Sony/Canon/Panasonic Camera Compare and Sony user guide

2010
07.06

Sony/Canon/Panasonic Camera Compare and Sony user guide

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Sony Handycam HDR-CX550V: The Sony Handycam HDR-CX550V fares well compared with the competition, though its video could be a bit sharper and the interface less cumbersome. Unless you absolutely need to store a lot of video on the camcorder–which I don’t suggest–or if have large hands that could benefit from the extra grip that the hard drive provides, the CX550V is a better deal than its hard-disk-based sibling. Shoot Your Movies in HD:Capture your memories in 24Mbps and record brilliant AVCHD video with amazing clarity and enhanced detail. The AVCHD(Audio Video Compression for HD) codec is ideal for recording on a variety of media including high-definition Blu-ray Disc™.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 :The flash-based Panasonic HDC-TM700 and its hard-disk sibling, the HDC-HS700, stand out for their low-light video quality and broad set of manual controls. However, while the TM700 is very attractively priced for its class, the HS700 is not, and not worth the price premium unless you absolutely need the hard disk. The first surprise is a new flavour of Full HD. This is the first consumer camcorder to offer 1080/50p recording – yes, that’s a full 50 progressive frames of Full HD video every second. However, this isn’t part of the AVCHD standard so Panasonic has had to use a different file format. The video is recorded as H.264 running at 28Mbits/sec. Strangely, Panasonic hasn’t taken this opportunity to implement the top AVCHD option, and instead the maximum AVCHD data rate available is still 17Mbit/sec, rather than the 24Mbits/sec now offered by most of the other big names.

Canon Vixia HF200:While it’s more expensive than its sub-$600 competitors, the Canon Vixia HF20 and Vixia HF200 deliver a more extensive feature set for the extra money. The HF200, which lacks internal memory, is probably a better buy than the HF20, though the HF20’s all-black body is a bit classier looking.
The VIXIA HF200 allows you to record at up to 24Mbps, the highest bitrate in AVCHD format, for the highest quality image. The VIXIA HF200’s Canon Exclusive features – such as the Genuine Canon 15x HD video lens, Genuine Canon Face Detection capability, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization and a host of new control and creative options – makes our Flash Memory camcorder unmistakably Canon.
Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V: The Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V fares well compared with the competition, though its video could be a bit sharper and the interface less cumbersome. Unless you absolutely need to store a lot of video on the camcorder–which I don’t suggest–or have large hands and therefore could benefit from the extra grip the hard drive provides, the cheaper and nearly identical flash-based CX550V is a better deal.Shoot Your Movies in HD:Capture your memories in 24Mbps and record brilliant AVCHD video with amazing clarity and enhanced detail. The AVCHD (Audio Video Compression for HD) codec is ideal for recording on a variety of media including high-definition Blu-ray Disc™.
Canon Vixia HF S21:While they’re an excellent trio of camcorders, the Vixia HF S21, HF S20, and HF S200 are significantly more expensive than their respective competitors, especially since the S20 and S200 lack electronic viewfinders. If you can forego some of the subtleties of its manual controls, you can probably get what you need with a cheaper camcorder.The HF S21 is also the first AVCHD camcorder to offer a native 24p recording option (this feature is on all of Canon’s HF S series of camcorders in 2010). Previous Canon models included 24p and 30p settings that did not record progressive video natively (the video was recorded at 60i instead, but converted to 24p/30p using a pulldown system). In a somewhat confusing move, the Canon HF S21 includes its native 24p option along with its non-native 24p and 30p settings (that are both recorded to 60i). The non-native 24p mode is called 24p Cinema Mode, while the native mode is called Native 24p mode by Canon. Of course, Canon also includes its regular 60i record mode as well.