Hey!

I am about to buy my first camcorder and do not really know how much is will be used. I have decided to go with a HD(740p or 1080p) but I am not sure which camcorder that give most bang for the buck?

I have looked at the following products :

Canon FS100 : No HD and this is clearly visible in the sample videos

Canon HF200 : Grate camera but to big to fit in the pocket and almost to expensive

Panasonic SD9 : Simes just okay, but maby a bit to big.

Sanyo HD2000 : The clips I got from this camera looks jerky? And the design look vary old, not sure if this fits in the poket? Maby the VPC-FH1 is the same camcorder but in diffrent design?

Sony HDR-TG3E : Looks like a grate camera, but in low light it is not good at al accoring to the reviews I have seen.

I have notice that Sanyo have also some other new camcorders like:

VPC-CA9 : Looks grate, 720p should look grate on my 50" plasma, but I can´t find any raw material from this camera so I do not know how it performce? Waterproof is not important for me so maby the VPC-CG10 or VPC-TH1 is the same camcorder but with out the waterproof?

The low-light is a important part, but I know that practical all camcorders have bad low-light performace(which is strange since my parents old(15 years) camcorder is okay), but it simes like Sanyo are doing a grate job with the VPC-HD2000.

Anyone that can give me some information on this?

I have just bought my first HD camcorder and it's a Sanyo HD2000. Part of the reason is I chose this is that it gives the most bang for the buck, IMHO. You can follow my experience with it in my Blog. There are better camcorder than this (the Sonys, Canons and Panas) but they cost maybe twice as much for similar features. Some comments on your points raised in the post about the HD2000.
1. Form factor, either you love it or hate it since it is unconventional. The FH1 is with the more familiar box shape but the lens is smaller and there are other differences.
2. Fits in the pocket? Yes, if you have fairly large pocket!
3. The major weakness of the HD2000 is the comparatively poor IS and the jerky videos may be due to this. I found that it improves with usage (as we become more steady holding it) and is not that bad until you zoom out. If you can live with this, it will not be the main concern.
4. No problem shooting indoors with normal lighting but of course noisy compare to outdoor daylight shooting.

My other comments.
5. The only consumer camcorder with 60p recording (the rest are only 60i, if I am not wrong) so is slightly ahead of the pack.
6. But becasue of this, viewing and editing on PC is difficult at this highest resolution. However, no problem viewing directly on any TV and burning to SD DVD.

In the end, it is still your personal preference.

Thanks!

I have a couple of video samples from the SANYO HD2000 and some others, but the samples are all jerky in one or the other way. This is not somthing I can see in my other camcorder samples? I have a sample from Sanyo VPC-CA9 that I thought could be a grate middle chooise, but also this sample shows a jerky flow in fast moves. It feels like the camera do not manage to recorde all de information?

I am thinking of going with the Sony Handycam HDR-TG3 (HDR-TG1), the SANYO HD2000 costs around $820 and the Sony Handycam costs around $730 here in Sweden.

HF200 is a grate camera but the price here in Sweden is around $900 and it may be a bit to big to fit in the pocket.

I also saw that Sony have a HDR-CX105E that costs $790 but I do not really know if this is any good.