Sanyo may not be a name as well-known as Sony or Canon, but its Xacti VPC-HD2000 is a camcorder worth looking at. It offers excellent video performance, low light sensitivity and color, manual controls, and an extensive range of still photography options. Marketed to both beginners and experts, it is an easy-to-use gadget. It has a little sticker on its pistol-grip body that states it is a “dual camera”. Sanyo claims that it is the first consumer camcorder that can shoot 60 frames per second in 1080p full HD.

The VPC-HD2000 features an 8megapixel sensor for still pictures and a 5.31megapixel for videos. It sports a 10X optical zoom lens and can record to both SD and SDHC cards up to 32GB. In addition, it also has 16X advanced zoom. This is a digital zoom, but it uses a section of the imaging sensor rather than enlarging the pixels. It is capable of capturing video in full HD at 60fps (1920×1080/60p). People interested in shooting fast moving objects will be very pleased with its performance.

Design wise, there is not much of a difference between HD1000, HD1010 and HD2000, other than what is actually written on the camcorder. HD1010 has a 4megapixel sensor for videos and HD2000 has 5.31megapixel sensor. The CPU has been made more powerful for HD2000, as it now records video in 60p; HD1010 used to record video in 30p. The bitrates have been improved from 12Mbps in the HD1010 to 24Mbps in the HD2000, for a better picture quality. It records video up to 600fps with a small image size of 1920×108 at 8Mbps. When compared to HD1000 and HD1010, the HD2000 gives a better image quality result. Its videos are crisper and sharper. They are also smoother and more life-like, thanks to the 60fps mode. In this regard, Sanyo definitely outsmarts the competitors, including Sony and Panasonic; however, Auto Focus and Image Stabilizer are far better in the HD2000, it still is not up to the mark. Sony outperformed Xacti in both Auto Focus and Image Stabilization. The image stabilization is digital, not lens-based or sensor-shift. It works well in both low and high light.

Manual controls are good, too. Auto Focus is better than average, while the other auto controls are decent. Its manual white balance is useful and easy to use. Zoom, on the other hand, does not give a lot of variation in zoom speed. You will find quite a number of manual controls that include gain and separate Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and full manual aperture/shutter speed. The exposure compensation is difficult to find, as it is located deep within the menu. It also lacks a cold shoe and a microphone input, which would have been a good feature on VPC HD2000.

Sanyo has included the new 3D DNR digital noise reduction technology in all its camcorders launched this year. This technology analyzes a number of frames and then compares them to one another to create a better and clearer image. It actually does reduce the image noise that you see in the image; however, this clarity comes at the cost of detail loss.

The LCD display does not deliver very good results. They are not as sharp as the results achieved from camcorders like Nikon’s D90 or Canon’s 5D mk II, both of which are very expensive as compared to Sanyo VPC HD2000. Sanyo delivers a very good result for low light sensitivity. This is true even when compared to other consumer camcorders like Canon HF20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20. Its low light sensitivity and color accuracy is excellent.

It is an easy-to-use device, if you wish to use only the most basic functions. It has a very complicated menu system, and if you want to access very sophisticated options, you will have to go deep into the menu. Its vertical design may be an advantage for some and a disadvantage for others. Its buttons are well placed and are clearly labeled. Other than the wobbly joystick, the buttons function well and are responsive. It has joystick short cuts that are customizable; however, some of its features are only available when mapped to a shortcut. The shutter button, Play/Record mode switch, Menu button, Photo View button, Zoom toggle, and joystick are all placed on the back of the device. This placement makes the buttons accessible with the thumb of the right hand. The best part of upright camcorders is that a lot of the shooting can be done using one hand.

However, a few aspects of the HD2000 are very annoying. As mentioned earlier, the joystick is ultra-sensitive. There are times when it moves up and down when you actually want to move it left and right. The joystick controls all of the manual controls and menu navigation. Some functions, such as aperture and shutter speed, need a second or two before they boot.

Sanyo’s VPC HD2000 is certainly a camcorder worth considering. Good color and noise performance in bright light conditions, brilliant low light sensitivity, and excellent options for manual controls, are some of its strong points. It also includes microphone and headphone jacks and an accessory shoe. Aspects of it that may drive consumers away from it are the absence of a handgrip. It is tiring to operate the camcorder for a full day because of the way the device is held. Its battery life of 112 minutes is one of its other limitations. It has a card-only memory that may not work in its favor. One of its biggest drawbacks is its complicated menu. Some of its features are difficult to find because they are hidden deep in the menu structure. Its joystick is also sensitive.

VPC HD2000 can give some of the best consumer level camcorders a run for their money. It outperforms Canon’s HF20 and HF200 in all the departments. VPC HD2000 has a set of sophisticated features, whereas, HF 20 has an optical image stabilizer, a larger optical zoom, and it records to 32GB internal flash memory. The HF200 is similar to HF20; however, it only records to SD/SDHC memory cards.

Technical Specifications:

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