With the proliferation of online videos in places like YouTube, any moment can be captured on film, and moments that escape the potential of video or even captured become more and more elusive by the day. While more and more mobile phones have video capabilities, the video quality is less than desirable for normal home viewing. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG9 Camcorder with 9 MP Flash Memory with 5x Optical Zoom is one of a class of products designed to provide high quality video or still images from a handheld device.
What is Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG9 Camcorder with 9MP Flash Memory?
That whole phrase is certainly a mouthful, so let’s break it down: this is a digital camcorder made by Sanyo, the model name of which is Xacti VPC-CG9. It offers up to 9MP (nine megapixels) resolution, uses internal Flash memory instead of a hard drive or other media, and offers 5x optical zoom to focus the image.
Size
The Xacti VPC-CG9 isn’t pocket-sized, but the sleek unit fits in one hand for easy operation. Its dimensions are 5.2 inches by 6.9 inches by 3.8 inches, with a shipping weight of 2 pounds.
Surgery
This camera is capable of taking digital photos, up to 9 megapixels, sequential shots of up to five frames per second, or digital video. A 2.5-inch LCD screen opens from the side during operation and folds into the device for compact storage.
Storage
In addition to its 40MB of internal flash storage, SDHC memory cards can be inserted for up to 8GB of additional storage, as well as standard SD cards. Using MPEG4 AVC / H.264 video compression, this camera can store high-quality video in smaller digital files than was previously possible. With an 8GB SDHC card, up to eight hours of video or 2,700 images can be stored at 9 megapixel resolution (or more images if you choose a lower resolution).
File transfer
Video can be downloaded to a computer from the Xacti VPC-CG9 via a proprietary USB cable or played on a television via an S-Video adapter.
Additional characteristics
The camcorder comes with image stabilization in telephoto and wide-angle modes, and facial recognition technology that recognizes up to twelve faces and automatically optimizes focus so that faces are clearly visible. In addition to the 5x optical zoom, 12x digital zoom is available.
Drums
The Xacti VPC-CG9 uses a Sanyo 3.7 volt lithium ion battery with a plug-in charger.
Additional comments
Unfortunately for those who want to watch videos on PC, Windows Media Player does not natively support the MPEG4 format used by this camcorder, which requires the use of other video playback software or the installation of additional codecs in Windows Media. Player. Since the USB connection used by the camera is proprietary, only Sanyo USB cables manufactured for the Xacti can be used, although the company offers replacements. The camera will not run out of USB power when connected to the computer, so the battery will drain for as long as it is connected to the computer; an alternative is to connect the SD card to a USB card reader.
Conclusions.
The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG9 Digital Camcorder offers many features in a sleek, stylish and compact unit at a reasonable price. It has limitations, such as the use of proprietary accessories and a video format that Microsoft has not yet caught up with, but these issues can be handled. With this unit, video quality that easily exceeds YouTube standards can be recorded, and preparing videos for viewing on TV or home computer is as easy as preparing videos for uploading to YouTube.