Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom




->Best Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

The camera stores high definition footage on its internal hard drive as .m2ts files, one file for each clip you shoot. You can easily transfer these to your computer via USB - the camera shows up as an external hard drive on your computer, as you would hope and expect.

You can also use Sony's supplied software, available only for PC, to transfer footage, and this is an efficient way of importing lots of clips at once. The software organizes these clips into chronological folders, according to the date of each clip's shooting. A nice feature.

If you are on a Mac, you will need an Intel Mac and have Windows XP installed to do this. Nobody to my knowledge has got playback to work on a Mac yet other than running under Windows. And I've searched. I have a Mac Pro, and the only way I can play back the files is to boot into Windows XP using BootCamp, and install Sony's software. This works very well, but is not exactly ideal.

BUT HERE IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM ANOUT THIS SONY CAMERA....
OK.. FIRST YOU CANT PLAY YOU HD RECORDING ON YOUR COMPUTER ONCE YOU DOWNLOAD IT FROM THE CAMERA BECAUSE THE FILE THAT THE CAM RECORDS ON IS IN M2TS. IN ORDER FOR YOU TO PLAY THIS FILE YOU HAVE TO BUY I REPEAT BUY ADDITIONAL SOFT WARE WHICE WILL COST YOU $100 EXTRA JUST TO PLAY THE FILE. AS FOR EDITING WELL SONYS SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH THE PACKAGE. DOEST REALLY DO MUCH AT ALL SINCE THE FILE ARE IN M2TS. PLEASE BEFOR YOU DO ANYTHING ON BUYING ANY CAMARE LOOK AT BLOGS AND FORUMS. READ OTHER PEOPLES RESPONSES. $1500.00 IS ALOT TO SPEND ON A CAMERA. BUT REMEMBER IT NOT JUST THE CAM U BUYING TO STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR TAX..CAMERA CASE..EXTRA BATTERY( THE BATTER THAT COME WITH IS IS ONLY A 6HR BATTERY NOT THAT LONG)..THEN INSURANCE IN CASE IT BREAKS. ALLTOGETHER IT COST ME $$$2100.. THATS ALOT AND I CANT EVEN EDIT THE STUPID THING...READ THE BAD REVIEWS..THEN YOULL KNOW WHAT REALLY UP WITH THE CAM.. THE GOOD REVIEWS JUST WANTS YOU TO BUY IT.. GOOD LUCK..OH BY THE WAY THE FEATURS AND CONTROLLING OF THE CAMERA IS GREAT. BEST I SEEN. I AM NOT RETURNING THE CAMERA CAUSE FOR WHAT IT DOES IT IS GREAT.. JUST NEED THAT SOFT WARE TO EDIT TO COME OUT ALLREADY. 6/14/07 GOOD LUCK


->Affordable Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I am Brazilian , I bought the cam in the US , I am imprecionado with the resources , the sony is of congratulations.


->Shipping Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Picture and sound qualities are everything I wanted in an Hi Def camcorder. I've played video back on my 48" Bravia LCD widescreen with quality comparable (and better in some cases) to the picture from the Hi Def broadcasts via Dish Network. I like the menu (more user friendly than the DV cameras I've previously owned) and the ability to move through the menus using the touch-screen feature is very handy.

The biggest drawback for many people will be the fact that a purchase of the camera alone will not be the end of the equipment upgrades needed to make the system complete. Unless you have a high-high end computer with a 3 GhZ processor, 1MB of RAM, a decent video card, and most importantly, lots of storage space, you'll be like me and telling your wife about all of the upgrades you now need to get to save the video. I have been able to download the highest quality Hi Def video onto a underpowered laptop that has a 2.4 GhZ processor and only 256 MB of ram. The transfer was simple and easy. Playback however is like watching internet video on dial-up and that my laptop only has 40 Gigs of hard disk space. With the programs and other everyday data I need on the laptop, it only leaves me with 20 Gigs maximum for backing up the 30 Gigs of video I can take at once while on vacation. I plan to look into getting a 120 Gig or more laptop external hard drive (which will also make getting the video onto my desktop easier as well). As for what I've done to my desktop in prep for video editing, that could be another long story. For the desktop, with the downloaded DV video already have on the 160 GB hard drive, I'll need to go for a 500 Gig external hard drive minimum to store the video to come.

Think of it this way (or sell it to your significant other by pointing out), a DV tape stores about 90 minutes of video so you can think of this camera as holding the equivalent of 2 DV tapes at highest quality. One 500 Gig hard-drive can hold the equivalent of 33 or more DV tapes. At $5 per tape, you could spend up to $165 for a new external hard-drive and come out even (and surprisingly, they come for less than that these days).

Don't let the above distract you from the excellent qualities of this camera. I'm not ever going to be able to go back to my DV tape Lo-Def camcorders again. Anyway, hope this helps put a new spin for those considering a camera of this kind.



->Deal Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I read every review of this product on Amazon at least twice and finally decided the SR1 was what I wanted. I paid for 2 day shipping and it happened. Amazon does a very good job and I want to thank everyone who left a review on Amazon. The only comments I have is why would Sony sell a $1500.00 camera and not package it with a strap. Maybe mine is the only one without a strap? Second, When I loaded the software on my computer I was lost until I found the second set of instrution as a pdf file. The first attempt to connect the camera resulted in the "the program is not responding". I rebutted the computer with the camera still connected and got a message there was no operating system found. This always gets my attention. These were my only problems. The camera and software now work great. I just need to find that strap accessory from someone.

Bob


->Best Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I haven't used this camcorder that much yet. But I want to post this to let everyone know that "Pinnacle Studio(tm) Ultimate" is about to be released and will support AVCHD. I just got an e-mail for presell at $69.99.


->Affordable Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

First let me say :
The peaple revews guide me for purchese or not, and after the decision made(of course...i have mine)!
Thank's to you "byers like me" that "guide anothers" to make good decisions!
So...about the cam...it was love at the very first time i saw it! i love that piece of hardwere(3,5" display, focus ring etc...) and now with Vegas 7e the things get clear...The softwere suplied with the cam has many downs (including poor picture) so....If you have a powerfull computer(2 cores min.), 1920x1200 display(wxvga), Video card directx 9c(256m min.) and Vegas 7e.....AVCHD goes bealtifull to see and edit!
My opinon,
I'm very happy to have this cam!




->Shipping Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I have owned this camcorder for several hours.
I installed ONLY the USB driver from the product CD and was able to copy videos and photos from the SR1 hard drive to my PC.
I took some sample video copied it to my Thinkpad Z60m, Pentium 5M (2GB) laptop with Windows/XP (dumbed down to Windows 2000).
I interspersed it on the Vegas time line with other photos and video taken with a panasonic Z50 ... one video channel and all 6 (5.1) audio channels display.
The 'project' was rendered as MPEG2 (best) and AC3 (best). The DVD was created with Sony DVD Architect 4.
The audio and video quality on the DVD is significantly better than with my Panasonic Z50 movies (projected on a 11' wide screen with an Optoma DV-10 projector)
Yes, it is 'choppy' when played directly from the Vegas timeline, but no worse than my other stuff which has lots of motion and multiple tracks.

Why buy a High Defintion camcorder to end up with MPEG2? I wanted an improvement in video quality and the 5.1 audio.
So far, so good ...Yellowstone National Park ... here we come.

Thanks to all of you that take the time to submit your reviews. they are very helpful.



->Deal Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Mi! a fi gi da camara yah, five star, cause it tek de clear-es muvie. Big-up Sony, fi da one yah.


->Cheap Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I bought this camera to video tape my daughters wedding in June...needed time to practice. After owning it for a month and learning the menus I am pleased for the most part...Taped my sons golf tournament yesterday and made all 18 holes,(with the larger 71 batery attached) there is a mode that slows everything down for a few seconds.....He loved watching his swing in slow motion...The sound is very good, almost to good, up close it picked everything up including the wind! I knew it used a new format for hi definition but I'm ok with that because I am saving the file in the AVCHD format( for when we get a bluray burner or Bluray player, it will be easy down the road!) and then converting the AVCHD to sd and burning a DVD to watch in our DVD player for now....If I want true Hi Definition I will put the AVCHD file back on the camera and hook it straight to TV! A little extra work for now but hopefully the little extra work now will be worth it in the future....takes a while to convert but just start it and do my housework! In a couple of hours it is done....I do agree with the software being a little week on the editing, but for now I can do minor adjustments and am happy........I'm not a professional by anymeans, I just want great home videos of my family that we can watch together and have a good time watching...so far it has done all that at great video quality... Is fairly easy to use (I did read the manual though!)...
This plus my Nikon D70 is all I need to have great pictures and videos to watch for along time to come!!!


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

5 months later the software to use this product as HD on a mac has not been released. In the meantime the camera price has gone down $500. Even so, there are better cameras for much less money that are compatible with Macs. I wish people would remove their outdated reviews of products. They lead people to buy VERY EXPENSIVE products that are not worthy of the investment.


->Prices Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I bought my Sony HDR-SR1 in December 2006 and started to record pictures. Although the playback is superb, the software supplied by Sony is appalling. What most consumers do not realise is the damage that this type of badly written software can do to their PC's. The reason is that the software seems to overwrite windows system files and settings. This means that non Sony software can misfunction including problems with the Windows operating system itself. This is totally unacceptable. Fortunately I have access to professional IT consultants who have managed to correct the faults in my PC that this destructive badly written software created. (Maybe Sony should be taken to task to pay for the cost of putting right the mess that their software creates). Furthermore to not supply reasonable editing software with the format, is, in my opinion, deceiptful. Without editing software video clips on their own do not present a complete package and will soon leave the consumer frustrated and disappointed. Consumers were also led to believe that proper editing software would be available in the Spring of 2007. So far there appear to be no add-ons to the most popular existing consumer editing software packages and even Sony's own non-professional Vegas "Lite" software has no add-ons yet. Vegas used to be an excellent software package, one can only hope that now Sony have taken it over, their software writers will not produce a product that will adversely affect other software and in particular the operating system itself.
I used to think Sony equipment was good, but I am now of the opinion that Sony mislead their customers. For example there are many different transformers required - no standardisation with PC's or cameras or camcorders etc, there is incompatibility between memory stick formats - interchangeability is disgraceful. It seems everything is designed to make sure that more and more accessories have to be purchased each time new models are released, and only from Sony.
Judging by the many thousands of disgruntled people whos' views can be seen on the web, who have purchased the Sony HDR-SR1 in good faith, I think Sony should have the decency to immediately refund all their early takers who have effectively been testing alpha products on Sony's behalf, or supply properly written free of charge software, if and when it becomes available, that will allow proper editing of the AVCHD format, without ruining the PC.


->Buy Online Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I bought this camcorder from amazon and paid a lot for it but I am very disappointed with this camcorder.
1. No normal DVD player can play the DVDs burned by this camcorder,if you want to play the DVDs you have to pay several hunderd more for a blueray DVD player(if you have PS3, it may play the DVDs).
2. The nightshot on this camcorder is an attractive function but after I reviewed the pictures by nightshot I found you never dare to share such photos with your friends becuase it makes the people in the photoes look like ghost.
3. The still picures shot by this camera only have 4 mega pixels and cannot beat the ones from 7-mega-pixels digital cameras which cost only $120 bought from walmart.
4. The battery can only used for a little more than one hour.
5. The medias recorded on the hard drive cannot be edited by most of the editing softwares on the market, I tried several major softwares like Ulead VedioStudios and have not found any software which can edit the files.
6. The function menu on the touch-screen is complicated and I have to pay lots of time to find the function I need everytime.
7. The HD videos shot by this camcorder have some delays, I didnt see this becuase I havenot play the DVD burn from the camcorder, I found some pros give the reviews which there are some delay on the videos, you can google to find the info.

Lots of people gave their positive feedbacks and I hope these buyers are real and I just would like to give some different opinions here. If you are a real buyer and got any methods to make it easy to play on your normal DVD players or those of your friends',please paste your methods here.



->Prices Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Update: Give it a 5 star rating.

This camera works great. The provided Picture Motion Browser Software is the slickest import program I've seen. And its organization on a calendar is really nice. And if you really want to see this video on a big HDTV, import the video to a Playstation 3 or connect an external FAT 32 hard drive with the video loaded to the PS 3 USB Port. This combination is not perfect but it works well for an early implementation.

Several major software providers have have announced editing software for AVCHD. Since it takes a lot of computer to play the video, I suspect you will need a lot of horsepower to edit this video. If the PS3 had an editor...

I bought the PS3 just to cache and play AVCHD video and it is worth the 600 dollars since it is tuned for video and does a better job than PCs. Now they just need a remote for us AV people. The game controller takes a little practice and requires both hands. Maybe Sony will see the light and rename the PS3 to Entertainment Center 3 and add the one hand remote.

You have to read the instructions with the PS3 to view the video files. The first time requires diligence. You have to use that triangle button or the video won't show up on the external media.

End of Update:

A reviewer below noted that editing software is available from Sony. That is incorrect. Sony confirmed that "AVCHD will be supported in an update on Professional version Vegas 7 software." ($500+) This is not the Movie Studio version noted for $100. Pinnacle has announced future support as well.

I have weighed this camera, the HDR-HC7 and the HV20. I am buying the SR1. The bottom line is the hard disk drive, HD, the focus ring, sound quality and the 3.5 inch display. Copying tapes to a computer is a real-time pain (play the tape to copy) and 4 hours of tape will cost $80 and take 4 hours to copy.

The HC7 and HV20 look to be almost equal in performance and better than the SR1 in several technical respects but the SR1 convenience outweighs the disadvantages.



->Sale Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Received my SR1 on April 2, 2007 from Butterfly Photo through amazon.com. Took some test shots. When I hooked the camera with my SONY KDL-40 S2010 LCD HDTV through HDMI, I was shocked with the sharp resolution and rich color it renders. Strongly recommended!


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Okay this is not a detailed analysis, just initial impression. I've had the Sony HDR-SR1 for about a month now. I am VERY happy with the camera.

The things I like best are:

1. The camera is VERY easy to use. Basically just turn it on and hit record. Hard drive storage sure beats messing with tapes or disks! The camera feels balanced and well constructed. The touch screen LCD panel and menus are easy to use.

2. Results are great. The HD video looks great. Audio sounds great. I just used default settings.

3. Battery life is good. I'm not sure the exact length of battery, but I recorded three of my sons tennis matches on different days without needing to recharge. I would estimate that about 5 hours with the LCD panel and recording on.

As for what I didn't like - really just one thing - the camera lense does not have a wide angle mode. In order to get the entire tennis court in frame for example, I had to set up the camera more than 50 feet away which is not always possible. You have to buy a wide angle adapter separately which I guess I will go ahead and get.



-> Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

The quality of the video from this camcorder is amazing. I consider myself a videophile, and I own a lot of HD equipment and TVs. I use a Mitsubishi 720p front projector with a 108" screen that is capable of showing most if not all video imperfections; however, this camera's video passes the test. I will not go so far as to say it is perfect, but the quality is amazing and far exceeded my initially high expectations. Video taken under good lighting conditions is absolutely fantastic, and I would say it is on par with broadcast HD minus a lot of the broadcast HD motion artifacts. Videos taken in low light are not quite as good, but much better than I had expected and many times better than my older miniDV camcorder. The lower light video is grainier, but it is a consistent very fine, gray film-like grain (imagine Black Hawk Down on blu-ray). The grain in my older miniDV videos was much more distracting with larger bluish, green blobs everywhere. Some reviewers have reported a lot of motion artifacts from the avchd compression, but I have not seen it yet. For those with this problem, it may be helpful to adjust the compression settings on the camera. Out of the box the camera defaults to HQ compression HD video (7 hour HD mode). Upon seeing this, I changed the compression to the XP mode (4 hour HD mode). I have seen no such problems at this setting, and 4 hours of video at a time is plenty of time between downloads.

I also own a very good 7.1 surround sound system, and I can again say that audio wise this camera is up to the task. It is wonderful to hear your home recordings play back in 5.1 surround sound with very good clarity and without any tape motor noise. I was taking pictures of a friend's baby, and you could hear her clearly from the front channels while the out of frame family members audio was present in the front and surround channels depending on their orientation to the baby/camera. Even my wife was wowed, and she is hard to impress since she has become so desensitized to my many gadgets.

Recording onto a hard drive is also great. The ability to play back your videos instantly without having to worry about tape position is very nice. It is easier to review and delete unnecessary clips, and the camera even has a few very basic editing functions built in. My wife was intimidated by our older camera, but she is already using this one more due to the lithium ion battery and hard drive. She doesn't have to worry about recording time/battery life in most cases. She can just pick it up and go.

I can't attest to the editing of avchd video or the mac compatability because I haven't tried either yet, but I did install the included software onto my PC. The videos download very quickly over the USB 2.0 connection. I was able to download video and burn a DVD+R to avchd format using the supplied software. It is very quick and does not degrade the avchd quality in any way. I was then able to play back the disc in my PS3 blu-ray drive in full HD with surround sound with the same results as hooking the camera up via HDMI. You can even put multiple clips on one DVD and it while play them back in order with a slight pause in between. It is nice to be able to go from video on the camera's HDD to a blu-ray compatible DVD in less than 30 minutes with little to no effort involved. The camera even has a one-touch disc burn button on it (haven't tried it yet though) so in theory you don't even need to open the software and go through any menu settings, it should be all automated.

I love the touchscreen. It is wonderfully designed with context sensitive menus that limit the selections based upon the cameras operating mode. It is very intuitive and almost makes the manual unnecessary. It even has a help function that explains the different settings in easy to understand terms.

So far I don't miss firewire, and I know that eventually the editing software will be there. For now, I will enjoy my beautiful avchd DVDs.


->Comparison Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I bought this camera about a month ago and I can say the 1080i video clarity is astounding. My TV is an older 1080i 38" tube HDTV (albeit with fantastic clarity) and the playback of test scenes I captured using a Glidecam Pro 2000 ([...]) are really amazing. Even playback on my PC with the supplied Sony software looks excellent. Some people may consider the software "primitive" to their editing tastes but for me who just wants to dump the videos from the camera to my PC or onto DVD for playback on a BLU RAY, it's just fine. I'm really hoping to be able to play the AVC HD formatted videos on an HD DVD player at some point so I'm waiting a little before buying one of the HD players. In the end I'm not using the camera professionally. My sole reason for buying it was for our five week trip to Greece this summer where I can capture memories of a little of mainland Greece and a lot of the stunning beaches of Naxos in high def.
The supplied NP-FM50 battery doesn't give a whole lot of recording minutes (about 90 minutes) so I opted to buy the NP-QM91D battery to extend my recording time quite a bit to 390 minutes when viewing through the rear eyepiece or 379 minutes with the LCD screen opend up - that's what it tells me anyway. Whether this is the *true* span of my recording time has yet to be tested but I suspect in the warm weather of the Aegean the batteries will be as happy as I.
So, a 30 Gig hard drive... when recording in High Def mode, the camera will apparently capture about seven hours of "high quality" recording time. They have varying levels of HD quality recording and I believe at the highest quality, the disk will record only about four hours of HD video. That's not much time for a month long trip of memories so decided to but a 160 gig external hard drive on which to dump the videos I take with the SR1. That means carrying a laptop with me but with all the other luggage my wife and I haul to Europe, what's another 10 lbs of electronics? (please keep the snickers to a minimum)....
I'm definietly a Sony fan and have one of their 8 megapixel cameras - also with the Carl Zeiss lens. If high quality imagery is what you're after, go with the Sony products. No I do not work for Sony.
Enjoy!



->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

At first glance, this camcorder looks fantastic: it records in HD, it has a massive 3.5" LCD display, a focus wheel, a microphone jack, good still image recording, and a sizeable hard drive. Unfortunately I cannot recommend it because Sony has decided to use AVCHD, a new recording format that is, so far, compatible with nothing other than Sony's rudimentary included software.

The "most useful" review of this product said that this January, many programs (Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Premiere, etc) would begin to support AVCHD. It is now March and nothing has happened, and it may not happen for a very long time (if at all) because AVCHD is intended largely for consumers who do not plan on editing their video. If this includes you, then go ahead and buy the camera. You can burn your raw footage to a DVD easily.

But if you plan on editing then don't buy this camera. For good HD-quality video, look at some of Sony's HDV cameras (like the HDR-HC3) or Canon's HV10. They are all cheaper than this and you can start editing high definition footage right away. For more serious filmmakers this camera is a joke. It will just frustrate you.


-> Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I took off one star for the lack of AVCHD editing software. This is the price one pays being an early adopter. My optimism is not high on quick AVCHD editing application developemnt as software companies are chronically late on release dates.

The camera is perfect for what I'm using it for: video taping my newborn child. The HD functionality was particularly important as the kids will most likely watch these clips 20 to 40 years from now. I am optimistic AVCHD editing software will be available by that time!

Easy to use, great picture quality and a nice touch screen navigation. Would recommend for other new parents who, in 20 years, don't want their kids making fun of them for using non-HDTV "old and blurry" camcorder technology.


->Wholesale Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I LOVE this unit, it is state of the art technology, and Sony beat everyone to it, as usual. I own a Mac & PC but my Mac is my primary computer. Regardless, i didn't care, the software will be here soon enough to support the Mac platform. The AVCHD format IS the future, anyone that disagrees with this, is flatly ignorant about the facts. Over 100 manufactures are currently signed on to develop and support this format for the next 20 plus years, with Adobe about two months away from a Mac software release.

As for the camera itself, its a beautiful package, sleek and handsome in its black and chrome color scheme, and given its hardware, its a light package as well. The HDxp setting, delivers STUNNING image video and color, especially sourced through HDMI cable.

Hey look, its always a bit scarey for some to buy new relase products offering NEW technology, as glitches and problems usually have to get worked out. However, this is Sony, the Pioneers of SO much of the technology we all enjoy today, and because so i never hesitated. If you desire the best performing, best looking, and best technology on the market today in camcorders(under $3000k)...and can afford it, there is NO other camera to buy!!!


Excelsior!

Bryan


->Deals Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I just used my new Sony HDR-SR1 with the Sony VCL-HG0730X wide angle lens. I liked the feature of being able to taking pictures and filming video at the same time. The use of the wide angle lens disables the flash.

Some things I found out while using this camera without an external light at Mardi Gras. The HDR-SR1 only allows you to take 3 pictures from the time you press the start button until to press the stop button. After you press the stop button, it takes about 20 seconds for the 3 pictures to write to the Memory Stick. The HDR-SR1 is hung for these 20 seconds--no pictures and video. For Mardi Gras, 20 seconds sometimes is an eternity and you could miss footage.

I could not find a Sony flash for the HDR-SR1 and I did not have an external light. At night, the video came out fine but a little dark. However, the same pictures came out almost black and some blurry.

If filming at night with at night with a wide angle lens, you definitely need an accessory flash and/or light.

It is very easy to import the files from the HDR-SR1 to the computer hard drive. It is so much better to be free of miniDV tapes. I no longer have to capture the video from the tapes.


->Buy Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Don't buy this if you want HD on a Mac (as of early Feb 07). There is still no support for it. Check out the Sony site first to see if support has been added. You can use it with a Mac and SD, with a few addons, but really, who would buy this for SD? Other than that it's wonderful. Very easy to learn and use. Quality is very high. I bought it even though I'm Mac only at this point.


->Deals Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This is just a reminder: You can use 'Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum Edition' (cheap) or Vegas to edit the recordings...
As for the camera, it's great, isn't it?


->Best Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

We thought this camera was going to be great as it is one of the most recently introduced HD video cameras. Unfortunately, Sony and Apple don't seem to be working together yet, and as we use Apple computers and editing software, this camera was of no use to us. To Amazon's credit, they took the camera back and covered the shipping costs in both directions because of this. We hope Sony and Apple get it together soon!


-> Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Another voice in the chorus here.

We have had the camera now for 4 months and are still very pleased. It looks like Sony put a good deal of thought into the features and design of the camera. The menu design makes the features easy for me to use, and my wife can just pick up the camcorder and take a video without knowing too much more than, which button is record, and which one is zoom.

The difference between watching the videos in HD vs SD is amazing. We still can keep most of our videos we want to show on the camera and viewing from the camera to the TV is our preferred way. One down side is that, although transferring video from the camera to the PC is quick, returning it to the camera takes a while. Our cousin came to visit and we wanted to show a 10 minute video that was no longer on the HD.... it took probably close to 1/2 an hour to transfer it back. Not bad as long as you plan accordingly.

My one fear with the camera was that I've had bad luck with Sony's quality. Typically they have the features I want, and then not the quality. This camera, so far, has had no issues.

What everyone is saying about the software is true. The AVCHD video player on my PC messes up the bottom lines of video. I guess my poor little 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 with 2Gig of RAM just can't keep up. There is no real editing capability beyond trimming the HD video with the supplied software. Adobe Premiere in particular does not support the video format.

HD in general in our house is not that mature. I'm still trying to find the correct solution for saving and playing back the videos in HD. Currently, I'm just storing the High Def on the PC, but converting it to SD and doing my editing and DVD authoring there. I am grateful that Sony included the AVCHD to Mpeg2 SD converter. I will probably always have the need for sending pictures/movies to the grandparents and SD DVD is the preferred way to send things to the grandparents. You can really see the difference after downgrading it to DVD, but being able to see the baby despite being a thousand miles away really makes them happy.

Overall, I keep thinking the alternative to this would be an SD camera. Seeing the difference in picture quality makes me certain I made the right choice with this camera. I need to be patient and wait for Adobe's software to support this format.... Sony's sites say they will, Adobe's doesn't even acknowledge the format exists... I figure I have time on my side. Plus, once they do, then I need to figure out how I will play the edited videos on our TV in HD.




->Prices Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Software does not work with network drives / network neighborhood/ etc. This is disappointing and embarrassing in a shared work environment - as well as home.

I can't find any third party software that supports this HD format. Can't convert .m2ts to WMV or any other format! Can't edit / use it with my premier elements, VideoReDo, click to DVD, DiVX convertor, Windows Media Encoder, Quicktime, etc.


->Deals Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Great Camera, recommend to anyone. Keep in mind that the software has little to no editing functionality. Also, HD formatted clips have to be down-converted to work on DVD players. Remeber, Blue-Ray is HD (1080) not DVD (480). Also not supportted on Macs yet. Hopefully it will soon because I prefer to edit on my MAC than my PC. Battery time seems much better with the upgrade to the SONY long life battery. My wife learned to use it very quickly and should be easy enough for anyone to use.

Great Camera!!


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I haven't had the camcorder long enough to give a good review, but from using it for only 3 weeks, I like it very much. I have had a little trouble with focusing. It is probably something I am not doing correctly, but when panning, it doesnt focus quickly enough for me.

I have found the Black Magic Infinity HDMI card and have one on order. I hope it will allow me to import and edit the footage and output into the format I choose.






->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I have used the camera since November. I'm very happy with the quality of the recording. The software does not offer much capability other than some basic video trimming and DVD creation. I hope that will change as other software will provide support for the new format. Watch out if you wanted to use non-Sony battery. I tried at least 3 other brands and none was recognized by the camera.


->Deal Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I was lucky enough to have a friend who had this camera before I bought it, and let me play with it some. Now that I own it myself I have to say I'm quite pleased with it, although it does have some shortcomings potential buyers should be aware of.

First, the pros. The video quality under good lighting is phenomenal and consistent, with good color reproduction, fast and accurate focus, and excellent white balance. The user interface is intuitive and easy to use, due in large part to the absolutely fantastic touchscreen interface. For example, to focus on one particular part of the image, you literally just touch that part of the image on the touchscreen -- Presto. Same with metering. It works excellently, even better than you might expect.

The form factor's good, fits well in the hand without being too heavy. Battery life is good, not exceptional but not poor either. The buttons are all easy to reach, and the construction is as solid as you'd expect a Sony handycam to be.

The cons: Only two that are nonetheless important. One, the lowlight quality of this thing is abysmal. In anything less than very bright indoor light the color shifts drastically towards red, making the image look terrible. And even in what I'd call normal indoor light the autofocus will start 'oscillating', unable to lock focus on even well-contrasted subjects. Two, I have had problems with high-speed action, in particular trying to video amateur hockey games. You see noticeable what I'd call 'artifacted tearing', where certain parts of the image break into a line of blocky artifacts that persist for a few frames when swinging the camera quickly. It's incredibly annoying, but I've only seen it during sports shooting.

Overall, I do recommend this camera. The HD quality is fantastic, the software tools are more than adequate, and the usability is right up there with the best.




->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

The video this camera grabs is mind-bending. Especially the performance when hand-held in scantly lit scenery. However, in very low light, the image drops off rapidly. I took a bunch of images at a Vietnamese restaurant that seemed dark, but the results were almost surreal: colors popping, focus shifting rapidly as the camera crawled over the Banh My, with the carrot and jalopeno brightly rendered, and the focus tight down to the crumb on the French roll. (And all this was not using the special macro mode. Later, I tried to find the limits of that by opening up the compost pail and following the ants as the traveled up and down their harvest line. The results were crazy; amazing, vibrant pictures. Even when I was trying to follow individual ants, it was able to hold focus and they looked like giants: the macro mode lets you get very close.)

One caveat: the other reviewer here points out that you can use it w/a mac now doing SD, which is true, but he states that he believes an AVCHD-compatible version of the Apple apps (iMovie, and Final Cut). After doing a LOT of research, this is almost certainly NOT going to happen. For one reason, it seems that Apple is building AVCHD support into the OS, and Leopard is NOT going final next week (I have the latest seed installed, so I know of what I speak). More likely, it will be in April, though Apple is saying Q2. (One other note here: I tried to use Parallels to run Windows on my Mac so I could use the Sony software, but because it did not support USB2, it did not work. Since then, a new version of Parallels has come out that does have USB2.)

Still, this is a great camera. If you have an external drive, you could shoot with this, then move the files to the drive until you can get the software. 250GB drives cost so little these days, and obviously, you could dump the contents of the camera in there almost 10x. If you are going to shoot more, Seagate and Hitachi both just announced 1TB drives.

I looked at the vid this camera produces on a 42" 1080 LCD. I can't see what would look better in targeting this format, which, let's face it, is probably going to be it for at least the next 15-20 years.


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I did a lot of research and currently this is the best HiDef camcorder on the market. I'm just waiting for the price to go back to thirteen hundred dollars and I'm set! :)


->Prices Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This is an amazing camera and yes (from my understanding) it does have editing software that fits. The SONY Movie Studio (HDV) + DVD Platinum edition (under $100 @ some retailers) allows importing of .mt2 files.


->Shipping Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I have gone through several camcorders in the past 5 years and recently began my search for a hi-def camcorder. One of my frustrations with DV tapes is that for me, they tended to sit on the shelf and gather dust. They took tons of storage space to encode (way more than AVCHD). Editing to DVD also seemed to be more complex than necessary and time consuming. As a result, I have many tapes that I just don't bother to burn to DVD. It was just easier to plug in the camcorder and watch the video from there.

So through my research, I discovered disk based camcorders. Most of the reviews criticized the image quality. This second generation seems to have improved quite a bit. With the compression and ease of transfer to a PC (literally plug in and push one button) I was sold on the Hard Drive format. I'm not a big fan of mini-DVD formats either because of the unique DVD's used and some compatibility issues.

I was pretty much set on a 3CCD JVC Everio GZ-MG505. This is a standard definition camcorder but with 3CCD's and pretty highly regarded. I had a hard time deciding between 3CCD vs high def (AVCHD) +$300

After reading more and more reviews, I realized that even with 3CCD's, the image quality just can not compare to high def. Even high def converted to standard def is better. So I went with the Sony.

The Sony is so easy to use that I was out shooting immediately after charging the battery. I haven't even cracked open the instruction manual yet. That says a lot for how intuitive the camcorder is. When I ordered from Amazon, they expected it to arrive after Christmas. I contacted Amazon and they stated they were scrambling trying to get them before Christmas. Sure enough, Amazon delivered and I have already filmed my daughters Holiday Recital and her meeting with Santa. (The SR1 is great in low light by the way).

My thoughts on AVCHD is that it will be supported soon enough. We have a high def projector but most of our TV's are still standard. Also, we do not own a high def DVD player or BlueRay. We will probably get a PS3 next year. I bet AVCHD software will arrive well before we actually get a high def DVD player so I'm not too concerned about the delay. The SD video in the meantime has been superb and easy to share with friends and family. If I really need to show off the high def, I just plug in the camcorder.

I have no complaints and as a result gave this camcorder a 5 star rating. But I do have a few minor tweaks that would have been nice.
- Battery life could be a bit better. Included battery is about 70 minutes. 2 hours would have been ideal but an additional high capacity better solved that problem but added to the weight.
- Camcorder is a tad bigger than comparable hard drive based camcorders (those JVC ones are tiny). I actually like the feel in my hand though and it is not too big.
- Included software could be a little bit better especially since there is no real support for AVCHD yet. It is very easy to use though. You can edit start and stop points of clips but you can't rearrange the order or include any transitions and the title screens are very limited (about 5 or 6). But again, works well and easy to understand.
- Photos during filming limited to 3. My last JVC, I could shoot unlimited still photos during filming. Not that big of a deal though as this is probably rarely used. Just stop and start filming again to shoot 3 more photos.
- Hard Drive is somewhat limited at 30GB. For such an expensive camcorder and inexpensive hard drives, I'm surprised the Sony did not come with an 80gb drive which is pretty common and even low end today. I haven't explored this but I doubt Sony made it easy to upgrade the hard drive myself. Of course when you have a high def camcorder, most people will want to record at the highest quality settings as they can always reduce the output for their intended viewing device so having a high resolution source is ideal. Unfortuanatly, at the highest quality setting AVCHD 15MB XP you get about 4 hours of recording time. I personally don't think this is quite enough time for a standard week or two vacation. I usually travel with my laptop and can download the video so this is not a concern for me but with an 80GB drive, one could get 10 hours which seems adequate for the typical vacation.

I didn't deduct for these shortcomings because even without these, the camera is unique in its category and is an amazing camera. I didn't feel like I should penalize the camcorder for my "wish list."

Overall, after months of reviewing camcorders, I am very happy with my purchase and would make the same purchase again.


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I was surprised to find you can burn the AVCHD files to a regular DVD. Then play it back in high-def on your PS3 (and any Blu-ray or HD player). The supplied software also will down convert to regular DVD so anyone can play it on a regular DVD player (not in HD of course).

I mark it down a 1/2 a star because the HD pictures look a bit soft, both on my PC and on my HDTV. It might be caused by the AVCHD compression, or maybe after watching 1080p movies and viewing 1920x1080 pixel photos, 1080i seems soft.

The 4 megapixel stills look about as good as most 4 megapixel consumer camera pictures and should be fine for 4x6 prints.

Bottom line, I've been thru all the upgrades, starting with a huge VHS 2 piece set-up in 1980, to 2 piece beta, superbeta, VHSc, 8mm, Hi-8, sVHS and miniDV, this is Sony HDR-SR1 the best video from a camera I have had.

Why is the hard drive better? 4 hours at the best HD resolution is plenty for boring even the hardiest family members. Need more? Take a laptop on vacation with you and easily copy the video to it's hard drive. Most new laptops have DVD burners, so you can also backup the data(video)to inexpensive DVDs.


->Buy Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

this is a great product. The video output is truly hi-def. Sound is great too.
the only problem is this camcorder missed a loop to attach a shoulder strap.



->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

It's just irresponsible for a company to put out a new product that has NO SUPPORT/ EDITING SOLUTION AVAILABLE. And the promise of future support? That's a $1300 bet you're making PLUS what you may have to pay for the editing software that happens to support this new format.

NO WAY would I buy this thing. My advice is to wait a few months. An HD version of the JVC Everio can't be far behind and I'm sure there will be others.


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I got this camcorder as an early Christmas gift so I could learn how to use if before Christmas. I simply love the small size and the touchscreen. The menu's seem to be easy to navigate.

The quality of the images is excellent. This thing picks up every background noise. I could hear my husband clear as day on the playback, even though he was in a room down the hall. I have no issues with it picking up the noise. Heck, that is what a camcorder is for!

So far so good! I would definetly recommend this to a friend etc.


->Purchase Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This camcorder is great. I've had it for a few weeks now, and it's perfect for several reasons.

No more tapes. This means that you no longer have to wonder if the tape that's in the camcorder is the correct one, and if it's at the right place to begin recording (that's if your kids and spouse is also using the camcorder, it's really a lottery).

No tapes also mean that you don't have to wonder if you need to pop in a new tape when the current tape is at 48 minutes out of a 60 minute tape. What if the event you're filming is going to go for another 15 or 20 minutes? I find it really takes away that "end of tape" anxiety.

No tapes also mean that you don't have to wonder where that clip is burried in the middle of all those tapes. Fast forward and rewind can only mean one thing to me: tapehead wear out (the tape is like a sandpaper on your tapehead).

What I like about the HDD (hard disk drive) camcorder is that you can record any time, for however long you want. And it's easy to delete any clips that you do not want. There is a display to show you how much recording time is left. It's about 2.5 hours for the highest quality, and about 7.5 hours on the standard HD quality. I didn't find out what the recording duration is for SD quality (just because I won't ever use it).

On the downside, as everyone has quite correctly pointed out, the editing tools for this new AVCHD format is not commonplace yet. Even if it is available, the problem for me is that no one else can view the edited video at that highest quality. Everyone I know still has either a SD TV, or at most, a normal DVD player. What I'm trying to say is that even if you can edit videos in AVCHD format, you still run into the issue of making standard DVDs, which is a lower quality (MPEG-2), for grandma and friends to watch. On the upside, the bundled software makes this easy to do. Just select all the videos you want to burn to a DVD, and select BURN-TO-DVD, and you get a DVD in few hours. The DVD, even at MPEG-2 quality, looks better than video viewed from my other Sony DCR-PC120 camcorder.

If you ask me what Sony could have done different, I would wish they had the AVCHD player bundled seperately, so that you could just send a DVD-ROM with that player and video clips on it to friends and relatives for viewing on their computer.

I really wonder where this new format is going. I hope it will get the ability to write and play on Blu-ray drives.

As for the camcorder itself, it's larger that one would expect, but it's nicely balanced. I wished it was lighter, but I know that would compromise the HDD + good lens + battery. One thing I found akward is the way you might hold the camcorder. The strap "locks" you into the "eye level" mode of shooting, and if you want to move the filming angle to about waist level (for filming kids and pets), it starts to become akward trying to take your hand out of the strap, and also try to hold the camcorder securely.

One last thing that no one mentions is that there are 2 recording buttons. One at the back of the camcorder, and one at the bottom of the touch screen. The one at the touch screen makes it so easy to start and stop recording when you're not holding the camcorder at eye level, but it takes getting used to at first.

All in all, this camcorder is excellent for my use. I hope you find my review useful.


->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

The HDR-SR1 is a versitile HD camcorder. It takes great HD movies. The movies are then easily transferrable to your computer via USB 2.0 cable. The still pictures are excellent for a video camera. The touch screen is large, easily navigatable and fun to use.
After many blunders, Sony has finally done something right with this camera. It is still very expensive but there is no comparable video camera in this segment: HD video with a hard drive.
I purchased my camera at Circuit City and lo and behold, the accessory kit for this camera (bag & battery) was selling for less than $40. I bring this up because I loathe buying Sony products because they do not bother adding any type of accessory with their products. Usually you end up spending a few hundred dollars easy on accessories.

Again, the camera is great. But be forewarned, accessories are expensive and not included. When you buy a Sony product, they ususally take you on a expensive ride whether you want to or not. Great product, old Sony game.


->Best Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Don't listen to the Mac user above. I have a Mac too and yes I agree there are no out of the box tools available for Mac as yet but AVCHD is a new format.Having said that you can still edit and play clips on Mac but right now only in SD. If you have HD clips and use Mac you will have to store them on hard disk for next few months till AVCHD is supported on Mac.For that matter there aren't really any editing and conversion tools for Windows either except for one provided by Sony which is not such a great video editing tool.

Now to the camcorder.I have shot both HD and SD videos. Video quality is great in both cases, obviously HD is the way to go. This camcorder records every minor sound, which can be good or bad. Works well in low light situations not great though. Played back HD videos my my Bravia HDTV and I am just speechless.

Camera is not that compact as compared to other hard disk based cameras but it is not too big either. Love the big LCD screen and touch sensitive LCD menu.

There is a firmware flaw with this camera which leads to interchanging L and R channels of audio when record in 5.1 mode. Sony is aware of it and they are rolling out a firmware upgrade sometime this month. You can even ship it to Sony to get the firmware upgraded. Look it up on Sony support site.

All in all a great piece of work from Sony, but be prepared to learn and maybe be frustrated at times. However fear not this is the latest technology and format and that is what you get if you are one of the earlier adapters of the technology.


->Shipping Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This is a super-dee-duper little camera. As many people have said, the AVCHD format is not really compatible with anything just yet. The picture is absolutely amazing, and the sound is very good too. I've been shooting in SD so far so that I can still edit the videos, and the picture quality there is very good too. The LCD touch screen is very easy to use and very convenient. I would definitly reccomend this camera to anyone looking for an affordable HD digital camera.


->Cheap Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Amazing picture, amazing sound, intuitive and easy UI navigation -- NO one will disagree with any of that. But what can you do with the footage? As of right now, not much.

As a Mac user my only option is to only use standard definition mode (1/4 the resolution) and then use conversion tools, but did I pay this much for SD quality?? I hope not.

AVCHD looks very promising, but until editing tools come out, all of my HD videos will be suck on the camera. Adobe among other have expressed support for the format, but I don't want to purchase a $1,000+ software to get my videos off either.

I installed the software CD on a Windows machine, and am completely underwhelmed. In a review on CNET they say don't even bother installing it. I definitely agree, but what other option do I have?

Bottom line - amazing picture and sound, even in low-light. But other than hooking the camera up to a TV, sharing your videos is not what it should be.


->Buy Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Within two or three hours of receipt [yesterday], I had charged the supplied battery, shot my husband and my dog, and watched the footage on our HD TV! The picture quality is fabulous! Overnight I charged the extra longer-life battery which I had bought. This morning, in less than two hours, I loaded the software into my computer, registered the camcorder online, backed up the footage from the camcorder to the computer hard drive, and then watched the footage on the computer monitor! That's saying quite a lot for ease of use -- I have never owned a camcorder before! Yes, there were a few times when I was puzzled, but I was able to figure out what to do. The print in the manual is small, so I use a magnifying glass. In future months I will be capturing more memories, and will purchase editing software for the AVCHD file format as soon as it comes on the market! I wanted a camcorder that would be easy for a first-time user but full-featured if and when I do more sophisticated editing, and after doing some research I decided the SR1 was it.


->Lowest Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This camera has more than exceeded my expectations.

Why this camera works for me plain and simple:

1) the video quality is amazing (even the SD is really sharp). Simply shoot SD if you need to edit on a mac until FCP or FCE is updated to handle AVCHD.

2) the convenience of having a hard disk drive camcorder is worth the price alone (no tape! it's essentially a computer)

3) the mic is extremely crisp but you also have the added bonus of a stereo mic-in

4) And finally, the most intuitive digital interface and user-friendly functionality I have ever seen on a camera or camcorder.

I give this camera 5 stars hands down.


->Wholesale Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Here is a short and sweet review:

1. Amazing video quality - the new AVCHD codec at 12mbps is great. Limited electronic stablization - visible shake when shooting while moving
2. Great sound - very sensitive and clear
3. Easy synching with PC - included software does the job seamlessly but limited in any kind of editing capabilities
4. Gorgeous large LCD screen
5. Light and comfortable fit on hand
6. Easy enough for a kid to use
7. Consider buying optional video light for low light recording

Very happy with the purchase.

Hope this helps.


->Sale Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

i am just upset with the play on words manufactures use to sell there products. like the words "capable" and "compatible" they use for hdtv's

ok, the line used for this camera. (Super NightShot Infrared System With Sony's NightShot Infrared System you can capture natural looking video, even when shooting in low light. Record subjects up to 20 feet away using the built-in infrared system.)
NATURAL the key word, i thought that sony came out with a new technology eliminating the green hue shown in infrared, i even called sony to confirm before i bought this camera. the sales person even asked his supervisor to answer my question. (IM ASSUMING "NATURAL" MEANS IN FULL COLOR RIGHT. HE assured me yes it does mean full COLOR....IT DOES'NT.

I still love this camera and recommend. i have 5 other sony video camera's with the fx1 being one of them, which has the best quality in a hd format that i have seen.




->Wholesale Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I am really impressed with this camera for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had the HDR-HC3 a couple of months back, and I didn't see that much of a difference between the SD and HD mode from that camera, I believe now since they were both shot in the same format (MP2). I was REALLY pleasantly surprised how sharp and how HIGH DEF this camera captures film, there's a VERY noticable difference! I am now a big fan of the AVCHD/H.264 format now, and although I am worried about the editing software as of right now, I can't see how companies won't jump on this format.
What's also new about this is that the viewfinder can move, the focus is now a ring manual focus, the sound is 5.1, and the hard drive is a lot more convenient than I thought it would be. The connections are also a lot more numerous, the HDMI connection is great, the access doors to the connections are very sleek, there's just not a lot of bad things that people can say about this. Highly recommended, Amazon has a great price on this, and includes a free bluetooth headset.


->Deals Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I've owned this camcorder for about a week. The controls are perfect, and the touchscreen menu is outstanding. The camera is very easy to use and the quality of the video played on my high definition 42" LCD is simply amazing! It is well worth the extra money not to have to deal with video tapes or mini-DVDs. Plus, one of my favorite features is that it transfers the video from camera to my computer extremely fast.

I've not even read the instruction manual, and I haven't needed to. Overall usability is very easy and intuitive.

This is the future of camcorders!


->Best Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Well... I've been waiting since the very beginning of this year to buy a new camcorder. At first I was waiting for the release of the JVC MG505. Which, as you probably know if you're looking at this camera, is a 3 CCD Harddrive camcorder. After the MG505 came out I then had to wait to finish saving up the money for the camera. Well... finally, two weeks ago, with much excitement, I ordered my MG505. It came in very very quickly (as things usually do from Amazon) and I was very excited to open the box to find a nice little cute black camera. Off the bat it was a little too Cute. I won't get too much into it here (see the MG505 reviews as I will be posting a more detailed review of that there) but I was quite underwhelmed by the form, function and quality of the MG505. The picture was grainy. The camera felt like a toy. The software that came with the camera felt like a toy. The .mod files were annoying. The fact that it didn't set the 16:9 flag on the video files was annoying. And the magical color quality of the 3CCD setup was magically worse then the digital 8 camera I've owned for the past four years. It was still a cool, small harddrive camcorder that made it super ease to get things to my computer which is the center of all things media these days. But I wasn't happy.
Enter my trip to Circuit City. I set out to get some first hand comparisons of the MG77 and MG505. While at Circuit City and being generally unhappy with the choices, the associate pulled out an SR1. The didn't have them out for display yet. He took it right over and hooked it straight up to a big screen LCD HDTV. It didn't take long before I said "WOW" I didn't know you could buy a consumer camcorder that took a picture like that. It wasn't just the High Definition resolution that was impressive, but the incredibly "True" color representation. Things looked like they looked. Colors didn't bleed, whites didn't run and the picture felt very balance. The zooming was very smooth and even. Not jerky and sparatic like a lot of them are. The form of the camera was very smooth and balanced. The trimed down controls made for very smooth and intuitive function. You have just the right amount control when you need it. The manual focus ring (which can be user assigned to a number of functions) is awesome.
BUT... THE BIG POINT. The picture is amazing. Everyone that has seen stuff shot with this camera has been blown away. It looks like a real-deal professional video. Not just in HD mode but in SD mode. In SD mode this camera still blows the JVC MG505 out of the water. I wish I could tell you how impressed I have been by this little sony consumer camera. It was far more then I expected to get and it definatly beats out the related competion. THIS IS THE BEST HARD DISK CAMCORDER AVAILABLE for consumers. The HD is great to prepare for the future but this camera makes a very very strong SD Hard Disk Camcorder from a design, image quality, ease of use and features stand point. I would take this as an SD camcorder over any of the other hard disk cameras out there. Run to the store... see for yourself, then come back and buy it from Amazon. By the way... I did return the MG505 to Amazon.com with no problems.


->Deals Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Hi bone the recording time varies from 10 to 20 hours in sd and 4 to 8 hours in hd. HD has three levels of recoreding qualityies . with highest quality recording, you can record for 4 hours.

PROS: great picture quality, decent still images(4 mp), very very user friendly. If you work around 1 to 2 hours on manual you can really take the advantage of new technology, nice touch screen. good in lowlight. easy to burn the disk.

CONS: Need upgradation to a q91 battery (4hours recording time) . oringal battery is only good for an hour. Software is not very good but there are lot of other softwares to make movies.

Those two problems can be avoided by an extra battery and any free softqares available on the net for movie making. other than those two this is camera is outstanding


->Shipping Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Have had the camera for just over a week and can't complain about anything. Video plays perfectly on both our HD LCD and HD projector. We have a HTPC so this camera is perfect for our needs.

Also figured out that renaming the HD video files to .mpg allows you to play them in PowerDVD, so no burning to disc or conversion necessary...

Bought this in Canada (the NTSC version) and was a little worried about compatibility problems here in the UK (PAL) but everything works perfectly on our system.

Have waited a year for this camera, and very glad I did.


->Purchase Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This camera was perfect for me. At first I was looking at sonys dvd-505 because of the burn to dvd. Then I saw the HC3 with the High def. but i didnt like that i had to buy small dvds or tapes. When I saw this camcorder and the options that it had, it was perfect.
I have had it for about a week and a half now and I only paid 800 for it. I have only been doing a little recording but when I do it looks perfect on my 57inch sony high def tv. Also when i played it back on the tv I thaught that my lens had something on it. Turns out my tv had a spider in it and had put a spider web on the screen. I didnt see that before playedback with this camcorder.
I was thinking that with the hard drive that i would have to wait for it to be stored for like a min or two. But it is like only 2 seconds then I can record some more.
The sound quality is also very good. When I played it back on the tv it recorded the door opening and everytime i watched it i thaught someone came into my house.
The 3.5inch touch screen for me is very easy to use no problums with that. I find that all the buttons are easy for me to get to.
I have a HP media center computer m7570n and when I went to make a dvd it was really very quick with the on touch button option and with the supplied software but I dont really like the supplied software. Playback on the dvd was also very good.
I would say that if your looking for a high def. camcorder get this one you will love it.


->Buy Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I have had my HDR-SR1 for a week now. It is my first high-definition camera, and my second hard-drive based camera.

First, I'll get the bad comments out of the way...

The camera takes about 7.5 seconds to power up and be ready to shoot. Although this is shorter than my last hard-drive camera (JVC - was 10 seconds), it's still longer than most tape-based cameras. It isn't unreasonably long, but I like a quick power-up time so I don't miss an opportunity to shoot something happening NOW.

The AVCHD format is so new that it is not yet supported by any other software other than the Sony software that comes with the camera, and it only allows playback - no advanced editing. However, I did not take away any stars in my rating for this, because I fully expect the AVCHD format to be widely supported soon enough-- otherwise I wouldn't have bought the camera. Besides, even if I won't be able to edit the footage until sometime in the future, I figured it's more important that I'm at least shooting my footage in high-def... these moments will never occur again!

The camera is a little bit on the large side (compared to most new cameras available today). But it's not so large that I would consider it "bulky". It's probably about the size of a typical new camera a few years ago.

And now for the good...

The picture quality is excellent. In bright light, the video is crystal clear and there are absolutely no visible compression artifacts at the XP and HQ settings. I've never seen HDV footage but can't imagine it being better than this. SP and LP modes are not to bad, but the compression issues become noticeable. In low light the camera does have the typical amount of noise in the image, but it looks more like analog noise than digital compression noise, which I find much less annoying. I consider this camera to be a good low-light performer, but of course it's all relative and this is just my opinion. There is a Night-Shot mode (infrared light/greenish image) which workes well in TOTAL darkness up to about 20' away, at full frame rate. Super NightShot mode and Color Slow Shutter modes offer even more light in the image, but sacrifice shutter speed and everything gets blurred.

Sound is incredible. 5.1ch surround really makes you feel like you're there. Note however that there really is not a centre front channel microphone. A centre channel of sound is digitally created by the camera combining the front left and front right channels. Still sounds fine to me though.

Automatic lens cover is a joy! Opens when you turn it on and closes when you turn it off.

The SteadyShot mode does NOT affect picture quality. With most cameras this does decrease image quality in some way, but not with the SR1.

The lag time from pressing the record button to when the recording actually begins is only about half a second. Pretty reasonable. When you press the button again to stop recording, it takes about 1 second to respond.

The photo quality (4.0MP) is the best I've ever seen on a camcorder, but still doesn't measure up to a 4.0MP still-camera. In other words, personally I won't give up my 4.0MP still camera yet for very important photos, however if I only have the SR1 with me, I will still take photos with it (the photos are good enough to make decent 4x6 prints). With previous camcorders the photo quality was so bad I always carried my still camera with me too. Now I don't have to. Please note that if you're taking photos with this camera while in video mode (either while the camera is rolling or not) you are limited to only 2.3MP images. Nice thing is that this camera DOES have a flash for photos. The only time it won't work is while the camera is recording video. Also, if you try to take photos while the camera is recording video, you are limited to only 3 photos until you stop recording so the camera can save the images.

InfoLithium battery is wonderful. The screen always displays reminaing battery life in minutes. It even takes into account the current state of the camera's use (for example if you turn on the NightShot IR light, it will decrease remaining battery time by about 15% since it takes more power). It's even accurate right down to the minute. Of course, if you're doing a lot of zooming then you may notice the minutes counting down a little faster than real-time, as it recalculates the power usage. By the way, installing the battery does not add length to the camera is it does with most, as it is actually recessed into a slot in the back. Only the extended-life batteries will add length/bulk to the camera.




->Compare Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This camcorder uses a new file format (AVCHD) which is based on current popular standards. AVCHD is simply a streaming version of H.264 video with Dolby 5.1 surround sound audio. When producing an HDD camcorder, Sony had to decide between using the current standard and making a new one. Since the current standard is MPEG-2 video and stereo audio (eg: HDV) at a constant bitrate of 25mbps, the AVCHD format provides a number of features: 1) Better audio, with 5.1 channels recorded by the camcorder. 2) Better video as AVC is H.264-- a modern codec that privides much higher quality data for a given bitrate than the ancient MPEG-2 video that HDV is based on. 3) Much more flexibility-- to be HDV compatible would have meant recording constantly at 25mbps, and this is too fast for the CDR version (the HDR-UX1) and is unnecessary. 15Mbps H.264 should provide better quality video than MPEG-2 at 25Mbps!

The downside of moving into the future in this way is that current editing software does not yet support the new format. Thus, either you use Sony's supplied software on windows, or you wait until your software company produces an update that supports the format.

AVCHD is the next generation in consumer video and I expect it will be widely supported. I am betting good money (eg: I bought an SR1) that Apple will release updates to Final Cut and iMovie this January that support AVCHD.

However, if you are happy shooting in SD for now, you can get a workflow that works on the mac. The SR1 shoots SD in MPEG-2 format, and while iMovie doesn't yet support Dolby 5.1 sound, it can be easily converted.

All that's necessary to work with an edit SR1 video (in SD mode only) on a Mac right now is the Apple $20 MPEG-2 decoder add on to quicktime (from the Apple site, but included with Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro) and a conversion application to make use of it. I found StreamClip to be a great (Free) solution from Squared 5... their website is at www squared5 dot com. [...]

Additionally the picture taking mode saves data to the hard drive, so this camera really is the one solution for all my imaging needs. 30G will store a lot of pictures!

If you want to work with HD right now, you need to go with the Sony Windows software, or go buy an HDV camcorder. But if you're willing to use it in SD mode now, you can get a workflow going on the Mac with the SR1. And I really expect full HD support for this camcorder will be in the next revision of the software.

Don't bash a product because it uses a new spec that the software doesn't yet support! The products have only been on the market a week or two. Apple and Adobe and everyone else will surely support these cameras.

And when they do, these will be the solution that can't be beat!

I bought an M71 battery and spent 4 hours driving around shooting video-- at the end of it, only had 5GB of video and still had batterylife left... this camera is nice to the batteries, and the hard drive is so big that in SD mode, you can get 27 hours of footage at the highest bitrate! Its nice to not be limited by having to swap tapes.

Great Camera all around, fully featured and image quality is great, though if you do a lot of night shooting you probably want a three-chip camera.


->Cheap Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I purchased this camcorder last week and have confirmed with Sony that it is absolutely not Mac compatible. Sony's software is Windows-only and their proprietary AVCHD format is not supported by anyone other than Sony (so far) it seems. There is not any software I could find for the Mac that works with the camcorder. Perhaps this will change with time.

The software that Sony provides is pretty bad and in fact, I have not gotten the video playback to work cleanly. The user interface is clunky and not intuitive.

The hardware (i.e .the camcorder itself) seems pretty solid and usable but I'm very disappointed in the rest. I'm sending mine back.


->Lowest Price Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I received the camcorder a couple of days ago to replace my older Sony miniDV camcorder that is nine years old (still works well). I bought the new one after buying a Samsung 46" LCD flat screen and seening what I have been missing in HD television and it made the my existing camcorder look mediocre. I needed an HD camcorder to go with the HD display.

I have seen other photographers using hard drive camcorders with USB ports and decided then that I would go that for next purchase of a camcorder. I saw two advantages over the miniDV tape of the hard drive: (1)the ability to transfer the images onto a computer quickly (it is more than twice as fast as transferring a miniDV tape using firewire) and (2) the HD had 4 hours or more of operation without changing tapes. I film my son's sporting events that run two hours and changing tapes is always ackward.

I have used on trial basis a camcorder that had the small DVD burner built inside and it worked fine but the need for for having the camcorder operate on the charger for 15 minutes or more to "finalize" the disk was very annoying. I also worry about the miniDVD disks skipping during filming while using miniDVD camcorders in high shake environments such as in the back of speedboat. The just seem intuitively more vibration prone, but I could be worried about nothing. Thus I chose the hard drive version over the miniDV tape and the miniDVD disk similiar camcorder that Sony sells.

Thus far the device has worked well and looks great on the HD large screen TV. I film my son's first football game in HD tommorrow. I had to go back to the store to buy the bigger QM71 battery. The battery the come with camcorder claims to work 90 minutes, but this goes by quickly. The QM71 battery lasts for more three hours. I amd considering also buying the QM91 battery but it very thick and takes up lots of space behind the camera. I like to have two batteries, one to charge and one to use. I also bought a travel charger for the camcorder that makes it possble to charge the battery at home while using the camcorder untethered with a second battery.

I read reports about some people no liking the touch screen and finding it confusing. This is a complicated and it is at time confusing but I like the touch screen.

The worst part of the camcorder is not the camera at all, the software is not up to the rest of the amazing capabilities of the rest of the gear. I use the camera with Windows XP and so I used the free sony software the came with the camera. THe camera puts out .m2ts files. I would guess that none of your current software recognizes this. Mine certainly did not and I have lots of different current software. Apparently .m2ts is the file extentions for the new AVC/H.264 the Sony and Panasonic (of VHS tape fame) are jointly trying to establish. I bought this camera because I this this new disk format with dominated the prosumer video space and many companies will sell slick software for it.

One surprise (it should not have been but I did think about it) was that the HD video images require much more computing horsepower to display than the prior generations of video. A 3 GHz Pentium 4 is the bare minimum to allow a PC to show the video images without jerkyness (Also the new Pentium DUOs work was well). If your current computer is a little old you can use the camcorer to play the videos on your flatscreen but this is not a long term solution. Is possible to fairly easily move videos back forth between the camcorder and your old computer using the USB port. The transfer speed is around 500 MB per minute so the entire 30GB may take an hour. I may a little optimistic on this transfer rate but it not way off. I have just done a few transfers thus far and never have I transfer the whole drive. The longest transfer was 20 minutes and this around 1/3 of a drive. This is much, much fast than the 120MB per minute that I have been getting using my miniDV tape drive on my old Sony camcorder. The radical increase in transfer speed is what I was looking for. While the now think of this as being awesome fast, it will not take more than a few weeks before I think that even this speed is painfully slow. That is why technology is, never enough.

The camera controls, zoom, etc are fairly conventional. Although the detail in the images is awesome since they are HD. I use the 10X optical zoom with a 2X digital zoom mode selected which give me plenty of zoom range. There is a 10X digital zoom range mode but the images are very pixelated at the extreme end of the zoom.

The camera is surprisingly small and compact, moreso than my old camcorder.

The sound is awesome (Dolby 5 channel surround sound). I never new how important sound was until four years ago when I got the surround sound for my DVD player. Have surround for football games and basketball game filming will put the crowd behind me and the field noises in front of me. I will learn more how works out in the future, but inital test show it is working as it seems it should.

The real test will come after using the camera couple of months and seeing all the difference in the new film results. I sure the camera will out well. I many have to buy a new computer or a new video card to using my computer as a player, but I still have some software changes to try.

I can burn traditonal DVDs or a new kind of HD DVDs (called AVCHDs). If I get a bluray burner I can make Bluray HD DVDs. Many options for playback. I store all of our currently family videos on a 750GB hard disk for which I have a USB 750GB drive for backup. I like this method of storing the video collection. Many Blurays or othe DVDs is not my first choice. I have seen dedicated HD video players that can operate through the ethernet. This another avenue to explore. Meanwhile I will use the camera as a video player and see if buy a new video card for my computer fixes my jerkiness with my 2.5 GHZ Pentium computer.

The best thing about the camera is the awesome look of the videos on the large flatscreen LCD display and the worst thing is the annoying software that comes for free with the camera (although it does 75% of what you want).