Digital Camcorder Reviews

Sony HDR-TG1 Highlights

1920×1080 Recording Record stunning, incredibly detailed video footage in the clarity of 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution.

Lightweight and compact

Lightweight, Pure Titanium Body Slim and lightweight–only 8oz without the battery–the HDR-TG1’s body is constructed of high-quality pure titanium. Additionally, a Premium Hard Coating is applied on the body surface (except for hinge and lens ring area), providing superior resistance to scratches and fingerprints.

Face Detection for Video Footage and Digital Still Photos Made possible by the BIONZ image processing engine, Face Detection technology recognizes up to 8 faces anywhere in the frame and automatically controls focus, exposure, and color to help capture smiling faces brightly and clearly. Face Detection technology also helps make skin tones look natural without affecting other colors in the image.

Supremely Mobile Design Sony has created a camcorder with the ability to fit in a shirt pocket, yet still capture stunning Full HD resolution video and 4.0 megapixel still images. Whether for personal or business use, around town or on vacation, the HDR-TG1 is the ideal travel companion for capturing those special memories.

2..3 Megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor derived technology) and BIONZ image processor Sony’s newly designed CMOS image sensor delivers bright, vivid, and spectacularly detailed 2.3 megapixel (effective) video footage, as well as 4.0 megapixel still images–all with prolonged battery life. Exmor technology captures images with high resolution and high sensitivity. In addition, the advanced Sony BIONZ image processor improves camera response time and screens out noise so the signal from each pixel is as pure as possible.

2.7-inch Wide (16:9) Hybrid Touch Panel Clear Photo LCD Plus Display (211K Pixels) The 2.7-inch Wide (16:9) LCD screen provides exceptional viewing clarity with improved resolution (211K pixels). The display rotates up to 270 degrees for multiple viewing angles, as well as provides sharp, detailed images for monitoring or playback. The widescreen format makes shooting in 16:9 mode and composing shots even easier.

Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization System An advanced version of Super Steadyshot Picture Stabilization from Sony controls an even higher range of shake and vibration frequencies, to achieve an even higher level of smoothness without degradation of video like some other image stabilization systems.

10x Optical/20x Digital Zoom The optical zoom helps to bring the action close up from far away. In addition, Digital Zoom Interpolation means that extreme digital zooming is clearer, with less distortion than previous types of digital zoom.

Built-in zoom microphone with 5.1ch recording Featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator, the built-in zoom microphone focuses audio recording on your subjects in sync with the camera’s zoom lens, helping memories ring true with clear dialogue and crisp, discrete sounds.

Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens

Professional Quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lenses use highly advanced optics to deliver vivid image brilliance, true-to-life color saturation, and perfect renditions of subtle tones.

Picture Motion Browser Software Supplied software makes it easier to upload, organize, search, and edit video and still images on your PC. With the included Handycam®Station, Picture Motion Browser software also provides one-touch operation to create a disc of your video or digital photos.

Dynamic Range Optimizer Powered by Sony’s exclusive BIONZ high-speed processing engine, D-Range Optimization preserves image data in bright highlights, such as suppressing “whiteout” in skies. When shooting in backlit settings, D-Range Optimization reveals more detail in shadows, preventing “blackout.” As a result, the captured image appears as natural as the original scene.

Dolby Digital 5.1ch Recording Record in Dolby Digital 5.1ch surround sound with the camcorder’s built-in microphone. Recording in 5.1 channel surround sound allows you to experience your home movies with active sounds coming from all directions, so you can enjoy your personal home movies the way you experienced them while recording.

Smooth Slow Recording By increasing the record rate from 60 fields per second (fps) to 240 fps for 3 seconds allowing you to capture 3 seconds of fast motion and play the video back in 12 seconds. This is great for analyzing a golf swing or a viewing a bird in flight. In addition, record an audio track to narrate what is being seen during the video.

x.v. Color Technology x.v.Color technology can capture or display nearly twice as many (1.8x) viewable colors than the standard RGB color range. This provides a more accurate and vivid color range, for a more natural, lifelike overall experience.

Dual Record While recording video in High Definition you have the ability to capture still images directly to Memory Stick Duo media (4GB3 Memory Stick PRO Duo media included).

Quick On

Quick On Missing an important scene can be frustrating, especially if the reason is because your camcorder is turned off. With the ‘Quick On’ feature, the touch of a single button places that camcorder in Sleep mode. Another push instantly wakes the camcorder, so you’ll always be ready to capture special moments.

PhotoTV HD Viewing with HDMI Output With direct HDMI output to your compatible HDTV screen, you can view and share photos in breathtaking clarity and detail. You can choose between standard 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio–and with select Sony BRAVIA HDTV models, your photos are automatically optimized in sharpness, gradation, and color reproduction.

Face Index Face Index makes it easier than ever to find and play back the right video scene. Using Face Detection technology, Face Index indexes your video footage according to the faces detected in each scene. When it’s time to play back video, simply search for what you want by selecting from among the detected faces displayed in the index.

Film Roll Index Like chapters in a book, Film Roll Index helps you easily find desired scenes in video footage. When using this feature, the camcorder previews the beginning of scenes and can create scene indexes set at specified display intervals (3, 6, or 12 seconds and 1 or 5 minutes).

One Touch Disc Burn Easily burn a DVD copy of your footage using the supplied software. Simply connect the camcorder to your PC via a USB cable and press the One Touch Disc Burn Button.

InfoLITHIUM Battery with AccuPower Meter System Unlike NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, Sony’s rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries are not subjected to a life shortening “Memory Effect,” so you’re free to charge the battery at any time. Additionally, Sony’s exclusive AccuPower meter displays the battery time remaining in minutes, in either the viewfinder or on the LCD screen.

Handycam Station

Handycam Station Simply placing the camcorder on the supplied Handycam Station provides quick connections to a TV for viewing or a PC for editing and sharing, all while charging the battery so your camcorder is always ready to go.

Stamina Battery Power Management System When using the Sony InfoLITHIUM Battery, the Stamina Battery Power Management System helps the camcorder prolong battery life for extra long continuous recording times from a single charge.

Battery Information At the touch of a button, battery information is displayed on the LCD screen when charging and when the camcorder is turned off. When using the LCD screen or viewfinder, the display will show how much the battery is charged–in 10% increments–and the recordable time left.

HDMI Connection with BRAVIA Sync (CEC) Technology HDMI connectivity provides a simple, high-quality video and audio connection, with the ability to transmit HD video and 5.1 channel audio directly from the camcorder to compatible HDTVs via a single cable. With BRAVIA Sync (CEC) technology, the HDMI connection also delivers the ability to control both the camcorder and HDTV using a single BRAVIA TV remote.

Built-in Intelligent Flash For added clarity and detail when taking pictures in low-light situations, the built-in flash improves pictures and reduces shadows.

BIONZ Image Processor The advanced Sony BIONZ Image Processor uses hardware-based Large Scale Integrated (LSI) circuitry that improves camera response time, screens out noise before RAW data conversion, handles Dynamic Range Optimization processing, and prolongs battery life.

Exmor Imaging Sensor Exmor technology captures video and still photo images with high resolution, high sensitivity, and exceptional detail. Advanced on-sensor A/D conversion yields rich tonal reproduction with high signal-to-noise ratio.

Tele Macro Function Images shot in the Tele Macro Mode help your subject stand out by properly focusing the subject while leaving the background unfocussed. The Tele Macro Mode is useful for shooting close-up shots, especially when you need to prevent the camcorder from casting a shadow on the subject.

Date Index Function Search recorded content by shooting date to quickly and easily find a specific scene.

Switchable HD/SD Format Recording Record and play back both High Definition (HD)4 and Standard Definition (SD) video.

USB 2.0 Interface The USB 2.0 interface provides an easy way to connect your camcorder to a PC for fast transfer of video and still images for editing.

Manual Focus Manually adjust the focus of the camcorder using the touch panel. Manual focusing also allows the user to control the focus in difficult situations where either the environment or the subject does not allow the camcorder’s auto focus to perform optimally, such as when shooting through a window or in a crowded environment.

Memory Stick PRO Duo Media Slot Capture still images directly onto Memory Stick PRO Duo media (sold separately) for easy transfer to PCs for emailing, printing, or sharing with other compatible Memory Stick devices (sold separately).

Fader Effects Enhance your personal videos by adding professional looking fader effects. Choose from Black and White.

Picture Effects Get creative when recording or playing back your videos with Sony’s Picture Effect Modes. Effects available in Camera mode: Monotone, Pastel and Sepia. Effects available in Playback mode: Monotone, Pastel and Sepia.

Scene Selection Modes Scene Selection modes make recording easy even when filming in challenging situations. Choose from Beach, Candle, Fireworks, Landscape, Portrait, Sports Lesson, Spotlight, and Sunrise and Sunset.

Multi-Language Menu Change the menu display from English to English (Simplified), Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, or Brazilian Portuguese

Review:
By Mark (North Carolina, USA)

I have this camera and a Canon HF10 so I’m going to lift some of the AVCHD-specific stuff from my HF10 review.

I bought the HF10 for it’s super-fast focus when shooting my kids’ sporting events. I bought the TG1 for it’s superior portability. I’m happy to say both are awesome cameras. One big negative for the Sony camera is that 16gb of memory (Memory Stick Pro Duo Mark 2) costs 2.5 times as much for this camera as it does for the HF10 which uses SDHC. That’s a complete rip off but no other HD video camera fits in your pocket like this one so that’s the price you pay for portability. Battery life is another price you pay but I got every video I wanted, in great quality, from the beach this past weekend and had plenty of battery and memory to spare. If you’re going to film long events this is not the camera for you. In still camera terminology think of it as pocket point-and-shoot and not an SLR.

This is a fantastic camera but people need to have more realistic expectations of what to expect from AVCHD. It is a highly compressed format so using this camera in low-light conditions is going to produce pretty “grainy” results. In good lighting AVCHD output from this camera can produce some really great looking results in HD but don’t kid yourself into thinking you’re going to get professional HDTV quality. This is a point-and-shoot.

This is a great camera if you use a Mac but you will probably find it very frustrating if you use a PC…

I use both Macs and PC and I have to tell you that you that PCs suck for AVCHD – you will waste a lot of time and pull your hair out. I’m sure PC video software vendors will address this eventually, but seriously folks if you want to do this the easy way get an Intel-based Mac (caveat: only Intel based machines using Leopard support AVCHD) and use either iMovie or Final Cut Express 4. Both of these programs (iMovie 08 and FCE4) just LOVE this camera (and Canon HF10 and hard disk-based Sony AVCHD as well) and they work like a charm. Video making has never been this easy. FCE4 lets you mix AVHCD, HDV and SD video on the same timeline and save in whatever format you want so it’s worth the $200 if you want to do that or have more exacting control over your videos. It is basically a (lightly) stripped-down version of Apple’s excellent professional video software (Final Cut Pro) and it is very good. For most home videos iMovie 08 (which comes in iLife 08) will be just fine. No, better than fine. You will LOVE how easy it is to create great movies with iMovie 08 and how easy it is to save them in a variety of formats and sizes and share them with friends and family. It is a piece of cake to edit movies in iMovie 08 and then put them on a Mac Web Gallery (at up to 960×540 which is higher than DVD quality) for family members to see or dump them out on a DVD (using iLife 08’s iDVD) for your family members who are less tech savvy. You can even dump them out to 1080p Quicktime movies if you desire. I enjoy sticking movies of the kids on my wife’s iPhone so she can show them to her friends.

I’ve had no problem transferring the movies directly from the camera but you do need to have the camera plugged into the AC to do it. You can avoid plugging the camera into your Mac to transfer the files by getting a memory stick reader. You can get a Transcend M5 reader here on Amazon for under $10 and it works great with the Memory Stick Duo Mark2 cards.

The video camera is just acting like a USB reader when you connect it to your Mac anyway – it is the file layouts that the software recognizes. When read in and converted to Apple Intermediate Codec at 1920×1080 they will balloon in size. If you want to store the raw video in a more compressed way you can simply copy the root directory of the card to another directory and copy it back again later. If you’re working with AVCHD you need to buy the biggest hard drives you can afford. 60 minutes of video will use up something like 50Gb of storage on your Mac when converted to 1920×1080. If you just want great looking home video to show on your HDTV, but don’t want to go broke on hard drives, Apple offers to import the movies at a slightly lower resolution (960×540) which takes up a LOT less space with very little drop in quality. I have been making home videos and showing them on an Apple TV at that resolution and they look stunning. The quality difference between that resolution and full HD isn’t that big of a deal.

If you want to try to get truly professional-quality video you should avoid AVCHD cameras and stick to the HDV format concentrating on cameras with larger sensors. But this is great camera for HD home videos at a great price.

The user interface on this camera is better than the Canon HDF10 for reviewing your video but sucks for adjustments on the fly. Adjusting exposure manually is a pain in the butt and the UI for it obscures a lot of the picture. I wish they had added a dial or button set for adjust exposure and/or backlighting control on the camera. In bright light the screen gets washed out enough that it is hard to tell if your exposure is really that great or not but I did find a neat trick. In bright sunlight the screen is easier to see if you tilt it at an angle forward rather than trying to keep it straight up and down. This is where a viewfinder would really help. But these are minor nits because the camera does a good job at exposure control on its own.

Still photos absolutely suck on this camera. Get a proper still camera if you care about stills. This is true of all of the video cameras – don’t count on them taking decent stills unless you want to use them at very low resolutions. They’re going to be better than the camera on your mobile phone but that’s not saying much

As I said earlier this is a very compact point-and-shoot camera that shoots HD video and for that it’s excellent. The beautiful thing about this camera is that it fits comfortably in your pocket. No other HD video camera out yet (as of 28-May-2008) can make that claim. For that reason you’ll probably take it with you more often and pull it out for a quick video here and there. To me that makes it worth the price of the expensive memory cards because your memories are priceless – especially of your kids growing up.

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