Zoom ZOOM Q3HD HD VIDEO REC  

Not a lot of onboard adjustability, but this is made up for with the ease of use.  There may be more features that I haven't fully explored.

I would call the video quality "Youtube VG+".  You won't get high def DVD quality, but it's way better than some of the grainy stuff a lot of people post online.

The audio is quite forgiving.  I have used it for some very soft voiced instruments in medium to large halls and the sound is quite good.  The X placement of the mics gives a good combination of instrument sound and hall acoustics.

I would have thought the price for this might have come down, but it has really held its value.  It is definitely a niche product, and it serves that niche well. 

Guess I'm just used to see continuing price drops....

The product is extremely easy to use.  The controls are quite intuitive.  The battery life seems really good and there is a lot of capacity for storage. 

The unit I use is used by our whole faculty and sees pretty regular use under a variety conditions, many not too favorable.

It seems well made as our unit is not exactly handled with kid gloves.

The first thing you find out about this unit is the limited volume setting. There is an auto, a high and a low. Auto is only functional if there is very little dynamics in the sound and it should be constant. It seems to pull up the levels if there is moments of silence only to dive down once the music is started. There is no controlling the levels on this machine. If it's loud, you must use the low setting. I have had times where it seems low was too low but high wasn't even workable.

I also think the sound is great but once I transfered to youtube, I felt it was not as loud as other people's video.

Delete, divide and trim buttons have no reverse so be very careful. I usually copy the song on computer first before I try to do much trimming. I have divided songs by accident. I did that on a group's signature (finale) song the last time I used it.

Case is thin plastic.

Battery life is short so it needs a charger.

Video is clear if you use it in a matter of feet instead of yards. I've shot video from the sound booth area and it was too far away. Once I placed it too close and only had stage noise so the vocals were too far back in the sound. I have used a mic'ed input through a mixer during recording too.

In all, it is very easy to use. A few times I just handed it off to others and had them use it. It's that easy to use. It gives a pretty OK, but not great, video. I ended up needing to buy too many SD cards as it takes time to run though as much video as I've shot. I really am only marginally OK with this unit and if I could return it and get all my money back, it would be gone today.

You can shoot video and audio, or just audio. A built-in USB cord, an HDMI port, an in and out sound jack, and a tv jack.

I think the casing of this product is really flimsy. Very light plastic. But if you're careful, as you should be with a pricey piece of equipment, you should be fine. The screen scratches easily but you can still see everything. I would suggest a screen protector and buying the accessory pack for like 30 bucks. Comes with a protective case.

The quality of sound is unbeatable, and the video is awesome, but not quite HD quality.

I think it's an incredible value, but i would change a few things about it.

I bought my Q3HD in June of 2011.

There are so many  things I want to say about this product, but in a nutshell, I think the  audio is superb, but I think the HD video is a little so-so. If you need  more info, read on.

There is an option on the camera to turn off the video, and just record audio, and i use that option a majority of the time.

I use my Q3HD to record tons of things, including my own music and live performances.

I  record my songs in my basement, with drums, guitar, and bass. With the  drums, i put the mic right in front of the entire set with the audio  setting on low, and everything picks up just nice. I prefer to record  everything with one great mic, rather than a mic on every single drum  and two overhead mics. A majority of people like the latter strategy,  but I think this mic picks up the toms, bass, cymbals, and snare almost  perfectly by itself.

With guitar and bass, I turn the amps up high and put the mic's setting on low, and place it about a foot in front of the amp. This works just great.

I have gone up to North Shore and recorded the waves on audio, and it came out great. I've also recorded zoo noises, nature sounds, beach clamor, mall clamor and conversations/interviews, and the audio astounds me every time.

i have also used it as a shotgun mic on my fiancee's Rebel t2i DSLR camera, and the final product is professional quality.

The video, on the other hand, is so-so. The Q3 video was horrible. It was low quality and full-creen looking. The Q3HD is a big improvement, giving you the option of 720p or 1080p. 720 can be recorded at 30fps or 60fps, but the 1080 can only be recorded at 30fps. The video is now wide-screen, which i really like, and i think it looks better that way. I don't think HD really applies to the video quality, though. You can still see fuzz and static in the video. It's not crystal clear. Plus at 30fps everything kind of blurs. But the video quality is still pretty good.

That being said, i wish i would have waited until Zoom comes out with the next model, where they improve the video quality again. (or at least im HOPING zoom is upgrading this thing.)

This is a great piece of equipment, with outstanding audio abilities, and pretty good video quality.

Overall i would say that you can't find a portable, hand-held camera, with better sound quality and capablities for under $1000.

I search and searched.  I read every review I could find.  Most of them said the audio is great and the video is lacking.  The audio is great.  I used it at a show two weeks ago, and even when our live sound was lacking the recorded video sounded great.  Also, a great feature is the fact that it will start a new recording when the max recording file size is reached.  So you never miss a minued of your recording and the file sizes are still managable.

The video is also very good for the size of the lens.  When you have a good tight shot on what you are filming, the video is excellent.  If you have to have any distance (like the rear of a room where you are preforming) the video gets a little distorted and blurry when shown on a mid to large sized t.v.

All in all, for the amount of money spent on the Q3HD was well worth every penny.  I got exactly what was described and more.  The unit is even better when you purchace the extra's kit.  Very nice tri-pod and an a/c wall adapter.

A great piece of work-simple-Ihad a video on you tube fast! The battery analyser is not explained   in the manual so watch what it does when you put the batteries in it! download video into a computer first. I did'nt do that and it took 45 mins to upload! Once you learn  it's fun! enjoy ! ADRIAN CRUTCH/ myspace