Sony HDR-UX5 4MP AVCHD DVD High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
By: Sony
More Information
 On: 2008-01-20
I think that the HD is in progress, because when I record in HD HQ, I cant edit the recorded material in the cam before finished the DVD.
I dont have been used all the facilities of the cam recorder.
Thanks.
 On: 2008-01-14
For the product and technical illiterate, this is a great camera. For those who know a little bit more, it is an excellent camera. Easy to set up, use and edit. Placing the dvd directly into the camera is the best! Finalise it, and walk right over to the DVD player...Awesome!
On: 2007-09-30
The prize of this SONY HDR-UX5 camcorder is a bit high. Also, you cannot just purchase this camcorder without also getting a Sony blu ray disc player because you need a Sony blu ray disc player to play the disc on your tv set if you are shooting with high def. Sony uses a video compression scheme called AVCHD to encode the high def video, so your disc with AVCHD video cannot be playback with regular dvd player. You can use the software that comes with the camcorder to playback the AVCHD video on your pc but I would rather watch my high def video on the big screen. On the pc, image size for AVC HD is 1440x1080 and MPEG2 SD is 720x480 which is about 4 in by 2 in. The quality of the video and audio is good and the 4M still photo is acceptable. In-door video is good if you have proper lighting. You can shoot at the screen of your tv set and get comparable result when you show the recording later on the tv set. Auto flash has three settings (high/normal/low) to give you sufficient lighting for still photo. I do not have problem shooting photo indoor.
The camcorder ($700) is over priced. On top of that, you need money for the accessories.
1. You have two choices of video format- HD OR SD. With HD, you need to get a blu ray disc player because the High def is AVCHD 1080i and can be playback on your tv only with a blu ray disc player. You can playback the high def video by connecting the video camera to your tv set with a component video cable. You will not be able to play "the disc" by itself using regular dvd player if it is recorded with HD video. If you record with dvd-rw disc, you can split or trim the video and that is all the editing function you got. With SD, it is MPEG2 video. So, for SD, you can play your 8cm disc without a blu ray disc player. For high def, you need to get a Sony blu ray disc player. I think of the Sony blu ray disc player as an important accessory to the UX5.
2. Using the supplied battery(FH60), the recording time for SD (on SP mode) is about 75 min. I upgraded the battery to FH70 and I expect to get about 150 min. So I do not need to run back to my hotel to charge the battery when I was only halfway through shooting at the Great Wall. The mini dvd+rw disc records 30 min (single-sided, 1.4GB). If you want to record continuously on a single disc, consider using dvd+r DL. In SD (on SP mode), it is about 55 min.
3. Lens and filters are expensive.
4. To edit AVCHD on your computer is expensive. On the mac, you need Intel Core 2 Duo, Quartz Extreme graphics card, Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, at least 2GB of RAM, Final Cut Pro 6 which is included in FCS 2. Whether FCP 6 converted the AVCHD to Quicktime HD or some other format in order to import and edit your footage I dont know. Is AVCHD too compressed to warrant professional editing - I dont know. If instead, you use imovie 08, which is included with iLife 08; it will downgrade the high def to 480i. To me, it means it is not high def anymore. On the pc, roxio easy media creator 10 will edit AVDHD (aka H.264). I dont know whether EMC 10 down-converted your footage. Certainly, it is much less expensive than doing it on the mac with FCS 2. When I playback the AVCHD disc on my Pentium 4 running Win2000 pro, the video filled 3/4 of the screen but looks like VGA quality. However, the result of low quality image maybe because it was taken indoor and the poor lighting condition I had (I was experimenting with the camera).
So, as Ive said before, AVCHD means get a Sony blu ray disc player, shoot in high def and show your footage on the big screen like it is supposed to be.
[...].
On: 2007-09-30
I am not happy with the SONY HDR-UX5 camcorder. The price is a bit high and you need a blu ray disc player to play the disc recorded with high def video. The quality of the video and audio is good and the 4M still photo is acceptable. In-door video also is good with proper lighting. You can shoot at the screen of your tv set and get equivalent result when you show the recording later on the tv set. Auto flash has high/normal/low setting to give you sufficient lighting for still photo.
I have more complaints besides the price. The price ($700) is over priced.
1. You have two choices of video format- HD OR SD. With HD, you need to get a blu ray disc player because the 8cm disc recorded with AVCHD 1080i and only play on a blu ray disc player. You can show the high def video using the video camara connecting to your tv set with a component video cable. You will not be able to play "the disc" recorded with HD video using regular dvd player. You will not be able to find software to edit your AVCHD high def video. If you record with dvd-rw disc, you can split the video and that is all the editing function you got. Forget about roxio; they do mpeg4 or mpeg2. This unit is AVCHD only. With SD, it is MPEG2 video. So, for SD, you can play your 8cm disc without a blu ray disc player. For disc with high def video, you need to get a blu ray disc player.
2. Using the supplied battery(FH60), the recording time for SD (on SP mode) is about 30 min. I upgraded the battery to FH70 and I expect to get about 150 min. So I do not need to run back to my hotel to charge the battery when I was only half way through shooting at the Great Wall. The mini dvd+rw records 30 min (single-sided, 1.4GB). If you want to record continuously on a single disc, consider using dvd+r DL. In SD (on SP mode), it is about 55 min.
3. Lens and filters are expensive.
[...].
On: 2007-09-25
I upgraded from a Sony DCR-HC30E that was 3 years old to this new HD camera and these are the pros and cons that I have found:
Pros:
* High definition. Pretty amazing quality on good light conditions even when conected to a 32" Samsung LCD TV that is only HD Ready (not full 1080i)
* 16x9 rather than 4x3 format
* Power adaptor is smaller (important when travelling)although the power cable could also be shorter and smaller.
* Faster transfer to PC (not at viewing speed like old tape camera)
* More efficient for archiving the original videos in external HD (about 1/3 of disk space).
* Direct one-cable connection to TV with Standard HDMI connector
* Simple PC Software provided to view AVCHD files and to convert into regular Video DVDs (although it can take the whole night to genereate a DVD of 15 min)
Cons:
* Much bigger and heavier than my old camera. Now I need to think twice before taking it for my next trip.
* Being realistic can only record 15 min instead of 1 hour of video, before changing the DVD.
* Editing AVCHD files require a lot of processing power. Now I need to upgrade both my PC and my video editing software.
* Not possible to record both high def and standard def in the same DVD
* All disks have to be finalized before being able to read on a PC, and this is a slow operation that can take up to 5 minutes. So better to transfer videos through USB if you havent had to remove the DVD from the camera because you ran out of disk space.
* Battery duration. Battery supplied is NP-FH60 rather than NP-FH70 and sometimes wont last for 2 DVDs of 15 minutes each.
* Only as emergency photo camera since quality of photos is way below my old Canon Ixus 2 Mpixel camera.
* Photos taken during video recording are even worse
* Memstick is not provided, so unless you buy one, you cannot even try it as a photo camera.
* I bought a Mem stick of 1GB. This is the same capacity than the DVDs, but you cannot recrd video to the memory stick!
* Camera is slow to start recording since you press the record button, so you may loose the first two seconds. In addition it is slow powering up.
* No multi TV System. I bough in the US and therefore is NTSC only, but I want to use it in Asia Pacific and in Europe. Fortunately I have a multisystem TV.
On: 2007-06-08
Sony dit it again. What can I say one of the best camcorders. The only bad thing is you need a bluray dvd but you can use the camcorder.
On: 2007-06-07
Sony dit it again. What can I say one of the best camcorders. The only bad thing is you need a bluray dvd but you can use the camcorder.
On: 2007-04-30
The combination of ClearVid CMOS and x.v. Color standard makes the difference. Supposed to capture 1.8X colors more than the human eye can recognize and i agree with that. Your LCD with HDMI will blow your eyes (component is nice too). I never tought my TV can display those colors, clear, crispy, vivid, you got to see it to believe it.
You can capture still images at 4MP even while youre recording (you need a MStick Duo). The pics are ok but doesnt replace a semipro digital camera. But let me tell you that you can leave your digital camera at home.
Your home movies will be flavored with dolby digital audio, so if you have a home teather you will see your friends in the scene while youre hearing sounds from other directions.
Slow motion mode lets you capture up to 240 fps for just 3 seconds, thats a 12 seconds sequence with no lost frames at normal playback, interesting for sports or any fast move.
The only con is the AVCHD format, you will need a PS3 or Blue Ray player in order to play the Double Layer DVD but can use the camcorder as player. Anyways you can use standards mini DVDs.
Is a good deal, i think camcordes twice the price are not much better than this.
On: 2007-04-29
The combination of ClearVid CMOS and x.v. Color standard makes the difference. Supposed to capture 1.8X colors more than the human eye can recognize and i agree with that. Your LCD with HDMI will blow your eyes (component is nice too). I never tought my TV can display those colors, clear, crispy, vivid, you got to see it to believe it.
You can capture still images at 4MP even while youre recording (you need a MStick Duo). The pics are ok but doesnt replace a semipro digital camera. But let me tell you that you can leave your digital camera at home.
Your home movies will be flavored with dolby digital audio, so if you have a home teather you will see your friends in the scene while youre hearing sounds from other directions.
Slow motion mode lets you capture up to 240 fps for just 3 seconds, thats a 12 seconds sequence with no lost frames at normal playback, interesting for sports or any fast move.
The only con is the AVCHD format, you will need a PS3 or Blue Ray player in order to play the Double Layer DVD but can use the camcorder as player. Anyways you can use standards mini DVDs.
Is a good deal, i think camcordes twice the price are not much better than this.
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