Just Got My Sony HDR-SR8

Gliese 581c

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Wow, what a brilliant bit of kit this little camcorder is. Everything oozes quality from the picture to the build quality.

100GB space too for oodles of 15MP video and images.

Battery life not that great so will have to invest in a bigger capacity battery and a faster charger as the cradle seems to take a bit of time.

Nice little touch on the cradle with the 'one touch' burning to dvd mode.
 
Good on you.
Do keep us posted on other usability problems like PC playback editing ect
The "one touch" burn to DVD ( if like the other Sony models) may only work on Vaio and other Sony PCs / laptops though
Certainly with HD DVD you should be able to make miniHD DVD discs although with the PS3, the clips are viewable directly off its HDD
 
Thx senu, its travelling with me to NY/Vegas next week and will be used non stop so that will give me the chance to test it out properly. Will write up a little review/thoughts on it once I return. Will do my editing when I get back, hopefully Vegas 8 will be out to buy, might even go looking for it in the US if its released there yet. ? Thanks also for the tips on the one touch (shame it wont work on a non-vaio machine, but now thinking about it, thats typical from sony) and playback on ps3. :smashin:

Mark, got it from Japan in the end. £772 all in for PAL. Which from a reputable dealer in the USA would have worked out the same so no harm done and I have a 1 year guarantee with this one too so it works out well, the Bait and Switch shops just scared me half to death so I wasnt going to go near these people and sonystyle has it retailing at £1200 :eek:
 
You did well, that's a good price!

Version 8 of Vegas Movie Studio Platinum is out; the "pro" version (which will actually be renamed Vegas Pro when they get to Version 8) will come out later in the year.
 
You did well, that's a good price!

Version 8 of Vegas Movie Studio Platinum is out; the "pro" version (which will actually be renamed Vegas Pro when they get to Version 8) will come out later in the year.

Do you have a rough release date Mark ?
 
You could download the trial version of Movie Studio 8 now and have a Play though
The current vwersion (Full ver 7 (with update 7e) and MS) also edits AVCDH from Sony camcorders but isnt Vista friendly
I imagine you just really want to play with it now though and put editing off till later:)
 
Weird problem with the SR8, was out and about today and I dont know if I have messed with the wrong setting but everything is taking time to focus. I have focus set to 'auto' but when I move around it blurs and then takes 2-3 secs to focus.

Anyone know what could be causing this ?
 
Autofocus tends to be slower with HD cams than SD... especially if the light isn't good. But as it was a sunny day today (at least here) if you were outside it should have been able to focus fairly fast. There is no setting for "slow focus"... if you turned off the auto focus it wouldn't focus at all.
 
I noticed that with my HV10 and it is something that I have always taken for granted with SD cams (really fast auto focus). Do you think, Mark, that this is likely to change in the future with development of HD cams?
 
Not sure, but I would guess that this could be improved over time. But it doesn't seem to have changed over the past 2 years or so (since the early HDV cams).
 
I have played most of the day with this, the auto focus is bordering on being a flaw. It just completely ruins the footage. Because of this, I'm thinking about selling the camera on. There's no way you can take normal video footage and be serious about it, its completely awful and as I say, bordering on being a horrible flaw.
 
That is a major disappointment. I do seriously wonder whether or not to go back to SD for the time being and have a cast about again next year.
 
That is a major disappointment. I do seriously wonder whether or not to go back to SD for the time being and have a cast about again next year.

Manual focus is always there .. if all else fails. It isnt the HD format although HDV is more demanding. I dont find the Sony FX1 to be anything but a joy to use ( except its size.. and arguably .. cost:devil:!!)
 
Sorry, you have lost me there. HDV more demanding than SD, or AVCHD? The SR8 is an AVCHD cam....
 
Sorry, you have lost me there. HDV more demanding than SD, or AVCHD? The SR8 is an AVCHD cam....

Sorry for being a bit unclear there, I know the SR8 is a 100Gb HDD AVCHD


I meant that although either Hi definition format (HDV or AVCHD) appear to demand more from the camcorders, It is the manufacturers who are failing to implement better hardware for the consumer/ prosumer range.
The FX1 is a Hi Def ( albeit HDV) which ticks all the right boxes including AF
 
Ah, so the FX1 doesn't have a focussing issue? So, it is possible to get it right, thanks.
 
Ah, so the FX1 doesn't have a focussing issue? So, it is possible to get it right, thanks.

Yes but is is big and costs rather a lot if you just want to take videos now and again.. It shares the superior color reproduction and superior focus with all the Sony "Semi Pro "range
The Canons beyond the HV20 are also very costly:rolleyes:!
 
Yes, they are too big for me but I would have hoped that Instant AF (like on the HV10) meant just that and in my experience it doesn't: it hunts, and it's supposed to jump from plane to plane.

I have been reviewing some SDR-S150 footage tonight and it seems to cope with focus shift quite well. Of course, at 720 x 576 it has a much easier job to do than 1440 x 1080
 

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