Ok, I've received my DCR-SR100. I haven't had much time to play around with it, but here are some first impressions, particularly in comparison to the JVC Everio MG-77.

I have not had a chance to analyze each in detail on my television, but I have some first impressions from reviewing recorded content via each camcorder's viewscreens. Some of the differences could be due to variances in screen quality.:

Low light:
Sony was better at pulling in more light, details, and color in outside sunset conditions. Low light indoors, the Sony again pulled in more light, and seemed to produce more details than the JVC the further you got out. 1-7 feet the two were very close, but the JVC a bit granier. Past 8 feet, the JVC started to taper off in terms of details. In the dark driving (I had a helper), the Sony captured details much further down the road, and captured lettering on the signs much better. It is hard to compare the two in short distance 0LUX situations because JVC really doesn't have anything. JVC does attempt to have a low light setting, but it is pretty useless because it is extremely sensitive to movement-both by the operator, and the subject. Hands-down, Sony's Nightshot mode is awesome if this is a factor for you. With this unit they continue to offer the great infrared picture quality.

Autofocus:
The Sony seemed to handle transitions much more quickly and accurately. In one test, we were in the car filming out an open window, panned to viewing through the windshield, then to a person inside the car. The Sony seemed to handle this effortlessly. The JVC seemed to struggle with the view through the windshield-going from short focus to outside, then locking outside. It is up the reader's interpretation as to what should be expected under these conditions, but the end result is throughout the pan, JVC had noticeable out of focus moments and the Sony didn't.

Anti-shake:
Sony seemed to handle shaking, jars better when filming from the car--though the JVC wasn't too far behind. The Sony seemed to also handle motion better when zoomed in while standing still free-handed. Though I have to say the JVC seems to do pretty well, particularly considering it is considerably smaller and lighter than the Sony.

Ergonomics:
The Sony is considerably larger (~25%) than the JVC. It is also considerably heavier. Both are pretty easy to hold though, and I actually kind of like having a more solid feeling camcorder in my hands--it does seem to help in stablizing the shooting in free-hand shooting. Though, I can see that one could tire sooner when using the Sony. Both have effective record button. Sony is a little cumbersom in switching from On-camcorder-phot-play. It is not so easy to do with the thumb--particularly switching it on. Though it is not too bad. It certainly is better than the JVC, which requires you to turn it on on the left side of the unit with your other hand--and the JVC has a hard switch, rather than a toggle-rocker, which I believe is a little more cumbersome. I would have to give JVC the nod in terms of portability and comfort in the hand. It's just smaller and more compact and easier to tote around. The Sony is a bit smaller than their HD model, the HC3. It feels more solid than the JVC, but it is less portable. If I didn't have the JVC to compare to though I probably wouldn't have any problem with its size. It still packs a whole lot into a relatively small package.

Sound quality:
I haven't had much time to judge sound quality, though the Sony seemed to have a bit richer bass.

Lenscap:
Believe it it not, the lens protection system actually became a decisionmaking factor for me after having the JVC for a period of time. I really have become a bit frustrated with JVC's lenscap It is tapered to avoid snagging, but this also makes it hard to grasp to put on and take off. Also, the JVC lenscap is a bit small and hard to manipulate--and I consider myself to be rather dextrous. I think Sony's approach is much better with the auto lenscap. Not having to worry about it every time I want to start the camera, and stop the camera, and not having a dangling lens cap when recording is actually very nice. As well, you don't have to deal with the JVC lenscap warning every time you start up the unit.

Menu and content manipulation:
I think JVC has a good menu interface. I don't mind the little joystick, it seems to work pretty good. It's primary and sub-menu methods of scrolling up and down for the primary menu, then clicking to the left or right to go back and forth to the sub-menu works well. It is also well laid out and clear to read. The sony has a similar interface, but you do it on the touchscreen. It isn't bad, but the little icons can be distracting, and the lettering a bit distracting as well. I would have to say the JVC menu system is considerably better. Both units are about the same in terms of video playback interface. Not many differences there.

Conclusions after my very brief first comparisons:

1) Sony video picture quality appears noticeably better than the JVC
2) Sony low light appears noticeably better than the JVC
3) Both pretty close in terms of anti-shake
4) Sony handles auto-focus noticeably better
5) JVC is very portable, light and feels better in the hand, but as a result sacrifices overall impression of build quality and durability.
6) Too early to conclude on sound quality
7) JVC lenscap annoying--Sony auto lenscap great
8) JVC has a better menu system, but neither quite hit the mark in terms of ease of manipulation

I'm torn. But, I think all factors considered, even though the Sony is larger and heavier, it is still pretty portable and I still think I will be happier in the long run if I choose the Sony over the JVC.

Adjudicator

Great comparison - thanks for the info.

How does the battery life compare on the 2? And is there any noticeable difference in the transferring/editing/burning of video from each?

Thanks in advance!

Haven't had much time to play with the Sony for an extended period of time, so not sure on battery life. I know the JVC wasn't so great in the times I've been using it.

I think if you have software that can handle a .mod file directly, or a .mod file renamed to .mpg there probably isn't much difference. They both use USB2.0 so that shouldn't be much different.

Another thing that I am going to check out, but don't know how to do yet is a function that Sony has on the features sticker on the side "Direct to DVD". I wasn't aware Sony had this capability, and don't know how it is to be done, but it might offset the benefit that the JVC has of being able to burn directly from the camera to their proprietary dvd burner.

Adjudicator

I just bought one of these last night at the Sony Style store here in San Diego, I'm getting a lot of low level hiss on the audio in a quiet room its quite noticable. I'm curious if your unit has the same issue. I'm going to see if I can exchange it for a new one this morning.

Update (4-27-2006)

Packed up the system and headed over to the Sony Style store. Played with the display model to see if it also shared the high audio noise floor. It did. They were very nice to give me a full refund, even waived the restocking fee. I hope this is an issue that is limited to the first wave of units from Sony, I really don't think I was expecting too much, the problem was extremely obvious on all the test clips we tried. Only did testing in the highest quality MPEG mode. Doesn't appear to be hard disk noise, its pink noise on both channels and is very obvious on both channels in a quiet room. Maybe the mike preamp circuit they chose is noisy? Using the reduced audio gain mode on the camera didn't really improve things, pushed the pink noise down a bit, but still quite obvious.

Thanks for the info, I am going to test this out when I get home from work tonight.

Adj.

Adj, that was a great review, thank you.

There was alot of info there, more than I've been able to find anywhere else in fact.

Did you hear the hiss while playing back through the camera (perhaps the audio out on the camera is suspect) or was the hiss present in the MPEG2 files that one would output to a computer/DVD?

The noise is present in playback of the .mpg files transfered to my PC, tried several different AC3 decoders (Intervideo, Pixela, Ligos, just in case it was a codec anomaly) all had essentially the same high noise floor issue. Bringing the resulting files into SoundForge clearly showed the noise. Also noticeable on my DVD player when testing an authored DVD from the same streams.

Now, I'm no expert on analyzing audio from camcorders, and this is my first Sony camcorder, but I do a lot of high quality audio recording and I found the noise very objectionable. Even my Casio EX-S600 had a lower noise floor with the audio in its MPEG-4 video.

I really wanted things to work out for this camcorder. I had to return about $500 of accessories and the 4 year all-peril warranty. If this is just an early unit problem, or just restricted to a specific batch of units, I'd happily get another, but the two I tried at the Sony store both were the same.

I'm seriously looking at this camera for a bit of traveling I'm doing, but I'm worried about the audio. I have no problem with using one of the sony mics on the intelligent hot shoe, except that none of the mics look all that appealing. I did just spot something interesting on the sony style page though, and that is an apparent accessory shoe adapter, which looks like it allows the new sony cameras to use non-sony mics and lights with their proprietary hot shoe... at a cost of 14.99, it seems like this would open up a world of possibilities, not just for this camera, but the HC3 and others as well. Does anyone have any experience with this little item? If this will allow to connect a lavalier mic, or a real shotgun mic, then this camera just got a lot more appealing.

Stephen

[QUOTE=Michael Eskin]The noise is present in playback of the .mpg files transfered to my PC, tried several different AC3 decoders (Intervideo, Pixela, Ligos, just in case it was a codec anomaly) all had essentially the same high noise floor issue. Bringing the resulting files into SoundForge clearly showed the noise. Also noticeable on my DVD player when testing an authored DVD from the same streams.
QUOTE]

Ok, I've converted a file to WMV and posted it here:
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f...nt=M2U00011.flv

Don't know how useful it is because photobucket seems to convert it to macromedia.

Anyway, I can email you a soundforge project of it if you pm me.

Hope this helps.

fyi-my impression is that it is acceptable, though I'm not a sound expert. If you listen to the noise of me turning it off in the end you can get an idea how quiet it was before i touched it. In a normal active setting I really don't know how noticeable it would be. But it is a very subjective thing.

Adjudicator

Thanks for posting the file! I hear the noise in your file as well. Unless of course you had water running in the room. :-)

If you wouldn't mind posting another file with the same quiet room, with some narration and pauses, it would be easier to get a relative sense of the level of the noise compared with typical conversation.

I don't know, maybe I'm expecting too much from the camera.

I should be able to, but not sure when. I have company visiting from overseas and just don't have much time in the next couple weeks--though I'll try to steal some time to do this.

I really don't know how this camera compares to others. I would think it does compare to most in this price range--though I don't think I've seen too many reviews that concentrate on a unit's baseline audio.

Adjudicator.

No problem. I'm not a professional in terms of picture quality testing, audio, etc, but I hope it can give you an idea as to what to expect. I'm not an expert, but I am a gadget junkie, so I do try out just about every new thing out there and at least draw my own conclusions--if those are helpful to others I'm happy to ramble about them

I have also been looking for other reviews--particularly of those that do do in-depth analyses--like the one here for the HC3. I hope we start seeing them as these units start shipping more broadly.

Adjudicator

Nice review. Im also lookoing at this cam. I might sell my Pana GS400 and get the SR100. Im looking to get rid of tapes and I always convert my DV to mpeg2 anyway. Also my GS400 is worthless outdoors at night. I want the nightshot back like I had on my old digital8 Sony.

Is this cam out in North America retails stores yet so I can take a look? Also anyone have opinions on still quality compared to other camcorders?

Will stay tuned on this noise issue...

Well the time is getting closer for our new hard drive camcorder.
Was at a Sony store on Sunday and saw the Sony DCR-SR100, I was very impressed with it.
Maybe slightly heaver and larger than I expected but size is only relative isn’t it.

Now I see in http://www.engadget.com/ today the announcement about .JVC Everio G GZ-MG505 receiving the a TIPA Award for 2006 and the unit has not even been released?

I really appreciated the review here by Adjudicator “Sony DCR-SR100 first impressions…”

Based on his review I certainly would go with the Sony DCR-SR100, BUT do others here believe that the specs for the JVC Everio G GZ-MG505 will greatly improve on those of the JVC Everio MG-77??