Sony HDR-SR12 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Audio
As with previous Sony camcorders, the HDR-SR12 (Review, Specs, ) sports Dolby Digital 5.1-channel Surround Sound. The microphones are built into the top of the camcorder, which may be an issue as your finger(s) can wander over and cover them easily. The audio provided is significantly better than what we've seen from older camcorders using a standard PCM stereo electret mic. The Sony HDR-SR12 has normal and low microphone settings, but also provides an additional control called Link to Zoom, which basically allows you to focus sound pickup in one particular direction by turning off the other microphones. This allows you to focus on sounds like a person talking in front of you when in a loud setting like a party. A similar feature called “Zoom Mic” has been used in Panasonic camcorders for several years.

Playback
You can enter playback mode by hitting the on screen button in the lower left or the dedicated playback button in the LCD cavity. Your clips and images are shown in sequential order on screen. Along the bottom of the screen are icons that allow you to view just video clips, still images, media from the memory stick and to each side a camera mode and options button.

Facial recognition has also been implemented into the playback functionality. This is a helpful feature that lets you quickly find the clips that include a particular person. You tap on the face icon at the top of the Playback screen to see an index of faces that were recognized by the software. This includes all the faces recognized; if multiple faces were captured in a single clip you’ll see them here. Tap on any face and it will take you to the point in the clip where that face was captured. If a particular face was recorded multiple times, it will show up multiple times in the index in chronological order. This is a life saver for anyone who’s spent a ton of time searching through clips for that particular scene with that particular person. We saw this work on the show floor. Playback controls like play, fast forward, rewind etc. are available via touch screen icons.

Connectivity
As with the Sony HDR-SR7 (Specs, Recent News, $1399), the HDR-SR12 places most of its ports on the right side of the camcorder, helping to keep cable clutter and obstructions to your LCD to a minimum. Towards the front of the right side is a covered cavity that contains the mic, headphone and mini HDMI ports. Towards the rear is another covered cavity that conceals the USB and A/V out. On the top of the Sony HDR-SR12 is the proprietary Active Interface Shoe (AIS) that only works with Sony brand accessories. On the back you will find the DC-in just below the dial with a plastic cover. Inside the cavity is the MemoryStick Duo/PRO Duo port. All of the port covers feel a bit fragile, especially the one covering the AIS on top.

Ports on the right rear include USB and component		Ports on the right front include mic, headphone, and HDMI