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- The Good: Crisp, high definition video recorded and stored on a removable flash drive; small, sleek, and intuitive form factor; all the goodies that typically go along with Sony's high end HD Handycams (including 5.1 surround sound, still imaging during video capture, infrared night shooting, and smooth slow record)
- The Bad: Working with HD video on your PC is a bit of a drag; Sony Memory Sticks cost (a lot) more than traditional video storage media; auto focus struggles in low light situations
- The Verdict: It's a flash-based HD camcorder that makes shooting video as simple as snapping pictures
The PlayStation3 is running a distant third in the video game hardware race. Sony's Walkman, once the supreme sovereign of portable music, has been wholly and utterly usurped by the iPod. Even the Japanese company's unsurpassed -- but pricey -- line of LCD televisions, the Bravia, is struggling to maintain leadership against cheaper sets. But there's one area in which Sony is the constantly innovating ruler of the roost: high definition camcorders with non-traditional storage.
Sure, it's a relatively small market right now, but it won't be long before people start realizing how crappy standard def home video looks on their ginormous flat screens. And MiniDV tapes, with their time-consuming multimedia file management baggage, seem downright medieval when compared to the simplicity of hard disks and flash cards. (You DVD camcorder users sniggering in the back should remember that your preferred media doesn't do HD).
On that note, let me introduce the Sony HDRCX7 Handycam ($1,299), a high definition camcorder that relies solely on removable flash media for video storage. It's a great idea. And the HDRCX7 is a great camcorder—so long as you're willing to suffer a couple of technical and proprietary limitations.
The Sony HDRCX7 Handycam, a high definition camcorder that relies solely on removable flash media for video storage, is a great camcorder but editing HD video on your PC is a headache
No flash in the pan
Just about everyone knows by now that any Sony product that employs removable flash memory will be restricted to Sony's proprietary Memory Stick media. Yes, not being able to use any of your existing memory cards is unspeakably lame, but if you want to record high-def video on flash storage you'll just have to deal with it.
I tested the HDRCX7 with a 2GB Memory Stick, which was capable of recording about 15 minutes of video at the highest possible quality (Full HD 1080), 35 minutes of footage at the lowest HD setting, and 45 minutes in standard definition. Memory Sticks come as big as 8GB, which puts the maximum media storage capacity of highest quality HD video at one hour, roughly on par with a MiniDV tape.
Of course large capacity memory cards are pricey (2GB Memory Sticks sell for $70, 8GB for $200), but they are reusable, never degrade, and are far more convenient than MiniDV tapes. Just pop out the stick, jam it into the multimedia card reader on your PC, and copy and paste files — a task infinitely preferable to the technical and time-consuming process of recording MiniDV tapes to a hard drive. Plus, they don't have any moving parts, which results in a serious boost to camcorder battery life (I squeaked out nearly three hours of juice on a single charge) and no need to worry about skips when recording on the move.
With great video quality comes great editing tribulation
While creating and transferring HD video files is a snap, playing and editing these files can bring on a headache.
To get the most out of the HD files generated by the HDRCX7, you'll need a powerful, multi-core PC and a player and editing software that supports Sony's AVCHD format. Without these puzzle pieces the only way you'll be able to watch your home video in stutter-free HD is by connecting the HDRCX7 to your television with an HDMI cable and playing the video straight off the camcorder. The HDRCX7 comes with Picture Motion Browser and Player for AVCHD, a pair of apps designed for high definition video playback and simple editing tasks, but you'll need a third party software package (like Ulead Video Studio 11 Plus) if you want to get down and dirty with post production processes.
However, assuming crisp, beautiful, high resolution video is your first priority, the editing migraines are worthwhile. HD images captured with the HDRCX7 are simply stunning. You might hear professionals complain about poor colours in consumer grade HD camcorders, but most of us—myself included—will be too busy marvelling over the fact that we can actually read the tiny, squiggly print on the tag of the birthday present our grandparents are opening to notice a red that's a bit brighter than it should be.
Indeed, I never found myself complaining about the hues of any of the scenes I captured. A Toronto park shot on a bright sunny day played back with the same gorgeously deep blue sky, bright green grass, and simmering grey tarmac that I remembered when capturing it. And brightly lit interior shots reflected colours that were, to my mind, all but identical to what my naked eye saw — like the warm brown sheen of a hardwood floor, and pink skin turned slightly yellow from overhead lights.
My only complaint with HDRCX7's performance is that the auto-focus had a tough time in low light environments. I zoomed in on my wife's face, motionless and lit only by the glow of a television, and the lens kept shifting in an out of focus as it tried to settle on a subject. I remedied the problem by shifting to spot focus mode, which allowed me to tap the area of the screen I wanted to focus on (a handy feature in its own right), but it's an extra step I ought not to have been forced to take.
Big features come in small (and attractive) packages
Sony's camcorders are among the prettiest on the market, and the glossy, jet-black HDRCX7 is no exception. With no MiniDV tape deck, DVD compartment, or hard drive bay, Sony's industrial designers were able to scale back the body to what just might be the ideal camcorder form factor. The chassis fit perfectly in my hand, with only the lens and swivel screen protruding from my closed grasp. In other words, it's not too big, not too small, and light enough that I felt I could hold the camcorder up for hours.
It's also a snap to use. The Easy Operation mode (think of it as the fret-free green square setting on most digital cameras) makes handling the HDRCX7 a piece of cake, even for rookie videographers. Just press record and the camera takes care of everything else, from white balance and exposure to mode selection and auto focus. Sony has also improved upon its touch screen interface, replacing the confusing rotating menu system seen in the company's previous camcorders with a simple button scheme that allows quicker and easier access to setup, editing, and shooting functions.
Speaking of features, the HDRCX7 comes with all of the bells and whistles expected in a high end Sony Handycam, including infrared night shooting (handy for capturing your angelically sleeping child in a pitch black bedroom), 5.1 surround sound recording via a multidirectional microphone on top of the camera body, smooth slow motion (lets you see in agonizingly slow detail how bad your golf swing really is), and 3.0 mega-pixel still imaging while shooting video. I know, still pictures captured on a video camera generally aren't worth the effort it takes to shoot them, but the HDRCX7's stills are among the best I've seen generated by a camcorder—which is to say about as good as shots captured by an entry level digital camera (another way of saying they'll do in a pinch, but keep your digicam nearby).
I know we just bought a camcorder last year, honey, but...
If my marriage would stand for the acquisition of a new camcorder, the HDRCX7 would be high on my list of models to consider (along with Sony's HDR-SR8, a 100GB hard disk unit). I love the picture, form factor, and features, and I can't overstate how much I approve of the simple file-transfer process made possible by flash memory.
In fact my only real beef with the HDRCX7 is the complexity of working with high-definition video files on a PC. But, from my understanding, this is less a problem peculiar to Sony's Handycams and more an industry-wide issue. Working with HD video files will become simpler and more attractive as the category matures and suitable editing hardware and software becomes more common.
And for now, editing headaches are a problem I'm willing to cope with. I like my gadgets to be as future-proof as possible, and the HDRCX7 is one of the most forward looking camcorders around.
