Sony's HDR-HC9 camcorder gets reviewed

Considering that Sony's HDR-HC7 was mentioned earlier this year as one of the best consumer HD camcorders for the money, we figured it prudent to pass along an in-depth review of its successor, the HDR-HC9. Originally announced with a plethora of siblings at CES, this HDV camcorder is nearly identical to the unit it replaces, but that's hardly a knock. Reviewers praised the incredibly functional "Easy mode" for those looking to just dip their toes in, and the all black motif was also enjoyed. Still, critics found Canon's HV30 to be superior in terms of overall video quality, and they also griped that the $1,099 price tag was a touch too expensive for what you get. Still, those eying this here model should definitely take a chunk of their day and browse the full review linked below -- there's a whole lot more where this came from.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 29th 2008 4:07PM]

Video tape is for wankers. Hard drives or SSD 4twn!

[EngadgetFanBoi Posted Feb 29th 2008 5:06PM]

pshh... SxS Expresscard Flash Memory FTW! a la Sony's PMW-EX1

[(Unverified) Posted May 18th 2008 1:19PM]

Ever see a professional grade camera that DOESN'T use DV or miniDV tape? Due to high compression, hard drives and solid state media store an inferior image. Also remember that the most failure-prone part in your computer is the hard disk drive. Camcorders are even rougher on the drive! As to solid-state media, compression is even worse! Memory sticks have a limited life of read/write cycles and more failure prone than inexpensive miniDV tapes that can be digitally copied easily.

MiniDV if you want the best, Hard Drive if you want a toy!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 29th 2008 9:09PM]

tape is not a bad way to go if you plan on waiting for hd burners to come down in price. i feel bad for those people that listen to the idiot sales people at best buy that talk consumers into buying hd cameras, then tell them to burn the footage to SD DVDs. why buy an HD camcorder if you are only going to end up in 480i at the end. i bought a canon hv20 last summer and i don't regret it. i have 12 full tapes just waiting to get edited and burned... once i get a blu-ray burner for my macbook pro.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 1st 2008 2:36PM]

settle down there ogscorpion. you are probably a best buy employee.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 29th 2008 10:43PM]

tape is for wankers? you're havin a laugh mate. footage on HDD and SD is over compressed garbage. HDD & SD is convenient, but it's 17mbps max bit rate is crap compared to 25mbps. i don't mind switching tapes to preserve 50% better quality.
there is a reason the 2 best consumer HD cams (and prosumer cams) still run tape.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 1st 2008 5:24PM]

True. Even professional news reporters and gatherers use digital tape, albeit of different types. CNN uses Sony's Betacam SX (a slightly-compressed variant of Digital Betacam, itself a digital variant of analog Betacam, itself a professional version of 'ye olde' Betamax); Fox News uses D-9, a professional format based on (although not compatible with) Digital-VHS. The main difference between MiniDV (the "consumer-standard" digital video tape) and those professional formats is that video on the latter is recorded as uncompressed (or, at least, slightly-compressed), edit-friendly component video rather than heavily-compressed, non-edit-friendly MPEG-2 or MPEG-4.