The march towards freedom from camcorder tapes continues. Sony just announced their own set of tape-free HD models. The previous leaders in this arena were the Panasonic HDC-SD1, which uses SD (Secure Digital) cards and the Sony HDR-SR1, which stores video on a 30 GB hard drive. The SR-1 has been due to for an upgrade, and fortunately that is what Sony is about to deliver.

The Sony HDR-CX7 records high-definition video to Memory Stick Pro Duos (Sony’s version of the SD card). Interesting features include smooth slow record, which records 3-second bursts of high frame-rate video (records 240 frames per second instead of the standard 60 frames per second). The result is that, when you play this video back at the regular frame rate, it appears to be in slow motion without the usual jerkiness associated with this. Still shots are possible, but I don’t recommend video cameras for still pictures. The 4 GB Memory Sticks can hold abut 30 minutes of HD-video, which is reasonable given the easy of uploading and the ability to carry several sticks with you.

Sony also announced two hard disk-based HD camcorders: the HDR-SR5 and the HDR-SR7. The SR5 has a 40 GB drive for up to 5 hours of HD video, while the more spacious SR7 offers a 60 GB drive for up to 8 hours. Other features are fairly similar, though the SR7 also has a higher quality sensor.

The CZ7 will set you back about $1199 (list price) while the SR5 can be had for $1099. The SR7 is a bit more pricey at $1399. All three of these cameras use the poorly supported AVCHD format, so hold off until better software is available for managing and editing this video.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 2:58 am and is filed under general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.