Sanyo VPC-CG65 6MP MPEG-4 Flash Memory Digital Camcorder (Silver)

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1 x 3 x 4 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000OV6ARC
• Item model number: VPC-CG65
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,306 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)

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• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG65 is an advanced video and still camera for today's generation of video-sharing enthusiasts. Make the most of its high-speed video processing and 6-megapixel still camera. The Xacti CG65 also makes posting movies on the internet or e-mailing them to friends and family easier by reducing the file size. An anti-shake system is integrated into the camera for better photos. Its ergonomic, vertical design of the compact camera allows natural body posture when shooting VGA-quality (640 x480 pixels) movies and 6.0-megapixel high-resolution stills. The result is high-quality video recording -- up to 10 hours with an 8 GB SDHC memory card. Most importantly, it's the first digital video camera to feature next-generation Advanced Video Codec H.264 video compression technology -- designed to produce excellent video quality while reducing MPEG-4 file size approximately 25 percent. Other features include Scene Select for shooting under various conditions, Portrait mode for taking vertical photos without rotating the camera, Wind Noise Reduction for minimal audio interference, and up to 12 hours audio recording.

VPC-CG65 Highlights

DVD-like movie quality The Xacti CG65 adopts the MPEG-4 high compression and recording format that enables VGA-size (640 x 480) video clips at 30 fps. The smaller-sized files are easy to handle and enable many hours of high-quality recording. Users can enjoy the beautiful quality on big screen TV's too. Audio recording uses the AAC-LC (MPEG-4 Audio) file format that delivers higher compression than MP3 and other earlier formats, thus giving users small sized files. Digitally-produced, high-quality stereo is obtained by 2-channel 16-bit recording at 48 khz. Also, the CG65 is SDHC-compatible, which means that you can record movies for up to four hours on a 4GB SDHC memory card.

High-performance 6.37-megapixel CCD The CG65 incorporates a 1/2.5-inch CCD with 6.37 total megapixels. Using 9-image mixing technology, it enables low-noise movies at 9x sensitivity. It can capture DVD-like VGA video clips or high-quality 6 MP stills.

Still and video images captured simultaneously While recording video footage, still pictures can be taken by simply pressing the shutter button. The CG65 can simultaneously record VGA-size (640 x 480) video clips and 6 MP stills. While recording video, memories of a special instant can be preserved forever without missing that golden opportunity to capture it as a still picture image.

Real-time interpolation for conversions to 10-megapixel recording An original algorithm that utilizes a pixel interpolation filter converts images collected by the 6 MP CCD into a recording equivalent of 10 MP (3680 x 2760). Large prints can be made or specific parts of the image can be enlarged for detailed printing.

Compact, lightweight design At just 67.7 x 34.5 x 100.3 mm (W x H x D) in size and 149g in weight (body only), the CG65 can be easily carried anywhere, and pictures can be taken on a whim anytime. This portable digital movie camera is designed to go with you everywhere all the time. It is styled to a casual form with an active flare and is well balanced to enable picture-taking with one hand. The vertical body lets users retain a natural posture in recording without stressing the wrist or shaking.

Easy in-camera image playback and editing Using the 9-image Display Function feature, users can quickly search for specific images. And with the Slideshow feature, images can be played back continuously. The Art Mode can be used to add a little fun to image playback. Moreover, movies can be easily edited from the camera itself. Another great feature is the time bar. It serves as a visual tool that makes it easier to splice multiple scenes together or cut unwanted images form clips. It also helps to effectively use SD memory card capacity and can be used to extract still frames from movies.

Easy-to-view 2.5-inch TFT LCD monitor A large 2.5-inch TFT LCD monitor is built into the compact body. The large screen makes it easier to see and confirm images before and after taking the picture. The monitor itself can rotate approximately 290 degrees, so it can be to the user's preferred shooting posture whether at a high or low angle, or turned to see ones self.

Take or view images in an instant Images can be captured immediately opening the LCD monitor, so you should never miss photo opportunities again. Digital recording eliminates any winding associated with tapes, making it possible to take and view images in an instant.

Smooth playback for streaming output to TV Using motion detection technology developed by Sanyo, images recorded at 30 fps can be converted to intermediate images for output to TV at 60 fps. This minimizes the jerky lags that readily occur with lengthy panning in the horizontal or vertical direction, so that the images played back on TV are smooth.

Scene Selected Shot By simply selecting a photo mode, beautiful, fun pictures can be taken according to set photographic parameters:

• Sports Mode The high-speed shutter captures fast-moving subjects.
• Portrait Mode The subject stands out against a deemphasized background to enhance the portrait atmosphere.
• Landscape Mode The entire image is brought into sharp focus.
• Night Portrait Mode Subjects come out clear against a nighttime backdrop.
• Fireworks Mode Fireworks are captured in all their vivid brightness.
• Lamp Mode Pictures taken under minimal lighting such as lamps come out beautifully.
• Snow & Beach Mode Beautiful pictures can be taken in the snow and on the beach without white-outs.

Filter Functions Snapshots are more fun to take when using one of the filter modes

• Cosmetic Mode Skin comes out beautifully in close-ups of people.
• Monochrome Mode Pictures have the atmosphere of a black-and-white photo.
• Sepia Mode A nostalgic look is achieved using sepia toning.

5x optical zoom lens The CG65 incorporates a high-performance 5x optical zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f3.5. Subjects and people far away can be captured in beautiful quality. Coupled with the 12x digital zoom, users can capitalize on a maximum 60x zooming.

Versatile manual mode for true photography Focusing on 16 levels and exposure correction of +/-1.8 EV in 0.3 EV steps. Users can freely adjust picture quality (sharpness and saturation) to suit the scene.

Super Macro shooting In the wide-angle mode, it's a possible to capture images in highly-detailed close-ups; the lens can be as close as 1cm from the subject.

Easy playback and recording using the included cable

• Connection to TV Captured stills and video clip can be played back on TV.
• Connection to VTR or DVD Recorder Stills and video clips can be played back and recorded in numerical order.
• Connection to PC Because images are digitally recorded in MPEG-4 format, they are compatible with PC applications. They can be easily saved on a hard disk by drag-and-drop operation. And, users can have fun editing them.
• Battery Charging over USB Connection

  USB storage support and easy-to-use PC movie editing kit included
  

• Ulead PhotoExplorer 8.5 SE Basic (MPEG-4) Users can manage picture and video files, and speedily edit and convert images, and display and print thumbnails.
• Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4.0 SE Basic (MPEG-4) This movie editor software lets users do it all from selecting specific clips, cutting unnecessary shots, adding titles and audio, and ultimately burning CDs and DVDs.
• Motion Director SE 1.1 In addition to correcting shaking that shows up in movies, users can automatically build panorama images from movie footage by easily moving frames horizontally and vertically.
• QuickTime 7.0 Users can play back movies in MPEG-4 format. (Windows/Macintosh)

Attach images to e-mail or post on a website Because of the small file size, stills and video can be sent as e-mail or posted on websites, expanding the fun of the CG65 even more.

PictBridge support for printing without a PC By simply connecting the CG65 via the included USB cable to a printer that supports PictBridge, selected snapshots can be printed out directly from a printer without requiring a PC. Pictures are selected from the camera's LCD monitor and a print menu is also displayed, so operation is easy.

Sharp prints that bring out the performance of a digital camera When using a printer that supports Exif Print, camera settings used at the time the picture was taken and stored in the image file can be printed along with the image.

In output to a printer that supports PRINT Image Matching III, users can reflect the composition of the image captured via the camera's own color and brightness in the print.

Other Features

• 19 MB internal memory
• Thin, compact Lithium-ion battery delivers 80 minutes of sequential video clip recording
• Front-side headphone jack
• Talking navigation guide
• Zoom-and-crop recording
• Autofocus captures nearby or faraway targets without the need for Macro mode
• Self timer (2 seconds/10 seconds)
• 9-point AF or Spot AF for still images
• Voice Recorder function
• Multi-language: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional or Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, Turkish

Product Description

The Sanyo VPC-CG65 Digital Media Camera features 6MP, 5x optical zoom, 2.5" LCD display with H.264 and MPEG-4. =

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent still & movie camera (2 in 1), May 5, 2007

By	anon12345 - See all my reviews

I've been reasonably impressed with Sanyo's offerings in terms of digital cameras in the past and have used the predecessors to the CG6, including the HD1 and VPC-C6. Both cameras are reasonable, but were absolutely hopeless in low light conditions (ISO400), the CG6 has an ISO of 1600 (finally) giving one of Sanyo's offering standard low light capabilities on par with the other high quality cameras, meaning I could video most of my more embarrassing pub crawls, but not my night club adventures.

The mic (built into the screen) is surprisingly sensitive, especially to sounds emanating close by, but very resistant to wind and background noise including tapping or brushing of the mic.

The video quality is 640x480 and is in MP4 format (quicktime) which is comparable in quality to the latest iTunes movie downloads of the same resolution, though you can adjust it to be of lower quality. The photos are 6 megapixels which speaks for itself.

PC or Mac Connection is done by a standard USB cable which also doubles as a charger. Battery life also seems reasonable as does the charge time, but having never filmed for more than an hour without a recharge I would be cautious on long trips.

Despite a few minor drawbacks I would highly recommend this camera, it's reasonably durable and fits easily in ones pocket or a generic soft compact camera case. Personally I take it everywhere, I like to start filming and then pass the camera among friends for a few minutes, after a short while people forget it's there, after which you're left with a multiple perspective view of the previous night, very much worth the high price.

My only complaints would be that:

1.) It does not take rapid photographs like the Canon range can, nor can it take photographs one after another in rapid succession.
2.) No built-in lens cap, (there is a removable one that comes in the box).
3.) Slight noise with still pictures (vastly improved over previous models, but slightly more noticeable than with other brands).
4.) Awkward to stand upright on a surface, but possible.
5.) Little warning before the battery runs out.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the few extra bucks IMHO, June 11, 2007

By	D. Bauer (Memphis, Tn United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been extremely happy with the new Sanyo VPC-CG65 since I bought it. I first saw the VPC-CG6 (younger brother) at Walmart and instantly loved the small form factor. After doing a bit of research I found the CG65 with is identical except for the H.264 mpeg codec being built-in. I'm an Apple fan and so I knew I wanted that feature! :)

The camera is great, small, fast, handles the large sd cards perfectly. I plan on putting it to great use in a few weeks during summer vacation. So far, the videos I've shot with this camera are terrific. Close-up's and details are crisp and clear. The auto-focus is dead-on for the most part. I have no complaints as far as that goes. I carry the thing around daily in my pocket..something I couldn't do with a camcorder.

I know most photo camera's can record video..but this is more of a video camcorder that can take pictures. I like the feature that allows you to snap a picture while in the middle of recording a video, but I wasn't crazy about how it paused momentarily. Could have been related to my card speed (it's not a fast sd card) but the feature still worked.

I'd recommend getting additional batteries if using this for extended periods of time. But I'd recommend that for any camera. You can never have too much power.

As far as cons go, the one time I used the camera for about an hour to record my brother-in-laws wedding, I noticed the camera got kinda warm. I hadn't noticed that to be the norm, but I was doing a lot of recording that day. And it could have been related to the battery too since I ran it down to empty. That was of course before buying the extra batteries. See above.

I haven't played with many of the built-in features yet other than white balance and video quality. I prefer recording everything on the SHQ (Super High Quality) setting but it does record at a pretty high bitrate. I also own an Apple TV and when I try playing the videos in their SHQ format on Atv it has trouble with that. No fault of the camera..I just think the Atv is a bit underpowered for the high bitrate. Regular HQ recording play well on Atv though. I still record at the higher setting so that I have more details when I go to do editing on the iBook. I can always lower the bandwidth during export so it's not an issue to be concerned with. I don't think anyone can shoot a video professionally in one take and so the chances of needing to put un-edited SHQ footage on the Atv is unlikely.

As I stated in the headline, I'd recommend spending the extra few bucks to get the H.264 codec built in. It's a matter of personal preference but it does save space and it's quickly becoming an industry standard.

After vacation I'll repost with any changes to my opinion, but as it stands now, I'm happy with my purchase.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small & very capable, great stills - good video, May 21, 2007

By	Ox "producer" - See all my reviews

I'm quite impressed, especially with the quality of stills. And there are many photo and video settings that can be changed.

After using the camera for a few hours, I need to work out how to hold it. I have average sized hands and firmly holding the camera is tricky, especially when it's time to push the still or video button. I handled the HD2 and it fits better in my hand, but doesn't fit my wallet.

The flash is weak and is only effective within 6 feet, but that's what I expect from such a small flash.

The menu system is very intuitive and easy to navigate. I especially like the ability to assign menu functions to the joystick, that's a great idea. I assigned AF lock, ISO, Flash and Focus to the joystick for quick access.

I'm a stickler for image quality (acknowledging the obvious limitations of this camera), so everything is set to the highest quality. The video is better than Hi8, but definately not DVD quality.

I purchased two 2GB Kingston 50x Elite Pro cards, one card came with a free reader. Why didn't I purchase a 4 or 8 SDHC card? I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket if that basket might be lost or corrupted during a one-time event. Also, a spare battery is a must-have.

I've been reading the forums on this camera, and I looked at lots of sample clips, so I know the limitations of the Xacti, but in the end, the portability trumps video quality. I would feel self-conscious every time I whipped out my old camcorder, but with the CG65 it's small enough to be inconspicuous and I can shoot more candid videos.

After all, what's the point of having a camcorder if you dread lugging it around? The CG65 can't match the video quality of a dedicated digital camcorder, but you'll shoot a lot more video...and the stills are excellent.