Product review

Sanyo Xacti VPC-TH1 Oscar Dreams Where I come from, we have such a legacy of art house cinema that it is incumbent upon any bloke half serious about films to think he is Fellini-Eisenstein-Kurosawa-Ray rolled in one. And the purpose of a video camera, even one such as Sanyo's Xacti VPC-TH1, is not to document last vacation's excursion, but to become a tool to win the next Oscar for best director or the Palm D'Or. I fancied myself as another such said bloke when I picked up the Xacti for testing, and even though my pretentiousness was exposed, it was surely not the camera that was at fault but the idiot behind it. For, the Xacti is perhaps the best camcorder I have come across in its price range. While camcorders aren't yet enabled to do fancy stuff such as fade in and fadeout of a shot, with the Xacti you can at least zoom in and zoom out with precision. That is more than can be said about many others in the same price band and some a few times more expensive. Since I am also testing two other camcorders simultaneously – the Panasonic SDR-S26, which is in the same price range as the Sanyo, and the higher-spec Sony HDR-CX100 – it was easy to do a comparison of the three. And the Xacti emerged with surprisingly favourable results in many key areas over its more illustrious rivals. It has a 30X optical zoom – small compared to the Panasonic's 70X, but the way it performs sets it apart. Zooming in and out is smooth and steady-paced, not too fast and neither too slow. And the lens' real beauty lies in its fast auto-focussing. At a film-equivalent full zoom of 1,290mm, it takes less than half the Panasonic's time to bring the subject into sharp focus, while the Sony sometimes completely fails to focus at full zoom. (Remember, the Panasonic is a few hundred dirhams costlier than the Sanyo and the Sony punches at a much higher price altogether.) At its widest angle, too, the Xacti's lens is a class leader with 43mm, providing great panoramic views. The Xacti also has quality sound recording, with a sensitive stereo microphone providing good soundstage and resolution. Sanyo's trick is to keep it simple and that theme carries on in the Xacti's easy-to-understand menu, 3.5in screen and minimal buttons – one each for the menu, playback/view, video recording and still photo. The pièce de résistance are the four-hour battery life, the 1280x720p HD recording resolution and the price tag. This is the least expensive HD camcorder in the market and also the best value for money. The only small snag on its way to becoming the favoured tool of a wannabe Oscar winner is the digital image stabiliser in place of a more effective optical one, which also narrowly keeps it from getting a rare five star rating from us. It may just be a blessing in disguise, though, enabling a budding filmmaker like me to develop a steady hand. See you at Cannes. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .