This is the same camera as the VPC-TH1BL, except that it comes with the extra battery, case, SDcard, and is red.

There are a bunch of video samples of the VPC-TH1BL along with high res photos of the cam and what it comes with here: http://kfoto941.smugmug.com/gallery/7846979_2Vxp5#537184702_WnwnE

and a complete review here: http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/05/sanyo_xacti_vpc-th1_review.html

Also a lot of Amzn reviews for the VPC-TH1BL model. Seems like owners are much more pleased at the lower price with all the free stuff.

nycynik wrote:I really like the zoom that this has, but hte flip is smaller.

Flip is fakon. Trust me! Overpriced. No extra memory option. Digital zoom gets lemon juice in the eye. Terrible in low light. Terrible still photos. Great for 7 year-olds or people that want to be cool and know nothing about cameras.

If you want smaller, go with a point and shoot camera! Most of the newer ones have 720 HD video. They typically have 3-5x optical zoom (not digital crap) and optical stabilization (which = not shaky). You can buy as much memory as you please. Low light is soo much better than the Flip. And it will actually take good photos (like 12-14 MP, which is overkill, but much better than .3MP or 2MP like the Sanyo). I'd go with Sony or Canon, can't go wrong with them!

If you decide you want the zoom, look for something that has an optical stabilizer. Without one, 30x zoom will be pointless on most cheap videocameras because it will be so shaky.

Big zoom? gotta go with videocamera. Don't care, digital camera is a thousand times better than the Flip. I've been selling cameras for 5 years, trust me. Also, you always get what you pay for.

artistx wrote:How is it in lowlight? digital camcorders seems to all suck at night or under florescent lighting....

They do all suck. Most Sonys are okay with their night vision effect or the more you pay, the better it gets. if zoom isn't a factor, think about a point-and-shoot camera. same quality video, typically better stabilization and much better photos on top of that.

ehershey wrote:This will work with eyefi cards, right?

yes, it should work, but we are talking about sanyo here...

Bought this last time around and wish I didn't. There are no pros to buying this camera as it under performs in every feature.

if you will be filming a lot of fast action, you also have to worry about rollng shutter.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter

Works great and much better than a Flip.
Photo quality was very good too... Lots of great features on this camera and the accessories it comes with made me surprised it was only $140!

Came with two batteries but I've not managed to run out of one yet!

Recommended. 9 out of 10

In for one. I have three kids and not getting any younger. Its for them to remember the past. I have 8mm that looks like crap but it did and does the job. At $145 delivered Its worth a shot.

I just bought one, didn't want to wait for it to sell out. The model is labeled with a 'R' (Sanyo VPC-ZH1R), all the you tube vids and all the reviews I found are just for the Sanyo VPC-ZH1, is the 'R' a different/newer/older model or does it just mean that its Red [(R) for red].

Also, 4gig gets you almost 1 hour? Thats not bad at all really. 4 gig cards are all over for less than 10/15$. If you got your laptop with you you can always dump the video back on the laptop, erase everything and have another hour. I like how the battery last longer than the video, better than my 800$ 2 year old sony.

I see lots of questions here about quality in different lights or motion. That, though important, does it take a back seat to the price?

I do have questions about the quality of the video specifically motion. I shoot a lot of car races, offroad trips and so on. I wonder if it will be blurry at times...

If anyone can comment, I know I already bought it but still good to know and if it's not that good I'll gift it lol. Here is a video I made about a year ago with my Sony Handycam HDR-CX12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE7fmVQ_b24
The picture is a little blurry when things start moving too much, I notice this a lot with this cam even when its set to 1080. Will the sanyo take better video than this? We really only shoot during the day time never at night- Thanks!

For the price, mine is just the thing for vacations and that surprise video to send in for money

I've been looking at this camera on Geeks.com and Amazon and this is the best price so far for what looks like a great little camcorder.

My question is the timing on shipping. Would I receive this before April 30th if I ordered now? I'm going to Disney for a Grand Gathering and want a camcorder before that.

Thanks!

Wish i had some spare cash for this one

packsofwolves wrote:30fps = 60i = standard for a handheld camcorder.

What's the alternative?

Am I not mistaken that 30 FPS is standard for the movie industry?

"I do have questions about the quality of the video specifically motion. I shoot a lot of car races, offroad trips and so on. I wonder if it will be blurry at times...""

YES!!!!! Not to dump on you specifically, but I am amazed at the number of people who hope to take high action stills or videos with consumer grade gear. 30 FPS is standard, it is like shooting at 1/30th of a second.

You need to spend a few thousand dollars if you want to take shots like a pro sports video production company. Same with still cameras. There ain't no free lunch.

So yay or nay on the action shots? I play disc-golf (laugh away) and I like to record our games. My old Flip Mino does fine so surely this would be an upgrade.

applee wrote:How much video do you think I can shoot with 4GB?

Well the description states "Record about 2 hours on an 8GB SDHC memory card" so I would presume 1 Hour of recording however that doesn't state if that is in 720p or not.

artistx wrote:How is it in lowlight? digital camcorders seems to all suck at night or under florescent lighting....

One thing people don't realize about that is, under almost ANY artificial light, the picture recorded is going to be off, no matter the camera. It's because of the light itself. Fluorescent light especially, casts a more yellow light, which is why people look paler, or jaundice even, when recorded under it. Plus, they flicker constantly, whether you're aware of it or not. The fact that it works fine outdoors enforces that.

MKline wrote:I've been looking at this camera on Geeks.com and Amazon and this is the best price so far for what looks like a great little camcorder.

My question is the timing on shipping. Would I receive this before April 30th if I ordered now? I'm going to Disney for a Grand Gathering and want a camcorder before that.

Thanks!

you should get it by the 30th

carmispicer wrote:30fps = blurry if it is an action seen (soccer, horse racing, track)

Generally speaking, 30fps is standard for about everything in consumer products. There is also 24fps for a look more like "film" but with all TVs working now at 60, 120, 240... a rate of 30 fits better without having the chips inside the TV work out the math problem. While there might be some blurring in extreme fast action on any recorder, I would consider an issue with the auto-focus, the quality of the recorder in general, or if you have the recorder set to 24fps, consider the setting/capabilities of your TV to process viewing video at that setting. There is also a bit of discussion in regards to the "look" (which would include "blur") on an old TV vs LCD vs Plasma... but you can google that up.

nomobux wrote:you should get it by the 30th

Coolbeans!! I just ordered it.

Goathead wrote:Well the description states "Record about 2 hours on an 8GB SDHC memory card" so I would presume 1 Hour of recording however that doesn't state if that is in 720p or not.

Hard to answer... It all depends on the settings in the camera, and what you set them to, e.g. video format and quality of the recording. If you max the setting, I'd guess under 2 hours, maybe only 1. If you are going YouTube quality, probably 5 hours or so. Personally, I just go for 16GB cards anymore, and max the settings.

kitcatbrat wrote:Does anyone know exactly how this camera reacts in low light situations? If I am camping and want to film around a campfire...this probably isn't the camera for me, is it?

I bought this camera and filmed at a skating rink, very dark..... not so good result... got a alot of white noise... white specs floating around the video... does great at baseball games and daylight shots tho

radi0j0hn wrote:Am I not mistaken that 30 FPS is standard for the movie industry?

It's 24fps for film, 30fps for video.

Shot with this exact camera I bought from woot last time it was offered about 6 weeks ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlEmSCGTEuc

Tried it from my motorcycle handlebar mount:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkH_JbtqaXI

MAC Apple compatible or only Windows Vista??

I bought this one last time it came up and have regretted it. Husband and I agreed: though it seemed a good buy, it's simply not a good camera. Blurry picture in video or still mode. Not just action shots, not just poor-lighting situations, but even shooting a TREE in full daylight, not good. I wish I'd waited for a flip. The ability to zoom isn't that amazing when the picture is so sad.

10% off the regular price of a mediocre camera?

No thanks. I'll stick with my Canon.

Not that great a deal. If it sells out, $149 with code "ZH1R" from GEEKS.COM with the extras.

Item Here

Is it possible to use this camera as a webcam and broadcast via the net

Hit Vimeo for some test videos. Quality seems a little spotty, though there is the x30 optical zoom to consider.

http://vimeo.com/8389529

Though for +$50 more you can get a Canon PowerShot SD960 IS that takes excellent 720p and makes a passable p&s camera

Does this camera support recording while it is plugged in? I have a Kodak that i got on woot that looks almost the same and you cant?

Nice unit BUT IT WILL NOT WORK With Microsoft 7. The software is not conpatable....To bad.

I bought this one last time. Personally, my cell phone does better in dim light than this camera. I was disappointed.

kitcatbrat wrote:Does anyone know exactly how this camera reacts in low light situations? If I am camping and want to film around a campfire...this probably isn't the camera for me, is it?

Heyward wrote:Nice unit BUT IT WILL NOT WORK With Microsoft 7. The software is not conpatable....To bad.

I'd expect this to just mount as a drive and dump the video files. What does the software do?

I bought this from woot a few weeks ago. One of my more disappointing woots. Quality is poor - very pixalated on my 50in plasma. Terrible in low light situations. Wish I could get my money back!

Not too happy with what I am seeing. I have seen these by Sony with a 30GB HDD on them for the same price at Big Lots.

MKline wrote:I've been looking at this camera on Geeks.com and Amazon and this is the best price so far for what looks like a great little camcorder.

My question is the timing on shipping. Would I receive this before April 30th if I ordered now? I'm going to Disney for a Grand Gathering and want a camcorder before that.

Thanks!

can't you pay extra for expedited shipping? i know you can for woot shirts...

Does this have a time elapsed feature?

I bought one of these the last time around. I wanted something I could let the kids use and not live in fear that they would break a more expensive device. It's small, light, and works well in outdoor situations, such as baseball or soccer games. The indoor video is poor, but then so is my $600 Sony camcorder.
I would recommend this for a cheap, possibly second camcorder.
I do a lot of video editing, and the files are easy to manipulate and convert to other formats.

kitcatbrat wrote:Does anyone know exactly how this camera reacts in low light situations? If I am camping and want to film around a campfire...this probably isn't the camera for me, is it?

I bought one a few weeks ago. While it does pretty good outdoors it does not do well indoors under low light conditions. I would say you need an extra light of some sorts to film indoors.
Still shots are pretty good.
It's not a bad deal for the price if you accept it's limitations.