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Sony HDR-SR12 Gets Reviewed (Verdict: It's a Winner)
Posted by Sean Fallon at 12:15 PM on April 1, 2008
According to Camcorder Info, Sony's HDR-SR12 is continuing to push the AVCHD format forward as a viable successor to HDV. It is, by far, the best Sony HDD camcorder on the market—and with 120GB under the hood, it is unmatched in the AVCHD category in terms of capacity. As far as performance is concerned, the SR12 held its own against even the intimidating Canon VIxza HF10, with only a slight inferiority in picture sharpness. They also noted that Sony's Exmor CMOS sensor and Bionz processor has improved in leaps and bounds over their top HDV camcorder, the HDR-HD9.
Sony says that their new entry-level HVR HD-1000U video camera brings professional high definition moviemaking for "wedding videographers, freelancers and educational video creators." So why is this camera good for filming high-def porn? For one, the shoulder-mount design will tighten those pans, as will the Super SteadyShot optical image stabilizer. Not to mention the Smooth Slow Rec, for 240 fields per second slow-motion shots.
The GV-HD700E, Sony's first foray into on-the-move HD video editing is coming out in Europe this Fall. Chockablock with pro features, it boasts a seven-inch widescreen LCD and has just three buttons for 14 functions (which include search, index mark and playback zoom). On top of that, the GV-HD700E can play back HDV as well as short-play and long-play miniDV tapes. You might want to see some more stats while you're here.
I feel a little bit guilty. The guys at Camcorderinfo.com, namely David Kender and John Neely, went to extreme measures to benchmark the four HD camcorders fighting for dominance in the very new consumer HD market. They wrote, like, over 10,000 words, and spent hours or possibly even days recording footage of the dude shown at right. And here I come along and blurt out the results in the freaking headline. The Canon HV20 ($1,000 to $1,100) beat out the Sony HDR-HC7 ($1,060 to $1,170), the Panasonic HDC-SD1 ($1,070 to $1,160), and the newcomer, JVC's Everio GZ-HD7 ($1,520 to $1,700). It didn't win hands-down, exactly, but in most cases it handily nudged out the competition.
