Sony HDR-UX20 First Impressions Camcorder Reviewby Alfredo PadillaPublished on Jan 10, 2008 3:35 PM 
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Audio
Like all high definition Sony camcorders the Sony HDR-UX20 (Review, Specs, Recent News, ) sports a 5.1 channel surround sound mic, found near the front of the top of the device. The quality of the 5.1 channel surround sound is slightly better than what you would see from a standard mic on older camcorders. New on this year's Sony camcorders is the Link to Zoom feature, which allows you to isolate the sound from one of the mics so you can better focus on it. This is a nice feature if you're trying to pick up a person's voice in a noisy setting. We've seen this same feature as Panasonic's Zoom Mic for awhile now and it's nice to see it come to Sony.
Playback
You can easily enter playback mode on the Sony HDR-UX20 by using the dedicated button found above the LCD cavity or by pressing the on screen button on the lower left of the LCD. Playback options are the typical Sony fare, with the ability to browse clips captured and on screen playback controls. What's new with the Sony HDR-UX20 is that the new Face Detection capabilities add an option to view the faces you've captured, so you can find clips that have a certain face in them. You can activate this view with a button at the top of the screen when in playback mode. You will see an index of all the faces you’ve captured, no matter where in the clip they were captured. This means that if you tap on a face that was captured in the middle of a clip the clip will start playback at that point, which seemed to work in our time with it on the floor.
The Face Detection feature operating in playback mode
You can playback footage directly from the camcorder using the Mini HDMI port. After you've finalized a DVD you can play it back on regular DVD players if the footage was captured in standard definition. Unfortunately if you're capturing in high definition you will find your options more limited. A DVD can be played back on a Blu-Ray player or on newer Sony PC's. Otherwise you'll have to connect the camcorder directly to your TV. This limitation makes much of the convenience of having a DVD camcorder less helpful as you're choice of playback devices is so limited.
Connectivity
Connectivity options on the Sony HDR-UX20 are rather limited. You have the basics like DC-in, A/V-out and USB. Unlike last year's Sony HDR-UX7 (Review, Specs, $0.00) that sported a full sized HDMI port, the Sony HDR-UX20 is following the trend of this year's Sony lineup by going with Mini HDMI, which is annoying because it means you'll have to carry around yet another cable or adaptor, and regular HDMI cables are hard enough to find for a decent price. On the top of the Sony HDR-UX20 you will find Sony's proprietary accessory shoe, which will only work with Sony branded accessories. Missing on the Sony HDR-UX20 compared to the hard drive based Sony HDR-SR12 (Review, Specs, $0.00) are headphone and mic jacks.
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The HDMI cable |
The DC and AV ports |
The Active Accessory Shoe