I've owned several video cameras in my time. Including one other from Sanyo. They were, of course, all standard definition.

I've only had four days of playing with this, but I can say that the quality of the videos and stills are excellent. I had seen some sample videos posted from this camera, but they mostly violated general rules of good photos/video. They were shooting towards the sun; they were using bad lighting, etc. The results I'm getting from this are awesome with simple common sense logic of shooting with the sun behind me and getting close and tight on the subject (usually my kid).

Mathematically, there is 3 times the number of pixels in a 720p video versus standard definitions 640x480 resolution. Definition is defined as a combination of the resolution and contrast in the image. So if you shoot in 720p mode and have reasonably good lighting to create contrast, you get AMAZING results. I have also shot indoors in lower than stellar lighting and get very good results.

As far as functionality, the camera fits brilliantly in the palm of my hand and is easily controlled with just my thumb. Two buttons allow me to decide if I want to shoot video or still images (stills are 5.1 MP). The middle toggle controls the zoom. If you want to change whether you are shooting HD or SD, simply press one button and you get visual and audio confirmation of which mode you are in. The pop-up flash is sufficiently bright enough for still images (however, unfortunately is not a constant light for video - works only as a flash for stills).

I've often wondered if the video of my son's first years, shot in standard definition, will be considered as poor of quality as the 8mm film that was shot of me when I was a kid. Think about it, it will always be 4:3 square ratio creating those big black bands on the left and right when played on today's widescreen HD TVs. If you have a newborn now, I'd shoot in the format of the TV's today (720p 16:9 widescreen).

The camera comes with more than you will probably need or use. It has a remote control (great for video playback). It has component connections to connect directly to HDTV sets. It has a USB cable, S/AV cable, semi-hard case, strap, and a few other things. No SD card though, but those have gotten so inexpensive anyway.

Also, it only weighs 1/2 a pound. Compare that to the video camera I used to toss in the diaper bag or my wife's purse that weighed 5 pounds.

You'll need at least a 1GB card to shoot high-definition. I'm using a 2GB card. Their are 4GB cards out there, but wait until the brand names release 4GB. Most of the 4GB out there today were on the market 6 months prior to the FAT32 standard (required to go above 2GB) was ratified. Therefore, I'm not about to trust that they will work. 2GB is also plenty of time for the moment.

I highly recommend using the Xacti HD1. I'm having a blast with it. And I can't describe the faces people make when you tell them that this awesome looking camera is shooting "High Def"!!!

I purchased this based on the recommendation of a film director friend of mine. I have a baby due in September and we are filming every stage of the pregnancy. I used this on a recent trip to Napa where it was raining and gloomy, I used it in the doctor's office for our first sonogram, and at a park for my nephew's first birthday. The video quality was very good in all of those locations. While you can switch from HD to SD very easily, I am shooting everything in HD for the higher resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio. It would be nice if the camera had a lens hood, but since it doesn't, make sure that you keep the sun behind you as much as possible. The 10x zoom is more than sufficient and is about the most you should ever use without putting on a tripod. Ignore digital zoom specifications on all cameras as you should almost never use the digital zoom. The HD1 has a menu item so that you can turn digital zoom off - I recommend doing that.

The camera also has a 5.1 megapixel still camera built in also. The images are very good when shooting stills with the HD1. The screen rotates 285 degrees, so if you want to do a self portrait of you and a friend, it is EASY.

The camera goes into standby when you close the screen and when you open it, it is ready to begin shooting in a just a second or two.

There is a remote control included which is great for when you hook it to a TV and need to be across the room. You can control most features of the camera via the remote control.
The box is loaded with cables and accessories (even a case for the camera), but you will need to grab a memory card. I picked up a couple of 2GB cards and found that to be sufficient.

Lightweight with sharp and colorful pictures and video, I'm loving my new hi-res toy. Received just before I left on my honeymoon, I was able to capture (almost) everything that made our honeymoon great! Everytime you press start and stop, it captures and individual clip and puts each clip as a separate MPEG-4 (.mp4) file on the card. Makes it simple to transfer to the computer and keeps each clip smaller so that today's computers can easily handle them. Each clip is somewhat large with my average (full HD - highest setting) averaging about 25-30MBs in size.

The product has a very nice look and feel. I felt like a tech guru even though I'm quite novice at video'ing. The quality of stills was much better than the 3 year old digital camera that this was replacing. Video quality was quite nice. Many of our tour shots looked like post cards. I would recommend that you pick up a spare battery. The battery included runs for quite a decent time, but I had wished that I had a spare battery on one day when I forgot to charge the camera after a full days use. I also recommend that you pick up a 2GB memory card. The one I found (SanDisk) was very affordable and with the hi-def memory sizes, you can fill up a memory card pretty easiliy if you are on a vacation.

After returning home, I hooked the camera directly up to my flat panel TV and wow'd my friends and family with some of the best clips. It is very easy to switch between clips on playback once you get the feel for the toggle switch on the back.

I just bought this camera and have a MAJOR problem with the way it works. Everytime that you start and stop the video camera, a new clip is created. So that when you are done filming with one card and download it to the computer, you end up with 20 to 50 individual small files instead of one big one. Then you are stuck renaming everyone of these clips so that they are not overwritten the next time you save the clips to the computer. And when you want to watch them, you have to indivually start 20 to 50 different clips rather than pressing start once and watching the whole video. I called the company to ask if this could possibly be right, and they said this was the way it was designed. The only other option was to use the camera to individually attach two clips together, which creates a new clip. Then you have to delete the original clips and repeat this process 20 to 50 times before you download to the computer. I was floored that they believed this was acceptable. I am definitely returning the camera.

I found the Sanyo "High Definition" Camcorder to be the real deal.

Recording in 720P is the only way to go. Playback is amazing and on my HDTV.

I thought the small size my be a disadvantage but found the built-in stabilization to be adequate.

The ability to use as a Digital Still camera is also advantageous.

Also learned to operate this camcorder quite quickly with its easy to use menu.

I recently purchased this camera since I wanted HD and all I had was a standard digital video camera.

I've shot about 5 hours worth of HD thus far. The quality is definitely better than the standard definition video. Playback on my HDTV is good. It is not as good as some of the stuff that comes off of the satelite dish, but then again I'm not shooting an African Safari and their camera probably ran them $50,000. For my stuff, it is good. The internal microphone is very sensitive and captures voices very well.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this little camera. It's smaller and lighter and produces better video than my last mini dv camcorder.

Perhaps it was too much to ask. HD quality video; high quality stills; good sound quality; tiny, user friendly package; and a price below $1000. I want to love this camera, but while it is almost as billed, it just misses the mark.

I'll start with the good: Incredibly easy to use, good size and feel in the hand, well equipped out of the box, cool looking, great display, simple, effective remote.

Next the medium: Still photos nice but not as good as my Canon 5 megapixel digital still camera. Video pretty impressive for what it is, but at least on my HDTV the way I have hooked it up (and I may have done something wrong), while the quality is very nice, it falls short of what I would call true HD. And while the picture is 16:9 on the camera's display, it appears stretched on the television screen.

Finally, the bad: When playing back shots with little or no sound, there is a persistent clicking noise in the backround. It is quiet, but noticeable. I called Sanyo to see what was wrong, and they told me that it was just the design of the camera. The microphone picks up the sound of the zoom lens and some mechanical sounds within the camera. They said there was nothing I could do. Very disappointing.

I am trying to decide whether to keep the camera. There is nothing else close in feature set right now, but this noise is annoying. Has anyone else heard it?

If you want good videos look elswhere. its okay as long as you have lots of light. Try to video in the evening, or indoors and you won't even be able to focus. I tried to video my daughter this evening with the lights turned down a little low(I could see fine) and camera wouldn't pick up any light at all. I like that the camera works as a pc cam, although the mic does not work as a pc mic, so all you get it video.. no audio. The photo quality is a lot better than the video. I wish they would have added a focus assist lamp because auto focus is a little slow. the camera starts up fast as long as you don't turn it off. just close the fold down lcd and it goes into 'standby mode', open it again and its ready to shoot. but turning it off and on takes a little time. you need to hold in on the power button for 2 long seconds before it starts to power up, or down. which seems a little silly because the power button is very small and a little difficult to press so it is very unlikely that you could bump it on accident. The camera is easy to hold. It feels very good in my hands. the buttons are well situated. You will need to remember to press a button next to the flash in order for it to pop up and turn on. otherwise you won't get flash. press it again for red eye, and again to turn it off.
I am glad I purchased this camera. I don't like hauling bulky video cameras, and this seems to do fine as long as sufficient light is available.

received camera 2 days ago ,great size ,video recording in daylight is good as long as its not played back on included quicktime software,I use nero ,night time recording terrible on all settings ,nigttime stills good ,daytime stills good , but my 4mp pentax blows this away on stills.I will be keeping this camera because kids are small ,and already have missed too many videos ( my other video camera is too bulky to carry around) acceptable except for night time indoor videos.(other reviewer with clicking problem ,use manual focus. rob

Had low expectations when I bought this camera due to the high compression needed to render HIGH DEFINITION!!! This form of capture requires probably at least five times as much resolution as standard definition recording, according to what I've read, so I am very impressed with the quality... under good lighting conditions. Low light recording is less impressive and is a little grainy looking, so carry a small but powerful light source if planning on doing much night type videoing. (Haven't manually set the camera up for night or low light recording, so it's possible doing so will overcome some of the splotchy-looking videoing I've experienced in low light.)

Can't speak for the photo-imaging of the camera, since motion is my new thing. Past experience has told me that my old 3 Mega- Pixel camera had much more resolution than I ever needed to capture a good image, so this one being over 5 MPs should be more than adequate. Besides, with the software out there now (Paint Shop Pro, for instance) you can even repair a bad capture with just a few clicks.

One thing I did before hand was purchase a very fast (150X) Secure Digital Card to go with this camera. I think the camera is spec'd to capture at 9MBS and the 150X card writes at approximately 11MBS, so even a card this fast has very little head room. Recently a couple of companies have released 4 Gigabyte cards, so one could likely capture a solid 50+ minutes at the highest setting, which if memory serves is SHQ HD, or something. And since a battery charge is expected to last, I don't know, something like an hour plus, one could put the camera on a little table tripod and just let it run for a while. Might want to get a spare battery, which is what I'm doing, since it takes a little while, although not too much time, to recharge in the docking station.

I would like to say I'm dissappointed in the accompanying software. There is no means for any real editing, and while this camera uses an MPEG4 CODEC, most other softwares I have only recognize the MPEG2 CODEC or raw data. On the other hand, if you just want to get life captured in HIGH DEFINITION!!! with the expectation of having the ease to burn or view at a later date, this camera may be your best cost effective option, currently.

Oh, almost forgot. An earlier reviewer was picking up audio noise from the camera. I wonder if connecting a directional mike would pick up the desired sound, while elimating the camera noise?

Good: HD wow! Small and still comfortable to hold. Easy and intuitive control settings

Bad: Not suitable for low light situations. I compared this side by to my Sony DV and it was not comparable. Lag in filming and then viewing.

I was expecting a bit more from this camcorder and felt it still had a ways to go.

When my first child was born in 1989 I bought a JVC VHS-C camera that came in a suitcase the size of a large laptop bag and recorded PAL at 625 lines interleaved. It weighed 4KG. For child #2 I purchased a Canon 8mm camera that was NTSC 525 lines interleaved and weighed 1.5KG, for child #3 I bought a Sony D8 (backward compatible with 8mm) which weighed just under 1KG with larger battery and supports 500 lines progressivly scanned directly into my computer allowing pretty good quality, digital archiving and DVD creation through the supplied ULEAD software. Miracle baby #4 is due to be born (today, actually) and I now have an Xacti HD1 which weighs 0.24KG, shoots video in widescreen at 720 vertical lines by 1280 horizontal (16x9 ratio). It also shoots great stills and fits in my man-purse on my belt. Ten times the capability of my '89 camera at one tenth the weight and size and about the same price. What a great deal !

The video quality is great in daylight, with fine contrast and great detail. Low-light is OK and the auto light setting gives reasonably good quality with the very slow shutter speeds needed to compensate. Just don't shoot people dancing in a night club and hope things to be clear. The camera is pretty prone to camera wobble and the compensation settings don't seem to help much.

Still picture quality is good in daylight and pretty good with flash but neither up to the standard of my Nikon D70.

Audio is also OK, although the autofocus noise really does annoy me.

But all of these short-comings are OK. I plan to do most of my shooting in good light conditions, and I've built a rig that my camera clips to that also has a shotgun microphone mounted on it. The effect of this is to increase the mass of the camera drastically improving image stability, and by taking the microphone outboard, there's no longer any autofocus noise and sound quality is much higher due to the superior frequency response of the audio-technica mic.

I made the rig as follows: I mounted a pistol mic-grip underneath and 2" from the left (4" from the right) of a six-inch wide strip of camera flash-mount bar using a standard 1/4" threaded camera screw. I mounted the audio technica mic on the left using the supplied bracket, designed to take a camera screw, I then mounted the HD1 on the right hand end using another camera screw. I hold the camera in my right hand and the pistol grip in my left. This also provides a really steady shooting platform and pretty good left right balance. I also have enough space to mount a video light to improve low-light shooting if I want. I got the idea from Mike Figgi's Manfrotto 'figrig' but at a fraction of the cost (and size).

My work around now has me shooting stable hi-def with great sound and a tiny set-up compared to either tape or hard-disk HD cameras.

My congratulations to Sanyo on a really innovative design with autofocus noise being the biggest flaw but only when shooting action in quiet conditions.

Thoroughly recommended.

I've used the Sanyo for about 2 weeks now, and overall I'm impressed. I'd rate it higher video quality than DV, but below HDV. It's a great camera/camcorder to drop in your pocket and start filming at a moments notice!

Pros:
great HD 720P widescreen video quality in good light
compact handheld design
no tapes or dvds to store or buy
works with a 4gb 150X transcend SD card holds 58 minutes of HD video or twice that in SD
fast downloads to PC using USB 2.0 reader
still quality is excellent
standby modes keeps the camera ready for filming in 2 seconds with remarkable little battery drain

Cons:
small size makes it east to shake camera during video
Low light use is grainy, recommend it best for outdoor shooting, or with additional lighting.
Because it films in HD, file sizes are very large
you need a good video card and cpu speed/memory for stutter-free playback on a PC.
Shooting stills during HD recording causes the video to pause

Tips:
I use two hands to steady the camera, now works great with steady playback
use SD recording if you want to shoot stills during video recording

The main reason I purchased this camera is because I was looking for a good "all in one" camera/camcorder solution. I chose the Sanyo because it's affordable (compared to any other HD camcorder), I wanted to shoot in High-Def Widescreen, and the still camera offered a decent amount of mega pixels (5) as well as a nice optical zoom (10x).

Size - I travel all the time so the camera's small size is a huge bonus for me. It's small enough to put in a pocket, though it feels a little fragile, so you might have second thoughts about putting an $800 camera unprotected in your pockets or purse.

Cost - My old digital camera was 3.1 mega pixels and had a 5x optical zoom; my old camcorder was analog, so it was a pain to transfer video. I wanted to replace both and this was by far the most "bang for the buck" I could find.

Video Quality - If you're outside and it's nice and bright, the picture looks really nice - though you'll see quite a bit of compression artifacts when watching your video on a large display. If it's dark, you're going to have to work hard to get good results. Even after tweaking the settings to adjust for low light, I could best describe the results as "slightly disappointing." Footage shot in the dark is very grainy and doesn't look HD at all. I read the reviews where people said that the camera performed poorly in low light, but I assumed that these people were shooting in dark rooms with the only light being a lamp 15 feet away. That's not the case. When people say it doesn't do well in low light, they mean "It doesn't do well anywhere indoors that's light less than your standard office building." The auto focus is pretty slow, especially in low light, where it often doesn't work at all. Oh yeah, you can shoot Standard Def video with this as well, but if you're looking to do that, there's no point in this camera - you can find much better standard def cameras for much cheaper. There is an image stabilization option, but even with it on, the video was pretty shaky. You can use a tri-pod of course, but if you got the camera due to its small size, you're probably not interested in lugging around more equipment.

Recording Length and Battery Life - With a 2Gig memory card you only get 28 minutes of HD HQ shooting, which is 9MB per second. A second HD option gives you over 40 minutes, but it's only 6MB per second. The 9MD footage looks pretty compressed as it is, so you're probably not going to want to mess with anything less. The batter lasts about an hour - perhaps a little longer.

Sound - The camera uses two small microphones located on the back of the OLED display to record in stereo, and the results are solid, if unspectacular. I haven't noticed the zoom motor noise in my recordings, but I honestly wasn't looking for it. There's a handy wind-noise reduction option that works pretty well.

Display - The OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display looks great, and even manages to remain usable in the bright sun. This is a good thing since there's no other viewfinder.

Still Pictures - I haven't really taken a whole lot of still pictures, but I've been pretty happy with the results. The camera claims to take 10megapixels stills, but they are basically upconverted from 5MP. There is a flash on the camera that can only be used for stills - it doesn't work as a constant light source when filming. The best thing about the stills is that you can shoot them while filming, which is something I never thought about before I bought the camera, but it's a nice feature.

Editing - The software that comes with the camera is pretty bare-bones, so you're going to want to invest in a better (more expensive) solution. I am using Vegas Movie Studio 6, which supports HD editing. If you have any interest in sharing your videos, you'll need to use a program like this to get your videos down to a reasonable size.

Other Random Thoughts:
- The manual is lousy and does a poor job of explaining features.
- The on screen menu navigation is difficult.
- You can't see your changes to video settings in real time on the preview display; you have to record something to see what you did.
- In addition to the camera, you get a nice case, a docking station, some video cables, and a remote control.
- A 2GB stick is the smallest you're going to want to get. Even a 2 gig card isn't big enough, but I've heard enough people say the 4GB cards currently on the market aren't reliable enough to purchase, that I'd recommend waiting until the new crop of 4GB cards is released and affordable.
- Transferring video to your PC is done via a USB cable that plugs into the dock, or into an adapter which then plugs into the camera. The little adapter is tiny and there's a 90% chance of me losing it in the next 6 months. Why couldn't the USB and power cable plug right into the bottom of the camera?

Final Thoughts:
I've got mixed feelings on the Sanyo Xacti CPC-HD1. On one hand, it's an affordable solution for someone that only wants to carry one camera around with them. On the other hand, the picture quality is pretty disappointing, particularly the low light performance. I'm experiencing a little bit of "buyer's remorse" but I find comfort in knowing that even with its many flaws, it's probably the best I can do for $800 ($900 if you include the price of a memory card).

If you're looking to see the camera in action, this page has some stills and short video clips you can check out:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/hd1_samples.html

I don't do reviews...but I was disappointed enough that I thought it might be helpful to hear my experience.

I saw this beauty and thought "this has it all!" If you're looking for either a still digital camera or video unit, this one will probably catch your eye. I originally liked the concept so much I bought another for my wife...then we tried to use it.

#1) Unless you're using a tripod...the stills are awful, even with the image stabilization feature. Nearly every photo on a sun-lit patio was blurred...and this
#2) The camera would mysteriously lock-up and display "System Error"...this happened on my wife's camera the first day we attempted to use it
#3) In low-light or an average lit room, it was impossible to get the camera to focus. I'm not talking about midnight in the woods low-light...I'm talking about in our living room with 6 overhead floods and the ceiling fan spotlights.
#4) The camera gets quirky if you attempt to do anything too quickly. Like switch from record to play, take a picture immediately while recording, or switching over to the voice recorder mode from recording mode.

As you can see, we had several issues (one of which appeared to be specific to a single camera..."system error"). I was sold based upon the hand-held size, the 10x optical zoom, 5 Megapixel, and hi-def. I never got as far as viewing the hi-def video, but other reviewers say its not really hi-def, so I believe them. This camera is a great concept, but I think its not quite there. Almost seems like they released it to market a bit early without doing more testing by average camera users.

Hope this helps your buying decision. I bought 2, and returned both within two weeks.

I just bought this camera a month ago, I bought after intense investigation and tiring comparisons. This was by far the coolest camera around, that is until it arrived.
I bought the 4 GB card and was ready for my trip overseas...
The problems started right away, when taking HD or SD video you have to hold the camera incredibly steady because it is very sensitive to movement, I'm talking about both hands and super slow motion movements (unlike my older camcorder). When reviewing the tested video I realized that the HD wasn't impressive at all, in fact the SD looked a little better. Also the picture was grainy, specially during indoor video capturing, so this unit is for outdoor, sunny days only.

The image capture mode is unimpressive, one huge downside is that when taking a picture in a low-lit room, you have to 'guess' where the people are because it doesn't have a red beam function (laser-like beam to guide the pic taker).

Well, I thought that was all, except in the second day of my trip the image went blank. Let me explain, the camera is on, the LCD is on but there is no image. As if the lens cap were on (another reviewer has the same problem). I'm returning mine to the dealer I bought it from. I don't want an exchange for the same HD1.

Now, I don't know what I want, but sure know what I don't want...

I was one of the people who saw this camera at CES in January and was so impressed that I preordered it immediately after the show. I received it two months ago, and have quickly realized that the potential was way better than the actual ability of the unit.

My gripes:
1) Bought the 4GB card from PQ1 (used in Steve's Digicam review) - video didn't work for more than 2 seconds. Had to figure out on my own that the card needed to be formatted inside the camera to make it work. Fortunately, that one is now solved.

2) HD quality is a joke. I'm in the audio/video industry and if you think the camera video will look like your HD cable or satellite picture, you will be EXTREMELY disapointed. Video is acceptable (at best) in brightly lit environments, and is nearly unusable indoors in almost any condition. Photo quality is better, but still not as good as most basic digital still cameras.

3) The autofocus is terribly slow, so if you are recording something and moving around at all with the camera (even when doing a very slow pan), the image is blurry. So, now you really can only use the camera outside on a bright day with a tripod. Not quite what I was expecting.

4) On top of all that, my camera BROKE 2 months in. The LCD screen will no longer display anything in record mode. The LCD is fine - playback works and the menus work, but I can't record anything. It's like the lens cover is on all the time, but trust me, it's not (I've checked numerous times to make sure I'm not crazy). Less than 2 months in and I have to send it to "Advanced Audio Video" for service, and they can't really give me an estimate of how long it will take to repair.

I bought this camera because I love HD and my wife is having our first kid in the next six weeks. Now I'll be lucky to have a working camera for the birth, and if I do the quality will be worse than a good standard def model I could have bought for much cheaper. Mine may be going on eBay soon...

Imagine a camera you can ALWAYS carry in your pocket with the following features:
- HD 30fps 720p
- SD 60fps!! (yeah, you heard it... 60 fps for fast action slo mo)
- record to SD (no more hideous tape!!)
- great still performance
- excellent controls
- decent lens
- less than $1000

Well, the Sanyo HD1 hits on all factors. The quality is simply amazing folks. It is FAR FAR better on HD and SD than my Canon miniDV. There simply is no comparison in the detail. I find uncompressed miniDV picture noisy, grainy and blurry in comparison.

The still quality is also quite decent, on par with my Sony DSC's.

What are the downsides?
- image stabilization is not good. This is the single biggest nit with this unit. I will HAPPILY trade shakiness in the image with the vast improvement in picture detail.
- still image camera processor isn't as intelligent as the best still camera. So as you hit low light or very bright conditions, the pics may suffer in comparison with a true dedicated DSC solution. However, the quality is very good and for a casual carryound camera, IMO, quite adequate.

Conclusion: the best camera you can buy is the camera you have with you. I own a Canon EOS Rebel XT. I never have it with me when I need it. I would buy a true HD cam, but also I would never have that bulky monster with me.

The HD1 can stay in your pocket every day of your vacation or weekend, in your briefcase or computer case 24x7, and it is always there, ready to go. Now mix in high quality HD. And the lack of performance in the image stabilization is totally offset by the advantage that you are now equipped to sieze on the photo op any time it may come up.

One last thing: you can't take out the SD card and plug it into a PC directly. The SD card is not formatted for Windows. You can read the SD just like any hard disk, but to do so, you have to plug in the camera (with the SD card in the camera) into your USB port on the PC, and then tell the camera to act as a card reader... then you will see a drive on My Computers and you can suck off all the video and pics using any Windows utility whatsoever.

Sanyo, congratulations on taking a risk and making it pay off. I love this product.

We can certainly look forward to much advances in this area, with low power MPEG4 encoding chips arriving that will encode up to 20Mbps or more and with much better image stabilization. The HD1 encodes at around 9Mbps. I confirmed this by examining the playback stream in Windows. So if you want to wait another year or two, you will be well rewarded for your patience with great advances in the category of hand held micro HD camcorders. Great time to be a photo/video buff.

edit: one other suggestion. There websites you can visit for more info on the best settings for your HD1. Unlike other reviewers here, I have had fantastic results on indoor video. Some of these sites feature video example downloads so you can see for yourself the quality and the extent of the image stabilization problem. I myself don't feel the need to have a tripod, though I will put on a quick attach monopod mount for the times when I want that extra improvement in image stability.

I've had my HD1 for several months now, I love it. It is small, easy to use, has excellent battery life, and recording to SD cards is a great way to make DVD's. There are good reasons why others have given it poor reviews. One reason is that it is somewhere in between a high-end HD Video camera, and a point-and-shoot camera. Professionals who shoot with high-end HD cameras will find the focus a little slow sometimes, and the picture not quite as good as as the larger, more expensive cameras they are used to. Amateurs who don't read the manuals and don't understand basic camera usage, such as proper lighting, avoiding backlighting, careful zooming to avoid focusing problems, spot metering, etc. may find that the camera isn't "automatic" enough to compensate for poor shooting habits. Personally, I have found that with good shooting practices, the camera performs very well, although a little slow sometimes in finding the proper focus or exposure. Many people are not yet aware of what it takes to shoot HD video. Just because the camera is HD, doesn't mean it will be HD on your tv. Your tv must be HD, your connections to the tv must be correct, and if you make your own DVD, it won't be HD (yet). HD DVD's are just now struggling to find a standard. Storage is a consideration. Video tapes are cheap, fill one up, pop in a blank. You aren't going to want to buy 20 SD cards to leave laying around. You will have to offload your cards and burn DVD's. On the other hand, a 1 hour tape takes 1 hour to import into your computer. But an SD card plugs right in and transfers in minutes. So if you buy a tape camera, keep lots of tapes (and extra batteries) or spend lots of time converting to DVD. Buy this camera and DVD conversion is necessary, but fast. As for SD cards, I bought a 150x Transcend 4GIG sd card and it works great. All I'll ever need. There may be some slow or risky cards out there, but getting a good card isn't hard. In summary, if you are a professional and want staggering professional results, spend a few thousand more and get a bigger, better camera. If you are not a professional, but want results that are better than any of the other small consumer video cameras out there, this is the camera for you, assuming you will take the time to learn the basics of good camera practices, read the manual, and you are willing to make DVD's from the footage you shoot. It is after all a lot of features to stuff into a vey small camera.

Dont buy this camera. MPEG4 sucks. Indoor recording is worse than my SD500 canon digital camera.

I bought this from Fry's and I am going to return it back.

I mean it, you cant record indoor. On PC the video may look okay but on HD TV it is just very very grainy. Bright light outside video is better than any mini DV but not as good as HD channels.

I love everything about this little camera - except for its very low quality of manufacture. Three cameras bought and three cameras returned, each with hardware and software problems. Sanyo let this one out before it was ready. What a shame. Maybe rev two will be worthy, but stay away from this one unless you enjoy "SYSTEM ERROR" messages appearing on screen (if your screen works) that require a camera reboot.

..unless you don't mind sending it in for repairs! I've had this camera for just over 3 months now and am sending it back in for repair a second time for the same issue. That issue: monitor blacks out and doesn't pick up the image in camera nor video mode as if the lens cap is on. Beware: mfg warranty is a mere 3 months so put aside some funds for repairs. I'd like to just return the darn thing but Amazon's return policy has so many penalties I'm better off just keeping and dealing. Urrrgggh!

I wish now that I had not been so eager to be among the first to own one. In fact, if I had had the benefit of reading the reviews on this camera beforehand, I would't have bought it at all. Like several other reviewers I just found out the hard way that Sanyo has had some real quality issues with their Xacti VPC-HD1. It may just be that they came to market without adequate testing but, based upon their posture regarding repairing, they just don't seem to be willing to acknowledge their quality issues. After having it for barely over the 90 day labor warranty period (counted conveniently by Sanyo from the date it SHIPPED from Amazon) I've become yet another victim of the blacked-out LCD display while attempting to record video or shoot still images. As others have reported, it's like the lens cover is on, but it isn't. Upon contacting Sanyo, they were absolutely unwilling to budge on their 90 day warranty policy on labor despite what I'm sure has become a well-known problem to them by now. My only option at this stage is to send it off to their third-party repair center for service and pay for labor, shipping, etc. Who knows when I'll get it back or if it will ever work right. Buyer beware!

I have the same problem of LCD black out within aweek I bought it. I managed to change the new set but the same problem occured again within 2 days. It is the design fault. Remember don't waste your money until Sanyo finds a solution.

After reading alot of the reviews on here and other places, everyone gave it a ho-hum rating. I disagree, as with other things you have to take these with a grain of salt.

I just purchased mine about 3 weeks ago and I've already taken it to two nascar races and more importantly, Las Vegas for a weekend. It really proved itself in Vegas. I walked up and down the strip multiple times (and made a few stops along the way) and had this camera in my pocket the whole time. It never felt heavy or uncomfortable walking, standing or sitting. Plus I could just take it out and within a few seconds take a picture or a movie of the many sights there.

Unless you're some sort of videophile, this camera is great. Once you make a few important settings, its rock solid. Remember, its an HD video and 5MP camera...and it looks it. My requirements were to have a good video camera and good still camera all in one because I don't want to carry 2 cameras and I wanted something small and sleek to fit in my pocket as I don't want to walk for miles up and down the Strip with a camera bag. This was PERFECT!

The price was a bit steep for comparable sized units (also from sanyo), but I don't plan on buying another for a while and thought the HD would be worth it. I opted for the 2GB card off the bat as it was pretty inexpensive and would hold plenty of video...and it did. I've found that rarely does anyone shoot anything for an hour straight; it's usually 1 min here, 4 min there, etc. The only thing it doesn't have is night shooting, but ya can't have everyhthing and it takes fine pictures with even a little light.

Anyway, great camera.

This camera has major problems. Do your research. Go to any digital camera forums and you will see tons of post of the "black Screen". After using our camera about 5 times the screen became black. Apparently had to do with defective lens housing or something. Sent it to their customer care service. Took 1 month to get back. 3 days later black screen is back. Sanyo is doing everything they can to prevent me from getting money back or get new camera. They just want me to keep sending to customer. Care. Sanyo has a very defective product and they do not want to admit their mistake and replace the defective cameras. See for yourself. Go to the forums and see what others have been saying. Don't make the mistake I did.

I purchased the camera in mid June 2006. After 1 month/1 hr of recording the screen went black when in recording mode. It took the shop about 7 week to fix the problem. I used the camera to record another 20 minutes and now it does not want to focus to infinite. The recording now flickers a lot and a dot appears floating around the screen. This camera has been in the shop more time than in my hands. The store were I bought it said that It would give me a new camera if this happends for the thrid time. The only problem is that if this is a design problem, what do I get by getting a new camera? Just avoid buying this camera until they fix the problem.

Before that it was kind of nice, but it cannot focus in even semi-low light.
It is definitely light and easy to take everywhere, but there are so many conditions where the results are disappointing. No way I would call the output HD quality, just the best SD ever with a 16 * 9 format. And then it broke.

I read lots of reviews for this camera before I bought one, and now that I have one I'm thrilled. It's true that the low light issues are there, but I find that I don't use a camera if it's a pain to carry around. This little thing fits in my pocket, takes great stills and above average video. I've filmed the kids more in the last two weeks than I have in a couple of years. Don't listen to the videophiles who pan the image quality. If you want a true pocket-sized video camera, this is the one.

I really like this camera, being a first time camcorder buyer it works great! I do have issues with the low light capabilites and also the HD quality, but other than that if you can pick one up used or for $450 it is well worth it. It is a fun camera to cary in your pocket and point and shoot small clips. Love that you plug it in via usb and drag of the .mov files.

The quality is not real HD looking. The footage is jumpy. The camera is terrible in low light. Even indoors during the day, you have to blast light into the camera to get a readable image. I returned mine and I'm looking to getting the much better Sony HD cam which is almost double the price, but at least they were smart enough to put a video light on it. Being a professional filmmaker and knowing what Cameras shoot real HD, I quickly realized that I got ripped off. This may be good only if you're shooting mostly outdoors during the day, but don't expect to bring it to a party, club, or out on the town at night. It seems like they should have devoted effort to making the low light shooting excellent. The size of the camera is amazing and the fact that there are no tapes is great. I was really disappointed because I was expecting something better. Most digital cameras shoot better video, seriously!

have had this cam since last April 2006 I did put some microphone foam over the microphones which eliminated any wind noise and didnt change the exsiiting quailty stereo recording. Wind Noise filter wasnt enough to cut out all wind noise. Camera is amazing considering its size best part is that it can be slipped in my front pants pocket and goes unnoticed and is there when you need it!
Low light video recording is grainy when yuo set asa to 400 but so was 35mm SLRs when using 400 speed film a few years back get same feeling with this cam. Low light auto focusing is touch and go just have to give cam time to focus or manully set the focus. Awesome closeup pics in both still and video mode can get down to 1/2" away from subject so close lens can produce a shadow in the image. I always shoot in 5meg size and can get 700 some pics with a 2GB card and I have 4 of those for weekend events.

for this price and small size I am 100% sold on this cam but I use to shoot 35mm slr with 2-3 lens etc and camera bag over the shoulder Now just this tiny cam in my pocket I get both still and HD Video really amazing.

You can get better HD and still pics but not in anything that fits in a front pants pocket!

I've have had this device since about 5/2006 and have been relatively pleased with the results. Video in low light conditions is not great, but outdoors video and indoor/outdoor photos are fine. Though I do have a HD television, I tend not to view my videos on it. I transfer the video files to my MacBook Pro and view them with QuickTime Player. I think the video quality is great and just the fact I have instant access to the videos is a huge plus! The small size is also great...I just came back from a ski trip and was actually skiing and filming at the same time! You wouldn't do that with that big Sony HD camera! Sanyo has also told me the SDHC (high capacity) cards will also work in this camera, so I intend to buy a 4G card very soon. Amazon also sells some lens attachments that Sanyo has come out with that I may look in to.

In my opinion this is not a marketable product. The cameras features are irrelevant if it does not work. There is clearly a design fault and the product should be withdrawn from sale until there is a fix. When it did work it was a convenient pocketable unit. As for HD - possibly at high noon in the Sahara, but in anything but perfect light the results are dissappointing.

I saw a review for this camera in a magazine when they first came out and it sounded like a great thing. I ordered one from the PX. It took forever to come in and when it did there was no picture, only a black screen. The PX doesn't have the best track record for electronics, so after I took it back, I bought another one somewhere else. It came in and worked. I thought it took great video, nice vibrant colors. There is a large delay when taking pictures, so you have to anticipate what will happen during action shots and click a few seconds in advance, and don't even bother taking pictures while taking video. It leaves a noticable glitch in the video stream. I used this camera very little. I pulled it out for band concerts and such to take a few pictures. I always stored it in a padded case, etc. Anyway, after about 6 months I turn it on one day and I have a black screen again. My husband called the company...apparently this is a known issue which occurs frequently. My camera should have still been under warranty, but the guy said because of its model number it was made in Japan so the warranty didn't apply. (I thought they were all made in Japan). Anyway, we could send it all in (in the original packaging) and they would repair it. We did. They charged us over $200! I have used the camera 6 times since it has been repaired. I have treated it gently and handled it with care. Yesterday I turned it on to make sure the battery was charged and ready to tape my daughter's graduation and the black screen was back. I want to cry. I'm out a lot of money and I have nothing to show for it but a defective product that should have been recalled.

5 days after the one year warranty expired I turned the camera on and there was no preview image on the view screen. Everything else seemed fine, it took pictures (although blank), the sound was working, voice instructions were OK too. Checked some HD1 forums and found this to be a very common problem with HD1's. Called tech support and was told I was to pay for parts and labor since it was out of warranty. Labor was only 90 days anyway. I asked the tech if there was a possibility of a recall and was told "no". Too bad, it was a good video camera. Stills need quite a bit of light. Stay away from used HD1's. I think I will stay away from Sanyo after this experience.

when it worked, it worked great, but after about 2 weeks, the screen went black and stayed that way. luckily, i bought it used for cheap. unluckily, that voided the warranty. last sanyo product i will ever buy...ever. cant even find a place in my town that sells or can fix them. not willing to pay 200 dollars to get it repaired by the company. big ripoff. really pissed. i guess ill just have to live with throwing 350 dollars out the window.