Sony HDR-UX7 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by Matt Culler
Published on Jan 10, 2007 3:00 PM

Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls Still Features
Handling and Use Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Other Features
Comparisons / Conclusion
   
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Conclusion
It’s hard to pass judgment on the HDR-UX7 at this point. There are, of course, a ton of great features on this camcorder, like the larger imager, the optical image stabilization, and the mic and headphone jacks. These would all add up to make an incredible standard definition camcorder. But the AVCHD format is very much a work in progress.
 
It has huge potential, which, ironically, is part of the problem. People have very high standards in mind when they hear a buzz term like “high definition.” It may range from George Lucas to their neighbor’s HDR-HC1 (Specs, $2295), but they’re not going to settle for less than that. And AVCHD is definitely no match for HDV at this time. In time, it will dominate both in popularity and in quality, but not this year. With the current coding used in consumer AVC camcorders, it looks only a little better than standard definition video blown up to 1920 x 1080 proportions. Fortunately, the UX7 has all the specs in place for a killer standard def baseline performance, so it can only go up from there.
 
What we can say about this camcorder is that it features Sony’s revamped menu system, and the same big LCD screen seen in last year’s top models, which makes handling easier than in the past. The new dial control is good, but I don’t know if I’d take it over the multifunction ring on the HDR-UX1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $729.95). The inclusion of the microphone port and headphone jack are definite pluses over the step-down HDR-UX5, which is a stripped down and more traditional Sony point-and-shooter. But the main unanswered question is how the new imager fairs with AVCHD compression. The evolution of AVCHD will become clearer when we put the HDV flagship HDR-HC7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1128.56) up against the HDR-UX7. Their 3.2 MP CMOS sensors are identical, but they employ different compression methods that our tests have shown to yield fundamentally different pictures. Stay tuned.


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