'You press and hold the center button to select the dial's operation: manual focus, exposure compensation, aperture or shutter, mic level and automatic gain control limit--which caps the signal boosting in low light to minimize visual noise. '
'The new touchscreen system is intuitive and good for beginners, but we did find it a bit frustrating for navigating the camcorder's long menu system.'
'the display is clear and viewable even in quite bright conditions.'
'Ultimately it's slow to scroll through menus and all-too easy to 'select' items when you mean to sweep them.
'
'The HDC-SD20 can capture full HD 1920x1080 video directly to SD/SDHC cards, features advanced optical image stabilization to reduce blurry images at long zoom ranges and can operate in light down to 9 LUX with its built-in video light. '
'Like many ultracompact models, they really do seem optimized for shooting below eye level, or at least holding the camcorder as if you are; the traditional grip simply isn't comfortable. '
'solid video performance'
'Compact size.'
'Sony has put the worst video quality setting as default here and I don’t know why they did it. '
'The playback on the camera is easy enough to use, though I miss the touchscreen on my Handycam.'
'Another drawback: The camera lacks a built-in lens cover, relying instead on a snap-on cover that doesn't inspire security. '
'The Sanyo Xacti SH1 boasts a 23x optical zoom, which is above average for a Full HD camcorder; most high-definition cameras come with 15x zooms or lower. '