This camcorder from Sony has GPS built in and it is something that surprised us when we got the product in our test centers. Other than that is has the new Exmor-R back-illuminated CMOS sensor inside. You cannot use the GPS feature for heavy use since it lacks features that you find in dedicated GPS systems but we thought this was a really cool thing to have in a camcorder. Sony also puts in a lot of new technology in to the camcorder to make it one of the best in its class. This series offers two camcorders, HDR-XR500V which has a 120 GB hard drive and stores 14.5 hours of video in best quality and there is XR520V which has a 240 GB hard drive and gives you 29.3 hours of video recording in best quality. We were glad that the record button was very close to the thumb hence making it easy to operate. However the mode button which toggles between video and photograph mode is positioned in such a way that it is difficult to reach. We had to use our  [...]

This camcorder from Sony is hard disk based; it is an 80 GB model. The presence of hard disk makes the device heavy but the protrusion makes it easy to handle. We thought that Sony has got this device a bit over priced, there are other camcorders offering the same set of features and for a smaller price. The device has a touch screen interface; the screen is a bit small and if you have thick fingers, be wary of mishits because the buttons are tiny. The camcorder doesn’t have headphone or microphone jacks, accessory shoe, video light or flash. What you do get on the HDR-XR100 is USB connectors, proprietary AV and mini-HDMI. There is a lens cover which protects the lens of the device. There is a 5.1 channel microphone which we thought was more of a gimmick than a necessity and it could have been sacrificed to bring the price down. Behind the hard drive is the photo button and zoom switch. The latter is a difficult to control because it is a bit wobbly.  [...]

You rarely find a compact camera that gives stellar performance in low light conditions. DSC-WX1 is trying to be the first one in this class and it has put high-end lens, fast image processor and new sensor design to do this and we must say that photos under dim light now look better. The faster processor also gives you a speedy camera. This camera has Sony G f2.4 wide-angle lens (which is quite fast) and back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor to give you the same set of capabilities that was the bigger HX1 achieved. The controls are all located at the back, next to the LCD but this doesn’t make it looked crowded. On the top of the DSC-WX1 there are a couple of buttons like shutter release, a button for high speed shooting and power button. The shutter release and power key are located quite close to each other and we had problems with this. Often we ended up switching off the camera when we were trying to access the shutter button. For all the  [...]

DCR-SX41 is a camcorder from Sony which has 60x megazoom lens, 8 GB of internal memory and there is also an expansion slot to put more memory. This device is made for people who don’t need too many features or are confused with such convoluted options. What you get in the end is a simple to use camcorder without any advanced features and mediocre performance. The inferior quality will show when you view the videos on a big HDTV. The battery peeps out from the back of the camcorder and below there is power input and the card slot for putting Memory Stick Pro Duo cards. Apart from this, there are five buttons for turning the display information on and off, a key for directly recording on to the DVD, Backlight option, easy button that relieves you all the advanced features and gives you a simple ‘point and shoot’ interface. Rest all of the  [...]

Sony has brought a lot of changes in the new DSC TX1 and we welcome them with open hands. For example, in full resolution mode, the camera can shoot at ten fps and gives good pictures in conditions of low light. The features of the camera are great for the price it is offered. However when you view the photographs at heavily cropped or at full size you will notice they lack fine detail, artifacts/noise, etc. If you are going to take prints, it is best at sizes of 8x10 inches or lower. The camera has a touch screen interface so there are very few buttons like zoom rocker, key to start the playback mode and shutter and power buttons. You can also power the camera by sliding the lens cover down. For everything else there are touch screen buttons. The touch screen is quite responsive (though not as responsive as iPhone or alike) and didn’t take much time to register our touches. There is a stylus included which gives you a mobile phone like feel.  [...]

We were always uncomfortable with recording video directly on to the DVD discs within the player and one of the reasons for this was the moving parts reduce the life of the battery. But then, there came in the concept of internal memory flash drives and the memory capacity has got bigger and hence it has made way in to the camcorders. There is a 60x zoom feature on the camcorder and it is user friendly, there are two reasons behind this, firstly because the camcorder has a touch screen interface so you are not overwhelmed with too many buttons and secondly, there is shortage of options for shooting. You can also record and store video on Sony cards of Memory Stick but video quality is mediocre and you will see the inferiority vividly when you watch it on an HDTV. If you have a larger wallet or if you are a camcorder enthusiast, you can get DVD850 which will set you back by $429.99. You can store videos on the memory card and then burn them to the three inch DVD disc directly on  [...]