Sony HDR-TG7VE - first impressions

[Dancook]

So yesterday at 4pm I ordered this from Amazon and had it on my desk at 9am this morning. For £550, I could have probably saved a little by shopping around, but with Amazon's service being as reliable as it is, I am happy to pay a little more.

All I've done is to take a few quick videos around the office and upload them to my work pc for playback. I am not skilled in camera work, I'm a bit of a newb!

The greatest thing I love is that I can pop the camcorder in my pocket. Also it's ready to go within seconds of opening the screen. It's a lot more convenient that taking your camcorder out of a bag and setting it up ready to record a moment which has ended already!

The battery limit is 120mins. I tried it the 9mb/s and 16mb/s HD video, the 16gb inbuilt memory could store approximately 220mins and 120mins respectively.

Whilst recording it was interesting to note square boxes forming around a colleagues face, I wasn't really aware of this feature. But once I imported the video, a photo of his face appeared in the software, clicking on it showed me the videos he was in!

Playing back the HD video on my work pc, the quality of the 16mb/s recording was marginally better, but the jerky motion was worse. That could be down to my camera skills or the pc specification. I will see what can be done about that. If I can reduce the jerkyness or work out why it is, then I would probably use the 16mb/s option.

I tested the still camera function, it seemed pretty good, but not as good as the Sony dedicated compact we have.

I'm happy with my purchase and I'm looking forward to having a proper play!

[visioneer]

Thanks for the review on this model. I've been looking at a review of it this morning. It's the current PCPro 'A' list camcorder.

Let me know if the 'jerkiness' issue gets resolved.

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by visioneer

Thanks for the review on this model. I've been looking at a review of it this morning. It's the current PCPro 'A' list camcorder.

Let me know if the 'jerkiness' issue gets resolved.

I'm not so sure it's an 'issue' as such

do not shudder at the judder

So is 24 frames per second OK for actually capturing the motion on set? Actually it isn't ideal, it really is low horsepower. It is not taxed by talking heads and wide shots with not much movement. but when the subject starts to move the cinematographer has to be very aware of the limits the subject can move between frames. If the subject moves too much then they will appear to judder.

[visioneer]

Originally Posted by Dancook

do not shudder at the judder

I can't get my head around all that!!

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I can't get my head around all that!!

I'm not 100% sure..but if you're panning quickly, you should do it fast enough that it blurs.. otherwise you'll see a judder.

and maybe If you're concentrating on a moving subject, move with them so that the background might judder...but it won't be noticeable on the subject.

I think it's down to my inexperience and not a problem with this actual camcorder.

there could be techniques and settings to create improvement, but it won't be just this camera.

[visioneer]

Ok, thanks for that. On a separate note, when you transfer the files to your PC what exact file type does the camcorder use? I've been looking at a canon hf200 and that uses .mts files which are fine for my PS3 to play - need to know if this camcorder will work ok too.

[Dancook]

Three files are created for each video capture, modd, moff and m2ts.

[visioneer]

I recognise the m2ts file - if you play that does that contain the video and audio together?

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I recognise the m2ts file - if you play that does that contain the video and audio together?

Yes it contains both video and audio stream, the PMB software creates the other two files when it analyses the video

[Dancook]

Just tried the camera at home, no judder! Home PC is substantially better than work pc.

[visioneer]

I notice that this camera records 1080i rather than 1080p. In terms of picture quality etc does this make a difference does anybody know? I read on tomshardware that there may be issues with making bluray discs from this????

[senu]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I notice that this camera records 1080i rather than 1080p. In terms of picture quality etc does this make a difference does anybody know?

Not really

I read on tomshardware that there may be issues with making bluray discs from this????

No there wont

[Dancook]

Youtube isn't the best method to show off the quality of a camera, but i think it still looks pretty good

I uploaded the raw file that the camcorder gave me, 300mb in size and youtube gave me this.. check out HQ

[senu]

Pretty good

[visioneer]

Footage looks good - I've never filmed fireworks before but I imagine it's a tricky thing for any camera to deal with regarding focus and light etc.