Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 – a tough competitor to Flip Video

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Options to record in both 720p and 1080p video, one touch video upload capability to sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Removable battery and memory, bundled device is compatible with both Mac and Windows. Two card slots: SD card and Memory Stick Duo. The camcorder can focus on objects close up.

Thumbs Down:

Large, doesn’t come bundled with HDMI cable, no carrying case, Picture Motion Browser Portable software doesn’t work on some OS.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 is a 1080p camcorder, 20x digital zoom, has 1/2.5” optical sensor, videos are stored in H.264, MPEG-4 format, minimum shutter speed is 1/15 second, maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 second. Camcorder sensor resolution is 5 megapixels, camcorder effective video resolution is 2.07 megapixels, camcorder effective still resolution is 5.038 megapixels, images are stored in JPEG format, supported resolution is 1080p, 720p, 480p.

The Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 has Zoom lens – 6.3 mm – 31.5 mm – F/3.3, focal length is 6.3 mm – 31.5 m, lens aperture is F/3.3, has 5x optical zoom, minimum focal length is 6.3 mm, maximum focal length is 31.5 mm, additional features include USB 2.0 compatiblity, YouTube capture mode, Face detection and USB charging. Bundled accessories are wrist strap. The device comes with a 2.5 inch color LCD. Connectors included are 1 x Component video output, 1 x HDMI output, 1 x Composite video/audio output, 1 x USB. Cables included with the camcorder are Component video / audio cable, 1 x A/V cable and 1 x USB cable. The device is powered by Li-ion rechargeable battery – 980 mAh and Sony gives a 1 year warranty for the MHS-CM5

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 weighs about 6.9 ounces, it is 1.6 inches deep, 2.8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. This camcorder will fit in a pants pockets but pushing this unit in to the pants won’t be as easy as a mobile phone. We think this product is more of a bag friendly than pocket friendly.

Inside Dope:

In the cheap pocket camcorder market, Flip Video is the current reigning champion and Sony hasn’t given us anything better than Flip in the past. Sony’s camcorders are characterized by the vertical design and are in the $150-$250 price range. Sony’s NSC-GC1, a net sharing camcorder did very poorly in the market and back then, Sony camcorders went with the name “Webbie”. Since then the name has been changed to “Bloggie” and the MHS-CM5 that we got in our test was a bit better than Flip Video. The main reason behind this is the inclusion of a 5x optical zoom. Other features on the camcorder include a rechargeable lithium ion battery, 2.5 inch swiveling LCD, 5x optical zoom, and 1080p video capture. You can charge the camcorder through the USB port and the device also comes with an HDMI connector.

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 can record full HD 1920×1080 pixel resolution videos and the files are stored in H.264-compressed MPEG-4 format. There is support for Memory Stick Duo and SHDC cards. There is 60 frames per second 720p mode and the Picture Motion Browser Portable software can now also be used on Macs.

Inclusion of 5x optical zoom is what made our eyeballs pop out on the Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5. Camcorders in this category, like Flip Video, come with only digital zoom which is useless because the image quality degrades when you dig in zooming. The optical zoom of the CM5 isn’t stellar and the autofocus is a bit slow zoomed but still optical zoom feature is nice to have in such devices. You will have to keep your video really steady or else your videos will appear shaky.

One thing that the Flip Video camcorder doesn’t have and the CM5 does, is the ability to focus on objects as close as two inches. You cannot use the Sony’s Steady Shot electronic image stabilization in the 720p 60fps or 1080p capture settings. However, the stabilization feature can be used in the 30 fps or 640×480 mode. The video was better without the stabilization feature but it had fewer artifacts and the clips looked jittery. If you want rock solid quality, we would recommend you to use a tripod or monopod, the CM5 comes with a threaded tripod mount on the bottom.

The CM5’s image quality was pretty decent, and it was better than Ultra HD and Flip Mino. The color is oversaturated and extremely warm. On the bright side, the video looks sharp and the exposure adjustment of the camcorder is really fast. The backlit subjects are underexposed but this is not uncommon in a pocket camcorder. When shooting in low light, there was softness and noise, when we were shooting in low light. The shutter speed of the CM5 occasionally drops until it adjusts. The video still looks really good on the device.

It is very easy to get used to the camera but novice users may have to go through the manual to get hang of it. Flip camcorders were easy to use but they didn’t have a lot of settings to change. You switch on the device by opening the LCD. The menu buttons gives you options for face detection, image stabilization, and resolution. You can also switch for still-image capture mode and turn on features like face detection.

The Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery which gives you 105 minutes of recording time. You can buy NP-BK1 if you need more backup. The audio recording of the Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 is average but there is no mic input for adding a optional stereo mic. We had this in Creative Vado HD 3rd Generation and Kodak Zi8.

With a 1080p camcorder, you can view the captured videos on a large HDTV. Though the quality of the video is not as good as full fledged camcorder, it is still a nice feature to have. The only drawback is that the HD videos take up a lot of space and hence you got to have a bigger memory card. Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 comes with a 8 GB card which, at VGA/30fps mode gives you 480 minutes, at 720/30fps gives you 240 minutes, 720/60 fps gives you 160 minutes and at 1080/30fps gives just 80 minutes of clips.

Flip Video’s claim to fame was the fact that it was easy to get videos off the device and distribute them. Sony’s tries to do the same in the Bloggie MHS-CM5 but we feel that the manufacturer needs to a bit more. Picture Motion Browser Portable 5.0 application comes along with camcorder and gets installed on the computer when you plug it in. We were delighted to find that the software runs both on Mac and Windows. For the latter, there is additional support, you can extract stills from the videos and also trim the clips. There is one-touch upload support to Shutterfly, PhotoBucket, Picasa, DailyMotion and YouTube. You can also e-mail the videos to your family and friends.

The software won’t work on OS X, Windows7 Starter Edition and 64-bit Windows 7. However, you can drag and drop the files and Apple users can use iMovie for editing. But you will probably get confused while dragging and dropping because the Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 has two virtual card slots, internal memory and there are three separate drives so you are likely to spend some time hunting for your clips. This isn’t a deal breaker but certainly annoying, we wished the camcorder was a bit more user friendly in this respect. You will also have to keep the LCD open in order to connect the device to a computer. Accidents are likely to happen if the camcorder is plugged in while open. One thing that this camcorder scores above Flip Video camcorders is the ease of sharing.

Nitty Gritty:

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 does have short comings but they are easily eclipsed by the compact shape and its features like 5x optical zoom, close focus, removable battery and memory. We would recommend the MHS-CM5 if you are looking for a compact, user friendly pocket camcorder.