Sony Webbie MHSCM1 HD Camcorder Orange

Not worth $100
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Although I’ve never been a fan of Sony products, I tried this one with an open mind. From the outside, it looks like it is well built, but the guts produce video that looks like a cheap flash cam from about five years ago. To claim that this camera has HD quality is laughable. The quality is inferior to most of the newer offerings from Aiptec and Pure Digital. If you want to drop $200, the best camera you can probably purchase right now on Amazon is the closeout priced SANYO Xacti E2. While it isn’t HD, it will shoot underwater or on land, has better quality and the video format is better suited if you want to get the video to your video-capable iPod to show friends and family.

totally unacceptable
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I ordered this online for my wife and she opened it up christmas day, charged it up, went to turn it on, and it was a dud. The screen would flicker, as if it wanted to turn on, but it would not. Total dud.

So we returned it to the store we got it at and went to a different store thinking, “surely, sony wouldn’t be making something this crappy, we’ll go to a different store and get it from people who know what they are talking about.”

So we bought it again at a different place. Took it home, charged it up, and it turned on. It sets up easily. You charge it up and open up the screen to get going.

I began to record my wife and asked her about the Christmas tree. I zoomed in. I couldn’t zoom back out. IT FROZE completely. Donezo.

Taking it back, its crap. Not even going to try and put up with something that unreliable. I have a better and actually useable video camera on my little digital camera. I’m appalled that stores are even selling this thing.

Amazing Video Quality for a Mini HD Camcorder!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ever since I got this product today, I’ve been blown away by the quality! It has amazing quality for a mini HD camcorder! I did a test video outside in 720p, and the video quality seems like it’s 1080p! It also takes pretty decent 5.0 megapixel stills!

Pros:

nice and compact

AMAZING video quality

pretty good 5.0 megapixel stills

turns on or off when you open or close it

pretty fast zoom and focus

Cons:

zoom and focus noises can be heard throughout the video, but it’s not that bad

no auto stabilization, but I have pretty steady hands most of the time

LED light isn’t that strong for dark areas

no viewfinder, but I find that the screen doesn’t have that much of a glare when used outside in bright conditions with the LCD screen brightness set to high

Overall, I think this was a good choice for my first HD camcorder. The quality isn’t anywhere close to a higher-end HD camcorder, but it’s still pretty good. As I always say, “You get what you pay for”.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the Sony Webbie
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I don’t know if I’ve ever given a negative review on anything, but there’s always a first. I purchased this camcorder after reading much hype on the web touting it’s versatility as a camcorder and digital camera.

First the good. If you take only photos in the brightest of conditions, with absolutely no movement, this may work for you. Those pictures turned out nicely for me.

Now the bad. If there was even the slightest of movement, your pics are ruined. Without extremely bright light, the pics become dull and blurred. On both the cam, and camcorder, there is a delay that will cause you to miss many pics, even if the cam is on and in the ready mode. The camcorder took descent video in bright daylight, but had the same downfalls as the camera.

I own several other Sony products, with no complaints, but I’d never purchase a Sony camera again.

XXXXX This is not even close to high definition XXXXX
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The quality is terrible. This camcorder’s end product is NOT, AND I REPEAT, NOT, HIGH DEF! Not even close. It should be illegal for them to advertise this as high definition. I own a 10 year old analog panasonic vhs-c palmcorder that has far better quality than this camcorder. Not the company they used to be, I guess I’m tired of getting junk from SONY.

Poor panning, lost videos
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera/camcorder with the understanding that it would not have all of the features of a full blown camcorder. So far my experience with the Sony Webbie HD has been terrible.

There is no image stabilization. Video is very jerky if you do any panning from side to side. The button layout is awkward and you never know if the buttons you have pressed have registered, no tactile feedback. I have lost a lot of video due to data corruption indicated by a “format error” message which can only be fixed if you reformat the memory stick. This has happened with both Sony brand and SanDisk brand memory sticks. The Webbie has also stayed on when it should have turned off by closing the viewfinder, resulting in the batteries running out after 90 minutes. Last but not least, my viewfinder image has started displaying upside down and no amount of twisting it at the swivel base will correct it.

I hoped these issues would have been corrected with a firmware update so I upgraded the firmware from 1.06 to 1.09. Issues with “format error” and upside down view finder still persist.

I am returning this hunk of junk this afternoon. No wonder Sony stock is in the tank. I did not expect this lack of quality from a Sony product.

Great little camcorder
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got this camcorder on Saturday. Its a great little machine.

Does very well outdoors and pretty well indoors. There is a little noise in videos in not well lit areas but this is not extremely uncommon with camcorders.

For $199, you can’t go wrong. The guy who wrote the other review is off his rocker. Yes, its not perfect, but look at the price. The camera is small so the controls are not the easiest to use but it is more than usable.

A good buy. Makes the Flip HD look like a utter joke.

Deceptively Advertised
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The hype for this camera is that it makes it a snap to upload videos to the web. Not. Let me qualify myself: I am not technically inclined and have never uploaded to the web -that’s why the advertising hype sold me, I thought the software that comes with this camera makes it obvious and easy to upload. But no, there is not even a mention of this in the on line instructions (no manual). I even tried searching under “web”, “You Tube” and “upload”. Nothing,nada. So I’m struggling to figure out why, after using the You Tube instrux, I still can’t get a test video up on the web. Yes, I understand that anyone under age 30 must think me an idiot (I’m 60)and I’ll cop to that. But Sony, don’t hype your product as an easy uploader, it ain’t for the dummies like me!

Awesome size but not usable when viewed on a pc compared to my 6-year-old Canon Elura 2 standard digital miniDV
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned a Canon Elura 2 standard digital miniDV tape (has 480P) for 6 years but I thought it might be nice to try out a super-portable Sony Webbie camcorder/camera not only because it’s $200 but more importantly, its small size as opposed to the gigantic $600+ HD camcorders out there.

PROS:

- As a camcorder, it shoots great footage in 720P as opposed to 1080P in both indoors and outdoors and of course it’s better than my 6-year-old Canon Elura 2. Playback, however, is great ONLY when using the Sony Webbie camcorder but when I tranfer the video to my pc, there’s soooo much motion jerkiness that you can forget about using the footage for anything like watching or editing (My pc’s a 2.5GHZ Pentium 4 with 756 megs of RAM and 160gigs hard drive).

- Love the small size. It’s smaller than my Canon Elura 2 camcorder (it’s as small as my 7-year old digital camera).

- Nice big 2.5 inch LCD screen.

- Doesn’t come with any memory stick but a 16gig memory stick at $100 will record 8hours of video. However, the battery only lasts 40 minutes.

- Nice built-in light.

CONS:

- As I’ve said earlier, horrrrrible motion jerkiness when I tranfer the video to my pc (My pc’s a 2.5GHZ Pentium 4 with 756 megs of RAM and 160gigs 7200RPM hard drive).

- Can’t replace the battery (my experience with my Canon Elura 2′s lithium battery is that it lasts about 2 years) so the Sony Webbie cam will be trashed in 2 years but I can live with that.

- Can’t replace the battery means I can’t take an extra battery along because I don’t have the time to wait 90 minutes for it to charge before I take it with me to the field each time.

- The autofocus is slow and keeps changing which is annoying but I can live with it.

- I have to use 2 hands to operate it whereas I only needed 1 hand with the Canon Elura 2.

- Slow computer switching between the menu and shooting.

- As a camcorder, it takes several seconds before it starts to record whereas it was immediate with my 6-year-old Canon Elura 2 camcorder.

- Only 5x optical zoom but I can live with that (My Canon Elura 2 camcorder has 10x optical but most digital cameras only have 3x zoom).

- As a camera, it takes several seconds before a picture is taken so the subjects have moved by then. Any slight motion also blurs whereas my 7-year-old Panasonic 3 megapixel camera handles it without any problems.

SUMMARY: I would only recommend this camcorder if you only playback the videos via the camcorder and can afford a new $200 camcorder every 2 years and don’t mind giving yourself a 90 minute lead time to charge the camera before going out to shoot.

Maybe Sony’s next camcorder will correct these deficiencies and then I will upgrade to a HD camcorder! In the meantime, I’ll stick with my 6-year-old dependable and extra battery capable Canon Elura 2 miniDV camcorder.

———————-

Update 11-12-2009: I just bought the Panasonic ZS3 ($300) camera with 10megapixels and 12x-21x zoom and HD video (in 720P) and it is way, way, way better than the Sony webbie. Plus, you can buy a spare battery!

Great for video – poor for pictures
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I wanted a camera that I could make videos of my daughter and post it on the internet for our family, since we live overseas. It does the job quite well, especially outdoors or indoors during the day. But I’ve got frustrated when using it to take pictures, you’ve got to have extremely steady hands to shoot got pics, it takes a while to capture and if the subject is moving (like a 5 month baby!), you won’t be able to get a good shot. They should have built it with flash, it would help a lot! Other than that, it is great for self pictures, since you can flip the LCD display 180 degrees and it is very compact and easy to use and download pics and videos.

Very disappointing
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I ordered this camera direct from Sony before it ever shipped. I was very excited when I saw it announced at CES. I knew that for the price it wouldn’t be replacing my regular camera. But I was excited to get something that I could literally throw into my pants pocket when I just wanted to capture a moment that I otherwise would not have.

The main problems are:

- It is performs extremely poorly indoors. I agree with an earlier reviewer that even in a well lit interior the video is awful – pixilated and dark. The color is way off in low light too.

- Focus is very slow. Plus, even in perfect conditions it decides to refocus on its own when the subject hasn’t moved. Very annoying.

- It even has issues with well lit settings. I took it to my kids ice skating event yesterday and it was again a disappointment. Even though I was shooting in backlit mode to bring out the foreground on the kids, the exposure would suddenly dim then brighten up. So it has difficulty adjusting exposure when there is a lot of light. This doesn’t bode well for beach shots (where I plan on using it a lot).

- Yes… you can hear the zoom and focus. It’s very distracting. I was looking forward to not overhearing the tape running as I can on my older tape based camera. But instead of the tape I hear the focus and zoom.

The zoom is quite good. I expected as much since it is an optical zoom.

I don’t recommend this product. The fact that is is HD only makes its flaws much more obvious. I know it’s cheap, but wait for a second generation version. Perhaps Sony will fix some of these issues in subsequent iterations.

Cute but Crippled: 25 Minute Video Limit and Poor Focus
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Pros: It is small and attractive

It activates quickly

Cons: Controls are poorly placed requiring 2 hands.

No option f/manual focus. Poor Auto-focus.

Can’t change battery.

25 Minute limit on video clips regardless of memory!!!!

Camera stops recording without notice.

Summary: I won this camera and was initially thrilled (i never win anything). However, once I started using it day-to-day, I realized that the camera is really a scam to get you to buy another camera. Focus is often poor, particularly on still photos. I avoid the 1080 mode due to reported issues and find the 720 mode excellent, that is until I learned that all recording are limited to 25 minutes. I found this out by having the camcorder stop recording without me realizing it after 25 minites (I had memory for over 8 hours available). I doubt that the camera would sell if they clearly stated this limit on the box. Who wants to be worrying about constantly monitorng how close to 25 minutes one is at? In sporting events, you want to focus on the event, not the red dot on your camera! Very disappointing to say the least and deceptive in my opinion. I used to like the Sony brand, but when they start pulling stunts like this and provide a crippled product without making it clear on the box, I lose respect. I’m tired of manufacturers deceiving me about the abilities of their product.. The moral of the story: Look for length limits on any camera you buy!

Bitter Disappointment! Sony Disgraces Itself With This One.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
If ALL you want to do is outdoor video, this camera is a good value, but for everything else, it is an unmitigated disaster! This piece of garbage is utterly unsuitable for indoor video or photography. My video taken at a wedding came out as silhouettes and blurs. Photos taken in a brightly lit room are disappointing. The photo info shows that even in that brightly lit room, the camera would choose a shutter speed of 1/10 of a second most of the time. This means that anyone who is not making an effort to be still is a blur.

If have a Sony DCR TRV-103 from 1999 and it has served me well. That camera could easily handle the tasks that the 2009 Webbie HD completely botched. It’s great that Sony has been able to reduce the price of a camcorder by 80% or so, but the quality of the new product is so poor that you really have to wonder about Sony’s future.

The ergonomics of the Webbie HD are pathetic — you may think that this product was designed by saboteurs who wanted to destroy Sony from the inside. If that is the case, they’ve been wildly successful. I’m going to be hard-pressed to ever by another Sony product again. This piece of junk has stained their brand. The button for the camera shutter is the least badly placed one, but it requires too much pressure which forces unwanted camera movement. The button for the video camera is positioned ludicrously. Did they even consider a human hand when they designed this thing?! Maybe this thing is comfortable for a three-toed sloth, but it’s a Cheney-esque torture device for people.

I bought this thing as soon as I possibly could (1/8/09) and will be marching back to the store tomorrow (1/11) to demand a full refund — there is going to be hell to pay if they insist on trying to extract a 15% restocking fee from me. Stay away from this product!

sony webbie
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It’ alright. High def or not it’s just very o.k. If you want a good high def camera expect to pay more for now but for the price it’s just o.k.

Great product – Iffy service from vendor
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We bought this product reconditioned, via Amazon but from a secondary vendor.

We’re not technophiles or camera enthusiasts, just wanted something convenient and easy to use for catching pictures/videos of the kids, pets, travel, and so on. The product itself is great, does everything we wished and more, and is a handy size, weight, etc. Even the slightly odd colour – orange – makes it easily identifiable as ours.

The only real complaint we’ve had so far is it came preloaded with pictures. Not factory demo shots – real pictures. Apparently whoever owned it previously forgot to clear the internal memory card. Worse, the shop that reconditioned it also failed to wipe the memory and, in fact, several of the pictures appear to be staff members horsing around.

One would have thought it would be an automatic step before sending the product out to a new customer, to return it as close as possible to factory condition first.

Otherwise, great little camera so far.

too small
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This camera was just too small for me to handle properly especially the zoom. Also was very difficult to transfer movies to computer.

Sony Webbie
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Purchased this for my holiday

For the money I paid, it does a great job. Easy to use, fast power up and getting the movies to the computer or web is quick and simple.

If I had one complaint it would be that it does not like to panned or moved quickly, tends to make the picture a little bit jerky. Other than that great camera.

Even the photos that it takes a fairly good.

Bought a 8gig card and that gives around 2 1/2 hours at 1080 more than enough storage.

Small package but delivers big
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.

Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.

For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.

Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.

Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back.

Too much noise
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This is a nice little camera that is very easy to use. However, there are comparable products for the same price (or less) with much better video quality.

Before buying the Webbie HD, I was considering purchasing the Flip, Creative, or Sanyo low-cost HD camcorders. I was excited when Sony released this similar priced model with two things the others don’t have: (1) 1080P resolution and (2) optical zoom. I admit that I bought it on a bit of an impulse. But, I was hoping the video quality would be comparable to those other models. It wasn’t.

In outdoor settings (on a bright day), the video quality is good. However, even in bright outdoor shots, you’ll see some blocky-ness around objects. Strangely, the 720P mode produced generally better results than the 1080P mode (and a wider viewer angle for some reason). Overall, the video quality, while good, is not as sharp or fluid as I’ve seen on the Flip Mino HD or Creative Vado HD.

Indoor shots show the real difference though. When shooting indoors, the video quality is horrible. There is a yellow cast on everything and the video is incredibly noisy (i.e. you’ll see small dots on everything). It doesn’t matter how many lights you turn on. In a standard house or indoor setting, the video quality is no better than (and maybe worse than) VGA video on a standard point-and-shoot camera. It’s hard to describe how disappointed I was after taking my first video and hooking the camera up to my HDTV. The video is that bad. Compared to video samples from the Mino HD and Vado HD, it was a joke.

I understand that the camera is not intended to produce videos of the same quality as more expensive AVCHD cameras. And, to be fair, if you just intend to use this outside, the video is very impressive, especially for the price. But when you consider that, for the same money, you can buy camcorders from multiple other companies with much better results, it’s hard to justify this one.

I’ve now returned my Webbie HD. I’m not sure what other camcorder I’ll buy now, but I’m willing to sacrifice optical zoom for watchable video.

Great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just got this camera and I love it. I also own a $1,000 SONY Handycam and to me the video quality is just as good, plus since this camera uses MP4 format it is so much easier to use and you don’t have to go back to school to learn how. Oh, did I mention the size and weight!

disappointed
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I am disappointed in this product. I bought it for my daughter who has really taken to using the MS Movie Maker program and has been recording videos on her Canon digital camera (5 MP PHOTO camera that also does low quality videos). I expected that this camcorder would be a big jump in usabilty and quality for her. What a disappointment.

The video is very jerky; It really needs image stabilization. The indoor and low-light performance is WORSE than the Canon digital photo camera when operating in video mode if you can believe that. The Sony software is confusing and junky. She just wants to plug in the camera and select a new or existing folder in “My pictures” and have the videos show up there. Instead the Sony software pops up and it does various stuff to download the video from the camera and convert it or something. It’s clunky – again we want: plug-in, select folder, download, play. That is not what you get with this Sony software.

Now the worst part. The MPEG-4 video format is not compatible with MS Movie Maker so now my daughter is unable to do what was so very easy to do with the Canon camera and MM. I have tried various free utilities to convert MPEG-4 to AVI so MM could use it but so far have been unsuccessful. The programs are slow, the interfaces are clunkly and worst part I have yet to find one that actually works. I am sure there must be but I just have not found it yet. You also can’t play these videos in Windows Media Player. Quicktime does play them.

At this point I am considering buying some commercial software that can edit MP4 videos. I worry that it will be too complex for my daughter to use. Good editing software can be $100 or more. Oh, and by the way, this camcorder does not come with a memory card so be prepared to spend another $30 to $50 on that depending on size.

Overall, a big let down. I really wish I had sent it back but it’s too late now. Some folks say that it’s a great bargain at $200 and maybe it is. But it’s no bargain if it gathers dust on the shelf and is not used because it’s too hard and the quality is too low and there is no way to edit the clips into a useful movie without buying commercial software for $$$.

Great Camcorder for Price!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is actually a really good camcorder compared to the other reviews. I think most people just havn’t figured out how to use it, or why the quality of video isn’t showing good. I’ve been playing with the camera for a couple days now and figured out if the audio and video isn’t in sync, you need a new video card because your pc probably can’t handle the HD. Also you have to download the K-Lite Codec Pack available at: [...]. This will allow you to watch the videos on windows media player. The camera does play best at 720 and if the lighting is bad indoors you can adjust the settings and it will make it look a little better. Most camera’s under $1000 have bad indoor quality so for the price of the sony HD, you can’t beat it. Also it is very easy to upload videos on social media sites. Overall I would recommend this camera to anybody who doesn’twant to spend a whole lot of money.

Webbie HD camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love this little camera, it works great for such a low price. I highly recommend this. Pictures are good and video is great.

Great Little Camera
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve carried a Flip in my bag for over a year now and was looking for something similar but HD. I saw this camera on the CES blogs, thought it looked great and, unlike the other reviewer, I associate Sony with good quality product (esp when it comes to imaging) so decided to get one.

Holding the camera is a little awkward for long periods but I have a gorilla mount that I attach, and hold it so that the camera is on a stick if I need to. The video quality is excellent in good light and, in my opinion, more than adequate indoors.

I’m not looking for TV quality video from this camera, it sits in my bag and I shoot from the hip. In this capacity I think you cannot go wrong. Makes my Flip look sadly very inferior, and I adore my Flip.

Oh, and the orange is very cool!

Sony Webbie
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
nice camera, not as much zoom as I’d like but I guess I should have seen that in the product description!

NOT RELIABLE!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I would love to say this is a super camera, but it’s NOT RELIABLE!

When it works, you will have some pretty good high-def vids.

I repeat–When it works.

It was pretty good up until a friend was running a triathalon and it started to act up. The problem was the “format error”. Well, the videos show up if you stick the MS pro card in a reader, but the webbie will tell you there is a problem with the disc. The problem isn’t the disc, it’s the camera.

The solution for that is to have a spare MS Pro card (or loads of cards) and a card reader to retrieve the videos when you get home. Format your cards using the card reader.

The problem is that the webbie is pretty erratic as to when this error will occur.

I tried updating the firmware, but the problem is still there. The firmware upgrade can be found at the Sony webbie download site.

Also, the camera can hang on you at the wrong moment. So, don’t get this if you plan on keeping those “Kodak Moments” since I webbie moment is more likely to be a frustation as your camera gives you an error when you want it to work: such as getting a friend pass by you at her first triathalon.

So, any webbie owner should have a paperclip (or other similar object) to reset the camera, an MS Pro card reader, and a love of frustration.

Also, I talked with Sony support and they said you need to initialise the camera (it’s in the menu options) and then reformat the card. I would suggest using a card reader to recover any lost information before formatting. I have been able to recover the lost files using a card reader and r-studio software if the card had been formatted.

I’d strongly suggest getting another camera than the webbie, such as the Aiptek Action HD GVS 1080P High Definition Camcorder, if you are still deciding.

Small package but delivers big
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.

Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.

For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.

Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.

Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back.

Great pick up and shoot.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camera gives a surprisingly great picture for the price. Although it doesn’t have manual controls, when under high light conditions this camera delivers. For the price, it’s perfect for the amateur videographer.

Purple Sony HD Webbie Camera – great value
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Saw this camera announced at CES and as my family has been looking for a family camera to replace our Panasonic 601 MiniDV camera, it seemed like a great opportunity at a great price to get a light-weight HD cam that can go anywhere.

The feel is more solid than I thought it might be; this camera is even smaller than you think. The screen is vibrant, but it also represents my only complaint about the physical state of the camera – and it is minor; the screen does seem like it could easily break off. Probably no more than any other camera, but the size of this camera makes it seem moreso.

The image quality seems very good. I viewed the video on a 50″ Samsung plasma and thought the image was better than my Panasonic DV cam footage. Now, since the media is Duo Card, you are presumably going to be dumping footage off onto DVD or computer as needed. I supposed you could just keep buying Duo cards, but that would get expensive. For that reason, I would recommend the biggest card available right now, the 16GB Duo. Hopefully, Sony keeps the Duo cards coming in bigger sizes; I did hear about a possible 1 TB card for 2009 or 2010.

I dumped my test files into my Mac and used Final Cut Pro to edit them. I took one file and burned it using DVD Studio Pro just as-is out of the camera. Then I took the same file and opened it in Quicktime Pro and exported it as a .MOV file, then burned it to disc. The image quality between the two was, in my view, about the same, differences negligible. Be advised that if you are a Mac user the only benefit you receive from the DVD that comes with this camera is a full-color PDF manual; the software which comes with the camera is WINTEL-ONLY.

Render times for the above process was HIGH. My FCP runs on a Dual Processor G5 and it just seemed to take forever to render the footage – and it was only a couple of minutes. That must be the MPEG4 drawback and of course, FCP is not designed yet to work smoothly with MPEG4.

The camera is advertised as being designed for web-a-holics who post on You Tube, etc. We have no intention of doing that and hope it will be a great easily-portable cam for family activities and events. It certainly seems so.

The purple color is awesome. It is unique and stands out. The camera fits easily in a case designed for medium-sized digital still cameras – yes, that is how small it is – fits in an adult palm with room to spare.

BE ADVISED: Sony apparently did not feel compelled to include internal memory large enough to get even 15 seconds of video recorded. That seems just stupid. So, out of the box, you get 15 seconds of video in 720 or 1080p. So plan on buying a DUO card at the time you get the camera. Mine was purchased here on Amazon through Parts Store for $60 + $10 shipping. That is 50% off the price on the Sony Style website. FYI, Best Buy does not carry the 16GB card.

Great Buy
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought the camera as a gift for someone. I am an International buyer so I was amazed that Amazon shipped the package in less than a week.

The person I bought it for is in love with the camera. They love the size, the fact that it’s HD and that it’s also their personal favourite brand, Sony. I haven’t used the camera very much but from what I do know, the picture quality seems very good in the day. The size is very convenient, it is almost the size of a digital camera; therefore, it is less hectic to carry around.

The only problem I think I would have with the camera is that the light is not very useful, as it does not help much in a dark area. Shooting video with the light on in a dark place does no justice, as the picture still comes out dark and not very visible.

Other than that, I think that would be my only objective.

The camera is a very nice camera and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to easily capture life’s memorable moments.

In my opinion the camera is:

Convenient;

Stylish;

Functional; and

User friendly.

Great Little HD Camcorder!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Simple & easy to use!!!

A great HD camcorder for the price.

Small enough to carry in my purse all the time to capture my daughter’s every move…LOVE IT!!!

Great picture quality
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Great picture quality. But it is a small camera. So people that don’t have kid hands may find it hard to handle.

Very easy to use. The picture quality all depends on lighting. So unless you have a good light source pics or video will not be very good. Doesn’t have a built in flash.

The balance cost/benefit is good.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The price that you pay is fair with the product you get. Why? the camera does not has night shot, so in the night it’s not good. The day is great and you get 4 hrs for video with a 8Gb memory stick. It’s good in general.

Great Camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera to see if it would work in a studio setting as a fixed camera for a small TV station. I figured in the worst case I would have a good webcam. Also I’m not a big fan of Sony and their “proprietary ways.”

This is a great camera. Video quality is much better than I anticipated. Not as good as my pro 3 chip ameras, but better than a lot of pro-sumer cameras. Sound is what is to be expected with an internal microphone. Only good for home movies. Recorded video looks very good. I’m using the video output via the A/V jack to feed a video mixer. Works great but there is a little lag from the processing the camera does internally which causes the separate audio feed to be a little out of sync. 720p is better than 1080p. However, this can be taken care of with a little audio delay if it becomes annoying. Also if you use it in this type of setting you obviously have to use the AC supply for power. It by-passes the batter and keeps the camera from shutting down automatically.

A lot of people complain about low light response. I’m using it indoors and works fine in a decently lit room. I use 720p at the “landscape” setting. It gives a cool color indoors that I like. You have a choice of 5 settings including “Auto” and they are the only settings you get that has anything to do with light or shutter control. If you are expecting to use it at night, buy another camera at a much higher price.

The only complaints I have is when the A/V jack is used the built in screen shuts down. I have to use a studio monitor to position the camera. Also, being a Sony you have to use their Memory Stick Pro Duo and not a standardized SD type card.

Would I recommend the camera? I ordered 4 more.

No image stabalization
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This is a great camera but not so good at what i bought it for since there is no image stabilization i now have to buy a mac computer or get another software to stabilize the video.

Finally, a solid HD camera for the Masses
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was just about jaded with all these new HD cameras, when I ran into this by accident, scanning through Google.

I had purchased an Kodak Easyshare M1033, then a Zi6, they both failed miserably at even coming close to Standard definition, let alone high definition. They had alot of motion artifact, alot of graininess at any light exposure, and were useless in the dark. They went to new owners.

I had about given up until I saw this when perusing products at 2009 CES. I have had it one day, but it surpasses the products that I have used and that are out there.

First off, images are clear, for real, not grainy. It actually has 4 different light settings – sports, landscape, backlight, and lowlight. None of the other ‘pocket cameras’ have this. This is extremely important, or you can forget recording video in your home.

Secondly, it has an led light that can be utilized to record in the dark…what a great idea!!! It maximizes battery life, and extends your video range. Amazing difference.

Next, it has a real optical zoom, not some fake digital zoom. At whats more, when you zoom, it doesnt blurr, like the Nikon and Kodak video footage I have seen and made. Another gigantic leap.

It has all necessary connectivity, component cables, usb, and it is very intuitive to use. After about 30 minutes with it, you can film your own documentary. But even in simple terms, once the clock is set you can start filming immediately. Just change from sports setting to another light setting before you start, or you will see a black screen indoors. Oh, and, take the lens cap off.

Ok, memory, it has 12mb onboard, which will get you a few pics, and 15 seconds of HD video. Yeah, eh…But it does have a pro duo slot. I was certainly not excited about this, I have alot of SD cards lying around. But I looked for a good deal, and dealt with it. Video compression is nice, and you get about 1 sec per MB, or about 140 min with an 8gb card. This is actually better than the kodak compression, as far as storage.

Also, videos are simple to use. Simple to play on a computer, just plug in the usb, you dont need a pro duo slot on your pc. I uploaded easily to Youtube, and also played them nicely on my 42″ big screen. Another plus, it runs through all the videos with one click. Some folks may not like this, but I dont like to click on all 40 videos I recorded, just play em all, and skip if you want. Otherwise, you would be sitting by the tv changing them the whole time, while everyone else enjoys. Nice idea, Sony.

Sony thought of other nice things as well, including wrist strap, concise packaging, lens cap strap, and nice charging setup. Leave those AAs at home Kodak Zi6. It even takes pictures!

Take it from me, the Webbie does much more than anything else out there in the $150-$400. If you are going to spend $200 anyway, why not get a serious camera that blows away the competition. You wont be disappointed. This will be the camera everyone has within 3 months.

Not easy to operate
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I found the product is not easy to operate, No built in memory, Needs only Sony specific memory

Over all i am not happy with this product

Tech problems – could not even use it…
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I took the camera out of the box, recharged it, inserted the memory stick, turned it on, and… “format error”. Apparently this is a very recurring problem in this camera (saw dozens of similar reviews, but only after I bought it), and it basically forces you to format the memory card, and by the way lose all you’ve recorded so far. In my case, not even the formatting function of the camera was working! The screen freezes with the “formatting” message and stays there forever.

As I’m planning to go out in a trip in 2 days, I will return this camcorder and grab another one. I’m at least glad that I didn’t find out about all these cronic problems during the trip.

What this camera can do….
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3RQ3QA4O3ARDR See the video, that will be my words.

Not worthy of the Sony name
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I found the Sony Webbie HD Camcorder a huge let down. Picture quality was fair, sound terrible. Importing Mpeg4 videos into my Kodak software required a “find-move-drop” technique which was cumbersome. The construction is incredibly cheap and there is no internal lens-cap. Videos taken with any of my Nikon or Kodak point-and-shoots is superior.

Apparently, Sony is now selling off what inventory it has of this line of cameras as they are now only available as “refurbs” on their website. DON’T FALL FOR IT; $ 169 is NOT a bargain when you can move up to a superior SD Camcorder from any number of manufacturers for a little bit more. If you’re thinking of giving this as a gift to a child, even the Fisher-Price camcorder had better results.

OK in summary:

PROS:

Small Size

Relatively easy operation

Software included helpful (for WINDOWS users only!)

Easy uploading of compressed videos into online communities like Facebook or YouTube

CONS:

Poor Video (definitely NOT high def!)

Poor Sound

Cheap construction

Lack of lens-cap

Overpriced for what you get

A True Review
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have to admit, I was a little puzzled by the range of reviews of this camera, so I thought I’d write about my experience to offer some clarity.

The Sony Webbie is a small, cheap ($200 for a camera is relatively cheap) camera built for portability and uploading videos quickly to the Internet.

Size – It’s about as long as a pack of cigarettes and about a pack and a half wide. Small enough to put in a coat pocket or big pants pocket, but a little cumbersome for jeans. (still, it can be done)

Ease of Use – “Easy” if you are familiar with a point-and-shoot camera

Picture Quality – For a small camera, I would say “good”. In low light, there is significant noise (little “dots” in the picture where the camera is having trouble distinguishing color, in this case, it makes a grid pattern and some of the images are a little dark) but as the light gets better, so does the picture quality.

Another weird phenomenom I’ve noticed is if you pan too fast, the top of the picture moves, and the bottom lines are about a fraction of a second behind and need to catch up. (For example I was filming a tree, and I panned to the left and I could see points where the top of the tree had moved to the left and the bottom was still a little to the right and needed to “catch up” to the part on the left.)

That being said, in medium to bright light the picture quality is pretty good.

Auto Focus – Relatively fast, but if you’re filming something fast, like a hyper dog running around the room, there will be times when it can’t keep up. (In this case, I didn’t zoom in and just used a wider angle, and the picture was fine)

Sound – I’ll say “Decent”. Yes, when it’s windy the microphone picks that sound up, and in quiet situations, you can hear the autofocus motor whirring. But between those two extremes it does a decent job.

Internet – Now this is where this device shines! Recording in MP4 (h.264) format the file sizes are small and manageable. That 30 second video you just recorded can be manipulated with software or uploaded to your favorite website in seconds. There’s no converting files or anything. This is the main benefit of this camera, and something the people who are comparing this camera to the more expensive models are forgetting. While they are maxing out their processors for hours trying to convert their videos from a proprietary Sony or Canon HD format, you can already be done and have your friends enjoying your videos. This coupled with the fact that YouTube now offers software to add titles and stuff to your videos makes it all too easy.

The Light on the Front – Really doesn’t do too much at a distance, but is nice for a dark room at bout 1-2 ft. away

USB cable – Doesn’t charge the camera (?)

Sony Software – Is okay, but I just use Quicktime to watch, and go to the MP root to retrieve the videos

Battery Life – I think the manual says something like 90 minutes

25 minutes at a time – Somebody else mentioned that this camera will only record 25 minute files. So if you need to record something for an hour, it will shut off, and you will need to start recording again.

Sony Cards – Are an expensive addition to the cost of your cheap camera. An 8 GB card cost me $45 and allows me to record 4 hours of video (at 720p)

*********

My Opinion – If you want professional videos, image stabilization, low light recording, and attachable microphones for watching pristine HD videos on your TV, then this is not the camera for you. Pick up a bulkier, more expensive camera with a bigger lens and all the bells and whistles.

If, however, you want something relatively cheap, portable, easy to use, easy to upload to the Internet, that does not always take perfect pictures, then this is the camera for you.

That’s why I picked this camera. Most of what I want a camera for is the Internet. Some of the weaknesses of this camera I just work around. If it doesn’t film well in the dark, I turn on more lights. The fact that it’s portable lets me bring it to a party with little worry. Try doing that with a big camera.

After a week, I can say I really like this camera!

Small package but delivers big
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.

Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.

For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.

Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.

Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back.

Best Value!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Some people are completely off their rocker. The complaints on a $200 digital camcorder reflects unreal expectations. Sony has not designed this camera to be a replacement to your existing camcorder for things like weddings or school plays. This is designed for great portability and to capture video for your computer and internet sharing. Complaints about the footage looking grainy on a 50′ plasma are crazy, this camcorder is designed for smaller screens, DUH THE WEBBIE.

My experience with this product is great. The video looks reasonably good on my 40′ Bravia played through my PS3, but since I store and view my video on my computer the video on it is what matters and it is amazing. Low light does cause some grainy video but no more than more expensive camcorders, one would have to pay 3 times the cost of the Webbie to get better low-light video that is worth the cost. I recommend this camcorder, it definitely gives the most bang for the buck. One would have to pay at least $500-$600 to get a better camera, the buttons are somewhat difficult to use but I can put up with that to save some green. Again you are not getting a $700 HD camcorder for $200, but a $400 camcorder for $200, so realize what you are getting before you buy it. The people who wrote the bad reviews seem like the people who go into restaurants and try to get extra food for less money and then don’t tip their server.

For what you’re paying this is not a bad camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m very satified for the money I spend. The picture quality is pretty good. My biggest complaint with it is its sound quality isn’t very good. Sometimes things that are close by sound like they are off in a distances. Otherwise I like it, and would buy it again.

Outdoor Only
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’ve now used and tested the Webbie HD extensively. Overall, it’s not a bad product and certainly doesn’t “stain [Sony's] brand,” as one reviewer put it. But I feel compelled to warn people that it really should not be used indoors. In even brightly lit rooms, the video quality is terrible. The video will look really grainy and yellow. While all video cameras have greater difficulty in lower-light settings, the performance of the Webbie HD is much worse than comparably priced products (and more expensive full-function camcorders).

On the other hand, outdoor video looks great.

So, if you are planning on shooting mostly indoor videos and already have a point-and-shoot camera that can shoot videos, you may as well save yourself some money; the video quality is essentially comparable (the webbie HD video is bigger because it is “HD,” i.e. more pixels, but the quality is no better). If you need something that operates inside, look at one of the Webbie’s competitors. But, if you intend to mainly use this camera outside, it’s not a bad choice and includes optical zoom.

Ton of value for the price
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
After seeing the impressive stats of the Sony Webbie HD video camera that was announced at CES earlier this month I decided that I needed to give it a try. I’ve been on a mission to find a good video camera that was under [...] and only used memory cards for storage; no hard drives no tapes.

More info at Gear6.net

Having purchasing and returned in the past month 4 cameras: JVC Everio MS120 (SD), Kodak Zi6 (HD), Flip Mino (HD), and Canon FS100 (SD) and being disappointed with everyone I was about to give up and put down [...] on a `proper’ HD camera. But in one final attempt I thought I would give the Sony Webbie HD a try. Figuring if the Webbie could deliver even 3/4 of what Sony’s promising then this could be a keeper.

The first thing that you realize when you open the box is just how incredibly small the camera really is; at only 1.7 inches wide and 2.4 inches tall the unit is not much bigger then a small point and shoot camera and can easily fit into a jacket pocket or purse. I purchased the orange () version and the color is really nice it doesn’t look cheap or cheesy but set’s it apart from every other bland silver and gray camera on the market. The only negative about the cameras small size and lack of hand strap is if you have large hands it can be a little uncomfortable to hold for a long period of time.

Design

The camera on in only a second or two after you open up the swivel screen and is ready for action. Screen picture quality is good but like most LCD’s does have a limited viewing angle. The screen does rotate 270 degrees so this should be an issue and allows you to do “self-shooting”. Button layout is logical and most functions can easily be done with one hand.

Interface

Setup of the camera is done with the four buttons on the side of the camera and directional pad at the rear. Navigation of the menus is easy and options are pretty straight forward if not a bit sparse. You don’t have a lot of different scenery options or ability to self adjust exposure. It’s possible Sony would change some of this with a firmware update but even if they do not it’s not a terrible interface and allows you to do most things.

Video

Ok, now the moment of truth… Yes the camera is incredibly small and very cool looking the menu system is ok but does this little thing really take HD quality movies? Yes it does and they look pretty darn good! Shooting at 720p I was very happy with the clear picture and sharpness of the video when played back on my computer and TV. The video quality blows away the SD camcorders that I had perviously purschased and is on par with some of the [...] cameras that are on the market today. (I will post examples of the video ASAP). I did try one video at 1080p and it seemed to be a little grainy so I switched back to 720p. This needs to be further tested as it might just have been an incorrect setting. The one flaw that I’ve found when shooting video is the auto focus is a bit slow and if you are zooming in and out your subject may appear out of focus for a split second which is annoying.

Still Photos

The Webbie HD also sports the ability to take still photos with the onboard 5mp sensor which is accessed just by pressing a `photo’ button on top of the camera. Still photos are razor sharp and are the quality you would expect from a good quality point and shoot still camera.

Format

Another great feature of the Webbie is that Sony choose to use HD MP4 to encode the video files with. This means it’s a snap to edit and play back the videos on your PC or Mac computer. No need to reformat them or use some crazy proprietery software. Just plug the camera in and your ready to go. The pre-installed Picture Motion Browser (PMB) Portable software, the Webbie makes it simple to pre-select videos or pictures for viewing on your PC. It also makes it easy to upload to popular internet sharing sites like YouTube. The sofware doesn’t work for Mac’s but isn’t really needed any ways just use iMovie.

Features

At only [...] it’s not surprising the Sony MHS-CM1 isn’t loaded with features but it does have a few tricks up it’s sleeve. Having no detachable battery you are not lugging around a big charger just a small ac adapter that plugs into the side of the camera. While shooting video you can just click a button and a very bright white LED will turn on to help illuminate your subject, it’s not a spotlight but it helps. One lacking feature is the lens cap; you would think Sony could design an integraded lens cap that would slide into the body of the unit like most modern cameras. Unfortunaly they just give you a plastic cap and a cord to attach it to the back of the camera . This really detracts from the look and feel of the unit.

Summary

Overall I’m very happy with the Sony Webbie HD MHS-CM1 despite it’s few flaws. Compared to every other video camera on the market that I’ve tested near this price point or even those costing upwards of [...] the Webbie will blow them away. It’s video is sharp and clear the 5x optical zoom is plenty for normal recording and it’s overall size, combined with a 5mp still camera makes this a great gadget.

If you are looking at getting any of the SD camcorders on the market today don’t bother, this is by far a better product and most likely less expensive. It’s perfect for someone wanting a camera to occasinaly take home movies, do some projects and just have fun with this is a great camera but your not going to make a feature film on this unit.

On the other hand if you are looking to be taking a lot of HD video and want deeply saturated colors, and long distance zoom the Webbie HD is not the camera for you. You need to spend the extra dough and get the full sized, full featured HD camera.

Pro’s

Size

Video quality

Still photo quality

Ease of use

Battery

Video file formating

Con’s

Len’s cap is awful

Limited menu options

Color saturation could be better

More info at Gear6.net

very easy to use, compact
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I wanted to give this a 5 star review … and would have, if the video camera had image stabilization (and if you didn’t hear the zoom so loudly). The camera works great and is easy to use, but there are just a few drawbacks that keep it from 4 stars:

- you have to have a really steady hand when filming, or you will want to post process the video after to get it to be smooth

- when zooming, you can hear it very loudly from the mic … not a huge deal, but if you zoom a lot, it is annoying.

- it has a bit of a tough time in lower light situations. I have tried both the normal setting and low light setting, and even though the low light setting helps, it isn’t perfect. Oh, and the LED light on it is ok, but only for a specific distance, like 3-4 feet from the camera. Any further and it has no effect, any closer and it is too bright. It is nice to have for certain situations, but not as universal as desired.

That being said, we have enjoyed the video camera a lot, as it is so easy to pull out and tape on a whim! The size is a big bonus – the battery life has been great, and the storage is not a problem (I bought an 8 gig card for $44, which has been plenty of space, even on the Medium-HD setting).

Webbie is awesome for computer videos, and in a pinch a dvd
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a MUST BUY if you keep in mind what it’s for. This is for the internet, so your most precious memories might be better left to something with higher quality. Although it beats the bajeezus out of the camera we had when I was a kid back in ’89. Honestly as far as home movies go, I wouldn’t be ashamed to shoot them with this camera…

ON a decent sized tv the camera is a little grainy, but on your computer it’s perfect. For the price I am 200% satisfied.

Pros are:

It’s tiny

Sound quality is better than expected on recorded videos

Video quality beat my expectations

easy to use

great color selection

cheap media, I got an 8 gig card for 39 dollars at best buy

5X optical zoom, good with a tripod

CONS:

buttons are hard to reach with big hands

light is practically useless

Wrist strap, would prefer a hand strap to get a better grip

and that’s it.

Do Not Buy this camera
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The camera will only record 25 minutes of a movie. Period. Even with 8 G memory stick, plugged into wall power. Twenty five minutes.

I set it up on a tripod to record an hour long award luncheon. Recorded

25 minutes. This is not mentioned on the Sony or Amazon website.

Should have used my miniDV tape camcorder, it runs as long

as it has tape.

Another design flaw is that it does not have 720 by 480 format option so that its files would match miniDV tape format used by tons of software.

Tried two open source programs to convert files into something Premiere would swallow. Handbrake (on Windows XP) crashed. WinFF (from Google)

worked. Both programs claimed that every data block was three bytes shorter than expected.

Plus the standard problem that it uses Sony memory sticks that are 3 times more expensive per gigabyte that SD or miro-SD.

Avoid this product unless you just want two minutes for YouTube.

5 advantages, 5 disadvantages.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
If you are looking for something cheap for recording home videos this is an excellent option.

Good

1) Price! For an HD cam is an excellent price

2) You can use it as a webcam… The image is awesome when using messenger and/or Skype

3) The size is really comfortable… You can carry it in almost anywhere

4) It turns on and off automatically. (It saves a lot of time)

5) The fact that it uses memory sticks instead of DVDs or built-in hard disks is a great

Bad

1) This camera was design for Video, so the pictures are not very good:

This camera is great for HD recording, but for taking pictures is really poor. As it does not have any flash, indoor pictures don’t look very well, and the person practically has to freeze in order to take the picture. People running or moving will look like Casper (hehehe)

2) Built-in Light:

The built-in light is not very helpful, actually it is useful only when it is really dark and you are recording something that is extremely close to you. Otherwise, it is useless.

3) Automatic zoom and focusing

For an amateur this is an excellent feature, and I think it is, but sometimes it takes to much time for focusing accurately, and something it does not focus at all.

4) The microphone

The mic is not the big deal, too much noise provokes a weird distortion. It is like if the microphone collapses.

5) Avoid moving when recording

As it takes too much time for focusing when you are recording you have to avoid moving as much as possible. Otherwise, it will look blurry.

No stereo sound
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
First of all, this is a good camera for the price. Optical zoom, 1080p, good image quality outdoors and a very good sound quality. However, the sound is the reason for the 3 stars. As I said, the sound is pretty good, but it is *not* stereo. If you check the video file it will say that the sound is stereo, but both channels are absolutely the same. In fact, in the manual it says that the microphone is mono-aural. My question is: why does Sony advertise on their website that the sound is stereo? How can they advertise a stereo sound recording with a mono microphone? I asked them about that problem and I am still waiting for an answer.

Great little camera for the money!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IOJ6DK2FO1C5 My video “review” isn’t really a full review…it’s mainly to setup some actual [handheld] footage taken with the webbie. Of course, with the video compression you won’t see the actual HD footage, but it should still show up a bit crisper than the footage taken with the JVC GR-D770U in the very beginning of the video.

The footage with the Webbie taken at my desk looks yellowish, but it’s because I have a yellow (normal 60 watt incandescent bulb) lamp at my desk. There is no manual white balancing on this camera, but if used with some 5100K fluorescent lights, you’ll have a MUCH better picture.

You will NOT get professional features/results on a consumer camera in this price range. Period. Once you understand that, you’ll be able to see this camera for what it is.

You WILL see pixelization in low light situations – this is true for ALL low-end consumer cameras. Unless you spend $1000 for an HD camera, you’re simply NOT going to be able to film in the dark…especially not without picture degradation.

I rarely use the audio taken from the internal mic, so I can’t say much about it. But it does appear to be unidirectional, and will pick up EVERYTHING in the surrounding area…especially wind noise. In quiet situations, you’ll also hear the noise from the zoom and/or auto focus (you can really hear it in the section of the video with the cats).

There’s no image stabilization, so either use it with a tripod, or don’t drink an entire pot of coffee before shooting with it.

FOR THE MONEY, this is a good little camera – it’s what I expected the camera to be.

camcorderette, or convenient but light on features
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I received this camera for free as part of a promotion. If I had paid for it, I would be very upset with spending money on it.

The Sony Webbie is a great idea. It’s small, light, and great for grabbing video on the go. The battery life is decent, and with an 8gb memory card in it, stores plenty of video. It fits in your pocket or purse – just grab and go.

The downsides, however, are great. Zoom is very limited. Audio is terrible! Wind noise is very pronounced, and even inside audio can overwhelm the cheap mic.

Another downside are the drivers. It took me over an hour to track down everything I needed to use the Webbie as a USB streaming device. None of the info I needed was on Sony’s website. Good luck finding a driver! It’s buried on the CD…and you have to run an installation program just for the driver. Blah!

The video quality is HD…but…the colors are off, it takes FOREVER to auto focus on your subject. And, because it is so light, the lack of image stabilization turns your video into a vanilla flavored nauseating camera shake.

You need two cables, power and usb, to cart around. The Webbie does not charge via the USB cable.

The record button does not have a “click” feel to it. When pressed, it’s mushy and hard to tell if you pressed it. Then, it takes a second or two for the camera to tell you it is recording. This results in many 2 second clips while trying to get it to record.

Overall this product feels rushed to market and it shows.

Save your $$$ and buy a real camcorder, or read reviews of the Flip. I haven’t used the Flip, but from what I hear, it’s pretty good.

Stopped working at a critical time
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
We managed to get some decent pictures and acceptable (not great) videos at our student’s Baccalaureate service. However, after recording the first few minutes of the Commencement procession a few days later, the 2-week-old camera stopped working altogether. The screen displayed “Recording” although the recording had stopped; the camera remained on after closing the display; and none of the buttons worked – on/off, menu, absolutely nothing. I removed the memory card to see what would happen, and the only effect was that instead of “Recording”, it displayed “Access”. The camera stayed in this state for two hours until the battery was just about drained and then finally shut off (after graduation was over). What a disappointment and what a lousy product! After charging it up so I could get the files over to the computer, it seems to be working, but it’s definitely being returned – I have no confidence in its reliability.

Not what I expected
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
1) Image Stabilization: Sony’s website says this has SteadyShot® Image Stabilization. If that’s a feature you’re looking for (which I was), take note that this camcorder doesn’t have any image stabilization.

2) Low Light Performance: As has already been said in other reviews, video shot in low light is terrible. But, to be fair, you’ll see bad low light performance even in the higher end consumer HD and SD camcorders. Just check Consumer Reports. Most of the HD camcorders that cost at least 4 to 5 times as much as this camcorder rate a “Poor” for low light performance by Consumer Reports.

3) Picture Quality: Decent. I haven’t been able to shoot video yet in really good lighting conditions. But in OK lighting conditions, it’s decent. Also, if you’re looking to buy this for the 1080p capability, just keep in mind that grainy, pixelated video is still grainy and pixelated at 1080p. You just have more pixels dedicated to produce the blockiness.

4) Video Editing: The camera saving to MP4 format makes it very easy to transfer video to your computer and to a website. However, keep in mind that you need a computer with pretty hefty specs to do HD video editing. Especially at 1080p. Also those files, even at 720p are pretty large even for just a few minutes of video. So expect to need a lot of storage if you will be shooting a lot of video.

5) Sound: Sony’s website also says that this camcorder records in stereo format. That may be the case, but the built-in microphone is not good. There is also no jack for an external mic. In a quiet environment, the microphone picks up the internal noises of the camera (clicking and buzzing sounds).

A couple of plusses for the camera is that it has 5x optical zoom and it has the ability to attach to a tripod. I haven’t looked at all of the models, but I don’t think these are things that the other HD pocket camcorders like the Flip Mino HD, Sanyo Xacti, Aiptek Action HD GVS, Creative Vado HD, and Kodak Zi6 have.

Horrible!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
When i first got it worked fine for about 5 minutes, but then all of the sudden it froze. so after a few resets, it worked absolutely perfect. I just hope i wont have to reset it again. it has very good quality and the LED light is very bright. I have a mac and it works better than any other camera i have had and also if you have a pc you can use it as a very good webcam, but u cant figure out how to use it on a mac. Overall great camera!

REVISED AFTER A WEEK OF HAVING IT:

It was working fine again until one day, the camera started freezing AGAIN. Better go get the paper clip! Then, in the middle of recording my birthday party, it froze and i lost that video. And it gets worse, sometimes the quality of the picture would go all bezerk, green lines would appear and go black and white. After a week of having it, i finally returned it back to Amazon. I ended up running out to Best Buy and Got the Sony Handycam DCR-SX40 Sony DCRSX40 Palm-Sized camcorder with 60X Optical Zoom (Silver) and i am so much happier. It has much better zoom, a touch panel, more internal memory, and more features.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA TO A FRIEND

Finally, a solid HD camera for the Masses
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was just about jaded with all these new HD cameras, when I ran into this by accident, scanning through Google.

I had purchased an Kodak Easyshare M1033, then a Zi6, they both failed miserably at even coming close to Standard definition, let alone high definition. They had alot of motion artifact, alot of graininess at any light exposure, and were useless in the dark. They went to new owners.

I had about given up until I saw this when perusing products at 2009 CES. I have had it one day, but it surpasses the products that I have used and that are out there.

First off, images are clear, for real, not grainy. It actually has 4 different light settings – sports, landscape, backlight, and lowlight. None of the other ‘pocket cameras’ have this. This is extremely important, or you can forget recording video in your home.

Secondly, it has an led light that can be utilized to record in the dark…what a great idea!!! It maximizes battery life, and extends your video range. Amazing difference.

Next, it has a real optical zoom, not some fake digital zoom. At whats more, when you zoom, it doesnt blurr, like the Nikon and Kodak video footage I have seen and made. Another gigantic leap.

It has all necessary connectivity, component cables, usb, and it is very intuitive to use. After about 30 minutes with it, you can film your own documentary. But even in simple terms, once the clock is set you can start filming immediately. Just change from sports setting to another light setting before you start, or you will see a black screen indoors. Oh, and, take the lens cap off.

Ok, memory, it has 12mb onboard, which will get you a few pics, and 15 seconds of HD video. Yeah, eh…But it does have a pro duo slot. I was certainly not excited about this, I have alot of SD cards lying around. But I looked for a good deal, and dealt with it. Video compression is nice, and you get about 1 sec per MB, or about 140 min with an 8gb card. This is actually better than the kodak compression, as far as storage.

Also, videos are simple to use. Simple to play on a computer, just plug in the usb, you dont need a pro duo slot on your pc. I uploaded easily to Youtube, and also played them nicely on my 42″ big screen. Another plus, it runs through all the videos with one click. Some folks may not like this, but I dont like to click on all 40 videos I recorded, just play em all, and skip if you want. Otherwise, you would be sitting by the tv changing them the whole time, while everyone else enjoys. Nice idea, Sony.

Sony thought of other nice things as well, including wrist strap, concise packaging, lens cap strap, and nice charging setup. Leave those AAs at home Kodak Zi6. It even takes pictures!

Take it from me, the Webbie does much more than anything else out there in the $150-$400. If you are going to spend $200 anyway, why not get a serious camera that blows away the competition. You wont be disappointed. This will be the camera everyone has within 3 months.

Incredible Small HD Camera
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This camera is smaller than it looks, but the image quality for the size is astounding! In particular, making 1080 videos outdoors in the daytime will result in breathtaking footage. The colors are very true to life, like what your naked eye sees. I almost feel like I can make my own nature documentaries with this camera. The built-in light doesn’t really help much at all, so like most camcorders, indoors shooting will still require strong alternate lighting unless you don’t mind the constant noise in your video. There is also a little bit of artifacting in the outdoor videos, but only during fast motion. This might have been avoided if there was image stabilization, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to turn it on if there was. You can almost give up on shooting indoors at night, the video has more grains than breakfast cereal.

The still camera capability is incredible, far better than the still image quality on my HandyCam. I don’t expect it to be a replacement for my Canon SD1100IS but if you are shooting a barbeque at a friend’s house, you won’t be needing to bring multiple cameras with you. The images are crisp and definitely print quality. I can see having this camera with you at an outdoor graduation commencement or a fantastic springtime wedding. However, this camera was definitely made to simplify uploading video to the web and in that respect it is excellent. Don’t expect to be getting a full-fledged professional quality HD camera, and you will be pleasantly surprised with some of the results.

Worked a few times
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I was so ready to ski with this but ypou can’t see what your shooting outside.

I got a few good still shots but thats all about the sun being out. Then nothing worked at all.;l nO W WHAT??

Great Economy Camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First of all i want to say how awesome and quick Amazon Warehouse deals sent this little camcorder to me.

Now onto the camcorder itself. This little thing is great. It did not go below the expectations i had for it. People should know this is not a high end camcorder it is simply something for a teenager or someone just getting started with recording videos. The camcorder shoots in 640×480(VGA) 1280×720(720p) and 1440×1080(anamorphic 1080p). It shoots these formats in low bitrate H.264 video and stereo(?) AAC audio. I leave a question mark next to stereo because after reading the sony site it claims the microphone is mono but when i play back the video in a media player it shows up as stereo. Anywho the video formats are all low bitrate formats like i said above and by that i mean 720p video is only 4-5mbit and the 1080p video is about 6mbit but in sports mode i think its is able to achieve 8mbit so dont go expecting your videos to be awesome High bitrate HD video this is just economy. As for the aac audio it is only about 128kbps. The zoom is fairly good for an economy cam the focus is a bit slow though but macro mode helps somewhat and you can hear it a bit on the sound and also i recommend getting a cheap tripod if you want your videos to come out less shaky cause this camcorder does not have that ability.

Overall i love this little camcorder for its price mostly i find everything on it decent enough for what i use it for. But if you are looking for a High end camcorder this is not for you. Expect to pay about 300 or more for a good camcorder and look into AVCHD stay away from MPEG-2 camcorders.

Oh and by the way the programs for this camcorder stink what i do to extract the videos is plug the camera into the usb port and press the menu button on the camera to put it into mass storage mode and that lets the camera act like a hard drive so i can grab the pictures and movies off there.

Hopefully my crappy review helps people out.

Nice!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I like this webbie..easy to use… it wud be better if there was better grip .. the flash light is gud as well…nice picture quality…and audio is not bad … overall worth the money….

looks like for low quallity youtube use ONLY!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Yes, it is light weight, handy and worth the price $188 but it is the worst sony product I have ever brought, and it is made in china too.

If you really want to upload your quick video to youtube as soon as possible and do not care about the quallity, do buy it, because of its optical zooming.

For any other usage, forget it! The most problem is:

hardware: even NO white balance control on video recording, my God!

software: the special 1080HD MP4 version can only be converted to 640×480 of WMV file! some third party converter works but still LOW output quallity!

I am to return it tomorrow!

Impressed
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Nothing to really set up, take it out of the box add the memory, charge the battery and your done. So far I have been impressed with the picture quality and ease of use. I was worried that a sub $200 cam would be pretty useless, but connected to a large LCD TV the picture looks really good. I took the advise of a few people here and shot in 720p, image is sharp and has good color. This cam is being used outside and is mostly recording slow action from a horse and rider and is perfect for that, easy to carry and has enough zoom, great battery life and storage for the whole day.

My only faults are it would have been nice to have a auto lens cap and to me the zoom is hard to get to when holding the camera, it isn’t damped enough to it zooms in and out very fast.

Great for the price.

Sony Webbie MHS-CM1 HD Camcorder (Orange)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Excellent gift. My brother was very happy. He stated that it is the best camcorder he has seeing yet!!!!!!! Thank you very much for making it such a good deal pricewise and free shipping too!

Better than expected.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
When I was first looking for a new camcorder, I was really trying my hardest to stay away from Sony. They are not my favorite company but boy do they make some good products.

After receiving my Sony Webbie I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable a camera this small fit in my hand. Besides the lack of a hand strap (which is replaced by a wrist strap) the Webbie was very comfortable.

Ease of use is a huge deal breaker for me, if it is hard to use I don’t like it and won’t use it, but that is not the case with the Webbie. All you do is open it up and it’s instantly on. No complicated switching between settings and so on and so forth. It probably wouldn’t be good for filming movies or anything crazy involved like that, but for home videos, this camera is more than what I needed, and I’m happy.

I read a lot a review about this camera before buying it, and I was a lot of complaints about the picture quality. I would have to say I disagree. This camcorder records in full 1080, and looks fantastic. I personally don’t need to film anything in full 1080, so I stick with the 720 setting, but its great to have that option..

I also read about sound quality, but I have had no issues with that either.

All in all, this is a great camcorder for personal use. You won’t be disappointed…

Good Camera for Certain Purposes
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I want to film my kids, but I never grab the camera. Is it charged? Do I have a tape? And if I film the event I never watch it — who has another few hours to capture the video and edit?

I really have wanted a small, flash based camera with an optical zoom. Digital Zoom to me is a waste. I considered the Flip Cameras, the Kodak, and others, but purchased the Sony. Here are the high points:

* Form factor is fantastic! Comfortable in my hand, easy to operate. If you have a previous cybershot camera or handycam, you’ll recognize the user interface.

* Charges up PDQ!

* Open the screen, the camera comes on within seconds.

* I pull the card, put it in the Memory Stick slot on my computer, and I’m watching video.

* PQ is Good — in the right conditions…

* Camera slips in a pocket — it really is tiny!

Low Points –

* Really could use image stabilization

* I agree with previous users — indoor videos I have taken have a yellowish hue. I wonder if this is because more people are using CFL light bulbs — I have them everywhere I shot indoor video.

* Autofocus is a bit slower than my older handycam. Outdoors, I zoomed in on the neighbors house, and there was a perceptible lag as it focused — 1 -2 seconds. This was in Auto Mode.

* Built in LED is only useful for “close-up” in your face shots. It did not help in any other scenario.

* Uses proprietary Memory Stick media, which is a drawback for some.

* Builtin battery — can’t swap when you run out of juice — you have to recharge

In the end though, I miss so many events b/c my HandyCam is to big, not charged, can’t find a tape, don’t want to edit, etc. My question was is “decent” video that I actually DO TAKE superior to the video I DON’T TAKE because of the “hassle” of the HandyCam (even if the quality is better). The answer for me is a resounding yes. This camera is not perfect, but solves many of the hassle factors that prevent me from taking video — And it does take GOOD video.

Update 2/20 — After using this camera for several weeks, I can report that the Camera does well with sports when mounted on a tripod. I’m finding the lack of image stablization to be a big drawback for other types of shooting. Taking some video of my daughter riding her new bike, the images were shaky, even though I was concentrating on trying to hold still. This is a good “second camcorder”, but I no longer consider it a primary.

Update 2/25 — I’ve decided to return the camera. I loved it, but I needed a camera that worked well indoors, and ordered a Canon Vixia HF-10. More pricey, and not a fair comparison. I wanted to keep the Sony, but the wife wouldn’t let me!

Great Idea, low build quality and some annoying features
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The previous reviews don’t seem hands-on, but just a review of the published features. I bought one from Sony immediately, got it and used it for a couple of hours. Here are my experiences:

Removed from box, looks good! Silver is a nice color.

Unwrapped charger and plugged it in. Charge light comes on, great! Charge light goes off. Uh-oh! There was either something wrong with the jack in the camera, or the charging plug. I had to hold it in a certain position to keep it charging. Well, don’t condemn it yet, see how it works. I put the camera down, and laid the charge cable just so and it maintained contact and continued to charge for about 10 minutes, then it stopped again. I moved the cable around some more until the charge light came back on and carefully did not move it again. I came back an hour later and the light was off again, but hopefully I got a decent charge.

Now time to check it out.

I put in the Memory Stick Duo Mark 2, flip open the LCD screen, which is actually quite nice. Hit power button and the camera boots up quickly, now we are getting somewhere!

The date/time menu comes up. I fumble for a couple of seconds trying to figure out how to set it. Thats done, now lets take some video. I am inside, it is night time, in my fairly well lit kitchen. I took some sample vids on each of the shooting modes, and close up with the LED video light on. Then I plugged the component cables into my 42″ HDTV and play back the samples. It was extremely disappointing, with grainy blocky pixels on the screen. Even when standing far back from the screen. I know this was never meant to be a camcorder replacement, but still, it was that bad (video from a fairly well lit indoor scene).

The next day, I went outside to test out the camera in a bright outside setting. Picture quality significantly better all around. This camera does not perform well indoors with normal lighting. Outside in bright lighting it is a champ.

Write speed to the Mark 2 memory stick was very fast, no issues here.

Zoom and Focusing: The camera zoom and focusing is very fast and the zoom is pretty spectacular for such a small and inexpensive camera.

Playback: The footage from outside was very clear and looked great. Unfortunately, you hear the focusing mechanism and zoom mechanism throughout the video playback. A constant tick tick tick noise was picked up via the mic for the entire time I was panning the camera and/or zooming.

Build Quality: The camera is what it is, an inexpensive web video camera. Don’t expect anything near to typical Sony build quality. It is cheap and it shows. Plus I had the issue with the power jack, and another issue with the charging cord I saw when I was packing it up to return it. The overmolded wire on the charger was split right at the stress relief, exposing copper wires to the world. This was due to the fact that the plastic was so thin, it just split open. This is how it was received. The buttons are also very cheap feeling.

Button Layout: The buttons are not laid out well, and are difficult to operate – you really need two hands to do it.

Software: The included software is fine for the intended users, quick, easy to figure out, and is right in the camera’s on-board memory to install on any PC you connect it to. It isn’t a feature rich video editing application. It is there to download, do minor edits and post to the web, which it seems to do just fine.

File Format: Sony specific wrapper on an MP4 video format.

LCD Screen: Very nice for the size and cost of the camera. It turns around so you can film yourself.

Sound: The mic is excellent, clear and picks up stereo sound. Unfortunately it also picks up all the sounds of the focusing and zoom mechanisms.

If you are looking for a cheap alternative for an HD video camera to capture those precious moments, this isn’t it, and to be fair, Sony never claimed that it was – they don’t even refer to it as a camcorder. If you need a camera to take random vids, and post them to the web, this is an excellent choice. I got unlucky with the power/charging issue. It may not even matter if you use the USB charging capabilities anyway, but it was still pretty disappointing for a Sony product.

It comes with composite out cables to connect it to your HD tv, a very nice feature!

Conclusion: This is a great alternative to the Creative vado and flip MinoHD, IF you want the zoom capability. It is much larger than those cameras though, not a pocket cam. I also have a Flip MinoHD, which has significantly better low light performance, but falls short against the very nice zoom capabilities of the Sony CM1 Webbie. In bright, well lit scenes, the video is quite amazing if you can live with the clicking noise on the playback. Since one of the uses of the camera would be for video blogging, it seems that the low light performance should be a lot better, but it was horrible, at least on the camera I received. Hopefully, Sony will work out these issues and the camera will do well. However, it seems to me that you can get a really nice flash SD camcorder for $50 more, and if you don’t really need HD video, they would be a better choice. In fact, there are a couple of SD Flash camcorders that are the same size or smaller than the Webbie!

I tried taking stills, but could not find them quickly in the camera memory or the memory stick and I wasn’t keeping it so I didn’t try to figure it out.

In the end, I returned the camera due to the defect in the charger, the horrible low light performance, and the awkward button layout.

Autofocus can be improved
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Pros: Super easy to use and transfer the file to PC.

Cons: 1. Autofocus is not stable and often jumps between objects.

2. Easily gets scratched due to poor plastic case.

3. Annoying manual lens cover

Good for the price, poor quality
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Nice camera for the price, it really neads a stedy shot feature. The videos are to compresed and in HD have some noice and small dots. Really poor quality under low ambient light but grat results under good light. Its a good product for the price but dont expect too much.

Sony is great… but avoid the MHS-CM1 HD
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased this camcorder looking for a low price camcorder to use in recording training role plays. This camcorder should have never been released by Sony. When recording in High Definition, the video was dropping frames and was extremely choppy. It was like the camcorder was recording a few frames per second, instead of the 20 or so it should. The HD video was dark, and blurry. The audio quality was tolerable. The menu is a bit unfriendly but workable, and the buttons on the camcorder feel cheap. Pay more and get one of Sony’s better products.

Is Sony paying people to write these reviews?
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I am amazed at the reviews on the Sony Webbie because most of them are missing the boat.

I purchased this camera (Purple color is very cool) to replace a Panasonic DV601 I have used for family footage for several years. It was returned within two weeks after testing in a variety of environments.

First the positive; It is very solid for a cam so small. It literally fits in your hand with room to spare, so if you have small hands, you should be OK, but if you have larger fingers to go along with those hands the buttons are a little tough, not terrible to push. It turns on instantly right when you open the viewfinder and accepts Memory Stick Duo for recording. It can go anywhere and fit in your pocket. Here endeth the positives.

The most important aspect of a camcorder is image quality. The Sony Webbie fails miserably indoors and in low light to the point where the video is unwatchable with terrible orange overtones and substantial grain. Taping at night is out. Indoor daytime taping is only acceptable if you put the camera in low light or backlight mode and then just barely.

Outdoor taping is the bright spot, as the footage is significantly better. However, the frame mode does make action shots somewhat jerky. All footage, when displayed on a 50″ Samsung plasma are pixelated. I taped a school program in a well-lit gym and when we watched it pixels were visible in all shots, zoomed shots were awful. And speaking of the toggle zoom, it is too fast.

When plugged into a G5 Mac via USB the camera shows up same as most digital still cameras and you simply drag and drop the files where you wish. To edit, the footage must be rendered and I estimate the render time to be 2-4x the length of the file. So a 2 minute clip may take up to 8 minutes.

Bottomline: This is a cool-looking camera which may be fine for playing 4-inch square video images on YouTube, But it will not work for anything else.

Super Clear 1080P Video And 5MP Photo
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I compared so many camcorders and finally decide to buy Sony Webbie Camcorder. It fully charges in 90 minutes. The video in day light is absolutely amazing — the quality is comparable to blue ray DVD. Cloudy, sunset, dawn video clear too, though a little dimmer. Surprisingly, in door white light video is also very bright — awesome.

I show to five of my collegues in the office. they took videos in the office light, then I inserted the 4GB mark 2 card in my computer. I played back using VLC (free) player. the video is so clear and bright that three of them said they will buy for their girl friend or kids.

It let you record 25 minutes continuously then stopped recording immediately. But you can press record again. Once fully charged, you can record for one hour. The 4GB card allows recording 1080P video for 80 minutes.

The photo is awesome quality too. Now I don’t have to use my own 5MP olympus and canon cameras anymore.

Big bang for your buck!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I saw this camera in an ad a few days before my birthday. I’m partial to Sony cameras and this one was cheaper, and very different, than the one I’d set my eye on. I immediately headed over to Amazon and checked out the reviews. Three and a half stars. Ick. The reviews were so mixed that it seemed like people reviewed two different cameras and I became skeptical.

My family purchased this camera for me. We all love it. Small. The light on the front is a great feature. I wanted it to film my two month old. You need light around to film. The more light, the better. But we’ve gotten some fantastic videos of this little guy and it’s doing everything I wanted and more. Being able to take photos is a neat little plus. Surprisingly great macro.

This camera does really well for a $200 camcorder. Looks great on my 37″ hdtv in 1080 resolution. Eventually, I’ll “upgrade” to a fancier, more expensive camcorder – but this is perfect for what I wanted – something small that takes good quality videos of the important things in life so I can tuck them away and save forever.

sony rocks!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
after buying webbie and sanyo camcorder from amazon.com and 3 more here from my neighbour stores.

i must say, i have found sony to be the best in picture quality..

sony rocks !

A Crippled Product that Ended my Affinity for Sony
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Since I began to make my own electronics purchases, I’ve been a loyal Sony customer. Rather than opt for the then-hipper Nintendo 64, I went with the Playstation, a decision I stuck by through both the PS2 and PS3 era. My digital cameras? Sony. TV? Sony. It was a reliable brand name with which I felt comfortable; they’d never before steered me wrong and I saw no reason to take any expensive chances with other brand names that might let me down or perform below my expectations.

So when I decided to purchase a digital camcorder it seemed only logical that I should look at what Sony was offering. Judging by its technical specifications, the Webbie HD seemed, like all of my other Sony purchases, to fit the bill with flying colors: An SD card camera, it allows users to utilize memory cards the way one used to use VHS tapes. Simply stick the card into the camera, and record; when you run out of time, simply download the media to a DVD, your computer, or some other storage device, wipe the SD card, and it’s ready to go again. Couple this with the camera’s manageable size, durability, amazing zoom feature, and HD capabilities, and it would seem that it’s the total package.

For roughly $200, one couldn’t ask for more in a camcorder, especially one that produces so crisp a picture and is also capable of taking relatively sharp still photos (lacking a flash, the camera’s only apparent drawback is that it is not suited for low-light situations; a small flashlight bulb is built into the front of the camera as a means of compensation, but it’s rather weak and doesn’t provide much illumination beyond a foot or so). The resolution is some of the cleanest I’ve seen on a digital camcorder, easily rivaling “professional” quality HD camcorders. The menus are simple to use and easy to learn, and out of the box I was already recording and deleting without having read through the instruction manual. Theoretically, even the most technically inept individual could easily pick up and use the Webbie within an hour or so’s time. The only questionable feature, upon first inspection, is that the battery is internal, and the camera itself must be plugged in for recharging to take place. This also means that, should some damage befall the battery or should it begin to degrade, one would have to either send it into Sony for repair or scrap it altogether. However, for someone who takes reasonable care of their camera, or who can/intends to use it primarily plugged into the wall during recording, this is at worst what can be considered a minor drawback. Fully charged, the battery allows for roughly two hours of HD recording; certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Unfortunately, all of this is meaningless. Sony made a decision to intentionally cripple its own products, and therein lies the major flaw of the Webbie– a flaw so glaring that it makes the camera useless for even home movies and the most amateur of filmmakers.

If you haven’t already done so, go read over the camera’s technical specifications. Read them on Amazon, read them on Sony’s webpage. Find any and all consumer information you can. Missing from all of this information is the fact that the camera is programmed to record in 25 minute intervals and then shut itself off. If you’re confused by this, you’re in good company. Upon reading it in the instruction manual– buried in the middle amongst information on SD card recording capacity– I was confused, and thought that it must either be a typo or a misprint regarding the size of SD card being used. However, upon conducting testing with various size SD cards– 4GB, 8GB– it quickly became apparent that the manual was correct. Regardless of the size of SD card placed into the Webbie, once it has recorded for 25 minutes, the camera shuts off recording.

A phone call to Sony’s customer service shed light on the situation: Per the company, this “feature” is a “security precaution” meant to protect the camera’s integrity by not “overloading” it. When I asked if the company planned any sort of firmware upgrade to the camera to allow it to record for longer intervals, I was informed that the company has no plans to update or otherwise upgrade the Webbie in any way, shape, or form, and was advised that if I wanted a camera that recorded for more than 25 minutes, I should look into some of Sony’s other models– all of which were well into the $400-$500 range.

A quick consultation with some techno-geeks revealed the situation to be utterly hopeless: By virtue of the camera’s design, there is no way to even modify the camera oneself to allow for more recording time. Sony not only designed the camera to only record for 25 minutes, they went to every length necessary to ensure nothing could be done about it.

The Webbie is now back where it came from, after a great deal of grief, most notably from Sony, who tried in vain to convince me first that I should have read all of the literature (until I informed them of the extent of my research and noted that information regarding the 25 minute feature ONLY appears in the product manual) and then attempted to talk me into dropping another $300 on another model. No such luck. After this experience, I can no longer fully trust Sony; if a company is willing to not only release an intentionally flawed product onto the market, but cover that fact up by leaving it out of technical specifications, they have no qualms about deceiving their customers in other matters as well.

If you’re considering this product, I strongly advise you to check into JVC’s Everio GZ-MS120 line of digital camcorders. Also utilizing the SD feature, the quality isn’t quite HD, but fairly comparable, especially for a non-HD camera. It’s essentially the same camera as the Webbie, minus everything wrong with the Webbie. The menus are a bit more complex, and the price runs a little bit higher, but for these losses there are remarkable advantages (external, upgradeable batteries permitting up to eight hours recording time; an LED light capable of actually lighting up a room, as compared to the Webbie’s weak bulb). At the very least, stay away from the Webbie, and save yourself the trouble I had to go through.

broken : (
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
received product and when you open the window to view what you are filming, it was too dark

Its broken!!