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Research the Sony HDR-SR11
Editors' Comments
Sharing nearly all the same features as it's big brother the HDR-SR12, the SR11 does it with half the hard drive space, providing up to seven hours of full HD video on it's 60GB hard drive for about $200 less.
Specifications
- New full 1920x1080 AVCHD HD video recording
- Sony face detection technology for video and photos
- identifies up to eight faces and corrects focus, exposure, color control, and when photos are taken, flash control
- Hybrid movie recording on Memory Stick media card and built-in 60GB hard disk drive, which can hold up to seven hours of video (HD mode)
- Dual record mode (movie and 7.6-megapixel photos) and slow motion video (240 fps) with audio
- 3.2-inch LCD (921K)
- Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization
Comments on the Sony HDR-SR11
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Sony HDR-SR11 Reviews
- 4.24592074592075 out of 5
Sony HDR-SR11 Reviews by Camcorder HQ Users
- 5.0 out of 5
I got mine online for under $600 bucks! It a super great camera. My only complaint is in poor light it is slow to focus. Also, with a UV protector lens on the camera, the flash doesn't work. So when you need a flash, you have to loosen that extra lens if you have it.
- 5.0 out of 5
I am happy with it. The sound pick up is great and paly back good
- 3.0 out of 5
The cam is a great shooter but the software is so bad that I would never recommend the camera to a friend. Go to the Canon or Panasonic for this size camera. Sony blew it with its video format incompatibility here big time.
- 5.0 out of 5
To the users who take stars away for so-called low quality still shots, gimme a break! Its a hi-def camcorder! It takes stills comprable to my Olympus 7.1 camera so if you want a high quality camera, BUY A STAND ALONE! To others that knock the software, well, you better brush up on your pc skills, I already had BD Solution and Power dvd 8 ultra so after taking some hi-def video, it was only a matter of min. before I had them burned on a blu-ray disc with my sony burner and the video was terrific! I've only owned it for a week but so far its exceeding my expectations and is way better than the JVC 80gb everio that I returned for this gem! So, if you dont know what your doing, dont post bad reviews because 98% of owners of this cam are completely satisfied and if cnet says its excellent, it is!
- 3.0 out of 5
I bought this camcorder thinking that it can be useful for video as well as for photos. But my expectations may be too high for this camcorder. Photo quality is OK. But not too good. lenses can sense only 5MP but not 10.1 MP. If it is not giving such a good photo quality, I think its better to go for cannon HF100 than Sony SR11. Video features are same for both and Canon is much lighter than Sony. I read in the sony SR11 manual that data may be deleted without warning sign from the hard drive. So now I am scared to record my videos and photos in Hard drive. Seeing the higher capacity memory sticks day by day for lesser price, I think instead of going for harddrive camcorder, its better to go for a memory slot camcorder. On the other hand its very simple to operate.
- 5.0 out of 5
Hi all -
I bought the SR11 after studying this site quite alot, and asking my 20 points worth of questions. Thanks James!
I was leaning towards the cannon family over Sony due to price for pretty much equal function, except then I saw example video of the 'jello movie' that the canon produces when shooting video from a moving object, like a car. It looked like crud - not useable at all. So the canon was out.
The SR12 is pretty much the same camera, but with double hard drive space. I planned, and do, upload my videos to a PC frequently, so 60GB was just fine for me.
I bought an extended battery - so I have about 155mins out of it, and about 75mins real useage times out of the stock battery. I shoot mostly soccer, and some BMX / MX, but a soccer game is 90 minutes, so I needed some spare battery. With my setup now, I can get 2 games in before I have to go recharge, which usually can cover me for a day until we get back to the hotel.
I bought a sony pro memory card, so I can take still pictures while shooting video - yes at the same time. At night this doesn't work so good. But in the daytime you can just fire off some still pics while the video is rolling, its pretty cool.
Anyways - I use the stock settings on the camera - shooting in 1080i or whatever. It looks sweet. I don't have any editing software yet, and no one can really watch AVCHD yet, so I've been using Picture Motion Browser to convert to .wmv, then post them online where the team can get to them for play review.
The PMB tool is kind of klunky. It takes a long time to convert from AVCHD to WMV or MPEG2, and I've got a decently fast PC - AMD4200+64bit, 512x2 SLI video, 2BG RAM...
One last thing for the .mac people - my wife tried hooking this thing up to her mac to import into imovie 08 or whatever - it didn't go. We thought the brand new mac had AVCHD support in imovie,, but maybe not.
It was shot from a cheap tripod on the sideline of a soccer game in Austin TX.
night time: http://elsaylor.com/night_sample.wmv
day time: http://elsaylor.com/stingsoccer/080308-game1/20080830120544.wmv
- 5.0 out of 5
I purchased this camcorder to film my daughters performance in a hugh stadium and the pictures and sound were awesome. The colors vivid, sound clear, very easy to use. Once I discovered this camera, I realized what real quality is like. The only drawback to this camcorder was the battery life, it lasted only 45 minutes, which is minute considerinig it's a 60G camera.
- 5.0 out of 5
Prior to a vacation in Boston I bought this camcorder and the result are outstanding for its price point and I work with professional broadcast HD equipment. The Redsox game both day time & nightime is well defined and shows good color with no noise, the stills pictures whilst recording video are average but at full res as a still camera very very good. fast pans are the only real weakness in video where you get strobing.
- 5.0 out of 5
I have had this baby since a month and i tried all kinds of shooting with this one . It actually made a me a moviemaker with it;s amazing results combined with sony vegas editing . This is one of the best value i have ever got , I will recommend this to anyone who can spend this amount because he simple will get what he paid for with this product
- 5.0 out of 5
I have had this camcorder for a fairly brief amount of time but it is truly amazing. It's high-def lipout viewfinder is awesome and controls are decent. I would have loved if it had an onscreen keyboard to type in title screens or video information since the screen is large enough to support it. Bouth this at my local Costco for $1099.
Sony HDR-SR11 Comments & Questions (write your own!)
Thanks
Steven
Comparing camcorders @ SONY the ones with the lux 2 are HDRCX7 and HDRSR5 ^^
elsaylor.com/night_sample.wmv
[i]Premiere Pro accepts HDV (High Definition Video) footage, as it did in the previous version, but it still doesn't work with AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) footage--when some video editors that cost about an eighth of its $799 street price do. Adobe says it may add AVCHD support after this initial release of the software.[/url] Meantime, you could use a third-party application to convert those files to a format that is supported.
UPDATE: This Adobe forum post ( adobeforums.com/webx?14@@.3... ) mentions that you can import and edit avchd from sony-camcorder directly in premiere pro cs3 if you install the new Main Concept plug-in ( mainconcept.com/site/prosum... ) for Adobe. I can't verify this, however.
hc-7E Lens:
Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar® T*
F 1.8-2.9
f (Focal Distance) (mm) 5.4-54
f (35mm conversion): Camera mode (mm) 16:9 Mode ; 40-400 / 4:3 Mode ; 49-490
f (35mm conversion): Memory mode (mm) 16:9 Mode ; 40-400 / 4:3 Mode ; 37-370
Filter Diameter (mm) 37.0
Zoom Ratio (Optical) 10.0
HDRSR11
Carl Zeiss®
Type Zoom lens - 4.9 mm - 58.8 mm - F/1.8-3.1
Focal Length 4.9 mm - 58.8 mm
Lens Aperture F/1.8-3.1
Optical Zoom 12 x
Focal length 4.9 mm -58.8 mm
Filter Size 37 mm
It's definitely not a connection issue b/c it happens even when the files are uploaded onto the computer itself. I updated everthing
that I could think of. Including the video codex. Sony tech support tried to help but couldn't come up w/ and answer. The one thing that I could try is running it on XP. I'll post an update when I do. Thanx again.
Hope this helps ^_^...
Also from my side thank you for your tips. However, the problem is still unsolved but I discovered a few more details.
The camera works great with the TV. Reinstalling the software didn't solve the problem. Then I installed a trial version from TotalMedia Theatre and it also works great as well as with Pinnacle Studio 11.
Conclusion: There must be something wrong with the codecs. Obviously it works only on a clean system. It seems that Picture Motion Browser has a problem with any of the other software like DIVX or similar. The question is only which one it could be.
By the way, contacting Sony support seems to be completely useless. I even visited a Sony support center but all what they could tell and show me was that it works fine on newly installed XP system. I use Vista and their suggestion was to change it back to XP :-)
Hope we can find a solution together!
The Codec that your camera encodes in is AVCHD. It uses an algorithm that is very compressed and yet, maintains a great deal of the video quality.
What you may want to try is uninstalling the Picture Motion Browser software adn then reinstalling it. Check for updates if the program offers that feature and then re-import.
I wrote already above that uninstalling the Picture Motion Browser software and then reinstalling didn't help.
Dear JC
can I download and install these codecs anywhere?
Yes there are lots of them ^^ but this might cause conflicts with regards to using other software like PMB
What im trying to say is that your other programs might also be using MPEG-4 AVC codec to play your videos and it might have a
different way of displaying the video on the computer that is why the colors arent what they're supposed to be...
Just to give you an example of codecs are K-lite codec pack, ffdshow, these sometimes might cause a conflict like personally i installed
k-lite codec pack on my pc and then used PMB to play the video but was not able to just got a white screen with a broken line on PMB
but when i uninstalled it everything worked fine...
Hope this helps ^_^
got you. Actually it is the very same what I think might be the reason. However, it's difficult to figure it out because I never installed codecs seperately but they are part of software like DIVX, VLC media player or similar including maybe software like Pinnacle Studio 11 or even Joost. Actually you should uninstall one by one to see whether PMB works.
What bothers me is that you can install other software like Total Media Theater or Nero 8 and everything works fine but it seems impossible to get PMB running correctly.
By the way, is there any way to check which codecs are installed and is it possible to uninstall them separately?
Sorry I can't be any help but I wanted to let you know that my PMB is working fine now. I'm not sure what I did. In fact I don't remember doing anything. I went away on vacation, came back, played the video from the vacation and it was working. The only reason I'm telling you this is to let you know it can be fixed. It's not impossible. The only things that I did before I went away was reinstall the software and update my DIVX software, which didn't work. So, the only thing that I can think of is that Microsoft must have included some kind of codec fix with their updates, which I have set to automatic. Other than than the 2 things that I did, I really didn't do anything else. I'll update you if I figure it out. Good Luck
Im not sure if it is possible to uninstall video codecs separately from the program on the pc but there might be a possibility to check
which codecs you might have try looking at the help option of the software you're using and check for supported file formats or just call
them up and ask T_T
@Daren
That's good to hear, and it is possible if you put your OS to automatically DL and install updates for you. PLS DO check back this would
be VERY USEFUL for EVERYONE thanks ^^
@James
Yes. That's right but just painstaking T_T
unfortunately no progress so far on my side. :-(
PMB is running smoothly for my HD vids, my MPC is still working great with rmvb, avi, mkv. But I can no longer play m2ts with MPC.
may consider as temp fix for some
to uninstall your existing codecs, install klite mega codec pack then uninstall again.
to download: www.free-codecs.com
esupport.sony.com/US/perl/s...
Thanks
I tried the above link updating PMB to the latest version. No change.
Then I found this link:
support.d-imaging.sony.co.j...
...and the part saying:
"If the graphics driver installed in the computer is not compatible with DirectX® 9, the following symptoms may occur.
* Images and their colors are not displayed properly when playing back videos"
I tried updating the graphics driver. In my case I found a new driver for my graphics card GeForce 8600M at Dells support site.
This solved my problem! :)
I hope this might help someone else.
It's the only thing that makes sense. Good luck everyone.
However, I updated the graphics drivers for my Precision M6300 and the result was ... - now everything works fine!
Didn't want to believe it after months of try and error and spending money for other software and in the end it was just so simple.
Why Sony never issued a statement related?
Thank you very much Jockster and hope that your information will be of help for all with similar problems.
Merci beaucoup
I have a Dell D630 laptop with an the Intel 965 express chipset video driver.
Hope that helps others.
to whom it may concern.
i have the same problem with my fujitsu-siemens laptop with intel r 965 graphic card and play back acvhd from sony hdrtg3e.
my intel r965 is compatible with direct x9, so i use the idea that carl describes above and i paste here (this is the solution really. now i have not problems and i am very happy) :
" I had this problem as well, but none of the issues above fixed the problem for me. After some trial-and-error, I finally determined that the display driver settings were causing some problems. I right-clicked on the desktop, selected properties to pull up the "Display Properties" window. I then clicked the "Settings" tab and then clicked the "Advanced" button. On the Plug and Play Monitor window, I clicked the "Troubleshoot" tab. This gave me the hardware acceleration options. After playing with this, I determined that when I moved the accelator from full down to the third option ("Displable all DirectDraw and Direct3d accelerations, as well as all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations. Use this setting to correct sever problems with DirectX accelerated applications."), the color problem was solved!"
I am just curious as to whether it can do standard def video to avoid transcoding.
Dave
camcorder is great. Yes, it does display in 4:3 SD. The HD is amazing. Why bother with the SD?
The reason for SD is that we are not using HD yet for training materials. However, the convenience of still/video and the ability to get HD when we need it for the price of an SD camcorder and separate still camera make this worth a look.
Thanks, Dave
But in the end, it may just come down to what camera feels good in your hand. Go to a local camera store and check both out side by side, holding them, feeling their center of gravity, the balance. How it sits in your hand. That usually sells me one way or the other.
The Canon uses a CCd pickup, the Sony uses a CMOS pickup.
However, the Sony picture gave me more distinctive detail when shooting in dark shadows. The Canon lost the subject in the same shadows.
The Canon gave me washed out detail when I aimed it at an indoor neon sign. The Sony gave me amazing detail of every tube of that neon sign and the area surrounding it. It looked just as it did as with my naked eye.
1/2.9 clear vid cmos sensor
1/3 clear vid cmos sensor
1/6 mega pixel ccd
also I want to know the meaning about this type.
Please clear the meaning in simple sentenses.
* CCD sensors, as mentioned above, create high-quality, low-noise images. CMOS sensors, traditionally, are more susceptible to noise.
* Because each pixel on a CMOS sensor has several transistors located next to it, the light sensitivity of a CMOS chip tends to be lower. Many of the photons hitting the chip hit the transistors instead of the photodiode.
* CMOS traditionally consumes little power. Implementing a sensor in CMOS yields a low-power sensor.
* CCDs use a process that consumes lots of power. CCDs consume as much as 100 times more power than an equivalent CMOS sensor.
* CMOS chips can be fabricated on just about any standard silicon production line, so they tend to be extremely inexpensive compared to CCD sensors.
* CCD sensors have been mass produced for a longer period of time, so they are more mature. They tend to have higher quality and more pixels.
Based on these differences, you can see that CCDs tend to be used in cameras that focus on high-quality images with lots of pixels and excellent light sensitivity. CMOS sensors traditionally have lower quality, lower resolution and lower sensitivity. CMOS sensors are just now improving to the point where they reach near parity with CCD devices in some applications. CMOS cameras are usually less expensive and have great battery life.
1/3" clear vid cmos sensor (sony handycam HDR-UX5E)and which is the beeter in performance .please clear the meaning(1/2.9"&1/3") in simple sentences
While both cameras have a 60GB internal hard drive with HD recording, the JVC GZ-HD3 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ) has slightly lower resolution. It also has a lower range of optical zoom at 10x versus the Sony HDR-SR11 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... )'s 12x optical. The JVC does have more digital zoom at 200x vs the Sony's 150x. Digital zoom will break down the image's resolution though.
The JVC also utilizes digital image stabilization (IS) instead of the Sony's optical IS. Optical IS is a much better performer than digital in that the digital shifts the image from frame to fram of video to counteract the motion. Optical IS or OIS is based on the lens. A mechanism in the lens varies the optical path to the sensor by either a gyroscope or electromagnets to stabilize the glass.
In my opinion, if you have the budget, I would go with the Sony HDR-SR11 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ). Good luck and happy shooting.
Andrew
Can I connect the camera to a PAL LCD or should I go first through a software conversion?Big mistake I guess :O(((
Thanks
I am planning to buy the same and will use it in PAL.
I think you could go either way depending on how often you replace your camcorder or when you plan on going blue ray. But if you have an HD TV already, you may as well take the leap.
elsaylor.com/night_sample.wmv
So yes, it's worth it. And the prices aren't really that high. You can get the HG10 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ) for under $800.
However, if you want to shoot video and then edit it to take out wasted scenes, add titles and music, etc., you're taking a hit in video quality by shooting native with a DVD camera. This is because the video on DVDs is encoded to MPEG2, a compressed format. It's great as an end of the line format, but not for shooting source footage.
Additionally, if your editor doesn't import MPEG2 footage, you will have to "re-encode" (also called demuxing) the footage into an editable format. It's a hassle for those of us who wish to edit our videos as a hobby.
However, for DVDs, you can take that DVD and "rip" it to your PC and then encode it into a more editible format. I recommend DVD Decrypter, MPEG Streamclip, and DVD Shrink. They will get your footage off the dvd and onto your PC. You can then use something like Videoera (PC) or Handbrake (Mac) to encode it to a more editable format. Depending on what editing software you use, you may be able to import mpeg2 and even VOB files directly. But understand that you're already starting with compressed footage, so the resolution quality will not be as good as if you had shot native with MiniDV tape and captured to your PC.
Good luck!
There are some issues, but it seems it has more to do with the Picture Motion Browser software. But there's a software update to address that here. ( kb.sony.com/selfservice/mic... )
BTW - have you upgraded to SP1? May help.
Sony HDR-SR1 & HDR-SR7 Power Mac G5 Intel-based Mac
HD mode - (AVCHD Only) No Yes
SD mode - (MPEG-2 Only) Yes Yes
Good battery life! (My DC100 gets about 80 minutes at best)
Great picture quality in general (DC100 is always swimming in and out of focus)
Really good low light quality (Again, DC100 is always blurry. I'm a Disney Travel agent so being able to take good recordings of fireworks/night time parades/even rides without using a bright light like infrared- I think is the feature- is a big help in my business.)
I'm tired of mini DVDs only allotting 30 mins of video (I don't want to sacrifice quality for longer taping)
I do like filming large quantities of footage so media is important (plus it's got to be pretty easy to carry around. Reason we switched from tape)
I'd like an HD since that seems to be the wave we're on, but it's not necessary.
I also use Vista and would like to be able to have my videos transferred to DVD. I know this is a tall order and wishful thinking, but any advice & suggestions would be welcome!!
And I understand that you'd like to to stay away from tape, but at this time, MiniDV is still the best medium for getting quality video. That's because both dvd and hard drive based camcorders (and now flash based cameras) tend to record in an MPEG2 based format, which uses compression to save on space. Oppositely, miniDV cameras ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ) are much more robust and are much better in format because they film uncompressed video that, isn't recompressed when burning to DVD like the other options are.
As for HiDef (HD), best HD camcorders still have at best, average low light performance. High Definition is still too much in it's infancy to expect low light performance to be where it's more mature SD cousins are at. But if you are looking to move to HD (and the time is ripe for it considering we're rapidly moving towards the HD deadline) then my suggestion is to take a look at both the Canon HV30 and the Canon HG10. Both use HD. The HV30 records to miniDV tapes and the HG10 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ) records to a digital hard drive in AVCHD -which gives stunning results. Another option is the flash based Canon HF100 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ).
Lastly, my recommendation is to read some of DHQs Camcorder Advice Guides ( digitalcamera-hq.com/camcor... ). They may help demystify the process of which camcorder is best for you.
Good luck!
youtube.com/watch?v=62BM_CV...
link for video
I am using Vista Home Premium on an Asus Laptop with DC 2.2GHz chip, 2GB of ram, and plenty of HD space.
I am running into the same problem, but cant seem to find the appropriate Codec to remove.
Can you please give specific details on how and which codec you removed?
Thanks
Nick
labnol.blogspot.com/2006/12... - this is for XP but it may transfer over. There's also some information here - msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/arc...
I've read about a utility called Codec Sniper which can help delete unwanted codecs. I've never tried it, but it's out there.
Some can just be removed from add/remove programs.
In the end, i did some more research, and answered my own problem. Although mine created the same error message as yours, mine was caused by user error (Blush)...
When i had used the screen to select the connect USB mode, i had selected the memory card, rather than the hard disk option. As i have set my camera up to record video onto the Hard Disk, and photos onto the memory card, this was the issue.
I went back into the screen on the camera and reslected the Hard Disk USB Connect option, and it worked fine.
Thanks for all your responses
Nick
Yup! this is answered!
bahahaha, same happened to me, but I had the fold out LCD screen reversed so that the camera was looking at me, but not all the way spun around so the text was upside down!
U saved me some time!
:o)
I spent the $ and bought sony SR-11 over canon 100 or the 20 or 30. I've only shot a few movies so far, and all by hand, no tripod, no boom, just learning the camera, available encoding options/formats, and general goofing around.
Will come back here later and post a review after I have more usage-time and I can comment about the camera better.
I haven't even made a disc of a movie yet,, but they look freaking SWEET on the ol PC monitor.
The stock battery seems kinda puny - like 1 hour life , ,when the HDD will shoot like 1073 minutes of HD video ...
The still photos of the SR-11 are way way way more detailed and crisp compared to my 4 - 5 Mpixel kodak digital camera.
Again - thanks for all the help
- Saylor
"Try using Adobe Premiere to detect the program, you can download the newest version from the Adobe website. I have used the SR11 with Adobe Premiere and know it works. You may have to manually change the settings in the Adobe program and set it to the type of camcorder for it to detect as well. If you have an older version it could be that the version of the software you have does not support the SR11. "
Thx anyway.
I am using Premiere Pro CS3 and it will not recognize the HDR-SR11. What manual settings did you change to get Adobe to recognize the camcorder?
Thanks, Harold
Follow the steps below to troubleshoot if the computer does not recognize the USB connection from the camcorder.
1. Ensure the USB cable is connected properly to the camcorder.
2. Ensure the other end of the USB cable is connected properly to the USB port on the computer.
NOTE: Connection through a USB hub is not supported.
3. Ensure the camcorder is turned on.
4. On the camcorder LCD screen, touch the computer or hard disk icon.
5. With the exception of the mouse, keyboard, and camcorder, remove any other USB connected devices from the computer.
6. If the computer is connected to a network, disconnect from the network or connect the camera to another computer that is not on a network.
NOTE: Mapped drives may cause issues when trying to connect the camcorder. For the camcorder to be recognized, drive designations D, E or F must be available. If one of these drives is not available, contact your system administrator or your computer manufacturer for assistance in remapping one of these drives.
7. If the issue is still not resolved, connect the USB cable from the camcorder to a different USB port on the computer.
8. If the issue is still not resolved, test the USB ports by connecting a different USB device.
NOTES:
* If the other USB device operates, service on the camcorder may be required. The Sony® eService Web site at eservice.sony.com/ can assist you in obtaining service from a Sony Service Center or locating a Sony Authorized Servicer.
* If the other USB device does not operate, then the issue is being caused by the computer. It may be necessary to contact the computer manufacturer to resolve the issue.
I'm using Adobe Premiere 4, not Premiere Pro CS3. In my version, I simply select import from camcorder, and define brand of the device. Follow it will provide list of model for selection.
Brian
Thx! Fyi, I could connect my camcorder to my computer through USB connect to import photoes, but fail to import Full HD video!
Brian
The complete structure of the camera's harddrive (photos & videos) are visible in Windows Explorer under XP. I was able to drag/drop files to the external harddrive for backup without a problem.
The problem was simply "User Error". :)
Chris
Home/Settings/Movie Settings/Record Mode only gives me the 4 High Definition modes.
The instruction manual covers everything up to this point and says that "You can select a recording mode to record a movie with SD (standard definition) image quality from 3 levels. But it doesn't say how and the SD options are not showing on my screen.
TIA
Rob
The media setting screen for movies appears.
2. Touch the desired media and image quality. HD indicates HD image quality, SD indicates SD image quality.
3. Touch YES. The media for movies is changed.
pg. 22 of the Handycam Handbook
Download it here ( support.sony-europe.com/man... ) if you need it.
If all else fails I should read the instructions.!!! <VBG>
Rob
While this model has 1080 (and the HC1 only 1440), this one clearly has the resolution but the video ratings are VERY close to one another in daylight (according to a side-by-side of the reviews) while the HC1 apparently has the edge in low lux situations.
Is this true? Is lux a general weakness of HDD cameras for some reason or am I mistaken - I was HOPING that the SR11/12 would be superior in EVERY way. in the end, my question is - should I upgrade (at a net cost of proabably $1000)????
Unless there's a compelling need to upgrade - like your camera took a dive or there's a feature you can't live without, I say keep what you have.
But not all editors support AVCHD. Capturing from tape to your PC for editing can import to just about any editor without having to worry about whether it supports it or not. And you still have that backup.
Another disadvantage of a hard drive camcorder is that it's prone to extremes of temperature and altitude.
You can transfer AVCHD footage to your scratch disk using the Log and Transfer window in Final Cut Pro. The workflow for transferring AVCHD footage from a camcorder or disk is similar to the Panasonic P2 workflow. However, there are some important differences:
* AVCHD support is available only on Intel-based Macintosh computers.
* AVCHD camcorders typically connect to computers via USB 2.0, not FireWire.
* DVD-based AVCHD camcorders are not currently supported in Mac OS X.
* Standard definition video recorded with AVCHD camcorders cannot be accessed in the Log and Transfer window.
* Preview of AVCHD video in the Log and Transfer window is limited to 1x forward playback. Scrubbing the playhead does not update the video in the Preview area until you stop scrubbing.
* AVCHD footage is transcoded to the Apple ProRes 422 codec or the Apple Intermediate Codec. You can choose the destination codec in the Log and Transfer window preferences.
* When you choose to transfer AVCHD audio in the Logging area, audio is automatically mixed down to stereo.
* It is not possible to delete clips on an AVCHD volume, even if read-and-write permissions on the volume are set to allow file deletion. This behavior is different on P2 volumes, where clip deletion is allowed when proper read-and-write permissions are set.
* AVCHD files are transferred as entire files from beginning to end. It is not possible to set In and Out points before transferring the clips.
My feeling is that you will have better success with miniDV than hard drives (which do record in AVCHD), but if you're MAC is an intel mac, you'll be fine with AVCHD. If it's a powerPC, then yes, you will have trouble.
How old is your mac?
In other words are Modern TVs and DVDs not capable of recognizing both NTSC and PAL?
gracias in advanco
In case I dont get SR11E in USA, can I go ahead to buy SR11? What are the main dis-advantages? As Aditya told, very few people actually feed the TV directly from Camcorder ; and the usual method is to transfer to a PC and burn DVDs first. Moreover, all HD ready and Full HD TVs wont have any problem with SR11 or SR11E.
In that case, only the power outlet issue (110v/60Hz to 230v/50Hz) the only remaining one, that also can be sorted out by a low cost energy converter?
Some cameras have written into their firmware a process called "binning," which merges the signals of multiple pixels to make larger pixels. Usually at a 4-1 ratio. For example, this will essentially turn a 12-megapixel camera into a 3-megapixel camera. And that gives you the opposite problem of too many pixels on the chip ... you now have too few and as such, will run into artifacting instead of noise.
I think in the long run, you're going to be unhappy with a one size, fits all solution. (Exception, the Canon 5d Mk. II shoots stills at 21MP, and full frame 1080p HD video that looks amazing. But too expensive at this point $3,000 with lens).
I have foramtted the stick, used an empty one, a partially full one and nothing seems to work - what am I doing wrong? The stick is a brand new Sandisc 1 GB
Thanks in advance
My understanding on this is that it's largely for digital stills and the camera itself shoots interlaced video.
If something is gray market, it means that - although you think the price is a great deal - it may be that it doesn't come the basic accessories (which they will try and upsell you on) or, with a warranty that will be honored here in this country. Which means if something goes wrong with the camera, you'll either have to send it to China to repair or pay to have it fixed yourself.
What you should do is compare what's listed on the Internet listing with what is posted as being "in the box" on the original product website.
Lily
- still capturing during shooting a movie.
- conversion lens is attached
- Night Shot, Supernight, Candle, twilight, sunrise & Sunset, fireworks, landscape, spotlight, beach, or snow in scene selection.
- Manual exposure
- Spot meter.
Wow, with all that, one has to wonder why they even bothered to put it on the camera in the first place!
With RW, that previous version gets written over. Not worth it anymore. Stick with the write once ones.
Hope that helps.
You may also need to boost your RAM, but not knowing what your PC configuration is, that's only a guess.
However, when playing it back in PMB on my dell laptop, every time a object moves, its border becomes ZigZag!
It's really annoying. I tried playing it through HDTV, and didn't see the same problem.
Anybody experienced the same issue or have any suggestion?
Your answers are greatly appreciated!
I am thinking of getting a HDR SR11 as an upgrade hoping the final recordings are as good as the original even after edditing.
Now, the HDR SR11 compresses as well, but the advantage it has is that it records in HD using the AVCHD codec. So the quality hit won't be as glaring as going from MPEG2 to recompressing MPEG2. Does that make sense?
You won't really get the final DVD burn as good as the original, but then again, with AVCHD burning to Blu-ray, you won't notice it either.
So far the burn quality is not as good as my hd dvd camcorder, both when using the one touch burn button and also after importing to pinnacle studio and edditing.
What is the easiest and best camcorder to use ,hd dvd or hd hard drive , the dvd seems the easiest but its just the recording time is limited especially in the best quality format.
I am not that clued up on the different formats and edditing options, so any advise would be appreciated.
I would just like to record, edit if I need to and burn to a disc for keeping , in the easiest possible way with the best quality as well.
If there was an option to pay for tuition to learn about edditing and recording I would ,
Thanks.
It is true that you can only play a disc which is recorded in this format in a blu ray player or a ps3 ,I leart that a while ago by trying it, any other format will play in a normal player. My camcorder came with a HDMI lead free, I have not used it yet. I have not thought about pluging it into a blu ray recorder and transfering it that way, maybe that might be an easier option.
The only thing is you will not be able to edit it .
There are several programmes that will support the AVCHD format to allow edditing ,I have Pinnacle and this does work. a bit hard to use at first but after a while I got the hang of it. You should have got Picture Motion Browser with the camcorder ,this should allow you to edit. I am in the process of trying to do this so I will let you know how I get on, I think it is a basic package but may be all you need.
DVD camcorders are much easier to use but there are restictions on recording times on a disc and is harder to edit.
What is the quality of your recordings when panning ,does the picture judder a bit ?
Many thanks
I will try "fast panning" tonight and report back on the panning question. I did some SLOW panning which is what I normally do. No problems noted with that. It may have something to do the image stabalization system if in fact it does "judder" a bit. Iv'e been reading about the Pinnacle Studio 12 Ulitmate software ($129.99) and it seems to be a very good package for editing with good forum support. I will probably buy this software due to the obvious support being offered for the package. Probably you are right that the basic software that came with the camera would do most of what I am looking for and I will definitly explore the depth of this product. Some interesting issues with it on Vista involving codecs and color rendition problems. Seems that you have to have a codec for your particular video board that is compatable with the latest directx version 7 were noted on the Pinnacle site. Sony support recommends using XP....
I have both so I will be trying it on both xp and vista pro. Not the 64bit version however.
With the tape camcorders are you still getting HD quality but in a normal format so can be played in any dvd player ?
Thanks
yes.
As for DVD camcorders - never buy em. more hassle than their worth and after about 3 years, the discs become unplayable.
I have no backups so is there an easy option to backup so that they last and I never lose the recordings.
If I had the tape option camcorder do the tapes ever ware out or lose their contents ?
As for tapes "wearing out," they won't wear out unless you play them several hundred/thousand times, but you may find the quality deteriorate after about 10 years. miniDV has the advantage of being digital, so that is less of a concern than say, VHS. And by then, there will be plenty of other options. Meanwhile, you have the tape and you can also archive them on the hard drive option I mentioned.
I think I will buy an external hard drive and back up that way, is it a simple plug in and copy to the external drive or do I need to think about compressing or changing formats ?
How does the points system work on this site as i have only been using for a few days now ?
I have dragged and dropped the disc to my external hard drive but it is in a file format ? it needs to be on the hard drive so I can easily re burn to another disc if needed.
Thanks
The problem with hard drive camcorders is that they're susceptible to extremes in temperature and altitude.
Every option is going to it have it's drawbacks, I grant you. But to dismiss miniDV out of hand because of one negative experience with a camera maker isn't really an accurate representation.
Steve, you can drag and drop on some cameras, but even though the software is frustrating, I think it's best to use PMB to stream it off your camera and upload it to your camera. And you'll still need use a video editor that supports AVCHD. Regardless, backing up to an external hard drive is a wise idea.
I purchased a mini HDMI to HDMI cable (about $65) and the playback on my 1080P 65" DLP TV is nothing short of spectacular. Totaly the best way to view the images so far. I am thinking that the DVD played on a Blueray player will be just as good and I will be trying that next.
So far I have not noticed any JITTER as discussed above when panning the camera, however the focus does seem to lag a bit on occasion if you pan fast and there is a focus change that is required. This seems to be a lower lighting issue so fact and I will be trying it outside in natural light to see how it does there.
Bout it for now.
When on holiday i record underwater and on land but would like to make seperate discs for either.
The 9M (HQ), 7M (SP) and 5M (LP) are listed as 1440X1080i
I know my TV screen is 1920 by 1080i so what am a losing at the 1440 settings, 480 "columns" of picture or what? Does the camera "stretch" the 1440 recorded picture to 1920 for playback?
I have taken sample video at the different settings and I do not see a difference but there must be something I am missing.
I don't think you'll really notice the difference.
Adobe OnLocation does not support camcorders that record onto DVDs, hard disks, or solid-state flash memory unless they support DV or HDV output over a FireWire connection
But what I would do is record everything in HD and then use PMB to export it to MPEG2. That way you'll have a playable file.
Would you research please
Thanks for the idea. I've waiting for Windows 7 to be released which will be probably early next year. Just a bit leary of diving into the Bear version. I will probably give it a shot. Thanks again. jp
What you could do is use something like Drive Snapshot to image your hard drive and give it a whirl. If no joy, then you can restore yourself back w/in 10 minutes.
Or, you can invest about $60 into Adobe Premiere Elements 7 - which supports AVCHD.
The argument is essentially this: CCD chips on point and shoot cameras a smaller and as such, fitting in more pixels without a corresponding increase of chip size, causes them to lose light sensivity. Sure, there’s more data on the chip, but the chip can’t absorb the light data and what it ends up with is a picture that has more noise than image quality. In addition, the more megapixels a camera has, the larger the lens it needs to provide the clarity it deserves and prevent diffraction due to a loss of detail with smaller apertures. But since we’re talking portable point and shoots here, those large lenses simply aren’t being made.
Finally, with larger mega pixels comes longer saving time due to their requires huge storage capacity, or more compression if not storing images in RAW format. The result is a noisier image and a dissatisfied camera user who thirsts for high quality and speed but fell into the trap of "more must mean better."
In the end, relying on a smaller MP that can balance all these needs may indeed be a better answer.
Course, if video is your main priority, then the video camera is better for the occasional stills, than the still camera is for the occasional video.
thanks
Or, you can upgrade to Nero 9, which does support AVCHD IIRC.
SD is easy same thing only you shouldn't have to transcode it. Nero does it automagically.
Can I download the footage from the Hard Drive without it?
If so, how do I do it?
Thanks in advance
The SX is an advantage because it shoots in SD, in MPEG2, which is quite easy to burn to DVD and probably with your existing equipment. But sooner or later you're going to be switching to the HD world, so why not start now?
I was given this cam it is a PAL cam :(
My friend with a mac still can.
"
This message is displayed on the camcorder LCD screen if the image management files are damaged. The camcorder will create new image management files when you touch YES .
WARNING: There is a risk of data loss. If you create new management files, the images previously recorded on the hard disk cannot be played back with the camcorder. If necessary, copy the images to the computer before you create new management files.
IMPORTANT: If the management files are damaged or you create new management files, you cannot copy the images to the computer or a DVD disk by using One Touch DVD Burn or Easy PC Back-up with the supplied software. Instead, use the drag-and-drop method to copy the image files from the hard disk of the camcorder to the computer."
It may be that the camera needs repair.