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Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"Don't believe Sony's video resolution claims"
Pros: Nice manual controls & mic input
Cons: Not able to record 1920x1080 video
Summary: I bought this camcorder (HDR-UX7) because I believed that it would output a full HD video resolution of 1920x1080 pixels i.e. 1920 times 1080 equals 2,073,600 pixels or 2.07 megapixels. The reason I thought this was that Sony's advertising information for this camcorder would lead any reasonable person to the same conclusion. In fact this model can only record 1440x 1080i as this is the only resolution supported by the AVCHD "standard".
The specifications on the Sony web site at:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11039209
say:
Pixel Gross
3200K
....
Video Actual
2280K Pixels (16:9), 1710K Pixels (4:3)
Now I am no math wizard but I doubt 1440 times 1080 makes 2,280,000.
I talked to level 1 tech support at Sony and they also expected that my camcorder should output 1920x1080 based on the specs. They eventually referred me to level II where I was told that:
"... you have 2280000 sensors creating the 1440x1080 image" and that this would, among other things provide "higher detail". Frankly, I think that the level of detail recorded is fixed at 1440x1080 regardless of the size of the internal chip.
I wondered if Sony's specs on still image resolution would show similar disparity. Strangely they did not. The unit is rated at 6.1 megapixels and it did output 6.1 megapixel images.
I think the term "Video Actual" in Sony's specifications is misrepresenting the capabilities of this product.
- 1 reply to this review
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While I agree that many of these consumer HD camcorders don't deliver full 1920x1080 resolution, many tests reveal that their actual resolution is really around 600x600 pixels. That's it! This applies to a myriad of camcorders -- regardless of HDV and AVCHD formats, regardless of 1920x1080 and 1440x1080 claims.
Example: Panasonic's HDC-SD3 is poised to deliver "1920x1080" resolution, as opposed to its HDC-SD1 sibling (1440x1080)...
...However, since most of these camcorders *still* haven't reached 720 pixels (let alone 1080), I doubt that there's going to be any difference between 1920 and 1440 -- at least until we see some bigger sensors.
Although 640 pixels are far off from 1080, the video from most consumer HD cams (AVCHD or HDV) is still much better than standard definition, hands down. I don't think 1920 vs. 1440 will be an issue... yet
For additional resolution tests, see www.camcorderinfo.com
Sony Handycam HDR-UX7:
