The Sony HDR-SR1 is the world's first consumer marketed High Definition (HD) Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Camcorder, which retails for around US$1,600. The combination of High Definition and Hard Drive technology was a convergence that was bound to happen, with HD recordings taking more storage, Hard Drive Technology giving consumers this space that they require.
The Sony HDR-SR1 uses a new video compression technology called AVCHD which was jointly developed by Sony and Panasonic but because this standard is so new none of the leading video editing suites yet support the AVCHD standard so you are left with the Sony bundled which is basic at best, and importing video into a MAC is not yet supported. There are already plans by the leading Video Editing suites to release versions of their software that support the AVCHD standard, until then MAC users will need to wait.
Front of the Sony HDR-SR1
On the front of the unit is the Carl Zeiss lens with 10X optical Zoom, as with many of Sony's high end consumer Camcorders this one is equipped with the Automatic lens cap that is activated when the unit is turned off and on or changed from capture mode into preview mode. This lens is more than meets the eye, it includes a manual focus ring which is a welcome change in direction from Sony. The last item of note on the front of the HDR-SR1 is the flash for still shots.
Back of the Sony HDR-SR1
The rear of the unit houses the Battery Slot, Adjustable Electronic View Finder, Record button, The Power/Mode selector toggle that will allow you to turn the HDR-SR1 off along with toggle the camera into Video record mode, Photo still mode, or playback mode. To this left of this toggle you will notice several LED Status lights, that inform you what mode you are in (Video Rec, Still, Play Back) or if the unit is charging.
Left Side of the Sony HDR-SR1
The first thing you will notice on left side the Sony HDR-SR1 is three buttons, from top down these are Backlight, Auto/Manual focus mode, and the Night Shot mode.
Next on the left side of Sony HDR-SR1 is the 3.5" 16:9 LCD Screen, and under the screen on the main body of the unit is a USB2 Port, MemoryStick Slot, Playback Speaker, Disp/Batt Info (used to display Hard drive & battery info when camera is off and change LCD display when Camera is powered on) and a slider that is used to open and close the retractable panel located below the LCD Panel and house the cameras HDMI out, AV out, and Component out ports. Finally to the right of the retractable panel is the DC Power port.
The LCD screen is touch screen, which is a fast way of navigating this units menus and is very easy to use. On the bottom edge of the LCD is a start stop record button, Zoom buttons, the home button to take you back to the home menu and the One Touch Burn DVD button which is used to kick off the data transfer mode (via USB2)and with the provided software will allow you to burn a DVD on the fly or backup video to your PC
Right side of the Sony HDR-SR1
This side of the unit is the 30Gb hard drive just under the hand grip, with the wrist strap, and between where your thumb and first finger would be located you will notice the Headphone and LANC jack.
Top of the Sony HDR-SR1
The top of the HDR-SR1 at the front near the lens houses the built-in Dolby Digital Microphone, behind this is the Active interface, which allows connection of additional accessories such as microphones, and lights. Toward the top rear you will find he zoom still photo button along with the OnOff/Mode selector that mentioned when describing the rear of the HDR-SR1.
Sony HDR-SR1 and Video recording
The video quality of the Sony HDR-SR1 is quite impressive, this is due the HDR-SR1's 1080i record and playback resolution which is four times the resolution of Standard Definition, there are some compression issues caused by the AVCHD compression format, but most users won't notice them, its only the Professionals that may have a problem depending on the work they are doing.
In the area of Low light recording the HDR-SR1 showed average performance, giving grainy results at around the 14-17 LUX region.
Sony HDR-SR1 and Still Photos
The HDR-SR1 allows still photos to be take and the following resolutions 4MP, 3 MP 1.9 Mp and .3 MP, Still photos can either be saved to the onboard hard drive or your own MemoryStick (the HDR-SR1 does not ship with a MemoryStick) via the HDR-SR1 MemoryStick slot. The quality of the still images is quite reasonable for a Camcorder.
The Sony HDR-SR1 ships with the NP-FM50 Lithium Ion battery which we found to give around 100 minutes of battery life.
Full Specification of the Sony HDR-SR1 are as follows:
All in all this is a great camera for most consumers. With the exception of the pro or budget buyer, this Camcorder has enough features and WOW factor to keep everyone from the feature focused consumer to the gadget guru more than happy and interested for a long time to come.
The Sony HDR-SR1 has the following going for it:
- 30gb Hard Drive (HDD)
- 3.5" Wide 16:9 LCD Screen (Touch Screen)
- High Definition (HD) along with Standard Definition (SD) video recording
- Up to 4 Megapixel still photo
- Manual Focus ring
- HDMI jack for Connection to TV with a HDMI input
- Easy to use
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Support
The following going against it:
- Price quite expensive, this camcorder is not aimed at the budget consumer
- Some compression issues associated with the AVCHD format
- Very limited editing packages support AVCHD.
Tech-Head Rating 8/10
For great prices on High Definition Video Cameras on Ebay