Sanyo HD Video Camera
Introduction Sanyo HD Video Camera : Xacti VPC-HD2
Executive Summary about Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 by Will Greenwald
The good: Small and light design; can shoot stills and video at the same time
The bad: Soft, bland video quality; slow to focus; irritating control stick
The bottom line: The Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 fits high-def video and 7-megapixel stills into a very small package, but its image quality disappoints.
Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder; Effective sensor resolution: 7.38 megapixels ; Optical zoom: 10 x
Sanyo claims its Xacti VPC-HD2 (Price: $799.95) is the smallest high-def camcorder on the market. The VPC-HD2 shares the same slender, vaguely gun-shaped design as Sanyo’s other Xacti camcorders. Unfortunately, the camcorder often mistakes the joystick’s button functions and tilt functions, making menu navigation a frustrating exercise in precision.
While shooting video, the camcorder also can take 7-megapixel still pictures. Most camcorders with still photo capabilities can’t shoot at the same time. Because it records high-def video, users need an HDTV or some other high definition display to get the most out of the VPC-HD2. Though still quite usable, the VPC-HD2′s actual footage and performance disappointed us. When it finally focused and shot, the camcorder’s video came out soft and washed out. The footage is still high definition and will appear as such on any HDTV, but it doesn’t look nearly as crisp as footage from higher-end high-def camcorders. Price certainly plays a factor, but even the less expensive camera-turned-HD-camcorder Canon Power Shot TX1 offers clearer HD video than the VPC-HD2.




