Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1 – silver – 1080p mini-camcorder
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Swiveling lens, attractive looks, memory card slot, rechargeable li-ion battery, can record at 1080p full HD resolution.
Thumbs Down:
You have to purchase memory card separately, you cannot recharge battery in the camcorder (you need the bundled battery charger)
Inside the Trunk:
Sony Picture Motion Browser, utilities and drivers, wrist strap, Component video / audio cable, A/V cable and USB cable
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1 is a 1080p HD mini-camcorder, optical sensor is 1/2.5″, has 4x digital zoom, maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 second, minimum shutter speed is 1/30 second, videos are stored in H.264, shooting programs include sports mode, back light, low light, landscape. The PM1 has a 1.8 inch TFT LCD display
Camcorder sensor resolution is 5 mega pixels, effective still resolution is 5.038 mega pixels, effective video resolution is 2.07 mega pixels, the device has 12 MB of internal memory and images are stored in JPEG. Connectors on the PM1 include remote control, USB, Component video output, Composite video/audio output.
The lens of the mini-camcorder is Lens – 7 mm – F/3.6, minimum focal length is 7mm, and lens aperture is F/3.6. The device is powered by Sony NP-BK1 Li-ion rechargeable battery.
Razzle Dazzle:
Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1 looks just like Flip Video MinoHD and has attractive looks. The camcorder has cell phone like dimensions; it is 0.9 inch deep, 2.2 inches wide, 4 inches tall and weighs 4.2 colors. There are three options for colors – silver, orange and purple.
Inside Dope:
We love these YouTube friendly camcorders which don’t have a lot of advanced features that full fledged camcorders have but certainly offer great value for money with their simple point and shoot interface. Sony’s first attempt in this category, the NSC-GC1 was a disaster but they are back with MHS-PM1 Webbie HD which is just like Flip Video MinoHD. If you are willing to spend a bit more, you can get MHS-CM1 which has a 5x zoom lens.
There no shortage of options on the PM1 when it comes to video shooting. If you have plenty of memory space, go for the high quality 1080p resolution at 30 fps. You can also shoot at 720p resolution and finally if you are on low memory, go for the VGA resolution. The label on the camcorder says ‘HD’ but is miles behind the full fledged HD camcorders which offer a plethora of features and also costs a lot more. This device was however, never made to compete with those high end devices, they are made to shoot videos for sites like YouTube. We really liked the way the lens swiveled on the top of the device. You can shoot yourself and when not in use you can keep the lens protected by turning it down. The camcorder is automatically turned on when you swivel the lens up.
The camcorder has an internal memory of 12 MB which is nothing for shooting videos so you will to get a separate Memory Stick Duo card. A four gig card can hold 1 hour and 15 minutes at 1080p resolution and two hours of video in the 720p resolution. A single clip is limited to 25 minutes and the device tells you the remaining time on the display. The camcorder doesn’t come with a card; you will have to spend more. Sony’s memory cards cost a bit more than standard SD cards.
The camcorder is powered by a lithium ion battery but it cannot be charged inside the unit. You have to open up the battery compartment and charge the battery through the given external charger. It doesn’t have an HDMI port either.
One of the biggest advantages of such mini-camcorders is its easy to use interface. However when you compare it to the Flip Video MinoHD, the PM1 has put in a few extra features to enhance user experience but it might confuse some people. Mino HD had a switch-on-and-get-started interface but you might need some time to get used to this. On the bright side, the buttons are placed well and clearly labeled. You have four scene modes (backlight, low light, landscape and sports), auto mode and self-timer
On the side there are two buttons which bring up the options for menu and there is button on the front of the device that looks like ‘return’ button. But in fact, it is Sony’s proprietary Sharemark image tagging which can be used only by the Picture Motion Browser software bundled with the gadget. Sony could have made operating the device a bit easier.
The video and photo quality (yes, it can capture photos also) of the camcorder is ok, for video, we would recommend you not to go below the 1080p video setting to get the best out of this device. Lower resolution videos look miserable. You will have to hold the camcorder extremely steady or else the videos will look shaky however, you can attach the device to a tripod. The video quality, though good, cannot compare with the high end camcorders. The microphone on the device is good, it records good audio and the speaker volume is not too low when you are reviewing the videos on the PM1.
Photograph quality wasn’t that good but it better than camera phone quality. The photographs had a lot of noise in dim light environments. The bundled camcorder software doesn’t come on the device, instead there is a disc. The software is not as intuitive and user friendly when compared to the MinoHD software. There is no ‘undo’ feature for simple actions trimming down the video. Fortunately uploading video is easy once you get used to the menu interface.
The camcorder compatible with both PC and Mac but the bundled Picture Motion Browser software will work only on PC. If you have Mac you can drag and drop videos from the memory card to a folder on the computer and then upload it to sites like YouTube.
Nitty Gritty:
Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1 can record 1080p video, it has rechargeable lithium ion battery, has expandable memory and an attractive design but video quality is not as what other competitors are offering. We would recommend you to get Flip Video MinoHD which is easier to use and has better video quality.
