Zoom Q2HD Handy Video Recorder

Most camcorders?focus on high-quality video, with audio as an afterthought, but the Zoom Q2HD Handy Video Recorder ($199 list) stands apart. It's capable of recording full HD 1080p video. But its true strength comes from its mid-side condenser microphones, which deliver impressively full audio recordings with excellent stereo separation. Its video quality, unfortunately, is more on par with high-end smartphone cameras?serviceable, but not great. Still, for musicians and the audio-inclined alike, the Q2HD offers a compelling package at a reasonable price.

Design and Features
At 5 by 2 by 1.4 inches (HWD) the Q2HD is a somewhat chunky device, made in the style of pocket camcorders like the Sony Bloggie Touch . On top is the microphone, encased in a metallic sphere with plastic rails around it, likely to prevent direct contact with the microphone housing. The front face houses the lens and a sliding door for the battery compartment, which accepts two AA batteries. Around back is a 2-inch 320-by-240-pixel LCD, with a direction pad below for navigation, as well as Play, Menu, and Record buttons. On the left side is a Power button, 3.5mm line out, mini HDMI out, and a mini USB port. On the opposite side is a mic gain wheel, Delete button, and an SD card slot, which accepts SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards up to 64GB.

There's also a standard ?-inch threaded tripod mount. The screen is tiny, with average viewing angle and brightness, making it a bit difficult to get a true sense of the quality of video being captured. The emphasis on audio is clear, however, as a good chunk of the already limited screen real estate is devoted to audio monitoring?including mic levels, audio quality, and stereo field width.

Menu navigation is straightforward, with nine clearly labeled icons that allow you to tweak things like video and audio quality, stereo field width (more on this later), audio and video recording modes, file transfer, and screen brightness. The buttons feel a bit mushy, with no real click feedback?on a few occasions I would find my thumb accidentally pressing navigation buttons when trying to initiate recording.

You can connect the Q2HD to a computer using the included mini USB cable, but my Windows 7 laptop did not automatically recognize the device. You'll have to install the program and drivers on your own, but all of those are also provided in the package. Once connected, you can transfer files to your computer, and also use the Q2HD as a webcam for live streaming both video and audio. The Q2HD is compatible with Ustream Producer, Flash Media Live Encoder, and Skype, to name a few.

Performance
The Q2HD is a capable video and audio recorder, but it's obvious that the video component takes a back seat to quality audio performance. The 1/3.2-inch 5-megapixel sensor can shoot video at 1080p30, 720p60, 720p30, WVGA at 60 fps, and WVGA at 30 fps. The Q2HD uses a fixed focus f/3.2 lens and has an option for a 4x digital zoom, butas with all digital zooms, you'll lose quality in the process.

In low light, the Q2HD showed decent noise control, though videos still appear a bit grainy. Colors looked accurate, but there was a significant loss of detail in shadows. In good lighting, the Q2HD produced video that lacked sharpness, with a waxy quality that obscured some finer detail. I attempted to recreate the varied lighting of a concert setting in a small venue by flipping our studio lights on and off in various configurations. The Q2HD exhibited a somewhat slow auto-exposure, which blew out the image when going from completely dark to completely light. Really though, you'll have the same problem with most smartphones and even a lot of lower-end camcorders.

I used an iPhone 5?side-by-side with the Q2HD in my tests, with both mounted on tripods. Color and overall picture is serviceable, and at least on par with the iPhone 5, but it really pales in comparison to full-fledged camcorders like the Canon Vixia HF R300 . An even bigger shortcoming presented itself when I took the Q2HD off the tripod and recorded a video handheld. Image stabilization is non-existent, which only exacerbates the problems with the waxy and soft video. Things become a blurry, jittery mess, which is one of the reasons you opt for a real camcorder over a smartphone in the first place.

Audio quality, on the other hand, was truly head and shoulders above a smartphone like the iPhone 5 and most consumer camcorders like the aforementioned R300. The Q2HD can capture audio at a variety of quality settings, ranging from AAC 64-320kbps to PCM 16- or 26-bit at 44.1, 48, and 96kHz sampling frequency. There are settings for auto gain control, but you can also use the gain wheel and on-screen read outs to control levels.

I tested in a small room using the Paradigm Millenia CT, which is one of our highest rated speaker systems, with clear audio and full deep bass response. I played back a few tracks at max volume, recording with the Q2HD and iPhone 5 mounted on adjacent tripods. The results were pretty conclusive. On the Beatles' "Come Together," the Q2HD was able to capture the warmth and richness of the bass line, without losing track of the crisp vocals and drum hits. The iPhone 5, on the other hand, captured a far thinner and harsher sound, which hardly did justice to the vocals or bass. On M83's "Outro," the Q2HD represented ominous, bass-rich build ups, resonant synthesizer lines, and airy vocals all with balance and depth. Things tended to sound muddled and far less exciting on the same track using the iPhone 5.

Another strength of the Q2HD is its excellent stereo image recreation. The mid-side mic allows you to change the stereo field width, ranging from 30-degrees wide to 150 degrees. The result is an accurate representation of the actual recording environment, which is hard to match with normal camcorders or smartphones. A portion of my testing was interrupted, with a door opening and someone speaking to me from behind where the Q2HD was positioned. During playback, I forgot about the interruption and I actually found myself turning to see if someone was talking to me from behind.

Battery life is a bit of a concern, as I burned through the included AA alkaline batteries fairly quickly. Recording intermittently over the course of an hour, I saw the battery indicator drop from a full three bars to a single bar. If you're going to use the Q2HD at a concert, be prepared to carry some spare batteries with you.

Conclusions
For $199, the Q2HD offers a compelling combination of video and audio capture features. Its video performance isn't quite up to most camcorders?it's more on par with high-end smartphone video capture?but it's also more affordable. The real reason you buy the Q2HD is for its audio performance, and it doesn't disappoint in that respect. It was able to capture clear, crisp, and rich audio, with excellent stereo separation. ?If audio is your main concern, the Q2HD delivers, as long as you don't expect the same level of video quality.

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