Digital Trends

Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2

June 14th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Testing and Use

It’s definitely a weird spot for the power button, but once you flip out the LCD and hit it, the camcorder boots up in less than two seconds. And once you turn it on, opening and closing the LCD turns it off and on. A nice little surprise was the female voice that tells you what mode you’re in.

Since this is a two-in-one device, I started off in Auto for stills and videos in highest quality then moved to the more advanced options. The HD2 uses a 7.1MP CCD as an imaging device, compared to CMOS sensors by most of the competition. As noted earlier, this camcorder records 720p video rated 1280 x 720 pixels progressive at 30 frames per second with a 9 Mbps bit rate maximum. Other high-def camcorders record at 1440 x 1080 interlace as well as 1920 x 1080i with bit rates varying by format but they can be as much as three times faster. In other words, quality for the competitors is much better but you will pay more for it.

Recording video is as easy as can be. Just hit the movie key and you’re in business. Placement of the zoom switch was good, making for simple one-handed operation. After shooting in Auto, I tried out some of the six Scene Modes which are the usual (sports, portrait, fireworks and so on). The camcorder also lets you adjust the shutter speed, aperture and focus. 

To play back video, you place the HD2 in the dock and connect it directly to your TV or A/V receiver. Since I have an older HDTV with component inputs, I connected that supplied cable to my set and settled in to watch my “creations.” (Note: the first sample I had did not work with my television but the second one did.) Video was pretty good in bright sunlight. Colors were fairly accurate but there were times when it got washed out. Footage shot indoors in the High Sensitivity mode was very noisy, much worse than the recently reviewed JVC-GZ-HD7US that was worse than the Canon HV20. Still there were minimal artifacts when recording outside with that option turned off. Overall the colors looked fairly natural, in particular the green of tree leaves, a red Japanese maple and the aqua color of the water in a pool. Still I wasn’t bowled over by the quality. Is it as good as HDV or AVCHD? No, but it really couldn’t be using MPEG-4 compression.

Image Courtesy of Sanyo

The HD2 has a 10-megapixel still setting using interpolation to bump up from the native 7MP. Interpolation is a fool’s game (quality is bad) so I just used 3072 x 2304 SHQ to give the camera a fighting chance.

As for the photographs, you’ll never favorably compare the output of this two-in-one device to any quality 7.1MP digicam from Canon or Sony. Colors were off on some of my prints--especially for subjects shot indoors. My Norwegian Forest Cat was still cute, but her colors were off and there was a loss of shadow detail for indoors shots with available light. Popping open the flash helped but you’d never mistake the shots from the $249 USD Canon Powershot SD1000. I took some images of plants in bright sunshine; colors and detail were good here. In other situations, this camera desperately needs an AF Assist lamp and image stabilization beyond its basic electronic circuitry in order to speed focus and reduce blur. Although the shutter is fairly responsive there is a lag as the unit saves images to the card—another instance where there’s not enough processing power to handle the files. The camera does offer a few photographic manual adjustments that are easy to access via the menu.

And when anyone tells you all lenses and cameras are the same, point to this one and its disappointing photographs and video. But let’s be fair. I don’t know of any camcorder save for a hardy few that take decent stills. That said, the Xacti does cost close to $600 USD and is touted as a two-in-one device so you should expect more.

Conclusion

The search for a really good two-in-one imaging device continues. The VPC-HD2 is not the Holy Grail, not even a Monty Python version of it. In fact I suggest you pick it up at the store, marvel at its small size then put it back down. Then if you can afford the extra cash, buy a 1080i HD camcorder from Panasonic, Sony or Canon.

Pros:

• Compact, lightweight
• Good ergonomics
• Decent video when shot outdoors


Cons:

• Video tends to wash out
• Stills are O.K., again taken outside
• Needs AF Assist lamp, more processing power, OIS