HD2000 Questions

[Scazza]

Hi All

Newbie here, I have done a search but not exactly found the answers I have been looking for. Sorry if this bothers anyone that I am posting this but it will help me alot and no doubt save me some money!

I bought the Sanyo HD2000 off eBay today, brand new for £297. I wanted a video camera that can shoot HD and take decent still photos to take with me to Las Vegas. (I have a Canon 350D but don't want to take this with me to Vegas).

After doing a lot of reading & research I finally came to the decision that for my money, the HD2000 is good bang for buck.

So my questions to all you Sanyo HD2000 owners are:

1. I want to shoot my trip in HD, I own a 2 year old Apple MacBook Pro (2.2Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 160GB HD) and want to know what HD Resolution/Mode to shoot in. I want to be able to edit and view it on my laptop so the top end HD mode may not be the one I want to use!

2. How much memory (SDHC Cards) am I going to need?! I've looked around and can find a 16GB Kingston Class 4 SDHC card for £20.95 inc P&P. The 32GB equivalent is £66 so can get 3 x 16Gb for the price of 32GB. So I am not sure if 16Gb, 32GB or 48Gb will be the best option?!

3. If I do get a 16GB card, I know the format the cards use limit it to 4GB of video before it stops and you have to start again. So how much video time will I get on a 16GB card from a decent/editable HD Video Mode?!

4. Am I going to need to buy an SDHC Card Reader to plug into my MacBook Pro to transfer the videos/photos from my HD2000 or can I stick the HD2000 in the dock and connect the dock via USB to transfer the videos/photos?!

5. Battery life?! What do you as a consumer get out of a full charge from your HD2000?! Is it wise to buy a second battery?!

God I hate sounding like a newbie, I'm very good and full of knowledge when it comes to technology but Video Camera's isnt an area I am familiar with.

So thank you in advance to anyone that responds to the questions!

[relate2]

Originally Posted by Scazza

Hi All

Newbie here, I have done a search but not exactly found the answers I have been looking for. Sorry if this bothers anyone that I am posting this but it will help me alot and no doubt save me some money!

I bought the Sanyo HD2000 off eBay today, brand new for £297. I wanted a video camera that can shoot HD and take decent still photos to take with me to Las Vegas. (I have a Canon 350D but don't want to take this with me to Vegas).

After doing a lot of reading & research I finally came to the decision that for my money, the HD2000 is good bang for buck.

So my questions to all you Sanyo HD2000 owners are:

1. I want to shoot my trip in HD, I own a 2 year old Apple MacBook Pro (2.2Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 160GB HD) and want to know what HD Resolution/Mode to shoot in. I want to be able to edit and view it on my laptop so the top end HD mode may not be the one I want to use!

I don't know re your mac and processing 1080 video, but with my HD1010 videos played back on a computer screen the difference between 1080 and 720 is very little. Now on a 50" plasma screen you can see some difference but not on a computer screen.

2. How much memory (SDHC Cards) am I going to need?! I've looked around and can find a 16GB Kingston Class 4 SDHC card for £20.95 inc P&P. The 32GB equivalent is £66 so can get 3 x 16Gb for the price of 32GB. So I am not sure if 16Gb, 32GB or 48Gb will be the best option?!

I have a normal 8 gig SDHC card for my HD1010 and it works fine.

3. If I do get a 16GB card, I know the format the cards use limit it to 4GB of video before it stops and you have to start again. So how much video time will I get on a 16GB card from a decent/editable HD Video Mode?!

First off, you do not have to stop after 4 gig, the camera stops itself at 3.99gig and automatically starts again for another 3.99 gig. As 3.99gig of 1080 video at 30fps is about 47 minutes I don't think on holidays you would have 47 minutes of continuous video.

4. Am I going to need to buy an SDHC Card Reader to plug into my MacBook Pro to transfer the videos/photos from my HD2000 or can I stick the HD2000 in the dock and connect the dock via USB to transfer the videos/photos?!

The dock transfers through the usb so you should not need a card reader. Although a card reader would be smaller to carry around.

5. Battery life?! What do you as a consumer get out of a full charge from your HD2000?! Is it wise to buy a second battery?!

I fill my 8gig card 1.5 hours on a full battery with time left over for at least 5-10 minutes of preview. I doubt you would take more than 1.5 hours of video each day.

God I hate sounding like a newbie, I'm very good and full of knowledge when it comes to technology but Video Camera's isnt an area I am familiar with.

So thank you in advance to anyone that responds to the questions!

I hope that helps you until someone with a HD2000 comes through. Although as far as I know there is not much difference between the HD1010 and the HD2000.

[Scazza]

Originally Posted by relate2

I hope that helps you until someone with a HD2000 comes through. Although as far as I know there is not much difference between the HD1010 and the HD2000.

Thanks relate2 for the information you have provided!

From what you have told me, I will probably buy 2x 16GB Cards, just to be sure as I'd rather spend £21 extra and have enough memory as I am still debating whether to take my MacBook Pro with me to Vegas! So wouldn'treally want to be limited to 3 hours of Video, which will no doubt be reduced as I will be taking photos too!

[relate2]

Glad to help Scazza, just one more thing if you plan to edit your footage stay away from interlaced video, it just adds extra complication to the editing process. It may be fine for sending straight from the dock to a TV but not for editing.

Cheers

Robert.

[Markinter]

Don't forget to buy a wide angle lens (40.5 to 37mm adapter), a ND and polarized filters. Have a great time in Vegas.

[Scazza]

Originally Posted by Markinter

Don't forget to buy a wide angle lens (40.5 to 37mm adapter), a ND and polarized filters. Have a great time in Vegas.

Markinter, do you recommend getting the wide angle lens?!

Sorry to sound a n00b but what is an ND?!

Also, thanks, can't wait!!

[Scazza]

I've done a search on eBay and found this Tele Lens with UV & PL Filter - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-TELE-WID...#ht_1024wt_826

Will it do the job?!

[Markinter]

there is a add-on lens thread here: http://forums.steves-digicams.com/add-lenses-49/

I don't expect a super clear image with a wide-angle especially near the edges of fov so a less expensive lens is ok for me. Century makes a good wide-angle but it's pricey. The ebay link looks like a good price for everything you get. Check the other forum to see if anyone has any experience with that setup. As always expectations and quality for price is the key.

[ronaldkwok]

Just to add to what relate2 has posted since I have the HD2000.
1. I have problems viewing the videos taken at Full-HR mode with the included Nero program on my (old) laptop while the other HD modes are OK. So the best is to take some test videos at each mode and test it on your Mac. Same with editing since it also depends on the software you intend to use so best to test it out. To avoid the interlace issue, I usually use the Full-SHQ mode.
2. It depends on how much video you intend to take on your trip. I use several 8GB SDHC cards. Apart from the cost, I fear "putting all my eggs in one basket" if I use a 32GB card.
3. The recording times of each mode and SDHC card size is given on page 196 of the user manual. You won't reach The 4GB file limit for normal recording unless you video a concert or a game in total. In any case you can always manually stop at a convenient time before reaching that limit and start a new recording if necessary.
4. I am not familiar with MacBook but if it has a built in card reader, you can just plug in the SDHC card to do your file transfer. Using a card reader would be faster than using the dock for file transfer.
5. From my recent hoilday experience, the battery can last almost 2 hour or a day's normal video. But it is good to carry a spare battery to be very safe. Again, it depends on how much you want to video.

You can find my experience with the HD2000 in my Blog that may be of interest to new users. Happy holiday!

[Markinter]

Originally Posted by Scazza

Markinter, do you recommend getting the wide angle lens?!

Sorry to sound a n00b but what is an ND?!

Also, thanks, can't wait!!

ND= neutral density.

Jan van der Meer explains how to stop jerky motion with his new Sanyo Xacti HD2000 in Full HD 1920x1080 60 FIELD mode. Some people hate this camcorder for that reason and that is such a pity, because this is absolutely one of the best FULL HD camcorders for this price available now. BUT this tip counts for nearly all camcorders. In sunny conditions AE (Automatic Exposure) often results in a unnatural jitter and jerky motion effects. (Even seen in many Canon 5D clips) When exposure reaches its maximum level (F11 or a bit higher), increasing shutterspeed is automaticly used to bring exposure level down. But this results in unnatural jerky motion! So if you want to eliminate this, use a Grey filter (ND4) or Linear Polarfilter in combination with a manuel shutterspeed of 1/50 or 1/60 up to maximum 1/100 or 1/125 in very sunny conditions.

His video is here http://www.vimeo.com/5125631

Jan has lots of good info..