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"Amazing video quality. Very Smart Camcorder." on by howlwolf
Pros: Video quality, (HD) Hybrid recording, easy to use, Price
Cons: Non as of yet
Summary: This is the first review posted for this camcorder and I am more than happy to do it.
First let me start off by saying that I bought the Sony DCR-DVD610, which I enjoyed for a week before returning it for the HDR-UX10. The main reason is I wanted HD quality with the DVD option on the camcorder and also did not want to spend in the $1000.00’s for an HD camcorder.
The 610 was very good and I was pleased. Although, not having a up converting DVD player hooked to my TV, the picture was good, not great. I’m sure with the proper DVD player the picture would be perfect. This is important to recognize considering technology is moving rapidly fast and with the various new TV’s whether LCD or Plasma in order to watch HD quality you must have an HD quality DVD player to match the TV or at least an up-converting DVD player which sells for about $100.00 give or take a couple of bucks. My current TV is a 37” Vizio LCD. I figured the cut to the chase would be for me to buy an HD model without spending a ton of money. Now, the 610 played on a regular TV is great, but as a society we are heading out of that direction.
The Sony HDR-UX10 is amazing. On the first use, I was able to test it out and have a burnt DVD from my computer within 25 minutes of taking the actual footage. (Note, this can be done with any of the Sony DVD camcorders) The quality was great and also noting I do not have an up-converting DVD player I was very impressed with the outcome. I did not notice much of a difference between the 1080 setting and the next one down on my Vizio, but I attribute that to the fact that my DVD player connected to the TV is about 5-6 years old and does not play HD quality or up-convert.
The process is simple and easy to follow. As stated you can burn a DVD almost immediately from your computer, which is nice to have. The standard Handycam DVD will record up to 11 minutes on the highest setting or 21 minutes on the next to highest setting with the camcorder. The nice part about that for me is that I will be more aware of just taking footage I need, rather than taking hours of footage and then always fast forwarding to the parts I want. If you have ever sat through a friend saying “watch our family vacation” after about 5 minutes of scenery you know what I mean.
The 8cm DVD’s are pretty cheap and I was able to buy Sony’s version DVD+RW for $8.00 on sale for 3 at best buy. The best part and the dealmaker for DVD camcorders is that are re-usable. You must make sure you buy the –RW or +RW and then you can use them as many times as you want. So three of them at next to high setting with yield 63 minutes of footage. That is plenty for the average user. Then take them home transfer to your computer or laptop, re-format DVD and use again, and again, and again…Now if you buy the DVD RW Double Layer (DL) you will get even more time per mini DVD.
The camcorder also has the ability to finalize your disc so you may be able to use it in a DVD player where ever you are. This could be nice for vacation as you can record during the day and watch it later. Then you can un-finalize the disk and keep using it or erase after you have transferred the footage off the camera. I have not tried out this option yet, but I do like that it can be done.
The next dealmaker for me is the hybrid recording option. Not only can you record on DVD media, but you can also record on a memory stick as well. Again, two gigs will yield about 25 minutes of recording. EBay is great for finding deals on the memory sticks or even newegg.com.
The camera is solid, has many great features such as the auto on. Meaning you can keep the camera on standby, almost on sleep mode, and when you are ready, just hit the auto on button and the camera is immediately ready to record.
The menus are fairly easy to use and for me playing around every time I use the camcorder I find out new and easy ways to use them.
I am extremely happy and am giving the rating a 9 given that I have not had it long enough to fairly give a perfect score, although I have a feeling that will happen in the future. I also feel this camera will carry me into the next technological age where I won’t have to replace it in a year or two. -
"HD Camera for the money concious" on by spookula209
Pros: The camera is solid, but small. It has lots of features and you can use dvds or memory stick duo pro cards to shoot video and pictures. 5.1 Surround Sound, 3 different hd modes, 2 sd modes, very good zoom great features, touch screen interface.
Cons: Small in size, no hdd (hard drive), battery life
Summary: I purchased this camera late in 2008 and have used it for my sons football games and family events. The cameras quality is very good although the camera is small (but I have big hands so that may factor into your decision). I can not say enough about this camera, it has all the features that you would want and is great for everyday shooting. Professionals might not like this camera but anyone with a family who shoots sports games, home videos or anything else will love this camera.
The only negative about the camera is there is no hard drive. They do have models with hard drives but his is probably one of the cheapest hd cameras yet contains the quality of most of its high priced siblings. You can find memroy stick pro duos in 8gb size for about $40 now and you can shoot about 1 hour of video on the highest hd setting and about 2 hours on the second highest hd setting with an 8gb memory card. They do have 16gb and soon 32gb but these cards are more expensive so you will be forced to dump your video to your computer quite frequently depending on how much you shoot and how often.
The camera comes with all the necessary software to import your videos to your computer and it also includes the ability to convert your videos to other formats such as wmv and mp4 (mpeg4). The videos you originally shoot can only be viewed on the camera or with the program as it is a Sony proprietary video format so you will either need to convert them or burn them to a dvd (which is also a function of the included program). I have a playstation 3 and all the videos I have burned to dvd look amazing on this, although I have not tried to watch them on other dvd players once they are on dvds, they will play on any dvd player.
Shooting in hd modes is the only option in my opinion, it offers great picture quality and also great sound quality because of the 5.1 surround sound. This features works very well especially if you have a surround sound at home. The mics are very accurate and pick up all noises ( a little sensative) but you won't miss anyting going on in the room because of it.
This is by far a must buy for anyone looking for a good quality hd camera without having to spend a lot of money. I like sony products, and I would have to say that this is one of their better cameras. I would recommend looking online for prices on 8gb or even 16gb memroy stick duo pro cards, the bigger the card the better. And always keep dvds as back up if you run out of space. 5 packs of the mini dvds are pretty cheap, around 7 dollars, but to view the dvds on other machines you must remember to close out the dvd first, much like on a pc.
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