Customer Reviews

Sony HDR-CX7 AVCHD 6.1MP High Definition Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I happened to own Canon HV20 Camcorder briefly until I saw this camcorder with my friend. I loved everything about HV20 except it's cheap(call it ugly) design and build quality. Also, I didn't like the concept of tape anymore after having over 30+ MiniDVs that are collecting dust.

I've owned a MiniDV Camcorder now for over 8 years and it still works great. But, I could never transfer 30+ tapes I have taken so far to any media except the first one. Why?

Tape based vs Flash Media
The DV Tape capture is a nightmare process. Takes forever to capture to PC, edit and burn DVD. With flash media, I can delete any scene I don't like right on camcorder and later don't have to deal with it while editing. Also, when I shoot silent scenes (which is very rare), I can hear the tape motor sound. I noticed this even on the new Canon HV20. Also, sometimes we want to delete some scenes we recorded earlier on the tape. That is practically useless on tape as that space on tape is wasted. With flash memory, you delete a scene and the memory available increases right away.
Some reviewers say Flash memory is expensive. While true it can't be too expensive for someone who sheds 1K on a camcorder. Moreover, their prices are falling faster than the real-estate prices in Northern Virginia. You can get couple of 4GBs and one Portable Storage Device(PSD) like WOLVERINE DATA FlashPac 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader and 60 GB Storage Device 7060 and you are done with buying any more flash memory. PSD can also be used as a backup device for all your photo and video collection if can buy HyperDrive Space, 160 GB Memory Card Backup Storage Device for 18 Types of Memory Cards.

Now to the video quality:
I wasn't expecting CX7 to be as good as HV20 because of its miniature size. But, I was thrilled to see both look exactly the same. At least to my eyes when I blew the picture in my Home Theater with 12 feet wide screen played from Panasonic AX100U Front Projector. I played CX7 by inserting the memory stick in my PS3. I tested some shots taken in dark conditions and in bright outdoors. Both are great camcorders. I saw no noise in either of them with basic indoor lighting from recessed lights. I also shot with my Old Mini DV Camcorder in Standard format and it looked terrible on 12 foot screen as expected. I felt it was worth the upgrade after comparing all three.

Audio:
CX7 shines here. It was able to create a surround sound effect when a flight flew above me when I was shooting. That made the recording feel more realistic. Also, CX7 definitely has the advantage of not having a motor running close to it like the tape based models have.

The digital pictures are also of decent quality. I would say as good as any compact 4 to 5+ MP cameras out there.

Sony did a wonderful job with the design of this camcorder and it's great they didn't skip on active shoe that can be used to attach external video light/flash and microphone.

What should Sony do to their next model?
I think they can increase the camcorder size slightly and add a viewfinder.

Must buy accessories:
SanDisk 4 GB Ultra II Memory Stick PRO Duo (SDMSPDH-4096-901, Retail Package)
Sony NPFH70 H Series Actiforce Hybrid InfoLithium Battery for most Sony Camcorders
Sony HVL-HL1 Video Light (3-Watt) for DCR-PC55, DCR-SR80, SR100, SR200, HDR-HC3, HC5, HDR-UX1 & UX5 Camcorders
Sony BCTRP Battery Charger for DCR-HC, DCR-DVD, HDR-HC3, HC5, HC7, HDR-UX5 & UX7 Camcorders
Mini HDMI cable from Monoprice dot com which costs around $6.

I will try to update my review after I shoot with it for couple of weeks on my India Trip!

Updated after my return from India Trip.
First, thanks to amazon for price matching my purchase with the new price which is $60 less than what I paid almost 5 weeks back.
Now, my opinion about the camcorder after extension use in India. I recorded over 3 hours in FullHD. I took a cruise on River Godavari which takes me through valleys, and villages and across islands with temples. I got my full camcorder's worth with that trip recording. When I came home I watched it in my 12 foot wide 2.35:1 screen using PS3. I can say video quality looked as good as any HD programming (even though my recording style was not of professional style). It's noise free and the video stabilization worked excellent and it shows when I used the zoom way too much at times.
I also recorded a wedding which is indoors with less lighting. Since I used Sony HVL-HL1 Video Light, the video looks like HD. Sometimes, I had to record without the Video light and in very dim lighting. Those recording had good amount of grain. But that is expected from such compact version camcorder. I recommend anyone who buys this camcorder to also get the Video light. I was able to record upto an hour without having to change the battery. Unless you plan to record over an hour of video at once or plan to use video light a lot, you can manage without an extra battery.

Now, can't wait to order Sony VRDMC5 DVDirect DVD Recorder to convert my recording on to DVD in AVCHD format so I can play on my PS3.

I love this camcorder! I received it in the mail today, so this review is still fresh, but so far, I like what I am seeing. The camera is incredibly light and small, even more so than I originally thought it would be. In fact, it's almost so small that my hand wraps all the way around it which in and of itself isn't such a great thing given that the wrist wrap doesn't really serve that much of a purpose anymore. I find that when holding it, I prop it up with my right hand and balance it with my left. The LCD screen is quite large for how small the camcorder is, which is nice, and all of the buttons, while taking a bit of time to figure out, are easy to use and hit with your finger. The memory stick pro duo slot is small and I can see how it might be easy to damage a duo card, especially when transferring cards in/out if you are doing a lot of filming, but in general it's not so bad. I haven't tried the HDMI port since apparently it's one of those mini-HDMI ports Sony seems so fond of these days, but I have hooked the camera up to my 60" Sony SXRD via component (via the included Handycam base station). The picture on HD (SP) -- the default HD video mode, looks really good, even in low lighting conditions, though I found the footage to be a little bit grainy. When upping the picture quality to XP (highest quality), any and all colors just POPPED out onto the screen, and a bit of the graininess was eliminated. Easy and fun to use, small (great for travelling) and a great picture, I give this one 4 stars not 5 only because of small faults in the picture quality and because of the need and current cost of buying extra components such as extra memory stick duo cards, avchd players for home media setups, etc.

July 26th:

--Still liking the camera. I bought the NPFH70 battery as an extra battery--the battery that comes with the camera doesn't really last that long (long enough for at least one full HD shooting onto my 8GB memory stick, but not two full shootings).

--The AVCHD format is really growing on me because of its size and manageability from a home media standpoint. Personally, I don't NEED cinema quality HD, and the HD this camcorder provides is pretty darn impressive as is. Basically, I am willing to sacrifice SOME (small) loss in quality for the huge gain you get in compression.

In addition, the software support for AVCHD is growing. You're starting to see the major software editing suites add some support one way or another. Final Cut Studio for example now has an AVCHD transcoder capability, and on Windows, there are plenty of $50-100 software programs out there that will do conversions and burn to CD, as well as editing software that currently supports it or plan to support it in the near future (Pinnacle Studio, Ulead, Sony's Vegas software). But, in general, I wouldn't recommend EDITING in this format to begin with. It's way way too compressed for fast editing from what I hear, and you'd do better if you're doing professional editing to convert it to another format using any of the above software suites first.

I think it's a great format and camera for high-end consumer/home camcorder use which is what this camera is meant for, but definitely not for an avid professional who's a serious video/audiophile--if that's the case, plop down a few more bucks and get the features you're looking for.

Having not seen any HD video from a camcorder I was expecting something more than I got... In the right lighting it is very sharp and nice, but in anything other than perfect lighting the video is *very* grainy... This is not HD video of the kind you see on t.v... it's sharp, but has extremely poor color depth. The "X.V Color" that they advertise seems to mean "crank up the saturation artificially to a ridiculous level"... which sometimes is ok, but really just overcompensates for the poor color depth... People's faces are flat pancakes of orange tone... and in general colors are only passable when lighting is great.

The features are nifty and overall the form factor is nice. I'm just not sure that the image quality is worth giving up a 3CCD minidv standard def for... it's a really tough choice.

One more minor thing - the "240 fps" super slow mode is neat, but they don't mention that it records in very low def for some reason... not terribly usable on a hi-def output.

Again, I am not comparing this to other HD camcorders because I have not seen the output of those... And everything I"ve read about this cam says that the HD quality is good or great. But from an objective viewer who's not used to anything but t.v. HD the quality is borderline at best...

I'll probably keep it until something better comes along and then upgrade. I'd be very curious to know if the quality is a limitation of AVCHD or just this camera.


thanks,
Pat

UPDATE:

I'm adding this update after having used the camera for several months - reasonably happy with the camera.

I'm finding that the quality is actually pretty good, especially if you do any further compression. E.g. I can scale the video down to 1280x720 at medium quality and it still looks great... in fact smoother and more natural... I can get an hour of video down to about 1.5Gigs this way (using Final Cut on my Mac) for presentation (I still keep the originals of course).

My biggest complaint right now is the incredibly slow startup time of the camera. It takes at least *10 seconds* from turning the knob to being able to hit the record button. This means that if you're not really prepared you'll miss a lot of priceless baby moments :) And if you do hit the record button prematurely you may not notice that you're not recording at all and totally blow it... This has happened to me several times.

I was going to bump up my star rating to 4 based on getting used to the video quality and overall happiness with the product, but I'm going to leave it at 3 because of this glaring defect of the slow startup time.


Pat

I have had the chance to use this little device for about a week. Is it perfect? No! Does the battery last forever? No! Is the picture quality flawless? No! Is it cheap? No! Are the stills great? No! Is Sony Vegas included? No! Is it light? Yes. Is it easy to use? Yes. Is it fun to use? Yes!!!! Do I carry it everywhere? Yes! Am I worried about AVCHD? Who cares!!!

This is not a perfect camcorder. It is not without its flaws. I previously and still own a Panasonic PV-GS250. Is it perfect? no. How many hours did I record with it during the last 2 years? Maybe 4 hours.

The best thing about the camcorder is the size. I can carry it or with a holster case without calling attention. The next best thing is NO TAPES! I can jump from scences instantly! The stills sucks but that's why I have Nikon DSLRs for.

I now have to get a PS3. Can you hear me crying!!!!

I will be going on vacation to Turkey and Greece during the next week. I will report back.

Nana

August 16, 2007
I just came back from a cruise in Turkey and Greece. I had the chance to visit the sites of three of the ancient wonders of the world. My Nikon D200 and the Sony HDR-CX7 was with me every step of the way. I am primarily a photographer but this little device was a nice change. I bought a Lowes lens case with a belt loop (the Sony HDR-CX7 fits perfectly in!!) so it was attached to my hip at all time.

The ergonomics is perfect for trips. I saw so many people using large camcorders I just don't know how they do it. I can bearly keep my arms up with this tiny thing. Most people didn't even know I was videotaping.

Focusing is not a major issue to me. It certainly does not focus as fast as my D200.

I also got an extra battery (70) which I had no problems with recording time. Three 4 gigs sticks was all I needed.

As for quality, I wish it was less grainy. But it is a lot better than my fuzzy memory of the places I've been because I would be too lazy to use anything else especially tapes!!!

I will keep you up to date.

Nana

I will start by saying I am not an expert with camcorders, so this review will be from the perspective of a typical electronics challenged father, who by no means is an expert in video or audio quality. Please accept my apology now for not being "technical" in my evaluation. My last camcorder was the Sony Hi8, TRV-700 (purchased in the late 90's), which had broken some time ago. This fact alone should tell you how limited our camcorder experience has been. We wanted to start filming out family events again, and decided on this unit for several reasons. First, it is small and light, which is a huge plus on vacation, particularly after 8 hours of walking with 3 kids. Second, the idea of flash memory rocks! (can you say "no moving parts"?), We spent a week on vacation and only needed two 8Gb sticks, although we had more with us, just in case. Everything we recorded was in HD, and we will be transferring it over to DVD using the latest Sony VRD-MC5 DVD recorder. Our next purchase is a blue-ray player (debating between the PS3 or the Sony standalone unit), which will allow us to watch the HD DVD's on our HDTV. If you burn in SD, any DVD player will work, but why compromise after spending the money to purchase a HD capable camcorder? We were able to find the 8Gb memory sticks on Amazon for just under $139.99 each, and can't wait until Sony releases the 16Gb version early in '08 (32Gb in '09), if for no other reason than the price for 8Gb sticks will drop. I am sure there are those who will swear by either tape, or DVD versions, but if it's simplicity your after, with a nice touch of "light", consider the Flash Memory camcorders. The Sony model is nice, and in my opinion, just a little nicer in build quality than the Panasonic version that just came out. However, I am sure either one would satisfy most people. Thanks for putting up with my "non-expert" review!

I own both this and the Panasonic HDC-SD1. While this is a very cool and small camcorder, it just falls short for the price. Overall I love the size, weight and look, but it takes somewhat grainy movies and the user interface is confusing. For example, unlike most cameras on the market the main on/off dial only has record mode and no play mode - you have to find the tiny play button on the touch screen. They try to make it better with an "easy" mode but that won't let you record in the highest quality, unfortunately.

Pros:
- Small and light weight
- Good in low light (and has night vision)
- Looks cool

Cons:
- Somewhat grainy movies even in highest quality setting
- Too expensive for what it is (e.g. no flash card included)
- User interface is poor (have to press tiny buttons on small screen)
- Uses non-standard HDMI cable which isn't included & costs $50 extra
- Not full HD (1440 x 1080 vs 1920 x 1080)

So, I'd say if you want to go with bleeding edge flash-based AVCHD recorders like this, stick with the tried and true Panasonic HDC-SD1 (or the newer HDC-SD5 that does full HD, not 1440 like this one). The HDC-SD1 takes great video with its 3 CCD sensor. If you're willing spend a lot extra for the small & cool factor and can live with some graininess in the video, get this Sony.

Or, if you want top-notch HD that you can actually edit in iMovie, the MiniDV Canon HV20 is the best on the market and takes the best HD video money in this range can buy (downside is it still uses tape - although that makes archiving easier).

NOTE to Manufacturers: Please create a camcorder that records HDV (instead of AVCHD) onto flash memory cards. There is no reason to compress the video so much using AVCHD when flash memory prices are rapidly falling every day!

I bought mine a month ago and have had alot of fun with it.

You should know, this camera only records it's audio as 5.1; it is not switchable to Stereo... which is ok since all dvd players and authoring software will mix it to stereo for you. The audio outputs on the camera are just stereo though, weird.

Also, keep the camera steady, it's so light that's it's difficult to keep steady and it does have a harder time with too much commotion in frame.

In auditorium envirments where the audience is dark and a stage is well lit, it will over-expose on auto-exposure, which is incorrectable and adds video noise. So just switch the exposure to manual and tune it down.

At least buy an extra battery & a camera bag. I also bought a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens, & video lamp/still flash. You'll also want editing software:

Sony Vegas lies about editing AVCHD. It merely plays it and accepts it as an import file. It WILL NOT export to AVCHD.

As of now, Pinnacle Studio 11.1.1 is the only software I know of that allows users to edit from start-to-finish in AVCHD. Exporting to file, Blu-Ray compatible DVD, or HD-DVD compatible DVD. I know because I did just that and I noticed NO video quality degradation. You get 40 minutes of video at 15K bitrate to a 4.7 DVD, compatible for most new Sony and Panasonic Blu-Ray players. 15K bitrate is the maximun bitrate this camera records at. But be warned, many users have problems with Pinnacle; I don't.

ALSO, a good thing here, there is NO "spinning up" noise from tape drives or disc drives or DVD drives... because there ARE NONE! Since it records to a memory card, there are NO moving parts for the Mic to hear. That tends to be a chief complaint with many serious camcorder users.

It's worth it, and will likely last you 15 years, unlike cameras with tape drives and disk drives.

Shoots good stills too.
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Update: Dec 27, 2007

Still lovin my CX7. It really does snap great 6.1M stills, though the 6.1M's have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

You can switch the aspect to 16x9 which are 4.6M but look good under good lighting or with a flash. This is great for using just this camera to create multimedia presentations that switches back and forth from stills to video; that way you won't have to stretch or crop or see black pillars to the sides of the stills ... it saves the work of having to crop the stills.

I didn't really say anything negative about the camera; but to be fair, I am disappointed that this camcorder doesn't have a viewfinder. The flip-out screen is terrific under most lighting conditions with the exception of good sunlight, which blots out the screen... that's not cute. And Sony should have considered that, since this camera does it's best work in good sunlight. However, it's competitor the Panasonic HDC-SD5 doesn't have one either; but the Canon HG10 does, which is not a ram recorder, it's a hard-drive recorder and records 24p. Hopefully, after so many negative comments, Sony and Panasonic will go back to including viewfinders on their camcorders.
____________________

Update - Jan 07, 2008

It intermittantly searches for a better focus in auto-focus in darker enviroments. So you may need to turn off auto-focus once the focus is optimized; assuming you and your target are relatively stationary. Trust me on this, it's very annoying to capture a once in a lifetime moment, then discover that the focus is getting blurry from time to time.
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Update June 18, 2008

I found a way to get rid of most of stammering and hic-ups in the playback from the PC software. The utility they give you to play back the files that you saved to your PC is called something like media browser. I found that on my P4 3.2 Ghz with 1 Gig RAM and nVidia 256 AGP, I found that opening up Window's OS Task Manager and then going to Processes and finding the browser process (called something like SPBrowser) ... I right clicked on it and then experimented with all the CPU prioritizing assignments for this process; and suprisingly I found that the lowest setting tends to manage the video streaming with noticably less hic-ups and stammering.

I was torn on getting either the Panasonic SD5 or the Sony cx7 but ended up with the cx7 because I love the fact I can use it with the Sony VRDMC5 Directdvd which will make playable HD discs from normal cheap blank dvd's! they will playback on PS3 or bluray player... I use a PS3 and it can play the hd video straight from the memory stick... I then also copy clips directly to the ps3's hard drive... Since all of this is Sony stuff I decided to stick with a sony camera.

The video is very impressive! Shooting in hd is so cool - the colors are rich the video is sharp and in true 16x9 ratio - so playback on your hd set is fantastic !

I also tested importing the video into iLife '08 and it indeed works but it has to be converted to a mov file so your video becomes a large file that you can edit.... I am hoping quicktime will have a version that will just work and play avchd natively someday.... but the bottom line is that it will work on your mac if you need to edit. If your pc then try out Nero8 - it will also handle avchd and make playable discs.

If you get the cx7 be sure to get the Sony VRDMC5 as well because it will make those hd discs without any need for a pc. For playback I would also get a PS3 so you can build video clip library using its hard drive so you do not even need to breakout the dvd just play it right off the unit.

The camera has a great touch lcd screen and a very fast zoom. Day shots are fantastic and indoor shooting is fine... there will be some graininess because of low light but I must say I was still impressed.

If your looking into a new camera ... HD is the way to go... and tapeless is just plain awesome! Now that the PS3 handles avchd - its finally starting to come together for recording straight through to playback and archiving. With a tape system all you end up with is a drawer full of tapes that never get played because of the hassle of hookup and finding the scene you want... with flash based recording its all digital so everything is a file and can be moved around and called up on a seconds noticed...

The only drawback with avchd right now is the ease of editing and direct playback on PC's or macs. While Nero8 and iLife do work they need a powerful computer to do it. If you just want to record and playback just get the PS3 and Sony VRDMC5 and you'll be in hd heaven... you will be able to make playable hd discs and the ps3 will give you full hd playback from the stick,hard drive or disc. You can also just use a blu ray player but you will need the Sony VRDMC5 to make the discs for them to playback on.

Hi-def recorded resolution is 1440 X 1080 (not 1920 X 1080).

Hi-def records in four different bitrates from 5Mbps to 15Mbps. SD records in three bitrates: 3, 6, and 9 Mbps.

SD resolution is NOT reduced to half at the lowest bitrate, like some other Sony camcorders do. 3Mbps is 720 X 480, though I think SD is always 520 effective horizontal lines.

If you record in HD, you can play it back as SD using the analog cables. One of the cables is component output. So if you have a DVD recorder with component input, you can get the full 720H resolution on DVD this way.

The included software will allow you to convert HD to SD, resulting in approx. 8Mbps bitrate. Unknown whether this retains full 720H resolution.

Recording at 5Mbps in HD, and playing back as SD looks excellent, like it was recorded at 6Mbps SD. Thus, it almost makes sense to always record in HD. You can always convert it later if needed.

No eyepiece viewfinder, and no neck strap. Does not come with any memory! The manual says it does but the box does not.

Included software can generate an AVCHD-DVD, which will play on AVCHD-capable Blu-Ray players. Also included is a software player for these discs, but it requires a FAST computer. The player will not play videos from the hard drive; they must be on DVD.

In general I like the camera, it is small and shaped nicely, the quality of the movies recorded under sun light is very good, it is easy to handle and the features are great.
But...,
When recording at night, it requires an external light; it takes 'forever' to be ready for recording after you turn the power on; and the software that comes with the camera should be a little bit better considering the price you paid for the camera.
Note: Movies burned directly to DVD do not play in your DVD player at home. Needs to convert to mpeg before burning your DVD.