Sony HDR-SR7 AVCHD 6.1MP 60GB High Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
by Sony
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Our Price: $884.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $449.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony HDR-SR7 AVCHD 6.1MP 60GB High Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
Customer Review: Great New Product--But You Will Be a Pioneer
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this product as a gift for a new grandmother, who is bright, and loves high definition TV and Video, but who is NOT a technology geek. I did not realize that the "CODEC" which this camera uses to convert pictures to the 1's and 0's of digital pictures (i.e., "AVCHD"--which stands for Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is so cutting edge. Not all software for video editing can retrieve and edit files coded in this way. (Apparently Sony uses some of the same software it uses for its "Blu-Ray" high definition DVD technology to code information that is recorded on the internal hard disk of this camera.)
The practical implication of this is that not all current video editing software will import and edit AVCHD files. Be sure yours does. Or if you will be buying video editing software, be aware you need to check for AVCHD support before you fork over your credit card. (I chose "Pinacle Studio Ultimate" but that is a different story.)
A second practical consequence of being on the cutting edge is that many of the existing texts you look for to help may not be very helpful. Most of the self-help books I purchased assume you are recording to physical tapes (although they are recording digital files). The editing process appears to be quite different. For example, some of the digital video tape concerns appear NOT to apply for AVCHD files.
Turning to the digital video camera itself, this unit has fantastic image quality. The fold-out screen is great (and larger than not HD-screens, so it can show what you are recording in the correct HD height-to-width ratio. The controls are well thought out, and easily located, although some of the many ports it provides are best accessed thorough the accompanying docking platform.
The audio quality is superb and can be played on the 5-unit surround sound of your home stereo system (a hassle to set up but worth it). However, a criticism I have of the sound is that it tends to pick up ambient noise (such as wind if you are recording out-of-doors). I would strongly recommend a directional mike to be sure you can zero in on what you are filming if the surrounding sound is noisy. (The human brain cuts out much of the background sound. Video cameras haven't learned to duplicate this feat.)
A second minor criticism I have is that this expensive digital video camera does NOT come with the mini-HDMI connection cable. That is needed to hook up this HD camera to your HD television most simply and with the greatest fidelity of sound and video. Anyone who buys this camera will need one (or more--I bought four). Furthermore, the miniaturized HDMI port, which fits into the small camera (and docking station) out-port is not readily available (though this MAY change over time). I tried several Radio Shack Stores and Best Buy to buy a mini-HDMI cable, but they did not carry it. I could only buy this specialized HDMI cable from the internet. Frankly when one pays a thousand dollars (or more) for a high definition camera one expects it to include the cable needed for the best and simplest connection to a high definition television. (Sony can buy them much more cheaply than I can, & include it with the camera.)
All things considered, this camera is a great value. If you are going to spend the effort to make and edit video, you really should do so in the HD format (which is the wave of the future). If you are going with the HD format, it makes a great deal of sense to go with an internal hard drive.
I would certainly recommend this digital video camera to a friend or family member. (Though if I did, I would expect to be hit up for help in using it, and setting up editing.) It is said that one can tell technology pioneers by the arrows in their backs. If you don't mind being on the bleeding edge (or if as a matter of pride you HAVE to be there) this is a great product for you!
Customer Review: Amazing picture and sound quality in a convienient format
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking at many different HD camcorders in this price range before settling on the hard drive format due to its convienence and ease of transfer to a PC. I really liked the feature set on this model and decided to give it a try. I've been using it for about a month now and I have no doubt I made the right choice. The picture quality is very good at the highest bitrate setting (in bright light), and there is no reason to lower it with a 60 gig hard drive. The sound quality is also very good (when the wind isn't blowing) and the 5.1ch Dolby Digital encoding does a nice job of producing an accurate sound field for playback. The hard drive is silent, quick, and plenty big enough for anything I can imagine. This camcorder is very light, when I first bought a case for it I had to check to make sure the camera was actually still in there when I picked it up. There are, of course, a few cons. The picture quality degrades quickly as light goes down. Inside, at night with just an overhead light or end table lighting, the noise and compression artifacts become very noticable. The microphone picks up a lot of wind noise, and the process of making and burning a DVD movie with dolby digital encoding is nontrivial and unintuitive. The software that comes with the camera is OK but only as a medium for getting the video files into the much more useful software product, Song Vegas. This editor is going to cost you an additional $130. Also, the only software I've found that will burn a DVD with dolby digital surround enocoding is Sony's DVD architect studio, another $50. Finally, encoding, transcoding, rendering and manipulating the large HD files takes a long time on anything but a very high-end PC. Plan on letting the software work overnight. Overall I'm happy, and discounting the degree to which anyone is going to rate something they've bought and committed to higher than they would a non-owned product, I'd recommend this camcorder to anyone who is a technophile and loves HD home theater. For the average joe wanting a nice new camcorder, I'd say find something cheaper and simpler to implement.Customer Review: Great Camcorder, Great Price
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a little nervous about buying a camera with a hard drive, especially since I bought a first generation JVC hard drive camcorder and was very disppointed with it. This camera pleasantly surprised me. Video quality is excellent in bright light and still pretty good in low light. I almost didn't buy this camera based on the low light reviews, but it is not nearly as grainy as I've read in other reviews. $1,400.00 is a lot to pay for a camcorder (less if you buy it from Amazon), but it really is worth it.
Still images are good, although I haven't yet tried to print any of the images. On screen, the still images are very good and nearly indistinguishable from my Canon SD550.
Again, the DVD burning process wasn't nearly as bad as I expected after reading some of the reviews. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the main features of the software, and successfully burned my first movie to DVD (in high def) in about 1/2 hour (about an hour after I received the camera via UPS). I played it on my Blu-ray player and the quality is great. I transferred everything to my 500GB external hard drive and again have 60GB free on my camera. The format is really convenient.
Structurally, the camera is very small and light. I bought the super extended battery (as a package through Amazon) and it is quite a substantial battery. It sticks out a bunch and is quite heavy, but is worth the extra battery life.
All in all, it is a great camera and I would highly recommend it to everyone. In fact, my dad is thinking of getting one now after seeing it.
Customer Review: Greatest Hamdycam
Summary: 5 Stars
Every feature works just as what it claims. I even tried it to record (about 10 minutes) a DVD movie (of my own) playing on my 46" LCD HDTV. When I played back the recorded section via video output of the Handycam, I almost couldn't distinquish the recording from the DVD movie itself which was played via HDMI 1080P! I also took indoor photos and movie of myself -- it was pretty convenient using the turnable LCD screen of the handycam -- and the images were crystal clear, even on standard mode, thanks to its Carl-Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens and intelligent design. I'd used Hitachi, JVC, and Sony DCR505 before -- none of them could be comparable with this one. Besides, you don't need to worry about whether you'd have enough memory to take movies when traveling, thanks to its huge 60 Gb HDD. In fact, this was the main reason why I bought this one to replace my Sony DCR505 which also worked very well, but needed to carry lots of blank DVD's when traveling. As a matter of fact, I had missed the most important scene at the moment when the bride and groom were kissing after changing their rings at a wedding, using Sony DCR505, just because the DVD became full of memory, and I had to change DVD at that moment. What a big loss! Then I'd decided to buy a new camcorder that would prevent this undesirable situation to occur again. Now I've got it, and this is the solution. It's really the greatest camcorder I've ever seen!Customer Review: Works Like A Charm
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a moderately experienced computer user, but knew little about camcorders. I held off for a year on buying one until I was certain the editing software could handle AVCHD, because my experience with tapes was simply that they never got to my PC for editing. Read all the reviews, and took the plunge on the Sony. I have an IMAC with the intel processors and upgraded to ILIFE 08. EVERYTHING WORKS PERFECTLY. The camera is small, and takes excellent videos and stills. I set the video to the highest quality setting, shot the kids all weekend, and then transferred to IMOVIE for editing. Simple enough. From there, I created a .mac account the share the videos with family and used IWEB to mock up a password protected web page. Simply unbelievable. I had barely ever used the used the ILIFE suite of products and I had a working web page with outstanding quality hi-def video up and and running in 3 hours. I really don't see the need for a hi-def DVD burner (and player) at all, when I can share with family across the country via the web. In my own home, I think the next step will be an Apple TV, to sling the videos wirelessly to my HI-Def TV for viewing. If you are at all concerned about the video quality, or ease of working with AVCHD, don't be. I'm no camcorder expert, but friends and family are simply stunned by what I've created in a short period of time.