CNET ASIA REVIEW

Compact HD camcorder

The Sony HDR-HC3 can easily fit into your handbag or jacket pocket

OO GIN LEE

The Sony HDR-HC3 marks the coming of age of High-Definition (HD) camcorders for the masses. It is also an indication of how fast the camcorder market has moved. In just two short years, HD camcorders have moved from being bulky monsters to portable, affordable and sexy gadgets for the consumer. Compared with its predecessor of last year, the HC1, the S$2,499 (US$1,589.90) HC3 is about a quarter smaller, weighs only 600g (with the battery and tape inside), and can now easily fit into your handbag or jacket pocket. The writing is on the wall - HD camcorders are now available for all and sundry.

The HC3 records in HDV format, which has become the de facto standard for HD video for camcorders. This means you will be able to find plenty of video-editing software in the market that works with HDV. However, HDV is based on the MPEG-2 compression technology, which is less efficient than the newer MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Codec) codec which Sony is now pushing for its most recent DVD and harddisk drive camcorders. But this really is not a big issue as you can still record for 60 minutes under HD (using a standard 60-minute tape) and up to 90 minutes in SD. If you have plenty of spare MiniDV tapes, you will also save a lot of money from not spending on additional new media like DVD discs.

Look and feel

One of the most attractive features about the HDR-HC3 is its compact size. HD camcorders used to be the privilege of professionals and even the earlier consumer models were rather bulky. Not anymore. Now, you can bring your HD camcorder everywhere you go.

Despite its compact frame, there is a solid build to the HC3 that makes it feel very robust. The top-loading tape slot is on the right-hand side of the camcorder and is directly below your palm when you grip the surface with it. Although the grip is made of plastic, there is a nice solid feel to it. Despite being so near to the tape compartment, you will not feel any mechanical movement or noise while doing your recordings.

There are three very important controls on the top of the surface grip, the power dial, the photo button and the 10x optical zoom. The power dial lets you turn on the camcorder to three modes - tape, memory and playback. Tape is for recording movies onto the MiniDV tapes and memory is for storing your still images into Memory Stick DUO cards.

You can't store pictures on tape and vice versa. While this is normal in the tape world, this is clearly a disadvantage when compared with hard disk-based camcorders like the Sony HDR-SR1 where you can store both pictures and movies on the same media. The start/stop button is located in the middle of the side of the surface grip facing the user and is easily accessible by your thumb.

You can also opt for two-handed operation by making use of the start/stop and zoom buttons of the LCD screen. The display itself is 2.7 inches which, frankly, is a little small when you are used to viewing on 3.5-inch screens, but I guess you can't have your cake and eat it if you favor compactness.

The LCD panel is touchscreen, so you can execute all your controls onscreen. The navigation system is pretty standard for camcorders, but when compared with the newer navigation menu found in the Sony HDR-SR1 and UX1, the HC3's menu seemed to be a lot harder to handle.

It took us a lot more time to learn the HC3 menu than the newer menu which we could easily jump into without much reference to the manual.

The microphone is smartly positioned just below the lens, so your fingers and hands don't get into the way and mess up the audio. It also lets you record sounds coming from the subjects much better since it is pointing away from the person recording the video.

You can also add a more powerful microphone or a wireless one on the proprietary Accessory Interface shoe, but what is lacking is a standard mic jack to plug into a standard external microphone. Unfortunately, also missing is a headphone jack that could let you plug in your headphones to listen to your recording while you shoot. The viewfinder located at the top-end of the camcorder is also fixed, which means you cannot lift it up at 45 degrees when used with a tripod.

Audio, picture and video quality

The video quality shot with the HC3 is quite good, especially when there is plenty of light, i.e. in outdoor shots. Low-light and indoor shots, however, are a little grainy. The microphone in our tests performed decently but is only dual channel, which means it is incapable of recording in 5.1 surround sound that usually accompanies HD-quality movies.

The pictures are shot at resolutions of up to 4 megapixels. There is a Dual Record feature which lets you shoot up to three pictures per recording while shooting your movies. However, still shots during this mode are limited to 2.3 megapixels. Picture quality is decent but, as expected, is too far away in quality from digital cameras with the same megapixel resolution.

Connectivity options and playback

The HC3 has all the connectivity options that you need. You get an HDMI jack for best playback on an HDTV, plus FireWire, component and composite output jacks. With FireWire, you can also copy movies to your PC. There is also a USB port in the machine for downloading pictures from the Memory Stick card onto your PC. We found this rather confusing as you need two sets of cables, FireWire for copying videos, and USB for pictures.

Clearly, this is legacy technology as the newer SR1 and UX1 have done away with FireWire and just make use of USB 2.0 for both videos and pictures.

The HC3 lets you record in both HD and SD quality. If you are playing back to a non-HD TV, the camcorder automatically down-converts the HD footage to SD resolution for accurate playback on the screen. This gives you the flexibility to record in HD and still be able to playback using HD and non-HD TVs.

Shooting features

The HC3 has plenty of cool features to make it easy to use for consumers. The Easy button is the idiot-proof auto-configure feature that lets you easily point-and-shoot without any hassle. For those who want more control, you can go for the various preconfigured settings for spotlight, sunset shots, beach shots, and more.

There are also the NightShot and Super NightShot features that let you shoot movies in the dark. You can also shoot a 3-second clip in slow motion with the Smooth Slow Recording feature - great for capturing a golf swing in action.

For those who want even more control, you can just press the manual button and make use of the dial to focus manually. While the dial saves space, it does not feel as good as using a ring control which has a more professional feel to the focussing.

Conclusion

If you are seeking a Sony HD camcorder, the HC3 is the smallest one in the market right now. It is also cheaper than the newer UX1 (DVD-based) and SR1 (hard disk-based) camcorders by S$200 (US$127.24) and S$400 (US$254.49), respectively. It shares many features with its higher-end cousins, the SR-1 and UX-1, such as Dual Recording, Smooth Slow Recording, HD quality, HDMI jack, and a solid grip. The HC3 is also great for users who already have a lot of MiniDV tapes at home as you don't have to spend additional dollars buying DVD discs. Using tape also means you don't need a PC to store your footages, as is the case with harddisk drive camcorders.

In terms of video and picture quality, the HC3 is comparable with the UX1 and SR1. However, the HC3 is weaker with its audio options, has a more complex menu interface and suffers from legacy technology in having both a USB and FireWire connection which can only download pictures and movies, respectively, but not vice versa.

Overview

The good: Compact for HD camcorder; uses mainstream HDV codec enabling more editing options; good-quality videos; top-loading tape for easy access; HDMI port for best connectivity to HDTV.

The bad: Tradeoff of features for compactness; fixed viewfinder; manual dial adjustment instead of ring; small 2.7-inch LCD screen; connectivity ports all over the place; absence of 5.1 surround sound.

The bottom line:A compact, attractive MiniDV HD camcorder, although some features could have been better implemented.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007