[Dan Walton]

Hi all, I hope some of you guys a bit more knowledgable than myself can help!?
I want to get a Camcorder as my wife has just had our fist child (one month and one day old!) so I thought it would be a good buy. I like the look of the Sony products, plus I already have a Sony PSP and a Sony digital camera which all use Memory Stick Pro Duo.
After doing a bit of digging around there seem to be three models in the range of standard defintion HDD's, the DCR-SR37E, DCR-SR57E and the DCR-SR77E. I was just going to go for the basic 37E which is around £295 in most places, I think Amazon may have been cheaper, but then I found the 77E on Play for £320 ish, so I thought that it was a no brainer and I'd go for that one. But then I found that the 77E seems to be better in every way, except for optical zoom, the lesser two have X60 zoom whereas the 77E only has X25 zoom. Why is that!? Surely it should be at least as good as the lesser models?
Now I'm unsure of what to go for! Any thoughts on the matter?

[samh12]

Originally Posted by Dan Walton

Hi all, I hope some of you guys a bit more knowledgable than myself can help!?
I want to get a Camcorder as my wife has just had our fist child (one month and one day old!) so I thought it would be a good buy. I like the look of the Sony products, plus I already have a Sony PSP and a Sony digital camera which all use Memory Stick Pro Duo.
After doing a bit of digging around there seem to be three models in the range of standard defintion HDD's, the DCR-SR37E, DCR-SR57E and the DCR-SR77E. I was just going to go for the basic 37E which is around £295 in most places, I think Amazon may have been cheaper, but then I found the 77E on Play for £320 ish, so I thought that it was a no brainer and I'd go for that one. But then I found that the 77E seems to be better in every way, except for optical zoom, the lesser two have X60 zoom whereas the 77E only has X25 zoom. Why is that!? Surely it should be at least as good as the lesser models?
Now I'm unsure of what to go for! Any thoughts on the matter?

Hi Dan,
Congratulations on the baby!!
Well if i were you i would go for the 57E because it has the same hard drive as the 77E, the better zoom, same 2.7" touch screen etc.
The only difference is the better stills camera (By 0.2mp).
Thats the only thing thats better and they charge £50 more, WHY??

[Dan Walton]

Thanks, I'm feeding her right now and trying to browse one handed!
Umm, I haven't really found the 57E for a good price, so it was going to be between the 37E and the 77E!
There is one other model I've seen, only in Argos, the 38E. Now I'm wondering if that's a typo, as I haven't seen 38E anywhere else, not even Sony's website! I'll have a look in a sec and check the specs, I think the 37E might also only have stereo wheras the other two can do 5.1. But, chances are the 77E from Play will still come out at the same price as most people sell the 57E. So why wouldn't I go for the 77E!? Other than the zoom which is bothering me, is it that big a deal?

[Dan Walton]

I think I am going to go for the 57E after all. Thanks for your input.
I saw one in the Sony Centre this evening, it's tiny, so much smaller than I was expecting, going to go back tomorrow and see if they'll knock a tenner off to match Jessops price or get some bits cheaper to sweeten the deal!

[samh12]

Originally Posted by Dan Walton

I think I am going to go for the 57E after all. Thanks for your input.
I saw one in the Sony Centre this evening, it's tiny, so much smaller than I was expecting, going to go back tomorrow and see if they'll knock a tenner off to match Jessops price or get some bits cheaper to sweeten the deal!

Ok, good luck.
If the Jessops is near them, they should drop the price.
Which Sony Centre?
Sam

[Dan Walton]

I bought this last night in the end, 57E. Got it from the Sony Centre in Basingstoke, they price matched Jessops. Was going to get a case for it while I was there but didn't know which one to go for or if the charger would fit etc. I'll have to do a bit of digging and pick one up soonish!

[samh12]

Cool.
Hope you like it.
Sam