Jazz HDV 11MP camcorder

I bought the Jazz 11MP HD camcorder mainly for the HD video capabilities. Therefore I was concerned if the video size was also "interpolated". With this intent in mind I tested the camera in different conditions and here are my findings:

To avoid any posibility of confusion here is the image of the reviewed camcorder:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6929/11mphdcamcorderrl7.jpg

1. Video Resolution:
The 1280x720 video resolutions is great and the camcorder does what was supposed to do. In good light conditions the camera shoots pretty good videos and accurately records slow moving objects.

2. Video Quality:
Camcorder can't overcome the video synchronization issue common for all budget HD cameras: When recording an object moving at a speed which is in sync with the rendering and refresh rate the object starts slowing then leaping forward. That's not an issue if "filming" walking people but apparent when recording a car passing at 40mph. If the car moves much faster all is blurry and the viewer can't even tell.

3. Light Sensitivity and colour saturation:
It is below the sensitivity of similar products (e.g. the HD-recording "point and shoot" digital cameras). Has a night function which lightens the dark sceens, but has to be disabled during daytime filming. Picture quality: At almost all conditions the colours are washed out and appear contrasty. When shooting in darker environments that's not that pronounced.

4. Focusing and zoom:
N/A. Camera is Focus free. They have found a way of cheating and the user can set the desired mode: Infinity vs. portrait vs. Macro - that's all. I was ready to live with this shortfall but found that when you put the camera back in the pouch the setting gets switched to one of the other two modes. Which makes you inspect the setting every time you take the camera out of the pouch. Regarding zooming: It is only digital zoom and the pic quality gets ruined every time you use it. Secondly I could not use zoom while recording. Both zoom issues are annoying and diminish the purpose of even having a zoom feature.

5. Audio quality:
Since we're all used to the regular camcorder sound quality one would expect kind of same. Here is what the situation is: The microphone is good for recording voices within 10feet and you wont be able to understand what the people are saying if they are further away. Similarly, one should not expect good audio from concerts etc.

6. Controls and Display:
Controls are convenient. However you find yourself using them a bit too much when switching features and options On/Off. There are a slew of options available: two pics in one, self-timer, motion detection and many more. However I’ve found most of them aren’t that useful. The LCD is great and versatile. You can move it in almost any direction and look at it from almost any desirable angle. The display is clear and sharp.

7. SD card and Battery.
The use of SD card was one of the selling points to me. I have so many 1 and 2 Gb cards sitting around that could come handy. You can record about a 30min. long movie on a 1GB card, which is similar to recording on a mini DVD disk (20min). Naturally, the resolution and detail of the HD is much higher. The provided rechargeable battery is also adequate for it’s purpose, but I’d like an option to use a pair of rechargeable AAs instead.

8. HDTV/PC transfer and software:
There is a handy mini HDMI cable included with the camera which is a nice option. Other than that I use a card reader to transfer my pics and movies to my PC- works faster. The CD included with the Jazz camera has the PC drivers, ArcSoft DVD/video conversion tools and the manual. All work seamlessly so you can produce a basic DVD disk.

9. Still images: Not suitable for quality images.