Hail and Wail to Sanyo

I was hoping that in 2010, Sanyo will release an improved version of the HD2000/FH1 with the long awaited optical image stabilization (OIS) which will make this series a top buy. Anyway, it did not happen and looks like it never will. The new models released do not have OIS and in fact the resolution has dropped to just 1920x1080i and they are aimed at a different market. This is understandable since Sanyo has been acquired by Panasonic and they do not want to compete in the same market segment. The latest Panasonic 700 series has now the 1920x1080p (60p) resolution, presumable using the Sanyo technology and they are getting rave reviews for the video quality.

We owners of the HD2000/FH1 have been enjoying the 60p resolution much earlier and looks like this series will not be continued. It is not perfect but it has many innovative features. Only now the latest Sony series can copy to an external HDD without using a PC calling it Direct Copy; Sanyo already have it earlier as part of the Xacti Library.

I recently got myself the Sony XR350E camcorder since I needed one with a HDD for my travels. It definitely beats the Sanyo HD2000 with its rock steady image stabilization and solid auto-focus and after using it, only then I realized there are plenty of neat features in the Sanyo that are not available in the Sony though it costs substantially more.

So hang-on to your Sanyo camcorders if you have one and those without should get yourself a HD2000/FH1 while it is still available as this will reach cult status or become a collector’s item soon. Happy shooting!

Ronald Kwok

Xacti Library and External Hard Disk

One of the lesser known features of the Sanyo HD2000 is the ability to use an external HDD directly without having to use a PC or laptop for files management. Sanyo call this the Xacti Library and over the last weekend I bought myself an external hard disk to test this out. The unit I bought was the 640 GB Maxtor Basics HDD.

When the provided USB converter cable was connected to the docking station, the Xacti Library screen came on. As the HDD was not turned on, the following message appeared.

"HDD not on, disconnect converter cable if not using Xacti Library."

Once I turned on the supply to the HDD, the Sanyo offered to Format the hard disk. This was because the Maxtor HDD came preformatted in NTFS and the Sanyo can only work with the FAT32 format. The formatting took about one minute.

One this was done, I was able to transfer files from the SD card to the HDD. The process was a bit slow. In the case of a 8GB card, it took about 15 minutes for the actual file transfer and another 20 minutes for some processing; the screen says Sort by Date but dunno why it took so long. Anyway, it worked.

You can watch the proceedings from the LCD screen or from a TV if one is connected. One use of this will be if you are on a long holiday, you can bring along an external HDD and after a day's shooting, transfer all the videos from the SD cards to the HDD in the hotel and reuse the emptied SD cards for the next day. In this way you do not have to carry too many SD cards and the cost of a HDD is much cheaper than getting the equivalent capacity of SD cards and it is much easier to manage. The only downside is that you need an external HDD that is self-powered and thus only the 3.5 inch HDD can be used. It will be more convenient if the USB powered 2.5 inch HDD can be used.

You can watch any files from the HDD and also create and edit albums for playback. Files can also be copied from the HDD to the SD card for basic in-camera editing.

Here are the specs for an external HDD that can be used.

1. USB 2.0 compatible. 2. Powered by self power. 3. FAT32 format only. 4. A maximum capacity of 1 TB.

Looks like I need to carry some extra load for my trip to Turkey later this month. Sigh.

Ronald Kwok

http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/