Camcorder group test (Part 1)

If you are a regular on tracyandmatt you’ll remember that I recorded the Palm Treo Pro launch event a few weeks ago. At the time I mentioned that the Camcorder that I was using at the time didn’t perform very well in the low light conditions at the event and that I was looking for a replacement.

So over in the last few weeks I started looking for a new camcorder that I could use to record our unboxing videos but that would also be small and light enough to take out to press events without contributing too much to my already overloaded kit bag. I for the sake of convenience, also wanted a camera that recorded footage on to memory cards rather than DVD or Tape (yes the still make DV camcorders). I preferred to have camera that could record HD but this wasn’t essential, it was the recording quality that mattered most as our videos would always be scaled down for web-streaming anyway. Finally I didn’t want to spend a fortune on the camera; about £200 – £250 was ideal.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of models to choose from within the requirements set out above and it was difficult to decide which one would suit me best. So I decided it would be a good idea to perform a group test of some camcorders that fit the bill. Not only would it help me to select the model I wanted but would also make for an interesting series of posts here on the site.

The models that we short-listed (and were able to get hold of) are the Sanyo Xacti HD700, Panasonic SD7, Canon FS100 and Toshiba Camileo H10.

All of the cameras record on to SD memory cards. The Sanyo and the Toshiba are capable of recording at 720p whereas the Canon and Panasonic record SD.

	Sanyo Xacti HD700	Canon FS100	Toshiba Camileo H10	Panasonic SDR-S7

Effective Pixel Count	Approx. 7.1 megapixels	1.07 megapixels	10.48 megapixels	0.8 megapixels
Camera Element	1/2.5 inch, 7.38-megapixel CCD (total)	1/6" Interlaced CCD	1/2.5 inch, 10.48 megapixel CCD	1/6" CCD 800k Pixels
Recording Media	SDHC (up to 8 GB)	SDHC (up to 16GB)	SDHC (max cap. Unknown)	SDHC (up to 16GB)
Recording File Format	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Audio: AAC-compression (stereo)	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: AC3	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2	Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2
Resolution (Pixels) Still:	[10M] 3680 x 2760 interpolated [7M] 3072 x 2304	1152 x 864 1152 x 648	4608 x 3456 max	JPEG size:640 x 480
Resolution (Pixels) Video:	[HD-SHQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 9 Mbps) [HD-HQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 6 Mbps) [TV-SHQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 3 Mbps) [TV-HQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 2 Mbps) [Web-SHQ] 320 x 240 (30 fps)	standard-definition video resolution of 720×480	H.264 – 1280 x 720 – 30 fps H.264 – 720 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 640 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 320 x 240 – 30 fps	640 x 840 XP (10Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 SP (5Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 LP (2.5Mbps/VBR)
Zoom	5.0x optical zoom lens	37x optical zoom lens	5.0x optical zoom lens	10.0x optical zoom lens
Digital Zoom	Shooting: Max. 12x Playback: Max. 58x (in [10M mode], depending on the resolution)	2000x digital zoom	4x digital zoom	10 – 700x Digital
Focus	Auto (Stills: 9-point AF), Manual	Auto/Manual	Auto	Auto/Manual
Sensitivity	Still: Auto (ISO 50–400), Manual (ISO 50/100/200/400/800/1600/3200)	1.7 Lux Minimum Illumination	?	2 Lux Minimum Illumination
Self-Timer	2 sec. or 10 sec.	2 sec. or 10 sec.	10 sec.	No
Flash	Auto/Forced/Off	No	Auto/Forced/Off	No
Audio	Microphone: Built-in stereo Speaker: Built-in mono (L/R mixed output)	Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker	Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker	Stereo Zoom Mic, Wind Noise Reduction Built in mono speaker
LCD Monitor	2.7-inch, TFT color wide screen LCD, Approx. 230,000 pixels	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)	2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)
Interfaces	Via docking cradle: AV output (HDMI/component video/S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (HDMI/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0	AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
Power Source	Lithium-ion battery (1200 mAh)	Lithium-ion battery	Lithium-ion battery	Lithium-ion battery
Approx. Battery Life	Stills: CIPA standard approx. 180 images Video clips (HD-SHQ): Approx. 80 min. Playback: Approx. 190 min.	TBC	TBC	TBC
Dimensions	73.7 x 109.0 x 35.0 mm	58 x 60 x 124 mm	56 x 117 x 65 mm	41.0 x 59.0 x 102.0 mm
Weight	Approx. 189 g (main unit only), Approx. 214 g (including battery and SD card)	260 g with battery	340 g with battery	Approx. 165 g w/o Battery
Price (Amazon)	£249.00	£215.00	£173.00	£228.00

Over the next few weeks, with Nigel’s help, we are going to be testing the four camcorders under real world, general use conditions as well as for the specific job I need them for. We’ll have an unboxing and a sample video from each camera as well as a short review and then we’ll have a final summary post at the end where we’ll pick the camcorder that we’ve decided to buy.

If you have any questions or comments along the way then please do get in touch through our contact page!

Part 2 of the group test is now live – check out the Panasonic SDR-S7 review!

Part 3 of the group test is now live – check out the Toshiba Camileo H10 review!

Part 4 of the group test is now live – check out the Sanyo Xacti HD700 review!

Posted by: Matt