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| Brand: Sanyo
Category: Photography
List Price: $799.99
Buy Used: $425.00
You Save: $374.99 (47%)
New (4) from $489.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Optical Zoom: 10
Display Size: 2.7
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 3.5 x 2.1 x 4.4
MPN: VPC-HD1000
Model: VPC-HD1000
UPC: 086483068836
EAN: 0086483066832
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent October 16, 2007
32 out of 35 found this review helpful
This product is amazing for the price. It has great color very crisp greens, blues, and reds. Very small and light weight fits into the palm of your hand. I found the menus to be logical and the controls easy to use. You also get a remote control to use for play back and recording. It comes with a docking station you can use to record HD video directly to an external hard drive or computer. The anti-shake feature works great. I recorded a scene doing a chase like sequence and it was very smooth. The camera works pretty well in low light however it does start to get a bit of grain when lighting is too dim. You can control your aperture, shutter speed, and iso manually. The cameral has output for headphones and input for an external microphone. It will also allow you to take photographs with a flash that will do red eye reduction. The videos on my 50" plasma look as clear as real life. Overall I am very pleased with this product and don't regret buying it at all.
 Very capable camera - if you have the right tools January 10, 2008
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
I've had this camera since just after it launched. I have used it in a number of situations and have found that it performs quite well - doing what it says it will do and doing it quite well. I recommend the camera - if you have the tools to support it (more on that below). In summary:
Pros:
1. Compact - carry it with you all the time if you want
2. Easy to use
3. Good feature set
4. Good video quality
Cons:
1. Occasional focusing issues
2. Videos are limited to 4GB
The details
First of all, I find the camera itself very easy to use. The controls and menus are extensive and intuitive. I've been able to set this camera up for a variety of shooting situations easily and with consistently good results. Once you understand the settings you should use, you can get great quality video from this camera.
I have noticed occasional focus issues, but they've never been a significant problem. Other than that, the camera itself performs marvelously. Also, be aware that the video files are limited to 4GB. The camera warns you, but if you're shooting long sequences (40 minutes or more) be prepared to stop the camera at an appropriate point and start the recording again with a new file.
When plugged into my 1080p TV through HDMI, the highest resolution video looks spectacular. I'm not sure what the reviewers who talk about "webcam" quality were doing, but that has not been my experience. The video quality for me has been consistently amazing.
You'll also read other reviews here that talk about a wide range of difficulties people have had editing and rendering video - specifically for DVD. I experienced some of these problems as I figured out how to use the camera and get the media into DVD format. The biggest problem you'll face if you want to record and manage the highest resolution footage is having the computing power to edit the footage. 1920x1080 video demands VERY high processing power to edit. If you don't have a high-end core2 duo processor and lots of RAM (and the software that can take advantage of its power) it will be very time consuming (if not impossible) to edit and render high-def video.
But let me say this, unless you're producing blu-ray or HD-DVD video (or simply showing the video straight from the camera) you shouldn't be shooting in the highest resolution. Remember that standard DVD video is a 720x480 pixel frame. So, if you shoot at one of the medium resolution settings, you have more than enough pixels to get great DVD video - and you're not taxing your editing system unnecessarily. You still need a good computer, but it's a reasonable process.
So, once I understood some of these issues, I have been able to produce extremely high-quality DVDs with this camera. I'm very pleased. I'm even considering getting a second camera so I can do multiple camera shoots.
Fantastic at 1440/60fps, mediocre at 1080i December 5, 2007
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
Initially, I had purchased the Xacti HD2, basing the purchase off reviews from Amazon. Boy, what a let down. Awful HD picture quality: muddied lows, over-exagerated highlights, FisherPrice-like compression. Yet, the SD (standard definition) quality was spot-on. Seeing as I was looking for HD, though, I returned it and began reading reviews for the HD1000; initally I was wary that Sanyo would offer up the same shortcomings as it had with the HD2. Not to worry. Sanyo has done its job and then some with the HD1000 ... so long as you keep the camera in 1440/60fps mode.
Low light produces only a little more noise than one would expect with most other cameras on the market right now, and in daylight this camera outputs some of the most beautiful footage I've seen from a consumer-grade HD camera. Do yourself a favor when you get this camera, and set aside the bucks for at least an 8GB HCSD card. Anything less ain't worth it.
Just like with the HD2, stay away from the camera's highest setting, and you'll be impressed with the results. Well worth the price.
UPDATE: As of December 18, 2007, this camera is sold cheaper than the HD2 on Amazon. PLEASE do yourself a favor, save some money, and get this above the HD2. You'll thank all of the good reviews for the HD1000 later.
 Please read this review. January 8, 2008
22 out of 48 found this review helpful
Let me preface this review with the following statement: I teach a Digital Video Production course at the college level, and I have worked with many of the leading MiniDV, HDV, and HDD-based cameras. To make a long story short... the Sanyo HD1000 is basically a toy.
Problems: seriously rampant focus hunting issues, you cannot really use the highest resolution setting on an Apple computer (does not suppor Quicktime), the "full auto" button overrides the resolution setting specified in the menu (see previous point), the exposure lock button actually only recalls the exposure setting in the manual section of the menu system (i.e. it's basically useless), the hot key buttons lose their presets at random forcing you to reprogram them over and over again, and most annoyingly there is no live update of manual exposure changes through the LCD (you have to record in order to see how your exposure is looking, but you can't change ANY settings while in recording mode)! I evaluated the camera for one hour before deciding to send it back.
Redeeming qualities: it looks great, it is very small (fits in a jacket pocket), could be passable for people who only shoot in Auto mode and use Windows, shoots to an SD card.
Excellent video camera full of features February 20, 2008
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
I recently bought this video camera as I didn't want to go with the current trend of camcorders that tout 1920x1080 but are actually 1440x1080 anamorphically squashed recording (pixel aspect is 1.33). I also wanted a video camera that used SD cards rather than tape or built in hard drives. SD makes getting the file onto the computer the easiest it's ever been. I have an MP3 player that accepts SD and I use it to connect to my PC to move the files over. No more capturing from tape. One of the greatest features of this video camera is the ability to connect a small portable hard drive to transfer your videos over to. Think about it... you only need one SD card, say 16gb, and an inexpensive portal hard drive (80 gb are as low as $60). Then, when the card gets full you simply dump the video files to the hard drive, erase the card, and continue recording all over again! It's a cheap and effective way to increase your available recording time while traveling rather than buying a bunch of pricey SD cards.
The HD1000 is simple to use and produces great results. Don't be mistaken - you are NOT going to get video that looks like what you see on HD broadcasts. Those cameras used for broadcast cost $7500 and higher. You will however have great video that looks better than anything you've ever seen on the prior generation of DV cams. And while some of the 1440x1080 cams may produce more impressive video the other features of this cam make it extremely worthwhile. I've found the indoor lighting footage to be much better than my older Canon DV cam. The sensor in this cam is fairly big at 1/2.5". But even better, I've found if indoor shooting looks too dark you can create a shortcut operation assigned to the joystick to increase exposure value. You simply increase the exposure value (EV) by pushing the joystick to the right. I went from somewhat dark indoor footage to excellent looking indoor footage.
Editing the footage was simple and easy with the trial version of Vegas Pro 8 I downloaded. You can even re-encode back to the same MP4 format. But even cooler is the camera's function to do simple edits IN CAMERA with no quality loss. You can cut and join clips with no quality loss which is an invaluable feature. The HD1000 has a cold accessory shoe and a microphone in jack. With an external microphone you can adjust the input gain sensitivity which is great to avoid clipping when recording loud sources like a concert. It's also super small an light - so small you can fit it in your jacket pocket.
The HD1000 can have a harder time focusing in some low light situations but it's tolerable and you can use a type of manual focus by selecting the targets range. The camera functionality on this camera is great. I've recently changed over to taking all my pictures in 16:9 since I prefer viewing pictures on our 52" Samsung LCD and this camera will take 3.5 megapixel images in 16:9, even higher in 4:3. The images look fantastic. They won't rival a higher end digital camera but they look excellent for a dual function video camera.
As a last note - the MP4 files this camera records video as WILL play perfectly fine in a PS3 or XBOX 360 as both support AVC. For the PS3 you just need to make sure you put the video files in a folder called VIDEO or they will not show up. Again - create a folder on your SD card or USB stick (whatever you're using) called VIDEO and put your .MP4's in there. Beware of sample video clips on the net cause the 1080 interlaced footage looks so much better on an LCD TV than it will on a computer screen at lower resolution than 1920x1080. Also, a lot of the clips on the net are re-encoded to DivX and whatnot so there is some quality loss.
I highly recommend this camera if good video & picture quality, portability, ease of file transfer, or fast motion recording is important to you.
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