“I have been hiking with numerous cameras and camcorders so far the best all around camera that I have found is this one”

This is the A-HD 720P. Some thoughts at the top of my head in random order:
I also bought this one at Target for $150. I think it has been updated. It has 4x digital zoom. I like that it has NO moving parts whatsoever. Picture quality is good in DVD mode. I don’t think I would use the 16:9 HDTV mode as this takes much more memory.

I’ve been comparing it to the sanyo. They have different compression techniques. A-HD is some H.264 compression while Sanyo uses MPEG4. Quicktime 7.0 plays both standards with ease. Ironically, both take the same amount of memory. For example A-HD DVD mode takes same memory space as sanyo’s highest MPEG4 resolution. I tested this with a 20 sec video clip by panning one of my rooms. Both movies look the same on my TV. This surprised me as the A-HD uses a CMOS sensor while the Sanyo uses CCD. What stood out is the sound quality. The sanyo records in stereo. It sounds much better. The A-HD sounded muffled in comparison. I think both units can have an external mic input (that I have not tried). My laptop read both camcorders w/o installing new software. Both use generic lithium rechargeable pack (though not the same).

The A-HD can use the yet-to-be sold 32GB SD card. The sanyo is only rated to 4GB. The sanyo can record TV programs i.e., it has an A/V input; the sanyo does not. The A-HD came w/ external charger so you don’t have to take out the battery pack. The sanyo did not. The A-HD comes with a bigger battery pack (1100mA- 90 minutes); the sanyo comes with a smaller one (and thus less run time at 70 minutes).

So the A-HD has a lot of neat features. It is probably more robust since there are no moving parts.

But here’s where I’m favoring the sanyo: That zoom is nice! 5x optical plus 12x digital. 6mp on the Sanyo helps in the cropping world—but not by much with the 5mp on the A-HD. On the camera, you can erase red eye on the spot (well- going through some menus <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />). That feature is built in. Also, say you have 6 movie clips you want to merge into one. That can be done in the camera. Of course that can be done on a computer. But it was nice so that files could be merged into one and that resulted in not having to scroll through so many files to get to the one you want to review. Also, the built in gyro keeps hand shakes at bay. I tried this last night as I sat on the top row of bleachers and recorded my daughter’s band concert. I had it in on 5x zoom and held it in my hand. The movie looked rock steady on my TV. That’s amazing. I like the record button being by the thumb. On the A-HD it’s on the front and I keep having to look where it’s at. I kept covering the flash instead! The sanyo is also neat in that while you’re taking a movie, you can press the camera button and BANG, you also have a nice camera shot.

The movie quality of both units reminds me of my VHS camcorder.

-Barry