needed something new and Hd for not such a pocket killing price.

At first touch it does not feel cheap it feels solid. The batters charges out of the device so you cant record and charge but they do sell an ac battery for just that.

Keeping it small means that they hid away all the little slots behind little lids that can be trouble to get into but its nothing over the top.

It records well and all the features it comes with ate massive for the price. Video transfer is easy from camera to PC with the civen cables and or just remove the SD card.

Ill write more as my time goes on with this product.

This is my 3rd xacti. I've owned the HD1A and VPC-CG10. The form factor is amazingly small with this VPC-CS1. The video is truly amazing for such a small video camera.

Cons:
- No flash (there is a LED for macro's, but no flash for indoor pics)
- Unlike the VPC-CG10 there is nothing below the lens to prevent your finger from sliding in front of the lens. This is more of an issue with the way I hold the camera, and I can adjust for it...just thought I should mention it.

Overall, I highly recommend this camera. The xacti line just keeps getting better and better.

Sanyo's new product had two major problems (major enough that I returned the item). First, there is not a flash, only an LED that barely lights up anything even a foot away (pretty much useless in my estimation). Second, since I used the item as both a camera and a camcorder, the camera button was in a position to high up on the body that it was hard to take a picture with one hand (and this was my third Xacti and I could easily take pictures one-handed with the first two Xacti I owned). I'm going to wait for the next version (and since I'm not the first person to complain about these two design issue, hopefully they will be resolved).

I got this camera along with a 16mb memory card to record media..It records great videos and decent pictures with the 8mb camera. Small and easy to use...It is gorgeous. Of course, under dark conditions things get grainy, but with proper lighting it is awesome...The mic zoom feature is also great, in that you can choose omni mode or target mode to aim the mic..And as small as it is, it still has a tripod port. All in all a tremendous technical breakthrough.

THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING ON IVE OWNED EVERY CAMCORDER THAT SANYO HAS MADE SINCE THE C-5 THEN C-6 THEN THE HD-1 HD 1000 AND THE HD 2000 NOW THE CS1 THE CS1 IS FINALLY THE SIZE OF THE THE C-6 EASY TO POCKET . I KNOW THE 1080 IS INTERLACED BUT I CANT TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE I OR P . I HAVE BOTH HD 2000 AND CS1 I MOUNT THIS ON MY BIKE AND RECORD MY WHOLE RIDE . I ALSO HAVE A MOUNT IN MY TRUCK AND RECORD MY RIDE TO AND FROM . I HAVE A 32 GB SD CARD IN THE CAMERA AND I GET A LITTLE OVER 4 HRS OF RECORDING . I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DONT MAKE A BURNER THAT I CAN SAVE AND WATCH IN HD . I HAVE TO SAVE ALL THE FILES AND WAIT TILL THEY MAKE A AFFORDABLE BLUE RAY BURNER . I CAN TRANSFER TO DVD BUT ITS NOT HD . TO WATCH IN HD I HAVE TO PLAY THRU THE CAMERA .

Before buying this product, i did a lot of research on dual cameras. This camera was consistently mentioned as one that successfully combines both still photography and video. Unfortunately, the camera leaves a lot to be desired.
The good. - The sound is excellent and it does take hd video.
The bad - Still photography is poor. Just taking the actual picture is a task. The shutter button is poorly located. The actual pictures are not great. In fact, they are absolutely horrible.
The camera has no flash, just a led light.
The battery life is terrible. Make sure to have at least three batteries if you purchase this camera.
The camera sacrfices functionality for size.
Final thoughts. As a video camera, the vpc-cs1 does well. But get a regular point and shoot camera along with it if you want great still pics