Sony HDR-XR520V Handycam First Impressions Camcorder Review

Playback

The Sony HDR-XR520V has multiple indexing options for organizing footage and making it easier to group during playback. Most of these options aren't new (except for GPS tagging features), and it's difficult to see anyone actually using them on a regular basis. Nevertheless, they are features that may appeal to some users and if you're going to be storing tons of footage on the 240GB hard drive inside the camcorder, it won't hurt to have multiple methods of organizing and indexing your media. There is a Face Index feature that will group media based on faces you tag in your images and videos, a Film Roll Index that allows users to group media into different rolls, and a Map Index that uses the GPS geotagging software to arrange media.

There's a direct DVD burn button on the HDR-XR520V, but you'll need additional hardware to utilize the feature—like a computer or portable DVD burner. The Movie Dub setting in the camcorder's menu isn't an audio dubbing feature. Instead, it allows you to copy files from the camcorder's internal hard drive to an inserted Memory Stick Pro Duo card or vice versa.

A new feature, called Highlight Playback, will automatically string clips together to form a little edited video based on footage captured with the HDR-XR520V. The system uses Face Index, Smile Shutter, and a number of other criteria to sort through your media and create the final product. You can also add music tracks to play behind the footage if you want to (the tracks must be stored on the camcorder's internal hard drive). Messing around with the feature on the floor, it didn't appear all that impressive, although it may be a fun setting to play around with once or twice. JVC offers a similar feature on numerous camcorders.

Connectivity
Sony didn't add any ports or connectivity features that weren't present on last year's models. There was a bit of reorganizing, however. The AV-out, USB, and HDMI ports are now all located together behind a sliding port cover and the headphone and mic jacks are located together behind a separate door. This is a better grouping setup than on last year's HDR-SR12 and SR11. The port covers all feel well built and solid.

We also must mention that the hot accessory shoe still only works with Sony-brand accessories (like microphones, lights, and external flashes).

The DC-input	AV-out, USB, and HDMI
Headphone jack (green) and mic jack	The Memory Stick Pro Duo slot

The hot accessory shoe only works with Sony-brand accessories.