This is a cross post that I am going to post to many forums on the web related to hard drive based camcorders.

DO NOT BUY A CAMCORDER THAT USES A CRADLE!
I have a SONY HDR-SR7 camcorder which uses a cradle for transferring the footage/photos from its hard drive to the computer for editing. At first I thought that it was convenient since if someone steals or if you loose the camcorder the thief will not be able to transfer the footage and it will draw the camcorder useless. I just got off the phone with SONY tech support and they told me that there is NO security measure implemented between the camcorder and its cradle. That means that whoever finds or steals the camcorder can simply order a replacement cradle through SONY or on ebay and viola, they have access to your footage stored on the hard drive.

So, do not repeat the mistake, wait until the camcorder manufacturers digitally tie cradles to the camcorder. So that if you connect via another identical cradle it will not work until you get it through the registration process with manufacturer.

Renat Zarbailov of Innomind.org

Why would you think there are security measures? I mean who exactly told you there was to begin with?




Rich

I like my SR62 cam & the cradle - easy to transfer & charge. If someone ever steals my cam looking for big secrets they're in for some major disappointment.