Digital Trends

Sony HDR-CX7

August 13th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Testing and Use Cont'd

I must point out one area Sony has missed the boat is compatibility with its flat panel TVs. With Panasonic SD card HD camcorders you can just slip the card into a compatible plasma set and instantly watch videos. This is way, way cool. As of this time, no Sony TV has this capability. Of course, you can sneak your hand in the back of the set and connect the CX7 via HDMI. But what’s easier than sliding a card into a frame and using the remote to playback scenes? Come on, guys, get on the ball. Another note: the new Panasonic HDC-SD5 coming out in September records 1920 x 1080i video, the best quality AVCHD has to offer and the same spec as HDV. My guess Sony will bump up the quality in 2008. We shall see…

On a more positive note, Sony recently introduced a new burner that handles AVCHD video. The DVDirect ($229) is a breeze to use. Simply pop in a blank recordable DVD, connect the camcorder via USB, follow the prompts and you’ll have a finalized disc before you know it. This disc can then be played back in any AVCHD compatible Blu-ray player. The supplied camcorder CD-ROM has viewer software so you watch the AVCHD disc on a PC—just make sure you have a potent computer as my older laptop jerked the video a bit. DVDirect is an affordable way to create discs without dropping a BD drive in your computer. Amazingly although it has a Memory Stick slot it can’t read videos--only JPEGs. One would hope Sony would rectify this omission the next go around.

The “disc burn” button on the supplied dock works with the supplied Picture Motion Browser to create discs on your PC but they are only SD quality. Sony figures you’ll use the software that came with a Blu-ray burner if you want to make AVCHD discs. Whatever.

As for the photographs, don’t expect the best quality. Your snapshots will be OK as 4x6s, especially if you’re using the flash. Other than that, interpolated images are always filled with noise and these are no exception.

A final note: this camcorder is one of the few that uses the expanded x.v.Color system that records a wider color gamut; I do not have one of these televisions so I can’t comment.

Conclusion

With the HDR-CX7 Sony has introduced a high-quality HD camcorder that records to flash memory—and it’s a winner for all my nitpicking. The overall video quality is outstanding. The camcorder focuses quickly, smoothes out the shakes thanks to OIS and is a lot of fun to operate. If Sony just took care of a few things, the CX7 would be at the top of camcorder heap, circa Summer 2007. Yes, I’d even give up a little resolution of the Canon HV20 for the small size, instant index marks and a camcorder that even a Shea Stadium security lusts after.

Pros

• Very good video quality
• Beautiful design
• Intuitive menu system

Cons

• No compatible card-playing TVs
• Poor supplied software
• Interpolated stills