Sanyo Xacti HD1A 5.1MP MPEG4 High-Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Review by Steven W. Rose for Sanyo Xacti HD1A 5.1MP MPEG4 High-Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
Rating:
The HD1 is a wonderful, amazing camera. And it is small enough that you can always have it with you — I’ve carried mine for months in my front pants pocket in its protective case, and been able to capture family and work stills and video that would otherwise have been lost. Even if the quality were not up to par, I would have something instead of nothing. But the quality is great! I’ll expand on the quality below.

This camera is genuinely high definition, more than three times the resolution of NTSC. This is best shown by comparing a DV image captured with firewire (no NTSC modulation artifacts) on a computer monitor, to the HD1 image transferred from its SD card. Notice that this comparison should favor the DV — but instead, it makes the increased resolution of the HD1 clear.

HD televisons and monitors are already commonplace, and video captured at less than HD quality will not be as highly valued (like 8mm, good for historical content). Capturing now in HD preserves the value of your video. And this camera fits in your pocket! My bet is anyone who thinks the video from this camera is not significantly better than DV is looking at its output downconverted to letterboxed NTSC, probably on an old TV.

The HD1 records in 720p30 format for an hour on a 4GB sd card (about $70). There is no transport noise picked up by the on-board microphones, as there is no tape transport! Even lens and finger noises are attenuated by the intelligent placement of the microphones on the back of the fold-out screen, where unlike other cameras, they are pointed at the subject! It also has an external microphone jack, missing in other cameras.

Once the camera is turned on, folding the viewfinder puts it in standby mode with no apparent impact on battery life. This way, the camera is ready to go in a couple of seconds after the viewfinder is opened. Mine stays in standby, sometimes for days between uses. Battery life is very good (but keep a charged spare with you, just like you keep a second SD memory card).

The still shots from this camera are as good as or better than most dedicated still cameras. I would rate it just below the Sony DSC-T7. However, the HD1 has a 10x optical zoom, which reduces the need for cropping, thereby preserving resolution. Look at the stills and video from the HD1 on steves-[...] (different Steve), which is a blowaway excellent web site for comparing cameras.

The output of the HD1 is not as clean as the output from the Sony HC3 or the Canon HV10 HDV comcorders, both of which capture at a higher resolution. Ironically both use CMOS sensors which have historically been much noisier than CCDs like the HD1′s. I suspect that this is due to better post capture processing, so I’m eager to try something like Noise Ninja or NeatImage on the HD1 output. However, as is, it is easy to mix the video from all three using Vegas Video (and I’m sure other editors), especially when the HDV cameras have been used for tripod shots and the HD1 for handheld, more casual shots. Of course, the HV10 and HC3 each cost about twice the HD1, and as wonderfully compact as they are, neither fits in your pocket.

The program Jet Audio [...] is the best I’ve found for playing the MPEG-4 video directly from the HD1 SD card on a PC. Even the free version does a great job.

Two other general purpose digital imaging notes: Always make two copies of your image files on different media before erasing the original! And rent some Internet space from a web host somewhere across the country (or world) and copy your image files to a non-public area on your web server space. This costs as little as $6 / month for 150 GB or so somewhere in a secured, backed up facility. And you can still use the public part of the space to create a web site. If there is a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, fire, etc. your “irreplacable family photos” (including any old ones you’ve scanned or reshot on your digital camera and uploaded) will still be safe. I understand at this point there are folks offering this sort of a service directly, although typically at a higher cost.

Another review mentions the “drawback” of the video freezing briefly when a still is captured while shooting video. On the other hand, this camera in video mode is shooting 30 1MP stills each second! Take your pick and always get the right moment.

Did I mention that the HD1 is a genuine High Definition video camera / recorder that fits in your pocket so you can always have it with you? What an outrageous step forward! I hope you like yours and find it as useful as I do mine.

Aloha,

Steve