Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1

Pros: 5 megapixel stills

Cons: everything else, including the horrible HD, owned for 2 days and already noticed a defect

Summary: Ok, so I've owned this thing for roughly 2 days. I tested the HD quality and good god, it's awful. Compression and Artifacts everywhere. When I first read about the artifact and color issues on the reviews, I thought I would be able to fix them in video post (I am a video editor and compositor and I found it nearly impossible to fix). I also tested some fairly lit rooms at night, and the noise you get on even 200 ISO is just horrible. 400 ISO... forget about it. The still pictures were on par with any point and shoot camera, but once again, very very poor low light action. Now on to the defect. Today, during the low light test, I noticed that half the screen (the entire left side split at the very center) was somewhat darker. There was a very noticable line in the center that seperates the the left (completely dark and noisy) with the right side (less dark). I'm guessing there is something with the CCD on my camcorder. Even if you get lured by the HiDef promisses stay far away from this, If I couldn't fix it in video post, good luck. I'm returning mine as soon as possible.