One other thing that bothered me was on the two outdoor clips I did with the tripod. In the first few second the exposure seems to adjusting itself in big steps.What is that all about? Why did it not adjust the exposure before I started shooting?

"One thing with the 4GB 150x Transend SD card. It works fine in the camera and shows 58 minutes of available recording time in the best quality 720P mode. It records and plays back video. But, I can't read the card on my laptop's SD slot. It says it is not formated. Perhaps my computers SD slot can not exceed 2GB, or maybe a need new drivers..."

I'm ordering the cam and I am wondering whether to order a 2GB SD card or 4GB.

I would prefer 4GB, but I was watching an interview yesterday with a Sanyo rep at some show (anyone else see it? Can't remember the name of the gadget site it was on!) and the rep said 1GB or 2GB. I think I also read it somewhere: 1 or 2GB.

Is there any reason it would a problem to go higher? I note that you've had no problems using 4GB Joseph - though I would have thought it'd would give you more than 58mins, after hearing 2GB gives you more than 40mins at 720p.

Say it worked fine for me - but then wouldn't work in a card reader, I wouldn't mind that aspect. This is just for family stuff and I would be very content to transfer footage to computer via the docking station method.

Just wondering whether y'all think it's safe to order 4GB...

I now checked all the samples, and I still like the outdoor shots, not perfect but quite ok for such a cam. But the "lowlight" indoor shots, like T5 and trash are quite bad. They look like the image sensor produces way too much noise for the selected bitrate. For the 9Mbps SHQ mode its really much artifacts, this means the used compressor is quite bad. Maybe the noise or color reduction settings can help, but I don't think they will work in movie mode.
I have seen some 720p videos in 4Mbps which look way better :-(

Joseph,

Something devious. In a thread long ago, we were discussing how the live preview output video of the still mode on some cameras were better than MINI-DV images and that it might be uncompressed. Is it possible to test the live footage from video and still mode on monitor as you are shooting, to see if it is uncompressed/better than the recorded image?

Thanks

Wayne.

This is a great thread going so far. I currently own the Sanyo C6, which came out about 3 months before the HD1 and is the HD1 little SD brother (640x480x30) The C6 claims "mixed-pixel" technology to improve low-light video quality, because previous Sanyo C4 and C5 cameras were atrocious in anything but outdoor light. The C6 is not too bad at lowlight, but filming in a dim restaurant or bar gets very noisey and dark.

The big question on the C6 forums is how well the HD1 will preform in lowlight, most are skeptical because it does not claim the "mixed-pixel" technology. (The C6 claims 9 Megapixel mixing technology <- no one really knows what that means).

Joseph, When performing the video tests, could you please try a few in less than "ideal lighting." There are many anxious on this and the C6's forum as to its performance.

C6 forums: http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_forum.php?id=27

Thanks!!!

Graham, at the HQ 720P, a 2GB card gives you around 28 minutes. There is a lower quality 720P mode that will give you more.

Wayne, I will try when I get a chance.

James, the "trash.MP4" clip I posted was not in ideal light. It has a lot of noise. I will post an even lower light clip.

Software instructions PDF:

www.gamersden.com/hd1test/Software_GB.pdf

Here is the lowest light clip I have so far:

www.gamersden.com/hd1test/lowlight.MP4

When I went to lunch today I shot some clips with the image stabilizer on. The LCD was very hard to see in the day light. So hard that most of the time I could not even frame a shot properly. It is hard to frame by eye, because when you hold the camera straight up the image is not aligned straight ahead. The lens cap kept coming off in my pocket! I will post some of the shots after the battery recharges.

Joseph,

Looked more closely at the clips - have more thoughts. Your outside clips have much better noise - they're just a little soft. Of the clips I've seen, the boy eating ice cream is the best. This was in a little lower light, but not so low that it brought up noise. This is somewhat confirmed by the relatively shallow depth of field.

The noisy clips show more compression artifacts too. This is normal because MPEG sees the noise as motion, and tries dutifully to reproduce it, thus reducing the effectiveness of the compression. Theoretically, MPG4 ought to compress about twice as well as MPG2.

Most times, especially with small lenses (for small imagers) focus will deteriorate as the lens is stopped down. Try forcing the lens wide open (F/3.5) by using the "A" mode (page 74).

Try manually setting the ISO setting to its lowest value (page 83). This will reduce noise (along with sensitivity).

To help you judge resolution, I will PM you a resolution chart.

Noisy, but perhaps the winner for Cutest Clip. ;-)

Would asking their names venture into off-topic conversation?

-Rob

Here are my lunch time clips with the image stabilizer on. Does not seem to help the shaking that much.I kept them short:

www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS1.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS2.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS3.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS4.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS5.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS6.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS7.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS8.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS9.MP4
www.gamersden.com/hd1test/TS10.MP4

The thing that is bother me the most now is that in many of the video clips, the camera is adjusting the picture is a very visible way for the first 5 seconds or so.

I will do some controlled lighting clips ASAP. Should be able to post them by tomorrow.

BTW the cats are Annie (adopted name), Precious (adopted name), Donut (my name) in the low light clip.

Dave, I will also do the chart test, when I get the chart. You have mail ;)In automatic, the camera seem to stick to F/3.5 untill the light get very bright. The camera adjusts the shutter speed instead. I have been using exposure setting P for everything, which is why it does what it does.