Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10

Motion (4.95)

While its colour and noise performance may belie the camcorder's low price point, our motion test showed the CG10's true weakness. Motion captured on the VPC-CG10 has significant artefacting and frequency interference—more so than the competition. Compression artefacting, in particular, is less common with the Pure Digital Flip UltraHD. If there's significant movement in your image, these chunky blocks of discolouration are fairly common on the CG10. Motion is also somewhat blurred compared to the competition. The one area in which the CG10 excels is in smoothness: the motion is less choppy than that recorded by the Sanyo Webbie camcorders or the Flip series. (More on how we test motion.)

The video embedded above was recorded at the CG10's maximum quality setting, in 720p. The CG10 records video at either 30p or 60i, but only the 30p frame rate is in the camcorder's highest resolution. The Sanyo MHS-PM1 also records at only 30 frames per second (30p), which is a slower frame rate than regular HD camcorders use. (Most traditional camcorders record in 60i—60 interlaced fields per second.)This is one of the big problems with small budget camcorders; the Sanyo VPC-CG10 and Sanyo Webbie MHS-PM1 footage appears less fluid than most video recorded at 60i. The Webbie's footage is particularly choppy—even more so than the CG10 video.

When watching the YouTube videos here, remember they have all been heavily compressed during the upload process. The HD links will show you higher-quality footage, but it is still compressed quite a bit by YouTube.

While the Sanyo VPC-CG10 can technically record in 60i, the resolution at this frame rate is a mere 640 x 480. By contrast, the Kodak Zx1 has an HD60 mode, which records 1280 x 720 video at a 60p frame rate. This unique ability to record 720p at 60fps means that the video you see below is captured at a more natural speed than the CG10 and has a smoother appearance than the 60i footage of most consumer camcorders. Only the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, which records 1920 x 1080 video at 60p, can rival the Kodak in its smooth, fast motion. Of course, the HD2000 is several hundred dollars more expensive for a reason: not only does the Zx1 lack all the controls and features of the HD2000, but it also shows considerably more compression artefacting, more noise, and less sharpness overall.

The final comparison model in this set, the UltraHD, belongs to the most popular ultra compact brand on the market: the Flip series from Pure Digital. Though its popularity stems more from the simple, sleek design, the Flip is no slouch when it comes to capturing motion. There's no flexibility to record at 60fps, so motion may have a slower appearance than you're accustomed to seeing. However, the 30p video recorded by the Flip is relatively smooth and proves to have less compression artefacting than many of the budget competition.

Video Sharpness (8.20)

In our testing, the Sanyo VPC-CG10 measured a horizontal sharpness of 500 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) and a vertical sharpness of 575 lw/ph. This is a bit below average, even for an ultra compact. The other models in this budget category have slightly better sharpness, including the Sony MHS-PM1, which has an impressive horizontal sharpness of 600 lw/ph and vertical sharpness of 650 lw/ph. (More on how we test video sharpness.)

Video Sharpness Score Comparisons

While these scores seem low compared to the models compared here, that's mostly due to the impressive performance from this generation's round of ultra compact camcorders. Models at this price point are showing excellent sharpness compared to last year's camcorders.