Sanyo may not be one of the most well-known brands in the camcorder business, but at least its Xactis have a unique, electric shaver-like format.
The latest VPC-HD2000 has another distinguishing feature, though – it’s the first consumer camcorder to shoot full HD (1920 x 1080) at 60 frames per second.
Sanyo hasn’t achieved this feat by sacrificing the data rate, either. Video is recorded at 24Mbps, which is relatively healthy even for full HD.
Give it some stickThe HD2000 captures to SD/SDHC memory cards, so a 4GB stick will be enough for a little over 20 minutes of footage at its top quality setting. There’s a host of alternative shooting modes, too, including interlaced full HD and progressive at 30fps.
Even more fun can be had with the two high-speed modes. The HD2000 can record ten-second snippets of video at 240fps or 600fps, although the quality is reduced to keep the data rate under control.
The 240fps mode operates at 448 x 336, and the 600fps mode a lowly 192 x 108. The recordings are then played back at 60fps, for smooth 4x and 10x slo-mo respectively.
The options don’t end there, either. Sanyo is calling the HD2000 a Dual Camera, because it can also shoot still images.
True all-rounderWhilst many camcorders have this ability, the Sanyo is equally accomplished here as it is with video.
Boasting a native 8MP 1/2.5in CMOS, plus interpolation boosting resolution to 12MP, the specifications look very competitive with point-and-shoot compact cameras.
Sanyo has even tacked on its own version of face detection called Face Chaser, which picks up faces and ensures they are properly exposed.
Much improvedThe end results mostly live up to the specs. The HD video looks better than any Sanyo camcorder we’ve seen before, with faithful colour and much less loss in quality due to aggressive compression in the top modes.
Still images are relatively sharp, and colours accurate, helped when snapping indoors by the pop-up built-in flash.
The only major downside with the 60fps Full HD video is that not all software knows how to handle it, with Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 unable to import the files and Adobe apps sluggish.
Overall, though, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 produces decent results in both video and still form. At a street price of around £500, if you want both in one package it’s well worth considering.
The Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 also featured in issue 23 of iGIZMOAuthor:Martin James
Copyright 2009 Dennis Publishing All Rights Reserved.
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