Description

XACTI 1080P HD 14MP SILVER PERP12X OPTICAL DUAL RANGE ZOOM VIDEO

Customer Reviews

 Great HD Camera for the Price - Aug 20, 2010

This camera works great. Full HD 1080 is choppy in places on my laptop, not the camera's fault play's back fine on TV. HD 720 plays fine on
my laptop. I really only got 2 things I don't like.

1. The lens cap is a snap on type, so don't lose it.
2. The camera is really small. It's about the size of my hand so it will take some getting used to.

My advice would be if you want full HD and got a budget this one is great. However if you got the money to spend you can get
better..

 Neat! - Aug 12, 2010

This camera is much smaller than I expected from the pictures, just about pocket-sized for a guy. 1080i HD video looks great too. It has a ton of features for the price, optical zoom being a notable one. The camera claims to come with onboard memory, but don't expect to use it. It holds about 20 seconds of HD video. Don't let that turn you away though! Get a 16GB Class 6 SDHC card (like this one: Transcend 16 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]), and you'll have 2 hours capacity. I'd make sure the card is at least Class 6 so as to minimize saving delays, this way you can rapid-fire several HD clips without waiting for the camera to finish saving.

Saw elsewhere in the reviews that the manual is hard to find. It is indeed! Once you finally track down the PDF on Sanyo's site, that turns out to just be the shorter "User Guide". This directs you to download the full Manual, but neglects to tell you where!

Fortunately I managed to track down the English manual on the Japanese Sanyo support site. Edit: See comments on this review for the link.
The URL says GH1 but the manual is actually for all GH series cameras, this one included. Bookmark this for later if you order =)

 Great camera for a great price.... - Jul 19, 2010

It might take some time to make sure you are using your bells and whistles in the correct combination, but when you do, you will be impressed. Example: yesterday there was a butterfly on some flowers out on my deck and I tried to take a close up video for it and I just couldn't get it into focus. However, after going through the settings and adjusting for light sensitivity, macro focus, etc. the video came out GREAT! I was even able to see the tongue of the butterfly with this camera. Luckily the butterfly was cooperative and hung around for 5-10 minutes for me to get organized to take such a great little video. As with most technical devices, if you don't learn to use it properly, then it just becomes another expensive paperweight. If you learn to use this camera, you will want it with you everywhere you go.

 GREAT HD Quality but weak in low light conditions - Jul 10, 2010

This camcorder is GREAT for the price!!! Comes with a lot of features including Face Chaser Technology. It is a dual camera meaning it allows you to take 14MP still images as well as Full 1080P video! This is one of the very few camcorders in the 100 to 200 dollar price range that can record 1080P video at 60FPS as opposed to 30FPS. That is an amazing ability. I am greatly surprised in the superb video quality of this camcorder and would recommend people to buy it if they want to transfer from Standard Definition and enter the world of High Def content! The camcorder operates flawlessly and is very intuitive for beginners. Note though, you must download the manual for the Sanyo VPC-GH2 of the Sanyo main website. I couldn't ask for anything better in this price range. The only major disappointment of this camcorder is the fact that it doesn't take good low light videos. When recording in low light conditions it looks grainy and the FPS is rather slow. I tried playing around with the exposure settings, white balance, u name it! It just wouldn't cooperate. That's the only down side to this camcorder! I would recommend purchasing this item!

 Dual Camera - Digitial Photos (14MP) and Video (1080 60i HD) - Jun 26, 2010

That's what Sanyo advertises and it does the job for both. It takes great photos at 14 megapixels and does full 1080, 60i video using the mpeg4/h.264 recording format. It has 5x optical zoom and an additional 12x digital zoom for video. The video/photo image stabilizer is just OK, in fact after using it more and more, I'm leaning closer to saying that it doesn't even exist.

I picked it up from Radio Shack for $199. The one I got is black in color with a plastic casing and feels kinda cheap but I expected that. Basically, this is your typical budget, entry-level point/shoot/share digital camera and HD video camcorder. I'm pleasantly surprised with what it can do and I am happy with it. It works as advertised just don't expect high quality. With an 8GB card will give you 61 mins of full HD or 1690 14MP shots assuming you do one or the other, less if you do both.

If you will do a lot of video/pictures, I suggest getting a 2nd battery and a higher capacity SD memory card. The battery can drain pretty fast. The SDHC card that I got with this camera is a Gigaware brand class 2 because it was all they had in stock. What a MISTAKE. You definitely need a class 4 SDHC card or better for HD video. Also, a bit of warning, indoor video is terrible even with the high sensitivity setting on (a setting that supposed to compensate for low light) decent lighting or outdoor HD video should be no problem. BTW.. I played the video on VLC, video was terrible. My suggestion is to make sure you have the proper codecs installed on your computer to view the video files.

 Instruction Manual not included & is difficult to obtain - Jun 19, 2010

At this point, having just received the camera, I am clueless as to how to operate/access the features of the camera. You have to go to the Sanyo web site where you are supposed to be able to download the manual in .pdf format. It is like going through a maze and I was unsuccessful in downloading the manual to my computer. My only option is to print 207 pages, This is a great turn off for me and I am considering returning the camera.

 Camera is great unless you want to upload to your PC for editing - Jun 18, 2010

Well, this is the first review I've done on Amazon. I felt compelled to do so after I received my new camera, used it on vacation, got home to load the items to my laptop and loe and behold, there is NO DRIVER SOFTWARE FOR THIS CAMERA!!! I have searched on the Sanyo site, device driver sites, other sites, everything I can think of. the manual says to reformat the SD card, which didn't ship with the unit, so the software is not on it. It talks to my laptop just fine. however, there is no software to do any of the things that the Sanyo site and product review says you can do with this camera. It's ridiculous!

If you just simply want to use this as a camera for stills, go for it, but the video on the recommended quick time is choppy, HORRIBLE quality on my laptop, which is brand new, it's not the laptop. If you don't want to do much with this thing, buy it. If you have ideas of making digital videos to share with family and friends, use the features that are shown as available, etc. skip it, entirely...

 Bad Karma - Jun 13, 2010

I waited months for this camera to be released. I love the shape of the camera in my hands but its "record" button doesn't always turn on and other times the button won't turn off! I've had to open the battery compartment and remove the battery to stop the recording. The one clip I managed to properly record looks beautiful so it's frustrating to have the camera in my possesion and not be able to use it. I'd give it five stars if its record button worked. I'm sending it back for repair.

 Good/low cost/small/Plastici/ - Jun 12, 2010

I just got the camera last week; Video taped my son's event at school.
Price is great. You get FULL HD, 14M Picture (when not video taping) & 2M when videotaping.
Pictures are good. Still camera takes getting used to. You have to see what the camera is telling you it's focused on before you press the button harder to take the picture, or else it may come out, out of focus. The video is also good. Nothing special to write about other than if you copy the HD file to your computer the computer is to slow to process and play it and it becomes choppy. You can however easily hook it up to your TV with HDMI cable for HD viewing or RCA cable for regular resolution. You need software that will process MPEG4 video for this camera or any other camera for editing. It is simple to use. The menu is good, pretty simple and direct. The picture taking buttons could have been better quality they feel cheap. The lens cap could be of better plastic. The rubber covers for the connectors are located below the camera to make room for the picture buttons, so when you hook up the camera to the TV it will be resting on its side. Reliability should be good; I've owned Sanyo stuff before they last a long time. It is very small so if I was not using it I was putting it in my pocket I did not even need a case for it. I think if this camera was a car I'd call it a Corolla with a supped up engine.

 Better than a Flip -- a great little pocket camcorder - Jun 06, 2010

Better than a Flip -- this tiny pocket camcorder is packed with features you'd expect in more expensive camcorders. However, the only two significantly useful features are the electronic stabilization and swingout LCD. Compared to Flip-style camcorders or digital cameras with fixed LCD viewfinders you can shoot useful hand-held video from a variety of positions without the shakes.
- The auto-focus works great, giving you better composition compared to fixed-focus Flips. Turn on macro focus and you can shoot tiny bugs 1cm away.
- The 5x optical zoom works fine but its little button is tough to control, especially during one-handed shooting. The GH2 is easy to operate with the right hand: flip the LCD with a pinkie, press the top record button with the thumb, shoot from the hip.
- Audio is surprisingly good due to the microphone placement on the LCD cover, facing your subject.
- The flash is great for taking indoor stills, with still picture quality comparable to other small digital cameras.
- Battery life is ok, I got 1.5 hours in SD shooting (a static shot). However, in "field use" recording clips in HD, taking several flash pictures, and using focus and zoom, I get about 45min battery life.
- Low light picture quality is average (as all camcorders are) but turn on the "high gain" feature and you'll capture usable video that most camcorders won't get.
- Manual features available made me LOL! There's a lot. You'll have to read the manual a few times.
- Picture quality is pretty good. Shots taken at 1080i setting viewed on a 52" 1080i TV look great, with good detail and color. The GH2 records 1080i video at about 17Mbits/s. You'll need a decent computer to edit HD files.
- Webcam: Fixed at VGA size @15fps and no manual control it's a very basic webcam.

Cons:
- Bugs: the GH2 locked up on me once -- popping the battery cures it.
- Construction: the GH2 feels like an large clamshell cellphone. Not as robust as a Kodak Zx1, for example. Just don't drop it.

Overall a great value in a convenient little package.

 Xacti Sanyo VPC-GH2 Review. - Jun 02, 2010

Good picture quality. Records sound "ok". Even though the picture quality is good if you are looking for perfection, this may not be what you are looking for. When previewing the recorded videos on the camera everything is good. When Previewing on my mac (directly from the sd card), I would get wavy lines in the picture. However, these lines disappeared when I transfered the actual file to the computer. Also, when transferring videos to the computer , it took approximately 30 minutes to transfer 12 minutes of video. I thought that was a little long. I also have a KODAK Zx1 and it doesn't take that long.
In any case, I do like the motion stabilizer on it. Many Digital camcorders in this price range have poor motion stabilizer capability. The HD still pictures are very good.
The camera itself is smaller than what I expected so it may take a little while to get used to unless you are using a tripod. My guess is that within this price range, it doesn't get much better than this camera.

 please give me some reveiws - Jun 01, 2010

I can not tell if i want this camcorder. so please someone, that has this camcorder give me some cons and pros it would make my day! and really help me choose if i want this :)

Thank-you, Michele

 Great little camera. - May 23, 2010

This is a great little camera. The ability to shoot 16:9 wide screen high resolution images in addition to true HD video is a great plus.
The jpeg compression is a little excessive, compared to my Nikon camera, but the pictures still come out great.
Just remember that there is a bit of shutter lag, especially when using flash.
I did discover that I had to upgrade my computer before it would play the high resolution videos that I shot.
The battery life is right in line with spec at about 90 minutes of continuous recording.
The Sanyo power supply for the camera is unfortunately rather expensive, at about $50.-
In conclusion, there is a mix of good and bad. However, for the money I think this is a very good camera.