Introduction

It also has some details that will impress even the most serious videophiles: an accessory shoe, headphone and microphone jacks, and a 40.5mm filter. It's the unconventional upright design (without a hand strap), cumbersome menu system, and lack of on-board AV ports that might scare off would-be adopters. If you can get past these flaws, you'll find a high definition camcorder at an affordable price that's well worth your consideration.

Lens & Imaging System

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The lens on the VPC-HD2000 features a 10x optical zoom and an aperture that can open all the way to f/1.8. The lens does not have an integrated cover, which makes the HD2000 a rarity in the consumer HD camcorder market. Instead, Sanyo opts for a removable lens cover that attaches via a strap to the side of the camcorder. We can see positives and negatives to both: you can't lose a lens cap that's built into the camcorder, but the small moving parts of an integrated cover are more likely to break. We'd probably rather have the mindless ease of an automatic lens cover, but the detachable one gives the HD2000 a bit of old school flavor.

Speaking of old school flavor, you can also attach a 40.5mm diameter filter, in case you want to throw on a wide angle lens or specialized filters for particular shooting environments.

 

Front

Right

Back

Left

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Bottom

In the Box

Color

In our testing, the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 produced very accurate colors in both bright and low light—putting it near the top of the pack amongst other HD models that have come through our labs so far this year. Recording in the 1080/60p mode (the camcorder's highest quality setting) the VPC-HD2000 measured a color error of 3.48 and a saturation level of roughly 107.6%. We also tested the camcorder's color capability using the 1080/60i record setting. The results were almost identical—3.99 color error with 111.4% saturation—with the main difference being a slightly darker image on the 60i footage. All of our testing on the HD2000 was performed using the 1080/60p mode (called Full-HR 60fps by Sanyo) unless otherwise noted. (More on how we test color.)

The VPC-HD2000 offers a few color modes that allow you to slightly tweak your image. Sanyo calls these modes Image Settings. (The feature is strangely quarantined in the Options menu rather than in the Recording menu with the rest of the manual controls.) Below we have frame grabs from video footage of our still life train display, taken from regular 60p and 60i footage as well as the three available image settings.

Looking at the images above, you should be able to see the exposure difference between the 60p and 60i footage. The 60i footage appears just a bit underexposed, even though both videos were taken in auto mode using the same lighting setup. The image settings, on the other hand, offer very little difference from one setting to the next. You'd expect the footage to look different (i.e. more saturated colors in vivid mode), but they really don't provide much of an enhancement on the VPC-HD2000. Other camcorders that have similar options (such as the Canon HF20 and HF S100), show a much greater difference in the various color modes. The Canons also allow for some user customization in the color settings.

Under bright light, there's very little noticeable difference between the colors produced by the four HD camcorders above. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 has darker colors than the rest. The numerical saturation values recorded during testing confirmed what we saw with our eyes: the Sanyo has highest saturation levels of the bunch—by a good margin. The two Canons put on a good performance in this test, with the HF S100 measuring a color error nearly identical to the VPC-HD2000. (Though, at $500, we expect the HF S100 to perform as well as the HD2000.) The Panasonic HDC-SD20 had the least accurate color performance and the lowest saturation level in the group, but it still performed fairly well. Below is a sampling of color-square crops taken from the DSC chart images above.

While the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 had a very good color accuracy overall, it had trouble reproducing skin tones faithfully (as evidenced by the chart above). You can also clearly see the how much darker the HD2000 looks compared to the other camcorders—again, a result of its higher saturation levels. Overall, the four camcorders shown above each did a decent job producing accurate colors—with the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 and the Canon HF S100 both perched a notch above the Panasonic HDC-SD20 and the Canon HF20.

Noise

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 had low noise levels, although it wasn't the elite performer we saw in our color tests. The camcorder averaged 0.6275%, which is a fairly typical score for this test. The HD2000 does have a manual noise reduction feature, which, when engaged, brought the noise levels down to approximately 0.585%. With consumer camcorders, however, we base our noise scores with any manual noise reduction turned off. (More on how we test noise.)

It's difficult to see the noise in the cropped images above, mainly because so little is actually present in bright light footage. The Panasonic HDC-SD20 had the lowest noise levels of the set, measuring only 0.4175%. Not surprisingly, the Panasonic also had the softest image and captured the least amount of detail—something that is clearly evident in the comparison table above. This blurriness makes noise less noticeable, while at the same time providing less detail and a lower video resolution. On the other hand, the two Canon camcorders recorded the sharpest image, but picked up the highest levels of noise. The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 sits right in the middle: its image isn't as crisp as the Canons, but it's definitely sharper than the Panasonic. As a result, noise levels are significantly lower than the Canons and higher than the Panasonic.

Motion

Video Resolution

We've been seeing significantly higher video resolutions scores this year—likely due to the larger sensors and higher effective pixel counts being packed into the new HD models. The VPC-HD2000 measured a horizontal resolution of 650 lw/ph (line widths per picture height) and a vertical resolution of 700 lw/ph, both of which are strong scores. This is a big improvement over last year's VPC-HD1010, which measured 550 lw/ph horizontal and 575 lw/ph vertical. Still, it isn't as good as the video resolutions we measured on the Canon HF20 or the HF S100. The VPC-HD2000 is once again right in the middle compared to the competition; it doesn't have the best video resolution, but it still put up fairly good numbers and showed a significant improvement over last year's top-of-the-line Xacti. (More on how we test video resolution.)

Low Light Sensitivity

Here's a surprise: the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 recorded the best low light sensitivity on any consumer camcorder we've tested so far this year. By a wide margin, it beat out each of the three competitors we're using as comparisons throughout this review. For those curious about the hard numbers, the HD2000 needed only 9 lux of light to peak at 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. The Canon HF20 and Panasonic HDC-SD20 required 22 lux and 23 lux respectively, while the high-end Canon HF S100 called for 16 lux of light to produce the same results. (More on how we test low light sensitivity.)

 

It seems that with the rapid increase of effective pixel counts, many camcorders are actually showing weaker low light sensitivities when compared to models from previous years—the case for both Panasonic and Canon. This is not true for Sanyo, however, as last year's VPC-HD1010 required 13 lux to reach 50 IRE, which means Sanyo improved the sensitivity by a 4 lux on the new model. This is an impressive performance by Sanyo and the VPC-HD2000 is the clear winner in this round of testing. The camcorder also proved to have killer low light color accuracy... Continue on to the next section to see the results.

 

Editor's note: Double-checking our results with the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, we noticed an error had been made in our low light sensitivity test. Previously, the camcorder's sensitivity had been tested using a slow shutter—a feature that is not supposed to be engaged during our low light testing. This resulted in the camcorder posting a better sensitivity score than we should have reported. We sincerely apologize for the error and have updated the article to reflect the new, correct test results.

 

Low Light Color

Proving the VPC-HD2000's sensitivity score was no fluke, the camcorder also put up very accurate color scores in our low light color test. The HD2000 measured a color error of 2.84 and a saturation level of 104.9%. The most interesting part about this score is that it's actually better than the camcorder's bright light color test. This is simply more evidence of the VPC-HD2000's elite low light capabilities. (More on how we test low light color.)

In bright light, the VPC-HD2000 appeared to have a slightly darker-than-average image. When the lights go down, however, the camcorder outshines the competition. The Sanyo produced more accurate colors than both Canon models (each measuring average results) as well as the Panasonic HDC-SD20 (measuring the worst of the set with 7.91 color error).

Compared to the other camcorders, the VPC-HD2000 showed a bit of a warm tone in our low light testing. It also didn't have as much detail or sharpness as seen on the Canon HF20 and HF S100. You can get a better idea of this in the 100% crop images that follow in the low light noise section.

 

Low Light Noise

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 was in the middle of the pack for our bright light noise testing and things were generally the same here in low light. The camcorder produced very little noticeable noise and we measured the levels at 1.15%. This is nearly identical to the numbers put up by last year's VPC-HD1010. The Panasonic HDC-SD20 was the winner in this category as the camcorder measured a very low 0.455% noise. (More on how we test low light noise.)

In the crops above you can see how much detail each camcorder is capable of capturing in low light situations and how this relates to noise. The Panasonic HDC-SD20 has the blurriest overall image, yet it measured a minuscule amount of noise. This means the camcorder sacrificed detail and resolution to provide a less noisy picture. Since we score this section entirely based on measured noise levels, the HDC-SD20 earned the best low light noise score of the set. The Canon HF20 shows lots of noise— it measured 2.53%—but its picture is rather sharp and detailed. In the crops above, you may prefer the image produced by the Canon HF S100, despite the fact that it has higher noise levels and a darker image than the Sanyo VPC-HD2000. The HF S100 shows more detail thanks to its higher video resolution, and it has a crisp, sharp image in low light. All things considered, however, the VPC-HD2000 is the best low light performer of the bunch.

Compression

The Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 records primarily in high definition, with one regular standard definition format and two slow motion options. Sanyo certainly isn't skimping on the options here.

This year's model offers a bit less in the standard definition department and 1280 x 720 video can only be recorded at 30fps—no 60fps option, as was available last year. And now you can play around all day with two different slow motion options (to replace to single 300fps option on the HD1010). Slow motion is only available in low resolution, 10-second clips, but it's a crowd pleaser if you capture just the right moments.

The real star of the show is this year's full 1920 x 1080 60p video, which is the first of its kind in a consumer camcorder. Most high definition camcorders shoot 60i, also known as 60 interlaced fields per second. This top-of-the-line Sanyo shoots 60 progressive frames per second, which results in smoother overall video (see Motion). Of course, the 60p shooting mode is also the only way you can reach the 24Mbps bitrate. If the bevy of recording options on the VPC-HD2000 is overwhelming you, we recommend you just stick with the highest setting. You can always reduce the quality later with editing software, but you can never retroactively increase quality.

Regardless of the size, the video clips are encoded in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec. This is an easy file type to drag and drop onto your desktop. Some software programs will play it right off your desktop, while others might require a plug-in or rendering before you can view the file.

Media

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 records exclusively to removable SD/SDHC memory cards. It's certainly flexible and convenient, but high capacity cards can be expensive and are easy to lose. Of course, it's a much better alternative than tape or DVD and it's more stable than the moving parts of a hard drive camcorder. Throw in some internal flash memory and we'd be sold.

As it is, you'll want to get several backup cards for a long day of shooting and you'll probably be transferring footage quite often.

Editing

It is unclear exactly what editing software will ship with the VPC-HD2000. Last year's VPC-HD1010 came with the Sanyo Software Pack 9.3, which included Nero 8 Essentials, Xacti Screen Capture 1.1, and an Instruction Manual. Since it is likely Sanyo will include the same software with the VPC-HD2000, here's a link to the editing section of our HD1010 review that discusses the programs in detail.

The VPC-HD2000 also includes an internal editing system that can be accessed in the playback menu. The system is difficult to use, requires long processing times, and only allows for very minor edits (trimming, splitting, and joining video). It is doubtful anyone would have much use for this internal editing feature, but it doesn't really hurt for Sanyo to include it.

Video recorded on the VPC-HD2000 is saved as MP4 files and can be transferred directly from a memory card to your computer desktop. The advantage of this is you don't need to use any editing software to get files onto your computer. The disadvantage, however, is that some editing programs (like Final Cut Express) must render the MP4 files before it is able to play them. This rendering can take a very long time, thus turning the editing process into a tedious affair.

Auto Mode

 

The Sanyo Xacti series has an interesting take on the concept of an 'auto mode.' On the LCD panel (to the left of the screen itself) is a small switch that toggles between Normal and Simple. This isn't so much an easy mode as it is a stripped down menu. Normal will activate the full menu structure, including joystick shortcuts. Simple will activate an entirely different menu design, where a scant few options are available. Lots of camcorders do the same thing, building an auto mode with no helpful tool tips or explanations, just a mode that locks you out of menu options. At least Sanyo is more upfront about what they're doing; two minutes with the camcorder and you can tell that Simple mode is just a different kind of menu.

The Simple menu setting limits the user to zoom, video/picture size, focus method, and flash settings. If you want to delve any further, you'll need to enter Normal mode and navigate the intimidating menu structure there.

The good news is that Sanyo seems to have improved the automatic image adjustments in this year's VPC-HD2000. So, you may have an easier time of just cruising in Simple mode without traversing the complicated landscape of the Normal menu. On last year's VPC-HD1010, auto exposure was a choppy, abrupt affair, especially when trying to accomplish a slow pan. Happily, the HD2000 offers nice even fades from one exposure level to the next, even in tricky backlit situations. The camcorder still reaches for the 1/30 shutter speed in brighter scenarios than necessary, but even that problem seems tempered compared to last year's model. If you want to change the way the camcorder handles metering for automatic exposure adjustments, you can choose from multi, center, and spot metering.

Automatic white balance is about as mediocre as it was on last year's HD1010. On that camcorder and the current model, indoor shots often appear to have a yellowish tint, while the outside world is dark, oversaturated, and a little cool. The indoor white balancing issues are status quo for a consumer camcorder. (Has a camcorder ever come through our labs that can expertly handle incandescent or fluorescent lighting?) The trouble with white balance outdoors isn't out of the ordinary, but it's a little troubling. Fortunately, the VPC-HD2000 has a good range of white balance presets and an excellent one-touch manual white balance. It's too bad the manual white balance can't be assigned to one of the joystick shortcuts.

Sanyo offers a good selection of autofocus options, including two different autofocus ranges (standard and super macro) and two autofocus modes (9-point auto and spot focus). The default of standard, 9-point auto works quickly and well. And since the lack of a focus ring makes manual focus a chore on most camcorders these days, we suggest you stick with the auto focus. It's more than up to the task. For a little bit of extra help in the focusing department, there's also Sanyo's 'Face Chaser' feature, which is exactly the same as the face detection technology we see on most cameras and camcorders these days.

Low Light Modes

The special low light mode on the VPC-HD2000 is called High Sensitivity mode. It allows the shutter to drop to 1/15 of a second and boosts ISO to a maximum of 1600. The image certainly appears brighter, but any motion within the frame will look blurry and exhibit gobs of motion trailing. There is also a mysterious 'Lamp' mode nestled within the scene mode options, but we're not sure how this might be any different from High Sensitivity mode. Neither 'Lamp mode' nor High Sensitivity mode can be engaged while any of the manual exposure modes are active.

Scene Modes

The HD2000 includes the usual smattering of scene modes. Each one will disengage whatever manual exposure settings you might have active, in favor of the camcorder's programmed settings for the appropriate scene. Choose from Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Snow & Beach, Fireworks, and the aforementioned Lamp. We don't know what Lamp does, but ever since we saw Sleeping Face mode at PMA, we've given up on deciphering the scene modes of camera manufacturers.

Zoom

Zoom on the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 is controlled by a sliding toggle located on the back of the camcorder. While zooming, a display at the bottom of the LCD shows a sliding bar that demonstrates your relative position within the overall zoom range. Optical zoom is the white portion of the scale, while digital zoom is in yellow. There are a couple of peculiarities about operating the zoom, particularly the inability to get a nice slow crawl. The toggle technically reacts to finger pressure, but there are really only two speeds in practice: kind of fast and really fast. The camcorder also prevents you from getting a smooth zoom from the top of the optical range to the bottom of the digital range. (You have to let go of the toggle and the re-engage it to get the digital zoom going.) We don't really count this as a bad thing, but it's a peculiarity nonetheless.

Our biggest disappointment is that Sanyo did away with the numerical scale, making it difficult to replicate shots or even tell what the zoom ratio is. In fact, the only way we could figure out the maximum zoom ratio was by looking it up in the camcorder's specs. This is a step down from the HD1010's clear and precise numerical scale.

Zoom Ratio

The camcorder has a 10x optical zoom, which is small compared to other mid-range camcorders, but isn't surprising given the HD2000's short lens barrel. (This is the same zoom ratio offered on last year's HD1010 and the Sony HDR-TG1.) New this year, the HD2000 also has a 16x Advanced Zoom, available only when shooting videos. Since there's no numerical scale during zoom operation, we're not sure if this is part of the optical zoom range or is only available when digital zoom is activated.

There is a 100x digital zoom, which can be turned on or off in the Recording Menu, but it is only available when the photo quality is set to 8M or below. Since there's no separate photo mode, this means that even if you're shooting video, you have to pay attention to the selected resolution for still photos. We don't recommend using digital zoom anyway, since it degrades image quality, but it's a very strange feature.

Focus

Let's face it: we will always prefer manually focusing with a ring or dial to the other options out in the camcorder world—especially when those options involve selecting a focus from one of several hard increments. Focus is a very precise adjustment that is best made with a smooth control. On the VPC-HD2000, manual focus is implemented via a small joystick, which is used to select one of 22 discrete focal increments from 1cm to infinity. The bottom end of that range includes 1cm, 2cm, and 5cm. What if you want to focus on something that's 3.5cm away? You can't. Fortunately, the auto focus is perfectly adequate. If you're shooting subjects in the distance, the standard auto focus can handle objects from 80cm to infinity, while getting up close and personal may require you to switch to super macro (1cm to 1m).

The actual control mechanism is neither the best nor the worst we've seen. As we've said, focus is best handled by a soft control like a ring or dial. However, you can adjust focus while shooting with one hand and without blocking the LCD, which is more than can be said of touch screen manual focus controls. And the joystick is more precise than the Laser Touch slider on JVC's entire 2009 lineup. (For instance, the 2009 JVC Everio GZ-MG670.)

Exposure

The camcorder's Recording menu might lead you to believe that exposure can only be adjusted through Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or a combination of full aperture and full shutter speed control. However, buried in the mysterious depths of the menu system, you might stumble across the Shortcuts feature. This allows you to map a number of functions to the four directional clicks on the joystick. By default, Sanyo has assigned Exposure Compensation to one of these shortcuts. It's a bit ludicrous that you can't find this setting among the rest of the manual controls on the HD2000. We thank Sanyo for the breadth of manual controls, but begrudge Sanyo for making some of them so hard to access.

Once you've successfully discovered the Exposure Compensation option, you adjust the exposure according to a meter on the bottom of the LCD. The scale ranges from -1.8 to +1.8 in thirteen 1/3-stop increments. This is very common among point-and-shoot digital cameras and is becoming more common among consumer camcorders as well.

Aperture

The VPC-HD2000 gives you full control of both aperture and shutter speed. There's also an Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority Mode. All three of these options are located under Exposure in the Recording menu. In Aperture Priority mode, you can manually adjust aperture and the camcorder will automatically adjust shutter speed to compensate. In Shutter Priority mode, aperture will be automatically adjusted as you manually alter shutter speed. In full manual mode, you can change the aperture and shutter speed will remain constant at whatever speed you've manually selected.

There are 10 available aperture settings ranging from 1.8 to 8.0. A warning about the manual aperture controls: we found that it took a full second to display the selected aperture as we were using the manual aperture tool. This is excessively slow and was often frustrating.

Shutter Speed

As described above, the HD2000 breaks exposure into four options: Program (also known as auto), Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and full manual aperture and shutter speed. One peculiarity of the shutter speed controls is that only a portion of the range is available for video. Since there's no separate photo mode on the camcorder, the shutter speed tool displays all possible shutter speeds, but anything under 1/30 of a second is only available for still photos. When you're adjusting shutter speed, you'll notice that 1/8 and 1/15 look identical to 1/30. That's because in video mode, they are identical.

For shooting video, there are just five shutter speeds available, ranging from 1/30 to 1/250. For still photos, you have the option of a full four-second shutter speed as well as a few other long exposures. If you want to gain access to the 1/15 shutter speed for video, you'll have to put the camcorder into High Sensitivity mode or the Lamp scene mode.

White Balance

The VPC-HD2000 comes with just four white balance presets: sunny, cloudy, fluorescent, and incandescent. This isn't the worst we've seen—some camcorders offer just indoor and outdoor or no white balance control at all—but several camcorders come with more options, especially for indoor lighting. Most Canons, for instance, have seven different white balance presets available.

Unfortunately, most of these presets (and the automatic white balance) don't do a great job of producing accurate colors. For this, you'll want to rely on the camcorder's blessedly simple one-push white balance system. Sure, you have to delve into the menu to find the option, but it's not buried too deep. Once you find it, simply point the camcorder at a mostly black and white subject, push the button, and you're done. The resulting color balance is quite good and this quick action will save you the headache of orange- or blue-tinted video.

Gain

Sanyo is one of the only camcorder manufacturers to offer users some control over gain, though it's not done in the traditional way. The VPC-HD2000 has a manual ISO feature, much like what you would find on a still camera. A few other camcorders have started to incorporate this feature for still photography modes, but on the HD2000, ISO adjustments impact video recording as well. If you want to boost the gain for low light situations, you can set it anywhere from ISO 50 to ISO 1600. There's also an ISO 3200 setting, but this will only work when taking still photos. If you're recording video, ISO 3200 will behave exactly like ISO 1600.

Panasonic is the only other manufacturer to offer gain control; several camcorders in Panasonic's consumer line allow you to boost gain once you've fully opened the iris. Sanyo is unique in allowing completely separate control over gain.

Color & Image Controls

There's just one image control on the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, labeled as the Image Settings feature in the Option Menu. This lets you choose between Normal, Vivid, Soft, and Soft & Vivid. There isn't a lot of a difference among the various settings, but if you're going for subtlety, it's a nice option to have. (You can see the small difference in the Color Performance section of this review.)

Other Manual Controls

Sanyo includes a robust offering of the traditional manual controls, but we were surprised to see that the HD2000 doesn't have some of the tools that serious videographers like to see, including zebra striping, guide frames, or histograms.

Still Features

The Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 has a healthy range of options in the still photography department. It hits up a lot of the obvious necessities, like a self-timer that can be set to two or ten seconds and a flash with optional red-eye reduction. There's also a Sequential feature, which is the equivalent of continuous shot found on most still cameras. This feature, however, is hidden away. You can select it from the bottom of the photo size option in the main Recording menu or as one of the four options only accessible through the camcorder's shortcuts tool. (See Menus.)

There's a large variety of photo resolutions to choose from, including a large 12-megapixel option, though this size is interpolated during recording. The native maximum resolution photo size available is the 8-megapixel 3264 x 2448 size, which is available in standard or low compression. You also have access to all of the camcorder's manual controls, including exposure compensation, aperture and shutter adjustments, scene modes, etc. (See Manual Controls.) Though there is no separate Photo mode, some manual settings are only available when taking stills; ISO 3200 and all the shutter speeds slower than 1/30 of a second will only take effect if you're taking a photograph. Those looking for a video-still hybrid will be especially interested to see the breadth of ISO options—a given on most still cameras, but a rarity on camcorders.

Still Color

The VPC-HD2000 didn't fare quite as well with color accuracy in its still photos as it did with its videos. At best, the camcorder measured a color error of 4.14 with 82.23% saturation. While this is close to the color accuracy produced by the camcorder in our video testing, the saturation level measured roughly 20% lower for stills. These are still strong numbers and it suggests the VPC-HD2000 is one of the better video/photo hybrid devices on the market.  (More on how we test still color.)

The VPC-HD2000 has a blue, cool tone in its still images, which is odd because it appears to have a warm hue on most of its video footage. Even though the camcorder registered decent color accuracy, we expected to see a more uniform appearance between the video image and stills. As far as the competition is concerned, the Canon HF20 measured far less accurate colors in its still images with a 5.36 color error. The Panasonic HDC-SD20 scored 3.39 and the Canon HF S100 a 3.96—putting them both ahead of the VPC-HD2000.

Still Noise

The VPC-HD2000 measured average levels of noise in its still images—0.7675%. We expected this number to be a bit lower, especially since the camcorder did rather well in our video noise tests. Looking at the other camcorders, the still noise numbers mimic what we saw with our video noise tests. The Canon HF20 and HF S100 both measured the highest noise levels (roughly 1.64% each), the Panasonic HDC-SD20 had the lowest (0.39%), and the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 landed in the middle.  (More on how we test still noise.)

Still Resolution

The VPC-HD2000 takes very large photographs for a camcorder. Its 8-megapixel capability is one of the highest on the market, although we expect to see lots of camcorders in the near future with this kind of still image proficiency. In our still image testing, the HD2000 recorded a horizontal resolution of 2275 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) and a vertical resolution of 2000 lw/ph. These are very high resolutions, but it should be noted the camcorder also oversharpened the image a lot. The HD2000 had 24.3% oversharpening on its horizontal resolution and 10.5% on vertical.  (More on how we test still resolution.)

The Canon HF20 (3.31-megapixels) and Panasonic HDC-SD20 (1.7-megapixels) don't have nearly the still resolution of the VPC-HD2000, so it doesn't make sense to compare their numbers. The Canon HF S100, however, also takes 8-megapixel still images. It produced a still resolution of 2821 lw/ph horizontal and 1380 lw/ph vertical—excellent numbers as well, although the disparity between horizontal and vertical is shocking. The HF S100 registered only 0.5% oversharpening.

Handling & Use

• AF Lock
• AE Lock
• Focus (Standard, Manual, Super Macro)
• Flash (Auto, Forced Flash, Off, Red-Eye Reduction)
• Exposure Compensation
• ISO
• Self-Timer (Off, 2 seconds, 10 seconds)
• Exposure (Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual)
• Display On/Off
• Sequential (Continuous Shot)

Of those features, four are nowhere else to be found: AF Lock, AE Lock, Exposure Compensation, and Sequential. If you assign these functions to the four shortcuts, then you essentially have a camcorder with a convoluted main menu, a separate joystick menu, and no customizable buttons. At least Sanyo is giving a choice; we just wish the main menu was a bit more navigable.

Playback

The VPC-HD2000 has your usual playback features, all of which are accessed by pressing the menu button while in playback mode. Most of the options—like contrast correction, rotate, resize, and direct printing—only work with still images. The camcorder can perform a playback zoom, which allows you to digitally magnify your video image up to 300%. For stills, this digital zoom capability increases to 6250% (62.5x) for photos taken at the highest quality setting.

There are no dedicated VCR playback buttons on the VPC-HD2000. Actions like pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop are all accessed by pushing the navigation joystick in various directions. You probably don't need us to tell you this is poor design and isn't very easy to use.

There's also an 'instant review' feature on the HD2000 that's designed to provide quick and easy access to videos you've just recorded. The problem is, the instant review setup is implemented poorly and simply doesn't help. Accessing the feature is done by pressing in on the navigation joystick—the same joystick that is used to control loads of other actions, like shortcuts, manual controls, and menu navigation. In our experience with the VPC-HD2000, we found ourselves accidentally bumping the joystick and entering instant review mode when we least wanted to.

The VPC-HD2000 has an internal editing option for videos, but it only allows for very basic editing operation (join and split clips) and it is very poorly designed. All edits must be made using the navigation joystick and processing times can be extensive depending on the length of your clip—we greatly suggest investing in a cheap editing program or using your computer's provided software instead.

Connectivity

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 has lots of connectivity options—unfortunately many ports are relegated to the camcorder's dock, which makes things more of a hassle than they should be. The big problem stems from the fact that there's no video output port on the camcorder itself. This means you always need to bring the dock along with you if you want to view your videos on a television. The same goes for connecting the HD2000 to a computer—the camcorder's only USB port is also found on the docking station.

The little camcorder does feature a 3.5mm microphone input and a headphone output, both of which should be included on every high-end consumer camcorder. Hidden under a flap of plastic above the lens is a cold accessory shoe, and on the back of the camcorder is the SD/SDHC card slot and DC-input. Thankfully Sanyo decided to at least put the DC-input on the camcorder itself, instead of requiring the use of the docking station every time you want to charge the little bugger. We should also note that all of the port covers felt somewhat flimsy and frail, although they each provided a decent amount of protection for the jacks and plugs.

On the docking station you'll find the rest of your ports: HDMI, Component/S-Video/AV-out, USB, and an extra DC-input. It's not that we don't like the docking station—it fits the camcorder snugly and it is relatively small—it's just that we don't like not being able to connect the camcorder to a TV or computer without the aid of an extra device. Not to mention the fact that the Component/S-Video/AV cables are proprietary—you can't use standard AV cables to connect the dock to your television. Plus, this lack of on-board ports makes it impossible to connect the VPC-HD2000 to a tripod and output it to a television simultaneously. None of the other camcorders we used as comparisons throughout this review utilized a docking station, but last year's VPC-HD1010 from Sanyo came with an identical dock.

Audio Features

Even though it's a small camcorder, the VPC-HD2000 includes an external microphone port and a headphone jack. Both are located just under the lens on the front of the camcorder. The HD2000 also allows for a small amount of audio level control over the external microphone (5 increments of gain), but you cannot control the levels for the on-board microphone.

Speaking of the on-board microphone, its placement is somewhat unusual for a consumer camcorder—on the outside of the LCD panel, near the top. This is good placement if you're shooting with the LCD screen extended regularly, but if you're recording yourself or tucking the LCD screen inward, then the microphone is positioned in the complete wrong direction to pick up sound. Coincidentally, the last camcorder we reviewed—our first impressions of the JVC GZ-X900 at this month's Photo Marketing Association trade show—had the same peculiar microphone design.

There is a cold accessory shoe on the VPC-HD2000 as well, although it is somewhat hidden by its large plastic port cover. The shoe is located on the top of the camcorder, just behind the pop-up flash. It's difficult to imagine someone connecting a large microphone to the top of the tiny HD2000, but you can't fault Sanyo for making room for an accessory shoe.

Hidden away in a confusing menu is a wind cut feature that limits wind noise picked up by the VPC-HD2000. You'd think this setting would be grouped with microphone sensitivity or with some other audio control, but no, it's instead listed under noise reduction. What makes this confusing is the other two features under the noise reduction header are meant to reduce image noise, not audible noise. Is Sanyo playing a joke on us, or is this just poor menu design?

Other Features

Slow Motion

You could probably get endless entertainment out of the HD2000's two slow motion options. You can record 448 x 336 video at 240 fps (8Mbps bitrate) or 192 x 108 video at 600fps (8Mbps bitrate). Slow motion is only available in these low resolutions and in 10-second clips, but it's a crowd pleaser if you capture just the right moments.

NTSC/PAL Outputs

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 lets you output to either a standard NTSC or PAL television. Every American television is NTSC-compliant, but if you're traveling to Europe, it wouldn't hurt to be able to watch your footage on televisions over there. Native PAL camcorders usually record at 50fps or 25fps, but the HD2000 records at the usual 60p or 30p, then translates your footage for PAL televisions.

Filter

Known as 'digital effects' on most camcorders, the Filter option lets you select from Cosmetic, Monochrome, and Sepia. Cosmetic is simply the digital effect you see on a lot of digital cameras, which will smooth out facial blemishes to give faces a 'cosmetic' enhancement.

Canon HF20 Comparison

In our tests, the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 trounced the Canon HF20 in nearly all performance categories—except for video resolution. The HF20 is a new camcorder from Canon that records to 32GB of internal flash memory. The camcorder is set to be an entry level HD option as it is cheaper than both last year's HF11 and the new HF S100. Still, with an MSRP of $899, the model isn't the most reasonably priced option on the HD market. While they share many of the same features, the Canon HF20 lacks some of the elite specs present on the VPC-HD2000. It has a smaller sensor, fewer effective pixels, and doesn't record natively progressive video. The HF20 does have optical image stabilization, a more traditional design, and a larger optical zoom. A better comparison for the VPC-HD2000 is probably the Canon HF200, which is identical to the HF20 except it only records to SD/SDHC cards. The HF200 retails for around $750.

 

 

 

Panasonic HDC-SD20 Comparison

The HDC-SD20 isn't Panasonic's top-line HD camcorder. It has a modest MSRP of only $549 and lacks many of the features that help make Panasonic the favorite of manual control aficionados. Like the VPC-HD2000, it too records only to SD/SDHC memory cards. The SD20 is very lightweight and is roughly the same size as the VPC-HD2000, although with a completely different design. It also features an optical image stabilization system. In our testing, the Panasonic HDC-SD20 appeared to be a step behind the rest of these camcorders—it couldn't capture the detail, resolution, or color accuracy that we saw from the VPC-HD2000, Canon HF20, and Canon HF S100.

 

 

 

Canon HF S100 Comparison

The Canon HF S100 and the HF S10 are Canon's top-line consumer HD camcorders. The HF S100 goes for approx. $1300, which is more than double the street price of the VPC-HD2000. So, these two products aren't probably the best comparison. It is interesting, however, to see how well the HD2000 stood up to this titan of a consumer camcorder. The Sanyo had better low light scores in every category and was able to match the HF S100's performance in most bright light testing. The HF S100 does have a better design and it features a control dial that is as smooth as a traditional lens ring. Even so, it says a lot about the VPC-HD2000's capability that it is able to stand with a high-end camcorder like the HF S100.

 

 

 

Conclusion

Longtime videographers might not be accustomed to the upright configuration of the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000, but this camcorder is certainly worthy of consideration among the top dogs in high definition camcorders. With the HD2000, you’ll get strong color and noise performance in bright light, excellent low light sensitivity and color, and a robust selection of manual controls. You also have an impressive selection of still photo features, including 12-megapixel interpolated stills and an adjustable ISO. For accessory nuts, there are microphone and headphone jacks, an accessory shoe, and the ability to attach a 40.5mm filter.

So what might scare you away? The form factor might be daunting for traditionalists and with no hand strap, it isn’t the most comfortable camcorder for a long day of shooting. Battery life and card-only memory are certainly limiting factors as well. The biggest stumbling block is probably the unintuitive menu with its hidden features and unresponsive joystick navigation. Or the reliance on a separate docking station for USB and every single AV output.

So, HD2000 surely comes with its share of setbacks. If you’re comfortable with these deficiencies, this latest model from the top of the Xacti line is bargain. The expected retail price is only about $600, which is a great price for a camcorder that can compete with all the mid-range models from the major manufacturers. In fact, we expect the VPC-HD2000 to give any high def consumer camcorder a run for its money this year.

Editor’s note: Double-checking our results with the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, we noticed an error had been made in our low light sensitivity test. Previously, the camcorder’s sensitivity had been tested using a slow shutter—a feature that is not supposed to be engaged during our low light testing. This resulted in the camcorder posting a better sensitivity score than we should have reported. We sincerely apologize for the error and have updated the article to reflect the new, correct test results.

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Specs and Ratings

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