New Firmware Is Availiable!!!!
 

New Sanyo HD1 firmware is availiable and can be downloaded from the japan´s support page:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babel...1%2findex.html

I have already installed it - new firmware version is 1.0.1

Interesting and well discovered! Did you buy your HD1 in Europe, and is it identified as a VPC-HD1EX under the battery?
According to the translation it would appear the main change is to accomodate 4GB SD cards. My concern is that many people have already reported 4GB cards as working with the current firmware, so I'm wondering whether this is just aimed at some early japanes production run, though the dates reported are now.

Edit: I've now noted that the Japanese doc refers to SDHC: I also found a reference to Sandisk's release of their first 4GB SDHC card only a few weeks ago in mid July, so I assume the existing 4GB SD cards aren't actually to this new SDHC standard, and the camera works with them despite this.

"SDHC is the new designation for SD cards larger than 2GB that adhere to the SD 2.00 specification, a completely new design that is required for cards and hosts to support 4GB to 32GB capacities. The specification was developed by the SD Association, an industry standards board, which also defined three speed classes for speed and performance capabilities. These cards adhere to the SD Speed Class Rating specification which defines a minimum sustained transfer speed for SDHC cards 3."

Jump in with both feet....
 

Well, on the basis my HD1 is only a week or so old and could be sent back if a problem arose, I followed the instructions on the pages Dimitri has found.
The download is an exe file s812nup1.exe. Once run on the PC this unpacks a binary file, s812nup1.bin into a directory DMX-HD1.

I full formatted a card, copied this file, as instructed, into the root and put it in the camera.
Then: Select PLAY. Select the menu and go to the menu item FORMAT. Instead of pressing the 'set' button to go into the format menu, Press the joystick to the left and hold for 2 seconds. If the card has the bin file in its root dir (and only if), you then get a screen which identifies the current firmware version. On mine, serial number 3950001, this was still 1.0.0. Choose UPDATE and press SET. It then says 'Updating' for what seems a long 90 seconds. After that the camera powers off without any other message.
It powered on OK again, still with English menus, the right date and time etc. This time, if you again go into the update option with the procedure above, it says 1.0.1, so I guess it worked!
Thanks Dimitri.
Disclaimer: this DID work for me: if it doesn't for you, please don't blame me!! Make sure you use a known reliable card, and have the camera plugged into AC before you start.

firmware update
 

Please let us know if there is any improvement in the camera's performance . Updating is kind of risky. I want to make sure it is worth it. Thanks.

I purchased my HD1 one month ago in Moscow from the Sanyo dealer. It marked as a VPC-HD1EX under the battery. It always worked with 4GB SD. The firmware version was 1.0.0 and after update it became 1.0.1. I don't know, what's new in this version, but I will investigate.

Warning
 

I've been reading more about this SDHC stuff. In particular, this appears here, on the SANDISK site:
http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/pdf/retail/SDHC1.pdf
"Be aware of non-SDA 2.00 specification compliant SD 4GB cards on the market. If these
non-compliant SD 4GB cards record data in a SDHC host, and are then used in a legacy
SD host, issues and problems may occur. File system incompatibility, data corruption,
and potentially you may actually loose the data/pictures. In addition, if these noncompliant
SD 4GB cards are inserted into a legacy SD host device, the host device may
not recognize/utilize the card as 4GB, [and it] instead may read as a 2GB card. If the SD
4GB card does not have SDHC on it, it is not SD 2.00 compliant."
This worries me, since I know a lot of people are already using 4GB cards. So this seems to suggest that the update would create problems for these older non SDHC compliant cards, particularly when you try to read them in a standard SD card slot.
So far, I haven't bought a 4GB card myself, maybe Dimitri can advise how he's getting on with non-SDHC 4GB cards written after the update, and read on older SD readers?
Once you have done this update, you can't go back, since there is no backup of the existing firmware 1.0.0 available.

Can you take a video with strong 45 degree angles in it (right and left) and post it so we can check the updated ROM for the diagonals bug?

Here are 2 samples of the worst examples I've taken since the update, one has the image stabiliser on, and one off, showing the effect of sampling a smaller area of the chip with the stabiliser on. I don't think this update has made any changes to the chip compression algorithms. Do you agree?
Off:
http://www.mltel.com/sanyo0020.mp4
On:
http://www.mltel.com/sanyo0027.mp4

Diagonal bug is still here :(

Any new funtion or improve? 320x240 30fps for ipod mode?

No. There are no new functions or changes that I can identify. I think, as noted on the web site, that this is purely to do with the finalisation of the SDHC specification and the need to make some minor change to the firmware to accomodate these cards (which are specced. up to 32GB!). Note that it's version 1.0.1, a sub revision, not even 1.1: at least it means that Sanyo do release updates for the HD1, and via the web (at least once!)

It's interesting to note that Transcend, whose 4GB cards have been reported as working, have removed these from their product offering. I assume they will release a 4GB card to the SDHC spec soon, and all the manufacturers are now chasing this goal.
I'm sticking with 2GB cards for a bit rather than pay premium prices for the first SDHC cards!

I'm dissapointed that Sanyo didn't correct the diagonal bug in this update. Still, Sanyo has now provided us with a ROM and a process to upgrade firmware. This could prove useful as in-camera solutions would require these tools.

I wonder what Sanyo's policy is regarding decompiling firmware. I'll have to take a look at the license agreement when this releases in Canada. Allowing us access to firmware may enable us to determine a solution and present it back to Sanyo.

Thanks, Dimitri for the samples. I have been meaning to test the difference between stabilizer on and off, and I think you have answered the question. I viewed the images on a 60 inch HDTV, and they look better with it off, unless you have another explanation.

Because the HD1a is being released about 6 months after the HD1 with nothing but tweaks our fear is that Sanyo won't feel obliged to cater to the ultimately smaller number of people who own the earlier model.

I hope this firmware update for the HD1 suggests otherwise.

Then again, I remember reading back in February that Sanyo had said the HD1 would support the next generation of SD cards, so perhaps they were contractually locked into providing this firmware upgrade or something.

I have to say, despite the diagonal bug, I still think it's a lovely little device.
When I think back to the first 'camcorder' I bought in 1979... This was the first JVC VHS one that used their standard set top mechanism, a large lead acid battery and a shoulder mount vidicon camera: we have moved on a lot. And it cost me 1250UKP, at 1979 prices! Oh, and the charger was the size of a fan heater.