Sony HDR-FX7 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Dec 27, 2006 7:00 AM 
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Compression (7.0)
The Sony HDR-FX7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $2599) records video to standard DV tape using HDV compression for HD and DV compression for standard definition DV. Both compression methods have a fixed bit rate of 25Mbps, and are well-supported due to their maturity and broad penetration throughout the consumer and prosumer marketplace. At present, no compression method poses a serious challenge to the video quality yielded by DV or HDV compression.
Standard definition MPEG2 encoding with tops out at a peak variable bit rate of around 8.5Mbps, and despite its efficiency, DVD and HDD-based camcorders using MPEG2 compression do not perform at the level of the best DV models. In the high definition realm, AVCHD has emerged as a user-friendly format first seen in Sony’s DVD-based HDR-UX1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $729.95) and HDD-based HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99) camcorders, released during the fall of 2006. In our testing, the AVCHD high definition video produced by these camcorders was sharp – but very noisy. AVCHD is also a new and sparsely supported format, giving HDV the edge in terms of both video quality and workflow. For the foreseeable future, DV and HDV compression still rule the roost in standard definition and high definition, respectively.
Media (7.5) The Sony HDR-FX7 records HDV and DV to standard video tapes bearing the MiniDV label. The total recording time available on most MiniDV tapes is 62 minutes. Still photos are captured to MemoryStick DUO Pro memory cards, a proprietary Sony card format.
Editing (8.0) The HDR-FX7 supports IEEE 1394, or in Sony’s parlance, i.Link data transfer, the most widely used method for transferring video between HDV/DV decks and NLEs (non-linear editors) like Apple Final Studio, Sony Vegas, or Adobe Premiere. Both HDV and DV are formats supported by every major professional grade NLE, and the FX7 records footage only in workflow-friendly 1080/60i. With an adequate system, a decent NLE, and enough drive space, editing footage shot with the Sony HDR-FX7 should be a very trouble-free process.
Media (7.5) The Sony HDR-FX7 records HDV and DV to standard video tapes bearing the MiniDV label. The total recording time available on most MiniDV tapes is 62 minutes. Still photos are captured to MemoryStick DUO Pro memory cards, a proprietary Sony card format.
Editing (8.0) The HDR-FX7 supports IEEE 1394, or in Sony’s parlance, i.Link data transfer, the most widely used method for transferring video between HDV/DV decks and NLEs (non-linear editors) like Apple Final Studio, Sony Vegas, or Adobe Premiere. Both HDV and DV are formats supported by every major professional grade NLE, and the FX7 records footage only in workflow-friendly 1080/60i. With an adequate system, a decent NLE, and enough drive space, editing footage shot with the Sony HDR-FX7 should be a very trouble-free process.