Sony HDRSR11 10.2MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive

“BUFFER OVERLOAD” record failures every 3 seconds
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I drive a truck (semi), so my main use for this camcorder was as a “dashcam” (actually I used a Panavise 809 CCTV Camera Window Mount, and mounted it against the rear windshield.

The recording quality is great, and the focus has great improvements from the HDR-SR5 I used to have. I could actually put it into manual focus mode. The on/off switch is thinner, and in a more difficult position (no big deal).

Here is the main problem I was having with this camcorder (the reason for 1 star, because what good is a camcorder if it doesn’t record?):

The recording would abruptly fail with a blue screen that said “buffer overload”.

The amount of failures depended on the types of loads, roads & bumps I went over with my truck. If I had a “user friendly” load (medium weight, double trailers = minimum shakiness for the type of vehicle I drive), I would get maybe 3-4 “buffer overload” messages while driving at one speed (55 MPH of course, LOL). When stopping or slowing down meant a change in “environmental conditions” for the internal hard-disk, and along came the “buffer overload” messages. If making a right/left turn, BUFFER OVERLOAD… Climbing a hill, same thing. Sometimes if another truck passed me, it would fail.

If I hauled a super heavy load on a single 53′ trailer and went over the route that had the most bumps, I may as well not have brought the camcorder with me because I couldn’t get 3 seconds of recording out of it.

Some users experienced with this model stated that the reason for the buffer overload messages was the microphone sound was too high. This is apparently not the case as it is the fact that the hard-disk cannot tolerate the vibrations associated with it’s applications. When it comes to being inside a vehicle, or maybe the vibrations of high decibel sound produced from a live band, this camcorder has a serious flaw, and Sony engineers/developers have some work ahead of them, but they might not be taking it seriously, yet they known about the problem.

The solution I am hearing on different forums is that one could use a memory stick for recording. My question is that could one transfer video data from the memory stick to the internal hard-disk?

Otherwise, if a person is using this camcorder for use in a vehicle, airplane, live band, etc. I would seriously reconsider.

First Camcorder, Very Impressed!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My dad was a professional photographer for years, and Ive always enjoyed videos and pictures along with a nice mix of new technology. Ive always been around cameras, and video equipment, as well as owning many digital cameras.

I decided to take the plunge and pick up the Sony HDR-SR11, and wow am I happy I did! Ive always been partial to Sony products since Ive owned them since my first Walkman and never had a problem.

The size of this thing is just mind boggling, for a high-def camera with a HDD, huge LCD screen, and a huge list of features…Its hard to believe it all fit in this little package! I first used it for Christmas this year and couldn’t believe the quality, especially on wood grain (doors,cabinets) and family and friends faces! After taking over 3 hours of video, I uploaded it to my computer using the included base station. I used only raw footage, did no editing of any kind, and burned a HD DVD (high def quality, regular DVD to be clear) I had to trim the length back to fit it on a 4.7gb DVD but the quality when played back on my BD player was just amazing!

Ive gotten tons of comments and even a request to film my friends wedding this year! This camera alone is in the “pros” section of my review list, and so far the only “con” I’ve found is its a bit tough to edit the footage(AVCHD), but I’m in the process of purchasing some software for that very purpose!

I purchased a mount for this camera to place it on my gas tank of my Suzuki GSXR, its been cold and snowy here, but I got a chance to take it out around the block and the video quality, and image stabilization are top notch even at 60-70mph!

Awsome product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product blowed-up my expectations. It was easy to set-up and the touch screen functionality it’s fun to use. The dual picture/video it’s definetly an asset with an exceptional videos & pictures quality for a small product like that.

No more cassette to carry, just record and download on your PC (the USB cable it’s included). You have 60Gb of data storage on the Sony HDR-SR11 Handycam Camcorder, which is enough for most people.

RECOMMAND!!!RECOMMAND!!!RECOMMAND!!!

Love it.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
get it, its easy to use, and the photos are great. make sure you get a carring case…

Great Video Camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great video camera. Works well with both Mac and PC. Enjoying the high quality video.

Sony SR-11 is Great!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have to rave about this Sony. Compared to my 1 mega-pixel Sony w/tape there is a world of difference. Filming dog agility runs in a fairly dark horse barn with open walls when there’s bright sun outside is amazing. Easy to use right out of the box but I admit I haven’t explored all the things it can do. The stability feature isn’t as good as it could be due mainly to the increased clarity of 10 mega-pixels I’m sure. It’s more awkward to download the films I’ve shot since I don’t have that damn Blu-Ray player. I’m angry enough now that I won’t get one. Reminds me of the VHS/Beta fight from years ago. All in all, I’m extremely happy with the camera and its performance. Oh, sending film clips by email is a challenge since the Kb are so high (which gives it the clarity, I understand that) but that may be my not knowing the proper way to adjust my computer.

Maybe my expecations were too high?
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I like this camera. I like the size and the feature set, but to my eye, the AVCHD video quality isn’t quite there. It’s good, but there is still some “star-stepping” visible around light and dark points, particularly in lower light. I’m comparing this to HDV video shot with my HDR-HC1 and I prefer the less compressed HDV video. That being said, I don’t miss the video capture process I had to go through with HDV to get it onto the computer for editing, so I will keep this camera. FYI, for those of you looking for software that works with AVCHD, I’ve had great success with Sony Vegas Platinum. Whatever you do, don’t buy Adobe Premier Elements – it doesn’t support AVCHD and is very, very buggy.

Pro:

– Easy to load video to PC

– Good form factor; not as small as the Canon HF10, but small

– Nice big screen

– Viewfinder for those bright sunny days (HF10 does not have a viewfinder)

– Able to hold lots of video

Cons:

– Some compression artifacts visible in video

– Some skipping in video during rapid movements/ fast pans

– Slow focus lock in indoor lighting situations

Great Camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased thru Butterfly Photo (listed as seller by Amazon). It will change how you work for the better. The included software allows one touch burning to DVD’s which is great- in high Def AVCHD. You can archive clips this way and then assemble them (I use Sony Vegas Pro) and not take up alot of Hard Drive space on your computer. You can the author a DVD/Blu-ray and its great. Only negative I have seen is in low light there is some artifacting when you pan fast. I have same problem with my Canon GL-2 but the quality of the image is so much better than GL-2 avi files.

Excellent Camera for MY PRICE!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Sony SR11 is a great camcorder. I am not going to get into extreme detail here talking about all of the little specs and other things because I don’t have time. The camcorder has awesome quality/clarity. The colors are vibrant and the sound is amazing. It sounds like surround sound when I am watching it. I upload a ton of my videos on YouTube and all come up as full HD even when I record in standard to reduce file size. The cam is so clear that the FULL HD isn’t even needed. When I was purchasing this camera, I did extensive research and it definitely paid off. The reason I titled my review as “MY PRICE” is because I bought the camera for around 715 dollars. Now it has doubled, which seems pretty ridiculous. If you can afford the cam, I would definitely get it if it seems like what you want. The 60GB is a lot of room and I am not even close to filling that up. But, if you use your camcorder every day for all HD recording and don’t want to delete things, get the SR12 which has double the memory. The remote control that it comes with is also very handy when doing vlogs or using a tripod. The interface is very easy to use and you will get used to it in no time.

I have noticed that in low light it can get a little grainy, but that comes with practically all cams. With the cam, I bought the NPF100 battery, which is awesome. The battery that comes with it lasts about an hour and a half, but this lasts about 3 hours+! I recommend getting that.- haha Overall, the camcorder is great and I recommend it to anyone. Over time, I have realized that technology is always changing, and better and newer things come out every day. The Sony SR11 beats time, and is a purchase that you won’t regret.

- 9 out of 10

Very good camcorder
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have not tried the other camcorders on the market. So I cannot compare them in detail. Before I bought this camcorder, I read all the reviews of several camcorders I was interested in (Sony SR11, Panasonic, Canon) and compared the specifications and features. Basically I decided on SR11 because of its superior sensor. (ex. Sony SR11: Megapixel ClearVid(tm) CMOS Sensor vs. Canon VIXIA HF100: 3.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor.) I also went to a electronic store to check out all those camcorders. Sony has by far the best LCD monitor of them all. The picture in its own LCD screen (of SR11) was crystal clear. The LCD monitors on the other camcorders all had very blurry images.

After I bought the SR11, I took some video clips and connected the camcorder to my Sony 46″ LCD HDTV, I was satisfied with the quality of the images. The only thing that bothered me a little was that the red objects are unusually red and super bright.

The thing that bothered me the most is that when I uploaded the video to my computer, the files became extremely large. I am not sure if it has anything to do with this camcorder or it’s just my computer. I shot everything in HD FH mode. According to the manual, this camcorder has 60 GB hard drive and can shoot 7 hrs. 10 min. of video in HD FH mode. There was 202 min. left on my SR11 hard drive. So I used about 53% of the hard drive space. But when I upload the video through i-movie 09 program to my external hard drive (Seagate 500GB), it took up 206GB of the hard drive space. I was shocked. I was expecting something around 40GB. I am using a MacBook Pro I just purchased few weeks ago. I am hoping someone here can tell me whether this is normal.

Expensive Toy
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I like sony camcorder product, this one is very good but very expensive. It’s small enough to carry around, but somehow the image stablizer doesn’t work very well. I haven’t check out all the features and monkey with any set up yet, so maybe after I look over the manual and actually set up the camera right, then I wouldn’t have the shaking problem. Over all, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Five star video recording quality * * * * *
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Recording playback on a 26″ Polaroid HDTV (1080i) via composite cables (I have yet to buy a mini-HDMI cable) – awesome video quality; looks like you’re watching a blu-ray movie. However, recording quality is seriously affected if shot under low lighting conditions. It’s worth every penny and don’t regret it even so. I gave it a four star rating due to its user interface which requires constantly smudging the LCD with fingerprints and how knows, in time maybe it will break from all your fingerprint’s pressure.

The still picture is ok but nothing to get excited about. My wife’s 10.2MP DSLR camera makes it look like a child’s toy. (Or better yet, the analogy between a phone camera and a compact digital photo camera or maybe it’s just me but who cares about pictures anyway, right?)

Another minus is the lack of a dedicated battery charger and a printed user’s manual. The one that comes with the camera touches only the basics (the full-featured can be found on Sony’s website though).

Another big plus is the memory stick support. If one has a 16GB+ it will be enought to store 1hr+ of HD (best quality) in rough conditions without compromising the HDD’s integrity.

Great camera/camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This guy works very well. It can be a little bit clumsy with all the features available but the “simple mode” button takes care of that. Excellent video/audio. The included S/W is very good at downloading and converting the stored video. I have yet to come close to using up all the space on the drive but in case I do, I still have 8GB memory sticks. I recommend it to anyone who can afford it.

Generally an OK camera
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Software is weak, major hassle when you transfer to your computer’s hard drive because it has to recognize the video, and do some other weird stuff to it. Files are big, using Sony Vegas and keeps crashing my program, you need a good computer. Results of indoor use with the camera has not been impressive at all. Battery doesn’t last very long, you’ll need a bigger one. Vid picture is good, I like that I can delete video clips, email them, save to CD.

S’port mom
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I would recommend this product to others. Being that I have had it for a couple months and not a techie by any means, I am sure there are many features on this product I have yet to use. My reason for not providing this product with 5 stars is due to the original packaged battery life that does not last that long… had to purchase a larger battery. The 2nd reason is the product does come with a infrared light (that turns everything green) but I would have greatly appreciated a real light or to be able to use the flash as a light in dim situations. I have purchased a light that sits on top the product and runs off of the product battery and is inclusive of a infrared enhancer as well. My product as of lately has been having an issue with filming in darkness, but that can very well be from user error.

Have a major problem
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I love everything about this camera, except one major problem. I can’t save to dvd and watch in dvd player. You can only view in a blue ray disc player which I do not have. I tried recording to dvd from tv and it looks horriable. I wish I would have known before buying.

Sony HDR-SDR11
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Best high definition camcorder! The only thing is they should include mini HDMI cable. Other than that I recommend it to everybody.

my wife loves it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
solves the purpose for what it was bought for. Wife happy, life happy. I dont even know how to operate myself but I know the purpose for which it was bought is solved

Excellent Video and Pictures too
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have been very pleased with this purchase. It certainly is the best camcorder I have ever owned to date, although I would probably have purchased the CX12 if I were to purchase again (see comments below for reason). I purchased this SR11 because I wanted an HD video recorder for my daughter’s wedding. My previous recorder was a Sony DCR-HC26 which used MiniDV tapes.

The camcorder overall has a very nice weight and feel. It does not feel like some plastic toy that might break easily. One has a sense of quality and durability while holding it. One friend who held it exclaimed, “Wow. This is a very nice camcorder.”

I am very pleased with the quality of the videos. The colors are much deeper and truer than my last two Sony camcorders. I usually record in HD at 7MP, two steps down from the highest setting. Even video that I burn directly onto standard DVD, which is being downgraded through standard RCA cables, looks much better on my 1080P 52″ Samsung TV than any of my other camcorders. That alone makes me happy with my purchase, since I don’t yet have the ability to burn to Blu-Ray, and most of my friends probably couldn’t play them even if I could. So while I record in HD, most of what I share with others will probably still be on standard DVD for now.

The low light quality and focusing ability seems to work very well. People often complain about increased graininess in images recorded under low light, but I realize how problematic this can be for camcorders. In my opinion, the SR11 does it very well. It also has an infrared lamp, but no colors with that method, so I use it only when there is virtually no light at all.

The face recognition is very interesting. It creates little boxes around faces when it recognizes them, giving the user security that the camera is focusing and adjusting exposure on the right subject. I like that, and it seems to work remarkable well.

There is a nice dial on the front which has a button that can be pressed to switch to manual focus instantly. Turn the dial to focus, and it even displays a decimal number to show how far away the focus is set. I like this easy to access manual focus for situations where my subjects are always the same distance away. My previous camcorder forced me to navigate menus to switch to manual focus. However, the automatic focus does seem to work better than my previous camcorder, so I might not be using this feature as much as I have in the past with my previous camcorder.

There is an easy to reach backlight adjustment button on the front of the camcorder, which makes it very easy to adjust exposure when there is a bright window behind your subject. An icon appears to remind you that backlight adjustment is on. Press the button again to toggle it off.

The pictures it takes are very good at 10 MP. There is a very bright flash on the camcorder that really lights up the area for pictures, even far across a room. The only downside is that everyone in every shot will have red eyes, but the provided software makes it very easy to automatically adjust settings with a single click, then take out red eye by clicking red eye and then clicking on the red eyes to turn the pupils dark. I read that this camcorder takes pictures even while recording video, but I have found pictures taken this way are not as sharp as pausing the video and then taking a picture. I think pictures taken while recording are actually capturing a frame from the recording video.

Cons

1. No DV (Firewire / 1394) connection to my DVD recorder or computer

2. Harddrive not good for bumps or shakes

I am accustomed to using my DV cable to connect my camcorder directly to my DVD recorder and computer. The DV cable lets me control the camera from my video editing software. This camcorder does not have a DV connection. I was surprised by this elimination and will have to learn how to deal with that as time goes on. The camera does have an HDMI output which I have used to view video directly on my HD TV. It also has USB and a nice docking station for the camcorder. I have not yet started using the camera with my video editing software via USB, so I can’t comment on that yet.

The camcorder does come with a remote control, which is nice, especially considering the elimination of the DV connection. The remote control can navigate menus, play video, show pictures, record, control lens zoom, etc.

This is my first hard drive video camcorder. I have found that bumps and shakes can dramatically affect the images recorded on hard drives. The nice thing about the hard drive is the huge amount of recording media available. However, I really like the option to record to memory card, and if I had to make the purchase again, I think I would opt for the Sony HDR-CX12. This is basically the same camcorder but with only the memory card, not the hard drive. The CX12 is smaller because of this, which makes it more attractive for me. Initially I went with the SR11 because it would be less expensive than buying memory cards, but I find that I have been buying memory cards anyway. I like how I can just take out the memory card and directly plug it into my Playstation 3 and view both video and pictures right away. While the SR11 also records to memory cards, the CX12 is smaller and uses less power. Also, I figure the hard drive is going to give out someday, while the memory card will probably continue to work for many years longer.

Overall, the SR11 is a very excellent camcorder. It is clearly the best camcorder that I have owned to date, but if you like this camcorder, give a hard look at the Sony HDR-CX12 before purchasing. It is too bad that the SR11 and CX12 does not use SD media, because the cost of memory cards for SD is so much lower than Sony’s Memory Stick Pro Duo media.

It is ok, but heavy and not practical to carry on vacations.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
It takes good video and photo but you need a bag to cary it around;

It is not that compact as they promote and state here;

Not very practical when you want to use it quickly;

Plus you need a software to convert your AVSHD videos;

The software included is so so;

Very Nice Camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I enjoy this camera very much. Video quality is amazing and its very easy to use. I generally play my video through my playstation 3 and the quality blows me away every time I watch. 5.1 sound is very well done and in a hometheatre environment its amazing. I have had to upgrade my computer a bit to better handle editing movies. Im using Sony Vegas 8 Pro to edit and create my movies. Very pleased with the price paid through amazon ($699) as it sells for much more everywhere else. I had purchased a JVC camera first and was not happy at all with the movie quality so I opted to spend more and get a far superior camera and not have to worry about low quality movies.

Amazing Gadget
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been chasing a camcorder that could take really good still pictures. I have read several reviews before actually buying this camera. I was impressed with the movies and pictures quality. It is worth the extra money.

Sony HDR-SR11 v.s. Canon Vixia HF-11
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have purchased both camcorders (I admit via BestBuy since returns are a breeze) to compare quality for about a week, and I must say Sony wins hands down. I was actually hoping the Canon will be the winner since I own the Canon 40D dSLR and wanted to stay within brand, but I’ve made my choice and purchased the SR11 from Amazon. For the record, I was using iMac 3.06GHz intel proc with iMovie/QuickTimePro – none of the cameras offer any software for the Mac, but that did not seem a problem:

Sony won me over in the following areas:

1. Autofocus: Sony seemed more responsive. I have a 2yr old, which can’t seem to stay put for more than a second and the Sony seemed to obtain better focus on him. Canon sometimes took over 2seconds to obtain focus outdoors at about 5x zoom.

2. white balance: For some reason the Canon did not look natural to me. The colours were off, with my son’s pale skin looking greenish indoors at low light.

3. LCD + viewfinder. The Canon does not have a viewfinder, which I suppose contributes to its light weight. I found the LCD to be more than enough in overcast weather, but Sony’s 3.2″ screen is a pleasure to work with. It’s larger(2.7″ v.s 3.2″) and much smoother LCD. The display is simply gorgeous. Videos show amazing on it and shooting is very pleasant. I found the touch screen to sometimes need a second push, but fingerprints were never a problem – I got the same amount on the Canon too. The Canon has the joystick/func button which I found was a bit clumsy to use.

4. compression & low light performance. Since I was shooting mostly indoors, I found Sony to work slightly better in low light, focusing a bit faster and producing less noise. I was comparing Sony’s 60i v.s. Canon’s 30p mode. Canon in 60i indoors at low light looked too alien green for my liking. Sony produced a bit less artifacts too.

5. Storage: 60G v.s. 32G of space. Both are extendible via memory card, sony requires the card if you want to shoot still photos while filming.

6. Build quality. This was a big one. I’d like my camera for which I paid a good chunk of cash to look good and feel good. It is very sad to see Canon produce those cheap feeling and looking cameras, when their SLRs are built like tanks. Sony was impecable with every detail very well thought through.

7 Sound quality. This was also quite noticeable. Sony’s sound was much clearer indoors. It also offers a zoom function on the mic, so that when you use the optical zoom, the mic will also “zoom-in” on the conversation.

8. Price. As it stands, HF11 is 150 bucks more and I can’t justify it.

9. Both camcorders can be hooked with cables directly, but only the Sony includes a cradle, and it is much easier to work with – just drop it in and pick it up when done. On the other hand, with the Canon I had to plug 2 cables each time I wanted to connect it to my Mac – one for power and one USB (you can’t connect to PC without the camcorder being powered by the adaptor).

10. Button operation. Canon has a bad design flaw in their quick start function. You see, if you stop filming, and just close the LCD, the cam goes into standby mode. However, by pressing the start button, you can begin filming again without opening the LCD. On the Sony, the start button is embeded in the middle of the on/off/mode ring. The Canon’s button is a big blob sticking out the back. It is very easy to accidentally start filming. It was quite anoying to find that my battery has runout in the car because I’ve depressed the button. On the bright side I now have 30min of footage of my jacket’s pocket.

11. better stills. Canon’s 3.2Mpixel shots can’t compare to Sony’s 10.2MP. Also, Sony’s flash is well centered over the lens. Canon’s is offset and the light looks off in pictures.

12. Better OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). I found that Sony performs better while walking.

Now some people keep whining about 30p/24p etc. I am no pro, and to me 24p looked a bit blocky, and 30p providing very similar quality to Sony’s 60i mode. I found the 60i mode to look very movie-like too (It kept reminding me of an episode of “The Office” for some reason.)

To keep things fair, the Canon’s Pros were:

1. Lighter weight and more centered zoom lever position. Sony’s HDD,3.2″ screen and viewfinder seem to add a bit of weight and the lever seems to go too far back.

2. flash-based recording medium should keep things more durable, though I’m not sure flash can sustain as many writes as a regular HDD.

Sony HDR-S11
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The camera is capable of generating great images. The onboard mic is typical for this type, limited to about 8 feet. In order to use an auxillary mic, you need and adapter for the Sony Intelligent hotshoe, a good adapter is about $30. Battery life is shorter than I expected from a camera that uses a hard drive for storage rather than a power-hungry tape transport system, but it will run for almost an hour. Lack of an iLink (firewire) port is an odd choice for Sony, considering you’re moving data from an external drive (the camera) to a computer for editing, transfer speed should have been a bigger consideration. All in all, a nice unit, especially since AVCHD is now supported in the major editing applications.

A great camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had a Sony 8mm handy cam in the 90′s and I decided it was time to get a new one. Costco had these, so I read the reviews and picked it up.

I got the floor demo model and got a great price.

So far I am very happy with it.

- Records both HD and SD. All you NTSC and SD equipment will work. I am currently using SD mode, as I am not blue-ray ready yet.

- Audio is great.

- It plays nice with Vega Movie Studio 9, which if you have this camera you should get.

- The include software does a great job of converting and capturing.

I am currently using an old PC – 3GHz P4 with 2G, and will have to upgrade. Up until now I did not have a good reason to do so, but Video editing needs a faster processor.

The touch screen menus are easy to us, and the screen is very very nice.

I do wish they had gone with Firewire, but that is a minor point.

The batteries are pricey, but the stock one lasts for more than an hour which is longer that the old “Hi capacity” ni-cad did driving the motor.

60GB should be plenty. This is good for

So far so good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought the SR-11 here from Amazon. Got it in time to head straight to my son’s basketball game literally right out of the box (I had bought an extra battery that was fully charged).

Programed the date/time, no prob. Then just started shooting the game (My son scored 31 pts..and we won!) I recorded in the HD just so I could see what it was like (plus it was by default set on that). Got home found the cables and plugged into the HD TV and it looked fantastic. Played back fine.

Then for the next test- iMovie and Final Cut Express… It mounted for iMovie and I was able to bring in the footage. I made a 25 minute highlights show. Went fine. At one point, had a little glitch when in the editing area the filmstrips weren’t visiable, but you could tell they were still there because the pointer would show the dates/time of the shots. I know this may not be clear, but I think it happened due to me taking 80% of the footage and dragging it into the project window at one time. iMovie suggested I not, but I did. It was OK.

iMovie changes the file type so that it is not HD. I don’t know much about the technical side of all that.

So I thought I would try to see the HD footage by importing and saving it with Final Cut Express (I don’t own Pro.) I am not familiar with Final Cut Express only bought it so I could do slow mo because iMovie can’t, but haven’t used it once. I read a bunch around the forums, etc. and learned FCE will recognize the camera as “unknown” and it clips with the “Log and Transfer” (which I had no clue what it was). I really just wanted to get the HD footage on one of my backup drives to save (it was my son’s career high pts).

FCE did see it with the Loop and Transfer. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but started “saving” the clips in its original format, except I understand, it is “converted” to Apple Intermediate Codex…so something like that..read around you’ll see info on this. The point is supposedly the file sizes increase. Bottomline line….it worked, BUT the file sizes are huge! I mean something like a 17 second clip is like 200 MG file.

I am thinking about getting Sony’s DVDirect/Recorded/Blu-ray Disc Player and not using the computer to “save’ the files at all. Also, I understand, if I shoot in “standard” mode and have HD files on the camera’s harddrive , there are some problems…don’t know the details…had something to do with either retrieving the files or the quality.

I am going to shoot footage in “standard” mode. The file sizes are smaller and I can use it easliy with iMovie.

Anyway, sorry for the typos and poor sentences….but that is where I am after 36 hours of owning this camera. Oh yeah, the software won’t load on a Mac, fyi.

One a 1-5. I’d say a 4. The quality is excellent (of the footage). It is just I am not a “video” guru…the different file types, etc. and it is a little bit of a hassle not being able to work in it and save it as a native file (which isn’t practical anyway due to the huge files, unless you are a professional, but for the average Joe- we have to figure out how to save the HD files, which is why I am looking at the Sony DV Direct. Burn them in HD to DVD and them take the footage to the Mac and then save it as a standard non-HD file type to play with in iMovie.

Hope this helps. I like the camera. The little face boxes are pretty cool when you are shooting footage at a basketball game. So, far I am pleased.

Very good camcorder.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Camcorder is very good. Be ready to spent time in order to be familiar with all features of it. It is not easy for amateurs. But Sony has excellent technical support which uses tall free number. Very weak software. Probably Sony thinks you will buy additional software or use some free software which already exists in your computer.

First Impressions…expectations exceeded!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let me start by saying I compared this camcorder to the Canon HF 11 and HF10 and the Sony CX12.None of these really compare to the image quality of the hv 30(canon) but that shoots hdv..And doesn’t offer the conveniences of this type of camera….

I did not do a side by side comparison with the hf11 for image quality. Most of the consumer review sites give the edge to Canon in terms of pure resolution but I assure the Sony SR11 does not disappoint. I chose the Sony because the image is excellent and the color is so much more natural..While it is impossible to discern resolution through the viewfinder,it is easy to see the color….I challenge anyone to pick up the Sony and the Canon at best buy…point them at any object in the store(at any frame rate)and compare the images… one accurately resembles what you are looking at and one does not.The Canon alters the colors in a way that I suppose some find pleasing but I just find annoying..When I see the beach and the sunset I want to capture it just the way I see it, not the way Canon’s engineers see it. Also if you buy Sonys stand alone dvd recorder vrd-mc5 you can record in HD right on to DVDS and play them in hd on your PS3 or blu ray player…Then you can pop the disk right into your mac and import into imovie WE are talking the ultimate in simplicity…another reason I bought the Sony.. All of these cameras are small..The sr11 is slightly larger(but still small) with a much bigger and higher resolution lcd the lcds on the others are so small its hard to know if you are focused…… also the sony has a much better system of manual focus…The Canon is terrible for manual focus.The images from the sr11 easily fill my 40inch screen with razor sharp goodness

These are not professional cameras and no one should expect professional video….These will produce stunning tack sharp video. I highly recommend tis camera …get the recorder too, the sony vrd-mc5

Great Product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I took of one star off because It was very difficult to find a proper video editing software for the format this camera stores the video files in. I am still looking for one…..

Other wise i like everything about it and i got it for a great price from Amazon.

happy customer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great camcorder. Takes awesome digital photos too.

Yes, it’s really Full HD. Expensive, but worth every penny.

The dream machine!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This true Full-HD camcorder is close to perfection. Light but not too light, with excellent image quality (especially when viewed on a 1080p HDTV), impressive sound reproduction, large hard drive space allowing quick retrieval of well-organized clips. Great optical zoom, great image stabilization, great built-in flexibility of image recordings, excellent connectivity options. And it has a very convenient old-fashioned viewfinder too, (lacking from most competitors) in addition to the large LCD screen!

Manual could be a bit more detailed.

If you also need excellent still picture quality however, in spite of the 10 Megapixels, the final quality of the still images is somewhat lacking (but who cares? With about $ 1,000 you got a huge, unbeatable value for the camcorder anyway!)

Sony HDR-SR11 Camcorder
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m very impressed with the video quality this camcorder produces although when recording, it converts video into .AVH format which many programs don’t support. Yes it comes with software to convert .AVH to the format you choose but it’s more work to get the video to a DVD than I antisipated. Overall I believe this camcorder deserves a 3.8 out of 5 only for the slow converting process.

Poor Accessorizing!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’d like to start by saying first that I am amazed at the picture and video quality of this camera. If you’re looking for professional results from a camcorder, this is the product for you. However, I’m one who prefers accessorizing products with accessories from the original manufacturer, taking advantage of the design/manufacturer “own” product knowledge base. Sony unfortunately makes it difficult. This camera uses AIS (Active Interface Shoe) technology; allowing the AIS accessories to connect to the camera’s shoe without any additional wires or batteries. I thought this was an excellent idea until I tried to use an external microphone for distant subjects while also using a video light and found that it’s not possible. What a sham! I did research this issue and have found many individuals with these same frustrations and so I contacted Sony directly to hear for myself that there is no AIS multi-accessory shoe adapter available and was disappointed to find out this is true. I know I can simply purchase universal accessories that have there own power supply and some way of connecting them to the camcorder but that leads me back to FTC (&%$# The Consumer)product development. I’m sure Sony spent quite a large sum of money on R&D for AIS technology, a cost that is passed on to the consumer, for a marketable accessory package that many are finding useless. Additionally, beware that the Sony VCT-XXXX Tripods, which are recommend with the purchase of this camera, as well as many other cameras, are “Remote Control Tripods”, not “Remote Controlled Tripods.” A technicality I felt was misleading.

worth upgrading from my HDR-HC3
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Less than 2 years ago I bought the HDR-HC3 wanting to start recording my movies in HD. I was pretty happy with the camcorder, but there were a few things that really bummed me out, and now replacing it with the SR11 I’m really pleased. A few of the improvements that I’ve appreciate the most are:

Better image quality in low light. Some may complain about this cameras quality in low lighting conditions, but let me tell ya, it’s a lot better than what I got with the HC3! Comparing shots side by side, you notice a whole lot more artifacts and “dirtyness” in the footage captured with the HC3.

Optical image stabalizer. This is something that wasn’t offered at the time I bought my HC3, at least not in Sony’s line (I think Canon’s comparable model had it). Having an optical image stabalizer is way better than having the image stabalize digitally. I can see a great improvement in the footage captured now with the SR11.

Tapeless. Although, now not spending money on tapes, I’m spending money on hard drives, ’cause the captured footage is pretty big – but if I’m getting that much better of an image then I’m okay with it. Tapeless is way convenient and so far I’m digging it. I’m using a mac, so the capturing process is a little different. I have to use my intel macbook pro with Final Cut Studio to capture it, then I plug the external drive I captured to into my quad-core G5 to work with it (the ppc mac’s won’t capture the AVCHD footage unfortunately). It’s an extra step to do this, but sooner or later I’ll get a desktop intel mac and it won’t be a problem any more, and so far this method is working fine for me.

Bigger lcd screen. It’s a fair size larger than my HC3 and it’s much appreciated it. Just nicer to use and review what you shot before you get back home.

The camera is rad. If you choose to go with it you won’t be disappointed (even if you’re using a mac!)

Beware of Amazon price difference policy
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
While I have had limited opportunities to try out the new camera, what I have seen so far makes me ecstatic. All of my previous (4) camcorders were Sony, and I have been mostly satisfied with them. My issue thus far is with Amazon. I received my camcorder last week, and less than one week later the price dropped $20. I had read on several websites that Amazon had an unwritten 30 day price difference policy. I called to take advantage of that and the call taker had a problem locating the camcorder on the order (it was obviously an outsourced call taker). Either real or imagined, I began feeling she was stalling so I would just give up. After finally being told that Amazon stopped their price difference policy on September 1st, I complained a bit more. She stated Amazon uses many sellers and prices change daily. I explained that did not matter to me, especially when all the advertisements for the camcorder states Amazon is the seller, and not another vendor. She went off line for several minutes then returned telling me she would make a “one time exception” for me. Gee, thank you so much. My one order which included the sr-11 was well over $1000. All told I ordered close to $2000 worth of merchandise from Amazon for the Christmas season, as well as periodic purchases throughout the year.

Sure I got a good deal from Amazon, but come on. Not having the camera for even a week and they are unwilling to offer me a credit for $20. I spend $$$ with Amazon, the most they can do is continue to offer a price guarantee. I call shenanagins. If it goes down again within the next 30 days you can bet I will call for a credit.

Best consumer level video camera on the market
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
As the title states, I feel this is about the best you can expect from a consumer level camera on the market today.

I have been experimenting and putting it through it’s paces for a month now, and am pretty familiar with it’s capabilities and quality. I am currently on my family’s second vacation trip of the year and and have taken some footage ranging from indoor/outdoor pet shots, the mountains and waterfalls of western Colorado, night-time 4th of July fireworks, indoor, well-lit cousin/family members and an indoor shot of mom covering a chocolate cake with meringue icing. Lots of good, typical, casual-user type footage.

With the recent purchase of a mini HDMI to standard HDMI cable, I was finally able to view all of this footage on a 45″ Sony BRAVIA LCD TV in all of it’s HD glory. Before, I had been getting by with the AV/Component cables and there is a night and day difference between those and the digital signal of HDMI.

A good part of my footage was shot in the lowest quality possible. I also shot a substantial bit in full HD. Honestly, the low quality looks darn near as good as the full quality, so for those who somehow shoot hours of footage on end without access to their computer to dump the material to, you can vastly extend your shooting time if necessary with minimal compromise. Besides, even at full quality HD, a 60 GB hard drive is like having a camera with SEVEN 60 minute tapes spooled end to end. At the lowest quality (HD) recording time is just under 23 hours. There’s really no reason to upgrade to the SR12 unless you are some kind of shoot-a-holic, but shooting 120 GB of footage would be an editing nightmare anyway.

Viewing the full HD footage on the BRAVIA TV via HDMI, it looks about as sharp and clean as you could possibly ask for. You can pick out the individual strands of fur on animals cleanly.

I cannot comment on 5.1 surround sound, as I am not yet home from this trip, but as soon as we return (tomorrow) I will definitely test it out.

I recently handled the Canon HV30 in CC and was not very impressed with the build quality or the viewfinder – poor refresh rate and everything plastic. The Sony SR11 gives you a hefty chrome metal push-dial for adjusting focus/white balance shift and aperture. It’s very effective for controlling focus when in low-light/indoor situations or the aperture. I find that the camera DOES lean toward cool colors by default, so I have the White Balance Shift set to maximum (+4) to bring a warmer, more natural tone to things. You may find that you need to do the same. Thankfully, when adjusting parameters manually, they are retained, meaning you can set White Balance Shift, Focus, AND Aperture all at the same time. It’s about as good as it gets without jumping into the $3000 dollar camera range.

The x.v. color is a new, wider color gamut that is supposed to give more life-like coloration to subjects. If you shoot in this mode, you will only see the difference when played back on an x.v color compliant product (new Sony BRAVIA TV sets). Otherwise, from what I can tell, it seems to produce a somewhat less saturated image. I am still trying to decide which look I prefer. I feel the normal colors look pretty accurate under most conditions. Occasionally, greens seem a little too bright (trees, grass), but overall, color reproduction is very good.

One thing I love about Sony video cameras is their smooth operation. The zoom is smooth but agile if you need to punch it in our out fast. The viewfinders are also very smooth, unlike many other video cameras. (I say ‘video camera’ because ‘camcorder’ just sounds too consumerish and cheap for my taste).

The build quality feels very solid, has substantial weight, and feels very secure in the hand, thanks to being able to get a grip on the top of the camera. I think people who lament over the weight of the camera and wish for something lighter are foolish. The WEIGHT adds INERTIA which means more RESISTANCE to SHAKING of the hand. This is a vital fact that most consumers seem ignorant of, and trust me, watching footage on a big screen, you better pray that your footage is as close to tripod-steady as possible.

This camera comes with a fun and cute DVD that goes through some of the basic filming techniques. Several of these concepts are taught in a typical introductory Film & Video class, so it is actually quite a useful video, and it is amusing (to me at least).

I think I could not have bought a better camera for what I desired in a camera, the price point, and what is currently available. I would have PREFERRED to save up and purchase a Canon XHA1 for the pristine optics, better manual controls, and extremely good light gathering (very low low noise even in challenging lighting situations), but I do not want to mess with tapes and the 1:1 tape transfer process again. Hard disk recording with a 3k HDV video camera is possible but expensive. This camera and it’s accessories/cables fits perfectly in the very nice leather bag I already own, and is very well protected therein, so for me it was nice to not need to buy a new carrying case.

If you need to see some online footage of this camera in action, check out Vimeo and search ‘sr11′:

http://vimeo.com/1316737

Further comments/notes pending…

Image Quality and Usabilty are Key
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was a bit reluctant to buy Sony after Dr. Larry Thorpe left as the chief technology for Sony motion imaging about three years ago for Canon. To make matters worse, I had to decide which camera to buy in a hurry, while standing in a retail store, with no access to the internal technical specifications that would have allowed me to predict the camera’s behaviours under various light conditions that were not present in the retail establishment. I got lucky… I chose this camera. Here is what I found:

– Image quality is nearly as good as a professional camera. Lens performance exceeds the ability of the focal plane array to detect any lens abberations, chromatic or otherwise (perhaps one should expect this from Zeiss). Instantaneous dynamic range is very good for a low-cost camera: At least 5.5 f-stops still produces shadow and highlight detail. Blacks were not crushed nor were facial highlights blown out at this dynamic range. No dead pixels (a bane of previous Sony equipment). No ringing of the optical anti-alias filters and apparently nospatial pre-emphasis processing was used either, because I can see no edge enhancement artifacts. Over-bright objects produce saturated white pixels, not black overflow pixels as occur on cheaper cameras. I can see no compression artifacts at all. This may be the result of writing at high data rate to the onboard disk drive; I speculate it may be writing at 19.4 Mbps or faster.

– Zoom and focus controls are far too small and sensitive for professional studio work such as when there is a need to get back to repeat a set-up with a known focal length or to do a pull-focus shot. This is largely the fault of the small size of all cameras in this class. It takes a physically large piece of equipment to mount a pull focus dial, for example. However, compared to a previous Sony product, which had a totally unusable zoom control (the slightest touch would cause it to move almost from one stop the other), this is much, much superior and controllable.

– Menus are logical. Many digital video and still cameras have incredibly poor menu design. I would have to give this one a 4 on a scale of 5.

– I find that it to be hugely aggravating that this machine puts out a proprietry format that cannot be read directly into a professional software editing package, such as Adobe Premiere CS3. I think it is horribly arrogant of Sony management to believe that standards are for other people, not them. But, you can fix the problem by downloading conversion software (for a price, of course). I use a package called VoltaicHD from a company called ShedWorx.

– If image quality is your primary selection criteria, then this is the best of all the small consumer-level HD cameras that I have examined.

Excellent! Highly recommended. (only one smallish problem)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love everything about this camera, except for one small thing:

In medium-lighting scenarios… the camera has a really difficult time focusing… and so a lot of your footage will be incredibly blurry. (outdoors during the day time has been no problem, however.)

Other than that…. it is EXCELLENT. Very happy I bought this camcorder.

I like the way it feels, the quality of video it takes… even the way it looks!

Slow motion video capability is really fun…. although it only records for 3 seconds, period. You have to be quick to capture what you want.

Manual focus knob I have found a little difficult to use. Not sure… maybe it just doesn’t work the way I would expect.

I like the touch screen. I just use my finger nail so it won’t get too smudged up.

The video files you get once you put them on your computer are .MTS format. So it will be really difficult to edit the video unless you have an expensive editing program. Windows Movie Maker CANNOT handle this format. So you have to get something else.

Even after getting a nicer program (I went with Pinnacle Studio), the video editing is INCREEEEDIBLY slow, even though I have a fast dual-core computer, tons of ram, and a nice video card. So what I have been doing is I set the mode on the camcorder so it records in the lowest possible quality. Then, when I edit the videos, my computer is capable of providing the previews during the editing process, and it is a much more pleasant experience. Only problem is I am sacrificing the quality of the image by choosing this recording option. Oh well! Until I figure something else out this is what I am doing……..

If anyone else has a suggestion as to how to fix this last problem, I am all ears!

But I like the camera very much overall. I have no regrets in purchasing it… especially since when I bought it, it was selling for about $700 on here! I can’t believe how much more it is selling for now!! I see the price as currently being $1,434.89!!!! Haha…. I wouldn’t have bought it for THAT much. Maybe since the market is improving, the price is going back up!

Great Camcorder!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camcorder was everything I hoped and more! Picture is great on my TV. Very clear!

Wonderful picture
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
CONS:

* Big and heavy for this era of consumer camcorders

* Memory card must be Sony (instead of cheaper, more widely avail SD cards)

* Should’ve tossed in mini-HDMI adaptor, since cam has mini-HDMI port

PROS:

* Stunning video…picture just looks too damned good for a consumer cam

* Still pics almost rival decent, dedicated still cameras

* Can edit out filler ON the camera, saving recording space on a long trip

* Optional burner records regular DVDs or Blu-ray compatible (!) discs

straight from the cam–without a computer…using standard blank DVDs!

(burning the highest quality HD [AVCHD] to a

regular old cheap DVD-R = ~32 mins of Blu-ray compatible video

* Remote allows you to run cam like a DVD player, hooked directly

to regular or HD TV…or a projector, via digital chapter icons

On the whole, it’s bigger than some similar cameras, but the video is first rate.

Incredible!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I fell in love with this camcorder after spending countless hours on the web, doing research and reading every single review I could find…

I’ve had it for about a month now and I’m still discovering new features and experimenting recording in different lighting conditions. I’m really impressed with the playback quality on my 22″ LCD screen (1680×1050 max resolution) but it really screams on my 42″ LCD @ full 1920x1080i, never fails to put a grin on my face! I’m new to HD video and being able to record every moment in HD is truly priceless! I originally wanted the SR-12 but decided I could live with the 60GB hard drive on the SR-11 and got a really good deal elsewhere so it was a no brainer. The battery that comes with the camera lasts up to 1.5 hours @ everything turned high which is OK! As a matter of fact, I just purchased the NPFH100 H Series Actiforce Hybrid InfoLithium Battery from Amazon, which supposedly gives you something like 5-7 hours of continuous recording time which is ridiculously awesome!!

The 5.1 surround sound is also excellent, the nightshot feature is VERY cool, letting you record in complete darkness and cooler still, the SUPER night shot option makes objects in total darkness even brighter and lets you see farther! When this option is turned on, it drains a little more battery but it’s negligible and I like to use the b/w picture effect when nigh shot’s turned on…

This camcorder also takes 10MP pictures and 7MP stills on the fly, even while you’re recording! I’m so very happy with this camcorder that I take it with me everywhere. Only 2 things I can find (and I have to look real hard) that I kinda don’t like is the fact that you have to touch the LCD to access menu and options and it leaves fingerprints but I can live with that. The other thing is, the unit accepts a mini HDMI connector so I had to get a HDMI to mini HDMI adapter to be able to use it to hook it up to my 42″ LCD and it’s kinda lose, I don’t know if it’s the adapter or the camcorder itself, not to mention when the cable’s plugged in with the adapter, it kind of sticks out, but again, a small gripe, nothing major.

I experimented recording leaves and insects in nature real close up, only an inch from the lens and it was able to focus no problem and let you see incredible detail, like a macro shot! 12x optical zoom and image stabilization are awesome as well, I can still see details pretty clear when it switches over to digital zoom and I can keep zooming in up to 150x!

There is no way I can put everything I love about this thing on here and there are still options I haven’t touched or used on this camcorder… I highly recommend this unit to anyone who’s serious about recording every passing moment as your own eyes see it and then some, guaranteed!

Excellent Camcoder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Very well desinged. Good memory, Poor battery life. Zoom and lens system is of excellent quality. Start-up is quick. LCD is good and viewfinder is a boon in bright sunlight.

Easy operation and easy interface with PC. Need M2TS to Avi converter to convert videos.

Very nice
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I recommend this one. I love the touch screen. It has a lot of nice features. The 60 GB is plenty. This product does 1080i – so do note you are not getting 1080p.

Much better than I expected
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The video images you recover from this camcorder are unbelievable. It was like going from a dig 300 SLR Canon to a 1D SLR Canon for still. Software that Sony gives you and what you can buy has a learning curve, but in the end it is worth it for the video you recover from this camera and lens combination. BTW, this will exceed anything on the video end you will find by either Nikon or Canon in their new Dig SLR lines. I was shooting both. If you want video, get a video camera. If you want the performance of a high end dig SLR, get it, but skip the video hype for now. If you can only carry one, well each user needs to decide which is a higher priority, still or motion.

Great Camcorder for Veteran Users
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The SR11 is a great camcorder for the money. Canon’s product at this level does not cover all of the bases. Sony’s SR11 does but with one huge, BUT!! You can burn a DVD in a flash with the self-loading software provided. BUT, you cannot play the DVD on a regular DVD player. Excuse me? How many people have HD DVD players. Plus, playing the stuff on your computer, prior to being burned to a DVD, requires using the “manipulate” function each time. Otherwise, the sound and the picture are not in sync. Further, no where in the provided documentation does it tell you how to use the Remote. You have to go online to the Sony Handycam Handbook to find out how. By choice, I paid a consultant $75 to get through all of this. Now, that I have graduated from camcorder school, I can enjoy all of the following SR11 bells and whistles: It downloads to your computer in a flash. The picture quality is superb and the touchscreen does everything but make breakfast. You have to be brain dead not to get a great shot out of this camcorder. The Zoom function is awesome with an unbelievable range. The sound quality is “hearing the crickets scratch” good. With the microphone output jack, and wireless capablity, the world is your oyster. So, go out and buy this camcorder if you have an HD player, and you have had a camcorder before. You will love it. If not, the words “what have I done,” and “Ibuprofen” will come to mind. P.S. I don’t like Jeff Bezos, but no one consistently has this camcorder cheaper than Amazon.com.

Amazing picture clarity ….
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got this beauty last month and have used it for a couple of weeks now and I am a believer now. This is my first Camcorder (have used my dad’s earlier). Its an excellent choice for a HD cam with more than adequate HDD space (60GB!). Want more storage space? go for SR12.

I love the camera mode as well, 10.2 mp is a lot of data for your snapshots!!!

I didn’t really compare the video quality of some of the competing products but I am generally inclined towards Sony products (except in Cameras where Canon rules or atleast used to).

I have a Sony DSC-H2 which has a decent video capture ability (12x zoom helps as well) but again the video length is limited to 5 min clips, so I was looking for a handyCam (preferably a high def) and then i stumbled upon this one. After reading lot of good reviews and comparing the prices, I finally bought SR11 from Amazon.

I must say am very very happy with my choice.

Here are my + & – of it:

+++

====

- 10.2 Megapixel still picture capability. The highest that I am aware of, on a consumer category camcorder….

- Ability to take a snapshot in the middle of video recording. Is as simple as a click of a button.

- Remote control is a nice added benefit (good if you want to avoid smudging your LCD VF(viewfinder).

- EVF is a great tool if you wanted to save battery.

- Easy to use functions. Well placed buttons, can use thumb 4 pics & to start video recording.

- Excellent resolution on the LCD screen. Playback looks amazing.

- 5.1 channel recording and zoom mic (in layman’s terms good sound gets recorded)

- Mic is in the front below the lens so no obstruction.

- Lens has an automatic shutter which closes when powered down. So no need for a lens cap.

- Batt info function provides immed. battery status update on demand.

- Excellent video quality both SD and HD (haven’t played around a lot with HD yet though)

- Picture quality is very good and the huge HDD allows to store a lot more pictures than your regular camera.

- Memory stick support gives added edge.

- The memory stick slot is also thoughtfully placed in the LCD VF recess.

- Manual settings button on the front bottom right can be configured to do multiple things and I found it useful for manual focus …

- telemacro is excellent, I took some good far end closeups, which i’ll upload later probably.

- In built flash light, makes it a true camera and is a very thoughtful feature.

- Easy to use supplied software (essential for editing your AVCHD HD videos)

- Has a 3 second Super Slow-Mo feature. I tested it for shooting snowfall and butterflies, amazing!!!! I like it a lot. I think it bumps the video sampling rate from 30 to 60 fps.

Minuses(–)

===========

- Size, this guy isn’t so little as some competing products. Although isn’t too big, still has bulk.

- Supplied battery runs out pretty quickly. There’s a combo-deal avl on Amazon for the HF-70 batterry pack with the handycam case. Highly recommned you to go for it as that batterry pack is recommended in the manual as well ..

- Far end auto focus hunts a bit (again I have no comparitive data so it might be just me being picky)

Haven’t found many negatives yet. I would highly recommend it, even for newbies. The features in this Camcorder have a good balance of convenience and advance abilities.

I used Videospin software from pinnacle to create my own video movie (collage of my videos) and it was a breeze, so you might wanna download that as well.

Go ahead and buy this you won’t regret …

Now that’s what I call a high def cam…..
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Amazing picture quality….just like watching ESPN-HD. The controls on this camera are well placed and easy to understand. The menu choices are plenty and easy to use. I’ve always been a fan of the Sony touch screen and I am not dissappointed. Love this camera….especially since I got a great deal on amazon.com as always…check this out $795 with free shipping

Pretty decent video gear!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Awesome video quality!

I took it to Luke Airforce Base Airshow,It can track the airplane well,and 5.1 sound system make the surrounding sounds real.X.V. color system makes the pic more vivid.

Smooth operation
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ergonomically very well desinged. Good memory, battery life. Zoom and lens system is of excellent quality. Start-up is quick. LCD is good and viewfinder is a boon in bright sunlight.

Easy operation and easy interface with PC. Manual is pathetic, tells you nothing about numerous functionalities it offers.

Awesome Video, Stills need better lighting
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This camera takes awesome video. Friends and family are stunned as to how well it works on the big screen.

The 10 megapixel camera works well in daylight-so now finally we have one device to bring for stills and video when outdoors.

However-the built in flash does not work well indoors. Flash off is underlit and the autofocus fails then. You get this shaky hand icon. With flash on-subject is overlit and the redeye reduction is useless. There are 3 flash modes low, normal and high. Even low flash overexposes things.

Also the stills look different in the LCD than the do on the computer-they look better on the computer. Whereas the video looks great in LCD and on TV.

I might try the addon flash from Sony (HVL-HFL1) but $149.99 seems really steep. If anyone has used an add-on flash for this camera for nice natural lighting indoors please let all of us know.

Also the HDMI connector uses Mini-HDMI, suprise! So regular HDMI cable ends won’t work. I tried a mini connector add on-but no sound came through the TV-just the picture. So I use the component cables. Could be I setup something wrong when using HDMI on my TV or the camera-but would not know since the instructions are really weak in the HDMI area.

Overall we are happy-four stars.

Great videos….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great piece of technology right in your hands.Initially I thought that the price tag was high.But once I saw the output,its worth it.The only pitfall for this cam is that if you are interested in editing videos then u need sony vegas software,which obviously comes with a cost.It records in AVCHD format and the clarity is just amazing.Easy handling and large storage ensures no hassles in searching for another storage device,

Simply the Best!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the best camcorder I have ever owned (camcorders I have owned: one Hi8 mm Sony, one Hi8mm Canon, Two miniDV JVCs, one hard drive HD Sony–SR5). I believe the best way to evaluate a product is by comparison — of course one cannot compare “apple to orange”. Before I bought the SR11 two weeks ago, I bought a Canon HG10. The canon is also a hard drive HD. I was very disappointed by the Canon. The Canon HG10 video quality (resolution and color) was just slightly better than my JVCs (miniDV digital standard definition) and much worse than my almost two-year-old Sony SR5 (also hard drive HD, the SR5 also produces excellent HD videos). Although the Canon has many more other features (e.g. a wide range of shuttle speed, 24p, etc), I returned the Canon because to me, video resolution, color saturation and low light performance (to be fair, Canon HG10′s low light performance was excellent) are the most important elements of a camcorder. I did not think the manual shuttle speeds are important for a video camera although I do believe they are important for a still camera. In terms of 24p, although many reviewers stated they like it, I don’t think it makes much difference after trying it on the Canon HG10.

I bought the SR11 after returning the Canon HG10 and I am totally satisfied with the SR11. The SR11′s video quality is amazingly good—extremely high resolution and vivid color. It has everything you need for excellent quality HD family videos in every event of daily living including low light situation.

I did not expect a camcorder can produce good still pictures but the SR11 surprised me. The still pictures taken by this camcorder are also very good although they cannot compare to my Nikion D80 DSLR. I would not use the SR11 as the primary device for still picture but I will definitely have no problem with using it for still pictures when my Nikon is not around.

The SR11 has exceeded my expectation. I highly recommend this camcorder to anyone.

The software came with SR11 can do only limited editing but this is in line with the industry standard (i.e. feature of software came with other brands). I use Pinnacle 12 Plus for editing. However, the AVCHD disc burn by Pinnacle was not recognized by the AVCHD player software came with the SR11. This same disc can be recognized/played by the other AVCHD player I installed in my computer. I am contacting Pinnacle trying to figure out what the problem is. If you buy the SR11 and don’t have an editing software and want to invest in one, perhaps Sony Vegas is the way to go.

excellent camera my very first one
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
sorry amazon i bought my camera form circuitcity for 100 doaalrs cheaper and got a free batter, and camera bag for 100 dollars more so i saved money one thing that really got attention fro this camera was the eyepiecce to look into if the sun is to bright and you cant use lcd screen touch screen whcich could be had to see sometimes because of the glare of lights you use the eye piece to capture your video or images hands down winner i highly recomend it.

this is great camera video is great, picture quality is great easy to use and navigate it has an option to switch night vision on and off best part is you could buy accersories for teh camera brighter flash widescreen lens, extra zoom lens water proof casing thats good for 17 feet

my only complaint is that you need the computer program that comes with the camera to transfer your pictures, and video to your pc thats the only thing i dont like about the camera

Pleased with this camcorder for recording sports
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m glad my wife and I did the research before purchasing this past fall. We bought this camcorder to record my son’s lacrosse games. We also purchased a new pc with a dvd burner at the same time. I use a tripod to record the games, and immediately save the games to an external seagate drive with oodles of memory. (Each game is about 4-4.5 GB) I have used the included pmb software to burn dvd’s. The memory stick integration to the ps3 works fine. Last night I successfully burned a avchd dvd that plays on my office sony blu ray player, high def. So far I haven’t had any compatibility problems you see in some of these reviews, I believe going pure with Sony products helps in this respect. The 48 min lacrosse games fit on 4.7 G standard DVD. The games take about 1.5 to 2 hrs to burn, so I just do it before bed. Hope this helps.

Sony HDR-SR11
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this Camcorder with two thoughts in mind.

1. Get a quality product (at the best price). Solution: SONY and Amazon.

2. Future-proof myself with up-gradeability. I do not have Blue Ray, but I will someday. So I wanted High Quality Standard Definition now and the capability to go HD in the future. The SR-11 has both. Plus, I can now leave my still camera home with the 10.2 Mp camera built right in.

My first test was to film a video and download to my computer. Easy…so-far-so-good. Record to DVD+R and play on my old TV. No problem and it looks as good as any DVD movie you buy at the store.

I had also heard of computing power problems because of the compression of the videos. I have an HP laptop with a AMD TurionX2 TL-58 1.8 Ghz with 2 gig ram and a 250GB SATA (2)Hard drives. It handled the video quickly , no problems.

The pictures turned out great and the facial recognition (focus point)is really cool. As soon as a face turns to the camera it picks it up.

All in all, Great JOB to SONY (and to AMAZON for the best price).

Good HD quality movies but camera still-shots is slow
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this camcorder back in May 2008 to capture my son’s milestones and events. I wanted to buy a HDD camera so I did not have to worry about tape and tape storage. At the time, I figured Sony had the best available HD HDD camcorder.

PROS:

- HD quality movie is good.

- Battery life is good (1.5 hours)

- Slow Motion Capture is a plus plus – good for capturing action scenes

- Night Vision is a plus

- Camcorder was Small and had a nice profile

- No need for Tape

- Data transfer via USB

- Easy to use

- Touch screen functionality

CONS:

- Taking Camera still-shots was slow. Need steady hands and/or use of tripod

- AVCHD does not play on your Windows Media Player

- Need to buy Video Editing software – bought Vegas Pro.

- Camcorder is small but does not fit in your pocket – still need to buy a bag for it

Overall the camcorder is good – the movies I took with it are excellent. the 60 GB HDD is big, you can store several hours of movie clips in it that you can play at your grampas or friends house.

My only regret is that I wished I had waited a few months – I would have gotten the memory stick HD camcorder from Sony instead. As with any kids event – portability is key. Imagine the ability of carrying a camcorder in your pocket that you can pull out any time.

my two cents

Pricy but awesome camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great little camcorder. You can set it to SD or HD mode. This is a major benefit when you need to record a video for the web is standard definition. HD footage takes a very long time to render.

Points to consider. All digital camcorders suck in low light–you get a grainy picture. Also, digital camcorders perform very poorly in action shots where there is fast movement.

I record videos for business, so this camcorder is perfect. Because it records straight to its onboard hard-drive, I can drag-and-drop the clip(s) directly to my desktop and edit them straightaway.

It is great!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love love love my new camcorder. I can take pictures and video at the same time. It does so much better at night than my old camcorder. It is easy to use and I just love it.

sony handycam
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s a few weeks now and I have bought this item directly from amazon….it works really great and I am extremely happy with the product let alone the discount on this product. Amazon sells really good, reliable and qulaity goods. I am one very happy customer of yours and rest assured I will continue to buy my stuff from amazon.com

Very good product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Pros – Nothing to highlight

Con – I get a lot of red-eye pictures. I guess I need to read the manual one more time to see if there is way to eliminate or reduce this.

Very Nice Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a very good camera. Quality of the picture is very very good. Only the bad about this camera is you need to have a converting software to play the video on DVD players.

WHAT A CAMCORDER!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The biggest reason I bought this camcorder is because I have a compatible Sony 1080p TV (KDS-60A3000). The images are great!!! The only slightly negative thing is there is slightly poor quality in low light situations but in daylight or brightly lit room light the images are OUTSTANDING!!! I really enjoy the HD images on my TV. I have never seen sharper, clearer video images from a camcoder in my life. The size is a great fit for my hand also. The battery that comes with it is only a 90min battery so I bought a NPH-F100 as a back-up which lasts over 5 hours. Very easy to use the included software to download files to my computer. Burning DVD’s on my computer are simple also but a little slow. My computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0Ghz processor. Overall I find this camcorder very easy to use and a great value for the money spent.

Great Buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love this camcorder. It is easy to use and compact. The video and still pictures are high quality. I highly recommend this product.

No Good
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
It is a very good camera. BUT the editing software that came with it is lame. You cannot edit and save in HD on a hard drive unless you burn a dvd. You can edit and save in mpeg! So what is the purpose of HD camera. I tried many third party editing software, all had the same problems.

Phenomenal!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camcorder is great. It replaces a SD JVC camcorder that died; fortunately just prior to my first child being born. So I did my due diligence and finally chose the SR11 from Sony. The SR12 is identically spec’d but with a larger hard drive, thus more capacity. I went with the SR11 as even on the highest HD setting, I would have to change the battery several times before the hard drive would fill up. For me I have found that decision to hold up well and I come nowhere close to filling up the 60GB hard drive between recordings. I saved a few pennies vs the SR12 and applied that to getting an extended capacity battery. Much better money spent IMO. The batteries on these cams are getting better but you still need an extended pack to record a long session. What good is the extra capacity if you don’t have the battery life? The HD is not a limiting factor for how much you can record, its the battery life. SO for a similar amount of money as an SR12 I have an SR11 that can actually record more with my extra battery before I have to go and find a power outlet. Besides if I ever (don’t know how) fill up the hard drive, I can slap in stick media and record to it!

As far as quality goes, it is stunning. I have a 50″ Pioneer plasma HD deisplay and this camera really makes it shine. It is amazing that for this amount of money my home movies look 10x better than my local networks SD newscast. As a matter of fact, it’s really not that far behind the HD video being broadast; especialy when considering the money involved! This camera is the difference between watching home movies that look like 10 year old tapes on America’s Funniest Home Videos and watching your newborn baby on blu-ray. Money well spent IMO.

It has strong additional features as well. The facial recognition feature is very effective. The 5 channel (not 5.1) microphone works surprisingly well too. The soundstage surprised me on the first clips I replayed on my home theater. Sound panned as I panned the camera; all this on a consumer grade cam is amazing. The hybrid recording is a plus in my opinion too. Pepole get scared at the thought of walking around with a hard drive getting bumped around. This has not been an issue with these cameras so far but lets consider the possibility. The key advantage of Sony’s hybrid system is in case a failure does occur. The Canon’s I looked at were either flash memory or hard drive only. If either fails you are done. With Sony’s system say the hard drive does die, just slap in some stick memory and keep on rolling video. The flash memory only camcorders appear to be much cheaper but add in the cost of getting the stick media and see that advantage almost disappear. Toss in the fact that the biggest stick media is around 50% of the capacity of this camera’s hard drive and 25% of the big brother SR12 and you’re gonna be switching memory cards or uploading to the laptop much more frequently. Plus there’s the possibility you could misplace them juggling them around while on vacation.

Again in summary, money well spent and hard to believe this level of quality is finally within reach of us end-users.

Sony SR11 High Definition Camcorder
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is one excellent and reasonably easy to use camcorder that produces very nice video. The microphone has incredible pick up even from far away you can hear clear conversations.

The camera is a perfect fit in your hand. And it’s well built. The only reason I cannot give it five stars is because the image stabilization feature could be much better. But if you use a tripod, or stand pretty still your O.K. I suggest buying another battery. The sony NPFH70 combined with the included battery will have you set for hours. Sony NPFH70 H Series Actiforce Hybrid InfoLithium Battery for most Sony Camcorders We use this camera for indoor/oudoor sports and it serves us well.

Sony HDR-SR11 vs. Panasonic HDC-HS9 comparison
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I write this review because I wish it had been written during the time I was purchasing my camcorder. I will summarize this review between the Sony HDR-SR11 vs. Panasonic HDC-HS9 as basically a toss up, but the little things of Sony leaned me to the SR11.

First, let me say that I really did not want to buy Sony HDR-SR11, granted a Bravia TV is my LCD of choice, but I cannot stand their proprietary memory. Since this camcorder was not purchased for photos this was not a big deal. Though I commend Panasonic for using SD that can be readily found. Sony is pricey (though some may say justifiably so because of the quality) but competition is good for the consumers as we benefit through new, quality, and innovative features.

A salesman from a particular store told me that Sony was good to get for camcorders, and I’d add Nikon or Canon are a way to go for digital cameras, anyway I digress.

Having to see it for myself, initially I purchased the Panasonic HDC-HS9 and after a tough decision I had to switch for the small things mainly from software which I’ll get to later, but first let me give a side by side comparison between the two after testing out each product for a couple hours about the features that matter to me at least. I will refer to the products as HS9 and SR11 for the remainder of the review.

Appearance: I’d have to give it to the HS9 for being noticeably smaller. But the SR11 is not big (especially not 90′s camcorder big), as I have a man sized hand, but the HS9 wins the compact comparison in this case. While we’re on the physical appearance of it, I was disappointed in the HS9 placement of the external adapter. The battery must be physically removed every time you want to connect the adapter as the cable connector is behind the battery. Therefore you cannot charge the battery simply by pluging in the charging cable as you can on many products that you can usually do this and as you can for the SR11. And the HS9 forces you to use the external cable when transferring a video, even though this may make sense, but when you have a short clip and just took the battery off the charger, it’s annoying to remove the battery and find the external adapter every time to do so. Bad placement of the external adapter on the HS9 unlike the nicely placed (as is with most camcorders, at least with a previous Canon ZR200 that I own) with the HS9. If size is an issue for you, the HS9 may be your choice.

Video Quality: My opinion of the quality between the HS9 and SR11 was comparable. Between the two it’s a toss up during daylight conditions as both are excellent, and the SR11 is stunning as your eye sees it, it appears on the screen, very nice. The HS9 records in a 1080p vs. a 1080i format, that may give the albeit slight edge in terms of theoretically video quality to the HS9. Though the software provided with the HS9 to play back these high quality videos ruins the superb video recording. I hate to say my eye didn’t notice the difference between 1080p and 1080i though my correction lens aren’t the greatest, mileage of your eyes matter perhaps.

In low light conditions, the HS9 seems to record slightly brighter images which are decent, the SR11 are a bit darker, though look extremely realistic. A true toss up, and really based on personal preference and would have to say they’re evenly matched for you to decide.

In extremely low light conditions I found the HS9 surprisingly grainy. It seems to brighten up a extremely dark image thus resulting in grain. I have not recorded the SR11 in low light conditions other than finding a youtube video of a low light condition video and it seemed to keep it’s realistic tone but remained dark. The HS9 seems to be on the right track to attempt to brighten up things, as the SR11 does not, but at this point I would have to say the HS9 was unsatisfiability grainy.

Both were grainy in bedroom light condition when displaying directly from the camera to the TV (not recording, just displaying through the cables) though the SR11 might have had a slight lead when panning or moving the zoom in and out a bit more responsive, though hardly noticeable.

Formats: The HS9 takes the lead in this regard as it has a 24 cinema mode, that records frames at 24 frames like some movies. Otherwise the HS9 records in 60 frames per second. However, the Pinnacle trial version could not handle the 60 fps mode and only the 24 cinema mode (though it said it was 30 fps). Though the HS9 software could handle its own 60 fps video fine, more later on software. The SR11 records it’s videos in 30 fps

Night vision between the two the HS9 uses a blue illumination for night vision and the SR11 uses the commonly known green illumination as often seen on TV. I like the green better, but the blue was a nice change and this did not affect my decision either way, though it was nice to have on both.

Transfer to PC: Both transfer to your computer via a USB extremely quickly and at seemingly equal times.

Sound: Both are 5.1, the sound is acceptable and nice on both camcorders, I would say that the wind cut function on the HS9 was nice to have and did seem to work, the SR11 does not have this feature, though I’d wish it did. I’d give a slight edge to the HS9 in this one, especially if you record in windy conditions often (soccer games perhaps), which I don’t.

Optical Image Stabilization: Both claim image stabilization, the OSI on the HS9 seems to slightly work better, though not noticeably. I think both still need to work on this.

Face recognition: The SR11 impressed me with the facial recognition as it just works. Turn the camera on a person and a white box appears around a persons face and moves as the person does, always keeping focus on that persons face. The focus on the HS9 on faces seemed very good, though I couldn’t figure out the white box feature, it might have had to been enabled through a button a readily accessible button at the very top, so not that bad, but the HS9 was automatic.

Cables: Both have an ample about of cables that allows you to connect your camera to the TV with both RGB and Yellow and white/red audio cables.

Remote: Both had remote controls, a definite plus.

Software: This is where I must reluctantly gives this definitely to the SR11 or Sony. First, very few software handle the AVCHD videos at this time, so both Panasonic and Sony include their own software to retrieve the videos from the camera. The Panasonic software is a bit clumsy when it asks which folder you want to save it in, it’s a bit manual where the Sony software detects when the camera has been connected, and simply asks whether you want to import all your videos, one click and it does, in a folder already created with an independent name. The Panasonic software called HD Writer had some additional editing capabilities to slice, merge, and delete unnecessary scenes and save to dvd and mpeg2 whereas the Sony had no editing features.

Playback software: I really hope panasonic gets this point. Their playback software most likely did not use directx, where the Sony PMB or Picture Motion Brower does. What this does is use your video card when the HD videos are playing back video. At one point I thought there was something wrong with the camcorder because the playback would skip using the HS9 playback software, but after encoding it to another format, my native video player kicked in and played back smoothly. This really scared me thinking that there was something wrong with the HS9 when there was not, however my x2300 dual core processor was not able to handle the playback of the native HS9 videos alone. This is in contrast to Sony PMB software for playback that installed directx that utilized my video card so that playback of the native format of the camcorder was silky smooth. What’s more the Picture Motion Brower is a nice video playback software that throws in additional calendar features of when a video was imported and such, a nicety that should be used with backing up as it’s insanity to store large amounts of precious moments on a computer instead of constantly backup up these priceless moments on DVD’s and such, those who have had hard drive failures know. Panasonic included a copy of Pinnacle trial version 11 for HD cameras, it could import the HD 60 fps videos, but did not encode them properly. The 24 cinema mode (or 30fps) videos has no problem in Pinnacle. The SR11 videos also were imported into Pinnacle with no problems. Once additional nicety of the Sony software is that you can make a still picture at any moment making a jpeg without importing it into an editing software. Though the HD Writer software has nice features to backup your videos, hard to use in other cases like loading the HD videos stored on your computer. Sony’s Picture Motion Brower software is very good to view and backup, though a register folder option was awkward, why not just allow the ability to just drag in folders to register, always room for improvement I guess.

Viewfinders: Both viewfinder display a clear image, though the SR11 has a touchscreen where the HS9 does not, though understandable with the price difference. I was disappointed I could not navigate to playback a video on the SR11 without using the touchscreen since the screen would get a lot of fingerprints, though there are less buttons to complicate things because of the touchscreen. Both have easy buttons to begin recording.

The HS9 had a feature to offer advice how to record like turn on the low light feature (should have had a feature that this would turn on automatically) or you’re panning to fast, this advice can be taken as good or bad.

Zoom: The HS9 had digital zoom, but it would not work in 24 cinema mode, go figure, and was adequate. The SR11 had no such zoom, but the normal zoom was satisfactory, though not as far as the HS9.

Conclusion: If you can tolerate the size of the SR11, and wind is not a major issue and are looking for a camcorder with excellent video in all light conditions, good sound, facial recognition, and easy and nice software then SR11 is a fine choice that I am happy with.

The HS9 is a nice choice when size is an issue and windy conditions to utilize the wind cut feature, beware of extremely low light conditions and be wary of the battery having to be removed each time for the external adapter and native format playback skipping (it’s not the camcorder, you’re computer is too slow, just encode it to another format), there is no touch screen and there is a mini joystick that can be cumbersome as when engaging night vision is easier on the SR11 as opposed to the HS9 as well as low light mode.(though there is a price difference to offset the differences).

I am enjoying the SR11 and things are drastically improved over the miniDV of yester-years. The only thing that I battle each day is why I didn’t get the SR12.

As Good as They Get
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is one very good camcorder. I’ve had the HDR-SR11 for about 6 to eight weeks. I’ve shot a lot with it since then. I was very early on the bandwagon for digital camcorders. I’ve been thinking of going to HD for a while. I tried out a couple of Canons, then made an irrational choice I picked the Sony not based on a tryout but on my past history with Sony and a friend who claimed to have tried out both and liked the Sony better. Th camera is built like a tank, it gives the iompression of quality. The user interface is tremendous, I had problems using this camera for about 10 minutes byt then I’d figured it out and really like the user interface. The bundled software is OK. It allows very easy download and you can put a simple movie together withit. I use it only for downloading as Nero 9 is harder to download to. For everything else I use Nero 9.

The camera is solid with plenty of adjustments, and the sound is really good on its internal 5.1 mic. The most impressive are the auto settings. They produce great results when you’re in a hurry and just need to shoot. One suggestion you need two accessories an extra battery at least the NP70 and most importantly a uv or neutral density filter basically smooth window glass but it does keep the inside lens clean and my UV clears a little haze. A big memory stick pro duo is handy but not necessary.

I personally believe that this is the best consumer level camcorder out there. I like it better than the canons I tried but they were also good and certainly not bad choices.

With great low light performance an immense disk drive plus it’s ability to use the new fast memory stick duo line you don’t have a lot to worry about even if you can fill up the disk which should be empty when you start your day you can switch ove to the menory stick and keep on shooting.

Some complain that the camera is too big or too small I disagree. My wife uses it comfortably and has tiny hands mine are huge, I could palm a basketball when I was 11. Botyh of us find the camera quite usable thus the ergonomics are good. It is a bit heaver than some but not a lot and it is much steadier than the real lightweights.

It produces great color and sound, sharp focus, and very good low light performance. I don’t hesitate to give it a hardy recommendation.

Heaping on more praise to the pile
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my first camcorder, but I did a lot of research before buying. Low light recording is excellent compared to JVC and other brands with HD resolution recorded on an internal hard disk.

Buy the biggest battery you can find for this unit… the one that comes with it doesn’t last long at all.

Also remember that to enjoy HD video you shoot, you’ll have to keep it on the camera or spend quite a bit of extra cash on a blu-ray burner.

Great camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have waited all my life for this camera. I just never knew when it would arrive. It takes great movies and pictures. It may be a little more expensive but definitely worth it. I have many cameras and they will all be retired as of now.

Great quality camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was shopping around at other places, but after reading reviews about the businesses offering this camcorder, most of the cheaper places seemed to be scams or places that earn their money pressuring you to buy accessories, etc.

The picture quality is phenomenal, even indoors and in low light. There is some graininess at the edges, but subjects always look great. The built-in mic records in 5.1 surround, and while I haven’t really tried to listen to each channel it does pick up a surprising amount.

All ports are protected by hard plastic covers that slide or flip open, as opposed to rubber stoppers, which at least gives a sense of a better build quality than most. Some ado has been made of the control dial, which is the metal knob located just below the lens, it’s visible in the product picture; it’s OK, but can only be assigned one function at a time, either focus, white balance, or exposure, and if you want to change the function, you have to go through several presses of the touchscreen.

The touchscreen itself is fairly responsive and accurate, and logically laid out. There’s also a dedicated, hardware “easy” button if you don’t want to fuss with it and just point/shoot.

AVCHD as a format seems to be getting more universally accepted as a video format to edit; I have an aging Pentium 4 3GHz and playback can be a slight issue, it’s not terribly smooth or watchable. I’d recommend getting a mini HDMI cable, the camcorder only comes with a SD plug with RCA outs and the picture quality is terrible in comparison. Included software is the barest barebones, you can transfer video and pictures to your computer, watch/view them, and burn raw footage to DVD in standard definition.

I believe that the measure of a camcorder is the quality of its video, though, and this one shoots 5 star video; most gripes that I have really have to do with the cost of upgrading to HD, like getitng a HDMI cable, HD editing software, parts for my computer so it can edit/playback smoothly, etc., which really aren’t the camera’s fault. Aside from being able to more efficiently utilize the control dial, I can’t think of anything I’d want to improve on this camcorder.

HDR-SR11–sets the bar for all HD camcorders
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had a Sony PC-110 camera for about 7-8 years until last year I decided I couldn’t deal with Mini DV tapes anymore. So, for about 6 months I’ve been researching cameras and was going to pull the trigger on the Sony HDR-SR7 but decided to wait since AVCHD is still in its infancy. Well, with the HDR-SR11, I can’t imagine the picture quality could be any better than this. It’s like watching an HD movie on our XBR40 Sony flat panel. I’ve only had it for about 2 weeks so I don’t all the details but I’m giddy with delight. Everything looks so crisp and the quality is stunning (of course in the highest 1080i HD mode — SD looks average). I couldn’t recommend this any more and would give it five stars if I could. Also, I bought the LCS-SRC case for it and it fits perfectly, the 8GB Memory Stick Duo, and HDMI – to- HDMI mini cable (although the supplied component should be OK too).

Great Camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The picture quality is amazing and the touch screen controls are easy to use and navigate. Software is limited in editing functions.

no sound on WMP
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Movies play on other media players but on Windows Media Player there is no sound. I called Sony and they said that it was “Microsoft’s problem”, but I disagree, it is their CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM and they refused to help. Stay clear of this quirky pos.

Hard drive failure; Sony will not recover videos
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Two months ago, I sprang for this much pricier camcorder than I normally would have because we were celebrating my husband’s 50th birthday with our first vacation to Europe in 25 years. With the larger hard drive on this camera, it meant I didn’t have to drag my laptop along for transferring the video.

In the middle of the trip, I tried to replay the video I had just taken, and I got a screen that read, “HDD format error.” Nothing had happened to the camera — I didn’t drop it, there were no extremes of temperature, nothing knocked it. Mistakenly thinking that Sony was a stand-up company and would take care of this, I put the camera away for the rest of the trip and called Sony when I got home.

The news was not good. Sony reports that its warranty covers repairing the camera “to factory standards” but will not even attempt to recover the video.

Instead, Sony’s customer relations recommended I try a third party hard drive recovery service. If all of the video is recovered, I will pay out of pocket about $1200-1400, on top of the $1200 I spent on the camera. Sony does not reimburse anything.

The customer relations representative was incapable of comprehending the bitter irony that Sony was willing to restore my camera to the very same “factory settings” that put my vacation memories at risk.

Unless you plan to back up each and every video clip as you take them, do not buy this camera. Do not assume that your experience will be any different.

Amazing, Amazing, Amazing
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am a typical home video shooter – a 26 year old stay at home, computer geek mom who just wants some nice, lasting shots of my baby & family vacations to burn to DVD.

This little camcorder does it all and more. The image quality is superb, even on the lowest setting. I don’t have a blue ray player, and we don’t own a high def television, so I’m not concerned so much with the currently less common HD format. Therefore, I keep mine on the standard “high quality” mode – sometimes normal quality – to conserve space. But even that produces video far superior to anything I’ve ever owned in the digital video realm. My mother has a 40 inch plasma flat panel HD TV and even the video I shoot in “standard” mode looks awesomely crisp and clear.

I’ve had my sony since January and have used it in a variety of situations – evening, prom atmosphere, beach at night, beach at day, fireworks, cloudy day, midnight, regular day, indoors, low-light, and even fluorescent walmart type lighting.

PROS

* Small, lightweight, easy to handle

* LCD rotates full 180o vertically and horizontally

* Touch screen with easy to navigate menus (they don’t have too many levels)

* There is an “easy” button if you want to turn off all the more technical aspects

* Video looks cinematic (as if you’re watching a real professional movie) when shown on tv

* Surround Sound is outstanding, even at the beach.

* The zoom microphone setting works very well – tried it sitting halfway back in the audience at a high school theater play. Could barely hear the people on stage in real life, but the camcorder picked up everyone’s voice vividly.

* Regular nightshot and slow motion works great, and is just FUN, fun fun fun.

* Quick on / quick off (stand-by) button

* Take photos WHILE video is recording

* Auto-focus with an easy to switch to manual dial on front

* You can change the Megapixel level of your photos (10MP, 7MP, 3MP, etc)

* Auto-self timer

* The division of photos vs. video in the menu

* Docking station for charging

* Wireless remote control (I LOVE this feature!)

* The LCD screen is super sharp – I could even see it perfectly at the beach.

* The picture motion browser software is very useful, although I did have a high learning curve with it. Once I figured it out though, it makes importing, sorting, and burning video fast and easy.

As with everything else, there are a few things that do annoy me though, but I can live with it.

CONS

* The twilight & “super nightshot” settings are TERRIBLE if you move around and causes a strobe-light movement effect. They are best used on a tripod with very little scene movement.

* Image stabilization could be a lot better. It doesn’t get terrible though unless you’re in digital zoom – then it’s almost impossible to get a steady shot if you’re holding it.

* Slow motion records less light – produces darker video than normal.

* Really low light photos have to be manually focused & adjusted to ensure a clear shot.

* You can’t view previously shot high def video when you are shooting in standard (and vice versa).

* Flash should be turned off in most shots as it seems to always produce red-eye. It does offer a red-eye reduction setting (but I don’t like using the double delayed flash). Daylight photos actually look better without a flash anyway.

* The auto focus on the video has a hard time focusing in low light. I’ve found that zooming out then slowly zooming back in helps auto focus. I don’t have this problem in bright light.

All in all, I couldn’t speak more highly of my little sony. I have it beside me at all times (awaiting my son’s first steps, and everything in between). It’s just so nice to have it available at all times, without having to worry about switching to a blank cassette or DVD every 30 minutes (like I use to do with camcorders)! The handycam utility software also makes it a breeze to import video to my 160GB computer, so I can free up space on the camcorder any time I want to.

I would suggest getting a spare battery and a wall charger to go with it. That way you will always have a charged battery. I did get a 2nd bigger battery, but the original battery will get you through a minimum of 70 minutes of filming, even on HD – your battery life varies depending on the quality of video you are shooting.

I’ll also mention that mine is a tough little camera too – my son tugged it off the table one day and it crashed on the kitchen floor. I about had a heart attack, but luckily it was perfectly fine!

If you’re on the fence about this camera, head over to youtube and search for Sony SR11 tests to view some of the video it produces (especially the slow motion tests). Previewing those beforehand is what cinched the deal for me when I bought in January.

No Regrets
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Camera works as advertised. A few tidbits though. The results of taking a photo from movie mode while in standby versus photo mode are different. No surprise here I guess as it makes some sense, but it would be nice if I could change an option on the camera such that taking a photo in standby video mode would be the same as switching to photo mode, taking the picture and switching back. Also, oddly iMovie can import directly from the camera and works great, but Final Cut Express 4 must convert the video on import making it bigger and not intuitive on whether you’re losing resolution along the way (yes you can obviously see what’s happening, but compared to the free iMovie, it isn’t as easy). The other oddity for me is that in video mode the camera obviously can record in realtime, but in photo mode the shutter speed is very slow even though it has a flash and that results in frequently blurry images if your subject moves at all. I don’t understand why it can’t record the image it sees in one frame, especially with the flash compensating for lighting which would be why the shutter speed would be longer.

Anyway, no regrets buying this camera. Feels good, works well and amazing for the price.

Great Camcorder!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had this camcorder for 2 weeks now and have shot hd video indoors and out in low and average lighting conditions. The video is superb. Stunning clarity. It is a huge step up from the Sony DCR-TRV 530 I used to use. The Touchscreen is easy to use, large, clear, and bright. Battery life could be better, but other batteries are available. The digital stills in some cases are better than with my canon s3is. Face detection and image stabilization work well. Viewing the stills or the footage on the computer or a tv are a snap. Burning archives to dvd was also. Itching to buy a blu ray player for my hdtv and home theater now!

I would purchase an extra battery and charger. Got mine from us1camera for $1k, case, camera, extra battery and charger, 2 lenses, 3 filters, bag, tripod and more. Free shipping. Excellent camera, deal and service.

Sony HDR-SR11 10MP 60GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great Camera, compact, incredible image, simple to use. A bit pricy, but it is on the high end of the technology curve.

Excellent Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The SR11 was bought from amazon have used it for about a month excellent product. Recommend it to any new buyer. Shop around on Amazon the price varies all the time and amazon doesn’t give a price adjustment so if you find it cheaper you have to return the one at a the higher price and reorder and Amazon charges for the shipping.

Amazing HD Camcorder!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had this camera for about 4 months now and I am truly happy with my decision to make this purchase. I bought it right before a family trip with my new son so that we can capture moments with my parents (an invaluable moment in our life). Upon our playback (on the viewfinder) we were amazed and the quality and sound… Hear me out… I have not even had a chance to play it back on my home theater system yet. The battery life was better than I expected – I bought an extended battery – and the space is more than enough for me as I plan to transfer to an external drive and edit videos. The only thing that Sony should have included was the mini-hdmi cable like everyone mentioned already. I will be giving an update soon after our cruise in February. Until then – if you are stil on the fence about this one… go ahead and jump off and make the purchase – you will not be upset with your decision! Until next time.

Doesn’t thrill me!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Too large for modern day video cameras. I recently compared the Canon Vixia HF10 (HF100) and believe both to be a better choice to the SR11. Although Sony offers 24p and 30p modes on their high-end broadcast equipment, Canon offers it both on the high end and the consumer line. The ability to record in 24p and 30p offers stunning video that has the feel and sense of motion when your kid is moving as opposed to the stark feel of 60i video.

Design wise, the Canon is significantly smaller and lacks the obnoxious branding on the outside. The backside of the LCD of the Sony is littered with names and tags. One of which is the 10 Megapixel tag. This camcorder features a 5 megapixel sensor. Therefore, they are interpolating in the camera to try and claim 10 megapixel images.

Last, for a $1200 camcorder, they are sure stingy on the software. They ship the SR11 with the same software that ships on their $249 camcorder the HC52. I personally don’t think it is very good software for a $249 product much less $1200.

Great Video Quality, Marginal Software
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this unit expecting great video quality, and compared to anything else I’ve seen, this is the best. My intention was to archive high quality ACVHD files, awaiting the date when my available time, patience, good software and processor power would make it feasible to edit.

I think that this unit captures about the best video quality that can be had today in a consumer camcorder. The images are great!

Unfortunately, I find the included Sony software to be deficient in its ability to deal with dual-layer disks…..and generally clumsy in copying files.

Nothwithstanding, I still give this unit an outstanding rating because it serves my purpose of saving high-quality images that I can archive on DVD disc or hard drive and edit later.

A nice feature of the native ACVHD that this unit saves in is that you can view it directly on the Playstation 3 without rendering. Given the size of HD video files, this is handy.

Edit as of May 3, 2005: Having seen comments re. other HD camcorder software, I must have expected more than the industry can deliver right now. So please revise my review to acknowledge that the software is about as good as can be had right now.

It is worth the price…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I found this at costco selling for 850, after a 150 off discount. . I found it on here for 699.00 I felt I found a bargain. I took it to my daughters school play and it was perfect. I would suggest a tripod and it was enjoyable to play with the features to get the recording just right. I think this will be used and not replaced for a long time. I recommend this to anyone wanting good quality and something that will last a while.

Sony HDR-SR11
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This HD video camera got excellent picture quality at full HD, even at night mode. In super night mode it will lag, but it did pretty good anyway. There where almost no light at all, just a moon and a porch light about 100 feet away.

The only complaint with this camera and the reason for only 4 stars, is when I tried to tape the Nascar race I went to (Brickyard), the camera would shut down while recording.

I’m guessing the sound from the cars going by max out the camera with motion and sound.

Other than this, I like this camera and it would get 5 stars.

Great camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camera is awesome. The video pictures are outstanding, and the 10 meg. pictures are an added bonus, They are awesome too!

one bad design
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I used to put a filter to protect the lens on my camcorder and camera. I add the UV filter on my HDR-SR11. Guess what … this will disable the build-in flash. There is a tiny trigger next to the lens, once you screwed in the filter, the trigger will disable the build-in flash. The manual does not mention this nor label this tiny trigger. If you have the same problem, you need to take off the filter before taking any still image with the flash.

Bravo! Sony
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
excellent ease of control, steadiness of the shot, clear pictures. especially loved the lightness of the camera and how it fit into the aplm of my hand.

Finally got it right
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been looking for a combo digital camera for years now that takes excellent stills and great video. The macro setting is excellent. I was not expecting this feature and was quite surprised. If you’re looking for a camera that you can use for any occasion this is it. Now if they could just make it smaller. I have a DSC-H7 that was my primary still camera, now I have no use for it. Sony’s lowlight stills are grainy and substandard compared to other manufacturers, but that can be worked around with a little tweaking of the settings. The problem is prevalent in the hdr-sr11 and is not as easy to manipulate. Avchd still has some limitations, but there are plenty of programs that can handle this format well and many more in development. Quicktime is still a POS and probably always be. I would recommend buying an extra battery and charger, which in my opinion should have been sold with the camera, but that’s Sony for you.

hf10 vs sr11
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Bought both cameras to compare. Everybody seems to think that these two are the top consumer cameras to look at. I’ll probably agree. Between the two cameras, I ended up choosing the hf10. Simply put, I was expecting the sr11 to perform better at 60i in low light(30-60 lux) based on online reviews. It was definity brighter with auto. However, If you turn up the exposure on the hf10 (in 60i) you could match the brightness of the sr11. Turning up the exposure on the hf10 also made the color saturation increase in low light to where the hf10 was slightly better than the sr11.

Another expectation based on reviews was for the sr11 to have less noise in the same low light range. This is partly true. What they don’t tell you is the type of noise. Sure there is less noise, but it is large

chroma noise. It is easily seen on any tv or monitor from normal viewing distance. Medium to dark objects in a 17 x 17 2 story room lit with 4 100w bulbs off a ceiling fan all had very noticable color blotches. The hf10 in the same room produced more noise but it was much finer and it was more of the lumanence type. The noise was definitely more pleasant on the hf10 and you would not really notice it at normal viewing distance on a tv.

The last expectation I had was for the sr11 to produce better skin tones than the hf10. I have a sony vx2000 which I think produces very pleasant skin tones in the low light. Manual white balanceing both the sr11 and hf10 shows that the skin tones look about the same with neither looking better than the other at all in low light (same room conditions as discribed above.) The “peachy” skin tones of the vx2000 was more pleasant than either of these cameras but it is not an HD camera.

Outside, hf10 had a sharper image that is slightly more colorful on most colors except green. The sr11 does make greens look more saturated. The hf10 simply looks more clear however. Its raw performance is better in bright conditons.

Now the down side. My biggest gripe on the hf10 is the auto mode. It tends to underexpose-especially in low light but also applies outside in the shade. You constantly have to increase the exposure to make it look right in low light-many times adding 3 steps of additional exposure. On the lcd screen, some times it has to look a little over exposed to get the recorded video too look right. Fortunely, the recorded video has more detail in the over blown highlights than the built in lcd screen shows. The sr11 has the advantage where you can shift the auto mode to your liking. As an example, you can add 1 exposure level and it will keep that for all its auto exposure calculations. You can not do that with the hf10. You have to manually control it all. The controls are about the same for me except that the sr11 can use a LANC tripod. Handheld, the cam dial of the sr11 is smooth but it firm enough to where the camera will move when you use it. The joystick of the hf10 really isn’t any better.

All in all, the hf10 has a greater potential to create better quality video in all lighting (including shooting at 60i) but requires more effort. You do have to turn up the exposure manually and manually white balance to achieve all this however. I actually wanted to like the sr11 because of LANC capability but once I manually set the exposure and white balance of both cameras in low light, my choice was easy. I could not accept the larger blotches of color noise and imagine it would not be very pleasant to record an evening wedding in a church. If you just want to point and shoot, then the sr11 is for you. If you are willing to adjust the camera, I think it is clear that the hf 10 is better. I don’t want it to sound like a one sided review but I invite everyone to compare the cameras yourselves as I have done. There are too many times when the reviews are misleading. The sr11 is clearly better than consumer cameras

from the past, but if you don’t mind setting a couple of parameters manually, the hf10 is clearly better when it comes to video quality. And to me, thats what matters.

Excellent Consumer Camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had this camcorder for over a month now, and have shot several hours of video. The quality is excellent! Love the size, the seperate viewfinder, video quality, facal recognitin focusing, ease of menu use, pretty much everything. Still picture image quality is OK, I believe it’s extrapolated to 10mp. The only con so far is the sensitivity of the microphone(s) to wind noise.

Editing HD video by the average person is still in its infancy, but Sony VEGAS does a great job. The HD holds many hours of video even on the highest quality setting, and I’ve used it successfully down to 15 degrees F with no problems. Plan on getting the larger capacity battery, as 45mins is about it with the one included.