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Sony HDR-SR7E 60GB High Definition Camcorder
Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Camera!
(5 out of 5) by KATHRYN S. THOMPSON on Dec 6, 2007 (United Kingdom)If you are pro and you want very high quality, and are using this camera, surely you will have a laptop and a program like Adobe OnLocation CS3, which means you are not using the AVCHD codec and therefore not loosing quality. Anyway, NOBODY would buy this camera when recording an HD Documentary, if a program is going to be watched by loads of people I am sure many more expensive cameras would be used, to yeild almost identical results. The codec produces excellent results - don't be put off by the fact that it makes much smaller files.
I sometimes really do not get why people like to pretend that they know so much by degrading a product on false pretenses. This comment area is not for showing off, it is for helping/encouraging/warning other buyers
I sometimes really do not get why people like to pretend that they know so much by degrading a product on false pretenses. This comment area is not for showing off, it is for helping/encouraging/warning other buyers
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Camera - Quality It is not a case of 'Gigs per Hour'
(5 out of 5) by Mike Keay on Dec 13, 2007 (England)A previous reviewer made the point that the end filesize (per hour) when compared with tape based HDV proved that the 7E was inferior by a sigificant amount. Not true. I think that the end result is marginally inferior to HDV - but not much and the camera is MUCH more convenient.
The AVCHD codec H264 is radically newer and more efficient than HDV. And tape is dying!! Personally I convert from AVCHD to HDV so that I edit my footage efficiently (AVCHD is a pig to edit natively) and my results are brilliant. Great camera at the price (but do some research if you plan to edit)
The AVCHD codec H264 is radically newer and more efficient than HDV. And tape is dying!! Personally I convert from AVCHD to HDV so that I edit my footage efficiently (AVCHD is a pig to edit natively) and my results are brilliant. Great camera at the price (but do some research if you plan to edit)
33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
Superb for amateur/home footage, not for the pro though.
(4 out of 5) by J. L. Gerretsen on Nov 15, 2007 (Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom)Despite my title, this is a great little camera.
If you want superb picture quality for your home movies and have a HD TV (or are switching to HD) and you like lots of recording time without faffing about with tapes, then this is the camera to go for.
However, for the pro (and by pro I mean you need high-quality images for films/documentaries), the high compression values of these consumer hard-disk-based-storage camcorders is a serious compromise.
Given that a pro/semi-pro HDV camcorder such as the Sony V1 or Canon XH-A1 store around 16GB of information per hour on DV tapes, and this camera even at it's highest quality setting only does 7.5GB per hour, you can clearly see that significant picture information is being discarded to achieve these storage ratio's. At the lowest quality setting, you are only getting 2.6GB per hour, which is very marginal and image quality will undoubtdely suffer. This really defeats the object of having a high-definition camera.
For pro use, tape based storage or uncompressed professional hard disk storage are the only option.
Additionally, editing the files generated with these camcorders can be tricky, sometimes requiring access to pro-grade advanced editing software, or limiting you to the software provided with the camcorder (which can be very basic).
But if you are not into the detail and just want to be able to take good holiday/family shots, then buy this camera. And use the highest quality setting.... you wanted it for the High Definition capability anyway, didn't you?
If you want superb picture quality for your home movies and have a HD TV (or are switching to HD) and you like lots of recording time without faffing about with tapes, then this is the camera to go for.
However, for the pro (and by pro I mean you need high-quality images for films/documentaries), the high compression values of these consumer hard-disk-based-storage camcorders is a serious compromise.
Given that a pro/semi-pro HDV camcorder such as the Sony V1 or Canon XH-A1 store around 16GB of information per hour on DV tapes, and this camera even at it's highest quality setting only does 7.5GB per hour, you can clearly see that significant picture information is being discarded to achieve these storage ratio's. At the lowest quality setting, you are only getting 2.6GB per hour, which is very marginal and image quality will undoubtdely suffer. This really defeats the object of having a high-definition camera.
For pro use, tape based storage or uncompressed professional hard disk storage are the only option.
Additionally, editing the files generated with these camcorders can be tricky, sometimes requiring access to pro-grade advanced editing software, or limiting you to the software provided with the camcorder (which can be very basic).
But if you are not into the detail and just want to be able to take good holiday/family shots, then buy this camera. And use the highest quality setting.... you wanted it for the High Definition capability anyway, didn't you?
70 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
I didn't think I would buy a SONY
(5 out of 5) by Ali Hisham Al Saif on Jun 24, 2007I just bought the camcorder from Amazon for my honeymoon trip next august
and it's so cool....I love it even though its expensive but worth it because it will
live longer with you due to its new technology ... usually I am not satisfied with Sony products
because of its lack of features but I liked this one ...
you should buy a big battery with this one if you want to have more free time
and what I did is bought a charger coz if you charge it in the camcorder
it will take all day but with the charger it will take 4 hours or less depending on the size
of the battery...also try to get the wide angel lens and the tele lens if you want to take
nice shots ...
Upsides: small, elegant, manual focus, high quality still images, HD or SD recording modes, HDMI output ready for hd TVs
Downsides: price, batteries is 90 mins only, lack of mini HDMI cable, in HD recording mode you only
can see the clips in the camera, PC, and a blue-ray hd dvd players
and it's so cool....I love it even though its expensive but worth it because it will
live longer with you due to its new technology ... usually I am not satisfied with Sony products
because of its lack of features but I liked this one ...
you should buy a big battery with this one if you want to have more free time
and what I did is bought a charger coz if you charge it in the camcorder
it will take all day but with the charger it will take 4 hours or less depending on the size
of the battery...also try to get the wide angel lens and the tele lens if you want to take
nice shots ...
Upsides: small, elegant, manual focus, high quality still images, HD or SD recording modes, HDMI output ready for hd TVs
Downsides: price, batteries is 90 mins only, lack of mini HDMI cable, in HD recording mode you only
can see the clips in the camera, PC, and a blue-ray hd dvd players
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
excellent and fantastic.. buy it
(5 out of 5) by Mr. S. A. Bates on Dec 8, 2007Firstly this is my second camcorder, i have been editing movies now for some 4 years. I always use sony vegas video. which the current version takes the new AVCHD format. and bloody hell the quality is amazing with this little gem. Its small but packs a ricky hatton punch... you will not be dissappointed.. i bought it from amazon also, quick delivery very impressed....
steve
leicester
steve
leicester