Making the HD Camcorder Leap with Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-CG10
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Tags: 1080p, 720p, avchd, camcorder, CG10, documentary, filmmaking, flip, hd, HDV, indie, Kodak, miniDV, Sanyo, video, Xacti, Zi6
geek stuff, video | Paul | 
July 29, 2009 12:49 am
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By bohus, July 29, 2009 @ 1:27 am
It is with great interest that I’ve been following this new market of solid state cameras, perking up when the HD flavors came around. I’ve got the Flip HD Ultra and it has all the ups and downs that you mention above. I would love to use it for video blogging… I can live with the mic issues (thought it kills me to want to do double system sound – there’s a Nagra right on my shelf!), but the camera lacks a monitor I can turn around to see myself when I’m shooting. Essential. I thought I could just bring along an LCD TV to use as a monitor, but as soon as you plug in the cable, it goes into playback only mode.
I have been very interested in the Xacti, though am saddened by the lack of mic input. For a while I tried out the AipTek HD model that has real optics, and the deal kills there was the same problem as the Xacti – the idiotic placement of the microphone on the flip out LCD. Again, I couldn’t see myself when shooting. I did a video with it for a tourist website that turned out okay, though its flavor of MP4 was a bear to edit with:
http://www.tripfilms.com/Travel_Video-v65287-Chicago-Bohus_Goes_To_Superdawg-Video.html
The pistol grip is the way to go, but these cameras are awfully small in my gorilla hands. There’s no good place to put my hands without fear of pushing the myriad tiny buttons sprinkled around the thing.
The shearing problem you describe is interesting in that it’s in all grades of these cameras – not just the cheapies. It’s terribly amusing to get an extra illusion of speed if you shoot out a side car window!
Also in the plus column for hte Xacti – and for me this is huge – is that there’s an official wide angle lens for the camera. Want.
I’d still like one of these solid state cameras for semi-pro shooting. The spontaneous shooting I can do with the Ultra HD is exhillarating for a film school type like me (and nice not to have to drag along the “good” camera wherever I go). I just need a few tweaks to be really satisfied.
Can you get a live video output fromt he Xacti? If so, I’d use these as cameras for streaming stuff live on the internet, or even real TV.
Thanks for the report.
By bohus, July 29, 2009 @ 1:28 am
One more thing (as if I haven’t said enough) – that’s a really nice B&W mode. Usually BW on these cameras is pretty muddy – I shoot color, then post process one of the channels to get the best contrast. You’re geting the same results right out of the box. Very nice.
By Paul, July 29, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Thanks for your comments, Bohus.
I really haven’t done a good video blogging test to see exactly how good/bad the mic placement issue is. It’s on my list. But I don’t mind doing double sound with a small recorder like the H2.
I haven’t even taken the video output cable from the box. So I’ll have to give it a go and see if it’ll do a live output.
By Paul Scrabo, August 12, 2009 @ 4:01 pm
I convert my HD Flip 702p mp4 files into a Prorez codec before editing them with Final Cut, and the result is very smooth.
Paul
By Gary, August 26, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Hi Paul,
Have you determined whether the Sanyo outputs live video to the composite video output. The manual says it does this when in record standby mode. Does it output live motion video or only screen menu items?
Thanks,
Gary
By Camcorder Kid, August 28, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
Thanks for the camcorders information. Very informative.
By Paul, August 29, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
I checked the live composite output and found that it only works in standby mode. The display goes black when recording, making the mode relatively useless. It would be so useful to be able to use an external monitor during recording.
It would be even more useful to get a live HD signal out of it. It might be possible to get a live HD, in standby mode, with Sanyo’s proprietary HDMI cable. But I don’t have one to test.
By Gary, September 1, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Thanks, Paul.
Composite video monitoring in standby is useful to me but the darn thing turns off after a max of 10 minutes if left untouched. Do you know if power save can be disabled when an AC adapter is connected. I think it needs a DC coupler and then an AC adapter but don’t know if the power save menu options change.
Thanks,
Gary
By HobbyBroadcaster.net, October 12, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Thanks for sharing your experience with the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10. As you have also discovered, many of these budget camcorders lack adequate external audio inputs of any kind, be it microphone or line level. As the owner of the Kodak Zi6 I also adopted using an external digital audio recorder to obtain better audio quality. The problem I noticed, working in iMovie ’09, is it’s a bear to sync up the externally recorded audio with the referenced audio contained in the video. Unless there is a better method of scrubbing the audio I noticed there is always some amount of mismatch. The Sanyo sounds like a great purchase as a real optic zoom would work infinitely better than the Kodak’s digital zoom.