Samsung SC-HMX10 user reviews

Pros Good video quality, easy to use, light and compact, rotating handle

Cons manual lens protector, photo mode

Summary For what it's worth, it's a pretty decent camcorder. Yes, it's not great at taking still shots, but that is not what camcorders are for. If you want stills, capture the video footage or better yet, use a real camera.

I found this camcorder to be very easy to use; you can have it up and running without even having to read the manual. The 'Easy' mode lets beginners (like my father) to use the camcorder without much adjustment/fuss.
It's very light and compact, so you can take it whereever you go.

On the other hand, the I would have liked the lens cap to open automatically when you turn the camcorder on in video mode; you have to open it manually instead. The photo mode is not great, but camcorders are for taking movies, not stills like I mentioned before.

After recording movies, unlike some of the reviewers, it was very easy for me to transfer the files to the computer and play it. Just connected the camcorder via USB 2.0 (love the standard connector!) and dragged the file onto my hard drive. To play the files, I used the bundled software and it looked great in HD.
Even though it's not 1080i, 720p looks just as good on my LCD.

Overall, I think this is well worth the money at its good price point and I'm looking forward to use it on my future trips!

Pros price, video quality with proper light, cmos

Cons Software doesn't even playback videos properly, bad exposure when set to auto, bad autofocus, some little distorsion when image stabilization is activated, optical zoom only 10x

Summary (Note: I'm not a PRO, and it's my first camcorder so i couldn't compare to other models really long enough to notice all the differences)

There's many things to say about this cam. First, Samsung haven't done its job properly about the software. I understand that they didn't made it themselves, but they should still have provided the proper software to be able to view their videos! CYBERLINK DVD IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY. It skip many frames, it play video 20X slower than realtime! *** IT IS UNACCEPTABLE ***

This beeing said, i've been to find FREE alternative to play my videos on the net. (take a look at COLE2K Codec Advanced 7.1 on WWW DOT DOWNLOAD DOT COM web site. Download and install it, and you will be able to play your videos in Windows Media Player without any lag, and any frame skipped!).

About the bad exposure, i agree with CNET. I've got better result by setting the Exposure manually. In automatic, sometime my picture appear too dark.

About the auto focus, again i agree with CNET. When it's set to AUTO, the camcorder will change the focus one way and notice that it's getting blurred, than go back in the other way until it get blurred too, then finally come at the right position. So AutoFocus could be faster. There's no latch to adjust the focus manually, and you have to go thru LCD menus options to find the FOCUS, and adjust it manually... it take time. So i prefer let it stay at AUTO.
But when you get really close to the subject (or zoom a lot), you may have some difficulties with AUTO focus... so it's up to you.

I'm not familiar with camcorder again, but i've noticed a little problem with videos when the camcorder DIS (Digital Image Stabilizer) is enabled. I see some distortion at the top of my videos when the DIS is enabled and i shake a little bit. I can't say if Mecanical image stabilizer do a better job... probably?

I thought i would dislike the touch screen, but actually it's not so bad. Oh and the LCD is 230K! That's twice the quality of other camcorder i've seen with the same price.

Digital Zoom can't be used when DIS is enabled. Honnestly, i don't care. I don't use the Digital Zoom because your video quality get so bad when you use this kind of feature.

Optical Zoom only 10x.

I've bought this cam at 400$CAN. I've seen the SONY DVD710 model, JVC Everio and Canon FS100. So far, the HMX10A gave me the best result. If i had to choose another cam about the same price, i would have choosen the FS100 but keep in mind that you have to pay for SDHC because no memory included. The HMX10A come with 4GB built-in.

Bottom line... if you want to get a picture of 1280x720 / 60 frames per seconds, you have to buy this model otherwise you need to pay 1000$CAN (I've checked every models... believe me, often after 480p, you get to 1080i or p, and it's more than 1000$CAN) (at this price, you get 10X only too!)

HMX10A is way better than all SD (740x480 approx) camcorder i've seen.

Pros Excellent video quality and resolution

Cons No mechanical image stabilization

Summary I purchased this camera off a reputable online store for less than $450. At that price, my expectations were fairly limited. I have not been disappointed! The image at 720p (which is all my TV does anyways) is more than adequate for my home use needs (videos of my daughter, vacation, special events, etc.) I find the controls fast enough for my use and actually like the touch screen. Its responsive and user friendly.
I do not like the fact that it doesn't include a mechanical optical stabilization system, but at this price point, it wasn't a deal breaker. The electronic image stabilization works well, but does cause a kind of surreal effect when your tracking something in low light (such as a person moving). This is mentioned in the manual, so it wasn't a surprise. The effect is just a little lag in movement and some very slight ghosting of the image (almost like a double exposure for a second).
I really like the included cradle/dock that comes with the camera. It allows charging of the battery as well as transfer to PC. I have not had to move any video yet, because the 8 Gig internal storage takes about an hour to fill up.
All in all, I am very happy with the camera. With Flash prices coming down, I can envision the day when I will just buy several flash cards, store the video on a large external hard drive and transfer the video back to a flash card when I want to watch it. For the tech oriented, its also not too difficult to stream the video if you have a media center extender device or similar, and you can burn the files to DVD and play them on an XBOX 360 or Playstation 3. The video codec used by Samsung is being supported by more and more products these days, so the complaints of some of the previous posters should be mitigated soon.

Pros Easy to use, good shape, cheap price, good Video Q'ty

Cons Still camera is not enough, some noise in MIC

Summary Well, It's good try for HD camcorder(flash-memory type). It'll be more safe than HDD's in shock.The best thing is easy interface to use and Easy Q menu can help possibly to use it in easy.It also can be expanded capability volume by supporting SDHC/MMC+ slot.Plus, it's video q'ty is not bad.
Unexpectly, It's still-camera is not good Q'ty. It's really weird that sometimes there is background noise when it recording view.
Overall, It's still some flaw in features, but I think HMX10 is not bad in it's price.