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14 out of 14 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Initial Review- Very Impressive"
Pros: See complete review
Cons: See complete review
Summary: I received the Sony HDR-HC7 4 days ago. This HD camcorder is the 3rd and final piece of my HD makeover. The first component is the Sony KDS-R60XBR2 1080p TV, the second is a PS3, and now the new camcorder. One thing I noticed immediately upon playing my older home-made DV videos is that the big screen really amplifies the lower resolution, and that the hand jitter of the home movies is more problematic as well. Both of these deficiencies prompted me to go for this HD camcorder with optical stabilization.
Impressions after 4 days of playing with the camcorder:
Pros-
- The video is great, especially filling the 60 inch screen. The images look smooth, not necessarily eye-popping sharp, but very pleasing.
- The still images are excellent. At 6.1 Megapixels, they are as good as any 6 MP still camera (I did the comparison). My test for still cameras is to print 8x10 glossies. When you do that, it is easy to judge excellent, good, and not-so-good. The 8x10 prints are excellent. Moreover, the camera has a 10x optical zoom, so that is a major advantage for still photography. The flash is surprisingly robust- better than most smaller still cameras. This camcorder truly opens up the possibility of leaving the still camera at home.
- The DV tape is a cost-effective convenience. I popped in a standard Sony Premium DV tape and everything's been fine. So far, I've not seen any evidence of frame dropping. Everything has been smooth and very eye-pleasing. I carefully considered the other alternatives of HDD and DVD burners, but for overall ease-of-use, the DV is a proven cost-effective way to take a lot of videos and to store them conveniently.
- Sony offers a case for underwater videotography (Sony Camcorder Marine Case (SPK-HCB)). This case which is listed as an accessory offers good value considering that custom camcorder cases can run in excess of $1K. I have one on order and plan to use it very soon for some snorkeling. Such underwater home footage should be very cool.
Cons-
- It is not the most elegant or stylish hardware.
- Does not have a neck strap.
- The audio is not its strong point- nothing bad, but not particularly compelling.
- The on-the-fly stills are in widescreen so that the overall resolution on printed paper is not as good as the stand-alone stills.
- Naturally, with a substantial investment in the camcorder unit, comes the additional costs for options such as (1) stand-alone battery charger, (2) extra high-capacity battery, (3) better microphone, and (4) external light source for video and stills.
This early review would not be complete without mentioning the significant value added by using PlayStation 3. The camcorder video is stored in the DV tape in MPEG2 format. After recording, I simply transferred the video into my Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus which handles HDV files. After that I copied the MPEG2 file into the hard drive of the PS3. One can then watch the video on the big screen using the handy remote ($25) for the PS3 with fast forward and such so that the overall operation is almost as convenient as if you had burned a BluRay DVD. The fact that the SXRD TV has a 3rd HDMI input in the front makes connecting to the camcorder particularly convenient.
Bottom line- the camcorder is very impressive. I've covered the basic functions so far but there's much more to learn and to explore with this unit. The coupling of the 1080p TV and the PS3 with the camcorder results in a most enjoyable HD experience.
- 4 replies to this review
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Has anyone used Final Cut Pro software with this camera? If so, how did it work. If not, which editing software works. Also, is there a wireless mic accessory for this unit?
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I saw that you used ULEAD for digitizing to the hard disk from miniDV tape. I was interested in knowing your computers processor speed. I just bought a new laptop with 1.66GHz processor which falls short of the suggested 3GHz for video editing (Premiere Elements 3.0) with Vista OS. Is 3GHz just overkill or can you get away with less? Great review and thanks!
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Can you tell me how you transfer video from the computer to the PS3?
Thanks! -
SIR, is the eye piece viewfinder a pull out? Can you move it up or down? Takes mini dvd tapes and can record in standard and HD on same tapes? Have you seen any reviews on the web other then yours and one other person? Where please. Sincerely Yours, BIG AL THANK YOU---------
Where to buy
Sony Handycam HDR-HC7:
$1,599.55
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$1,599.55 | Yes |
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