Sony's HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7, and HDR-CX7 1080i Handycams outed

So you liked Sony's HDR-SR1 and HDR-UX1 did ya? Well check out these images sent to us by a trusted insider (and confirmed by another) clearly depicting two new HD camcorders: the HDR-SR5 and HDR-SR7. Both camcorders feature built-in hard disk drives, 2.7-inch widescreen LCDs, VZ Vario Sonnar 10x optical zoom lenses, a built-in flash, 5.1ch audio recording, and a 5 hour battery. The SR5 packs a 1/3-inch ClearVid CMOS sensor which captures 4 megapixel stills and 1080i, AVCHD video back to its 40GB disk. The SR7 brings a 1/2.9-inch ClearVid CMOS sensor for 6.1 megapixel stills to its bigger 60GB disk as well as optical Super SteadyShot for superior stabilization when recording HD video. Essentially, we're looking at HDD toting versions of Sony's HDR-UX5 and HDR-UX7 DVD camcorders. We expect to see both the £648/$1,294 HDR-SR5 and £849/$1,696 HDR-SR7 up for pre-order as early as Thursday with shipments arriving sometime in June. We're also told that a $1,200 HDR-CX7 camcorder should be launched at the same time (sorry no pics). It will record directly to Memory Stick and is billed as the "smallest high-definition camcorder on the market." Take that Sanyo. Biggie pics for zooming in on the detailed specs in the gallery below.

Gallery: Sony's HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7, and HDR-CX7 HD Handycams outed

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[Thanks, anonymous tipsters]

[Spider1981 @ Apr 24th 2007 7:51AM]

This news makes me slightly sad I plunked down $1500 for the HDR-SR1 6 months ago.
The one thing that I wished it had was a bigger HDD. :(

[strompy @ Apr 24th 2007 8:14AM]

What bugs me is that we still can not edit in AVCHD.

[dynamicD @ Apr 24th 2007 10:38AM]

sorry for your loss. I was just wondering, How many hours of film do you get and does you battery even match it? I'm thinking about the HDR-SR7. and wondering if the battery will even last the filming...thanks..

[webtshirt.co.uk @ Apr 24th 2007 8:26AM]

I wonder if those HD's are swappable! Would be a nice mod! Putting a new 100GB HD in one! Or even a new SSD!

[maxpower @ Apr 24th 2007 9:15AM]

They still dont support FireWire and you still cant use them with any decent editting software. These cams are only good if all you want to do is record and watch on your PC...for those who want to put on DVD (or maybe eventually HD-DVD or Blue Ray), then you should wait until someone decides to actually support these (not just say they will someday)

[Darren Wilson @ Apr 24th 2007 9:41AM]

I'll stick with my prosumer Canon video camera. Works perfectly fine. Was tempted by the new Sony prosumer HD1080 video cam but after thinking about it, untill BD or HD-DVD start settling in to the majority of homes, there is no point to it at the moment, as the prices will only come down over time.

[tundraboy @ Apr 24th 2007 10:06AM]

As demonstrated by the poster who wished he had a bigger HDD, HDD camcorders are an ill-conceived gimmick. What do you do if you're in the middle of your kid's recital and your HDD fills up?

[way2trivial @ Apr 24th 2007 11:04AM]

having an sr1- 7 hours at high quality.. hard to do.. that said, I've gotten close- here's what I did, I had 20 minutes of hd space left

first, I deleted 2 files (added 10 minutes) of crap, then I changed rec quality to SD and had 3 hours left.....

[tundraboy @ Apr 24th 2007 11:52AM]

Still more convenient to just slip in a new cassette. And I bought an HD camcorder to record in HD. Switching to SD not a solution for me.

[Spider1981 @ Apr 24th 2007 11:58AM]

Nah, the 30 gigs on the SR1 has always been more than enough (with HD, and definately with SD), but, ya know, now I could have 60GB now. I'm just HDD greedy I guess :)

[es @ Apr 25th 2007 8:59AM]

Same thing you do when you forget to bring with you a spare cassete. It comes down to how you prepare. I can hardly see a recital that takes more than three hours. All you need to do is make sure you have enough space for what is foreseable duration of your event. If you're caught by surprise, at least you have the option to delete older recordings already backed-up on your PC. If you forget the spare cassete, you're in a worse position. Either way, you're better off with a HDD camera. I'm more concerned of where did I put my old cassetes. No quick keyword search for those when I have a gust I want to show a particular recording.

[Jymbob @ Apr 24th 2007 10:08AM]

I'm intrigued to see a 1080i camcorder from the company who have consistently stated that 1080p is the only "True HD" format.

Maybe they're hoping people will buy these, realise they're not "True" and upgrade?

[Jeff @ Apr 24th 2007 10:59AM]

"I'm intrigued to see a 1080i camcorder from the company who have consistently stated that 1080p is the only "True HD" format."

That's not really what they've said. Their "True HD" mantra applies to their LCD TV's, and the point is a 1080p LCD TV is the only way to watch full-res HD. That is true, because there's no such thing as an interlaced LCD panel, and no other technology that can render all of 1080i's detail without actually having 1920x1080 pixels.

They've never said "1080i is not HD". They've simply said you need a 1080p TV to see the full detail in the highest-resolution HD signals.

If you're talking about the PS3 vs. Xbox 360 thing, again, this was comparing 1080p to 720p at the time. Sony's position is that 720p is not "true HD" because it doesn't use the full resolution allowed in the ATSC spec. 1080i does - it's just interlaced. But 1080i is using all of those 1,080 horizontal lines, it's just only using half of them at any given time.

These models are also a big improvement over Sony's previous "1080i" camcorders, which processed internally at 1440x1080 and then upsampled the output to 1920x1080. The newer models are true 1080i.

[myscrnnm @ Apr 24th 2007 9:04PM]

"I'm intrigued to see a 1080i camcorder from the company who have consistently stated that 1080p is the only "True HD" format.

Maybe they're hoping people will buy these, realise they're not "True" and upgrade?"

Sony has not said anything about "True HD". Sony refers to 1080p as "Full HD", which is what it is. However, you have no right to be intrigued. 1080i is still the highest recording resolution for a consumer camcorder. I've tried a lot of camcorders, and compared to the other HD camcorders I've seen, Sony still makes the best ones. Panasonic camcorders are great, but they're simply not as good as Sony camcorders. And if you want the best Canon HD camcorders, you have to go prosumer.

Will the player-hating never stop? People are so busy bashing Sony they can't recognize a good product when it's right in front of them. Look at any professional review (Cnet, Consumer Report, et cetera) and you'll see that Sony HD camcorders consistently rake in the highest scores. Sony's got the best technology, the best interface, and the best quality.

And in regard to your last statement, that's complete bull. There's no way they can upgrade from a 1080i camcorder, unless they were to buy a professional camcorder, which would cost upwards of $8,000.

[Matt @ Apr 24th 2007 11:00AM]

AVCHD is not going to gain support, HDV is a way better format and is currently editable with many programs and can be recorded to standard Mini DV Tapes, recording to hard drive is also silly because if your drive fails you are screwed. How many people have ever had a Mini DV tape fail? I would much rather have a nice copy of footage on tape, then burn to hd and then finalize on DVD. JMHO

[walk2k @ Apr 24th 2007 1:17PM]

You definitely don't need Firewire when all you have to do is hook it up to USB 2.0 and drag the files over (or use Sony's import program, even better). There is no "capturing" with HDD camcorders, the footage is already recorded to computer files.

Tapes? Please, video-tapes are so 1978. Mini-DVDs fill up too fast and the quality sucks (and you'd need Mini-Blu-rays for HD anyway).

Hard disks are where it's at. 7 hours at full quality, and 2-3x that at lesser quality if you really need the room. Plus as HDDs get bigger that will only increase. When's the last time you got 7 hours on a tape at full quality? Hell man, when's the last time you actually recorded ANYTHING for 7 hours straight?? If you run out of room on this, you need to plan ahead better. You could also carry around a portable media storage device, or a laptop computer for that matter... all you need is USB 2.0, a small HDD (lets face it, 100 gigs nowdays is "small") and a few minutes to dump the footage off.

[Thunderfoot @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:04PM]

I agree that HDD won't meet everybody's needs, but it is exactly what I need for the business I'm in. I'm planning to buy the HDR-SR8 when it becomes available in the US (besides directly from Sony at full price). I have a question: How long does it take to upload the video file from the camera drive to a computer via USB? And does the USB cable ship with the camcorder?
Thanks

[KC @ Apr 24th 2007 1:51PM]

Makes me sad too, as a SR1 owner. Realistically, 4 hours is more than enough for me. If your recordings are too long, you run into the issue of storage. Try saving those files onto a DVD writer. I've been looking for an external BD writer, but they too expensive for my liking now, and will have to use an external 500 GB drive for offline storage.

[cjrenaud @ Apr 24th 2007 3:04PM]

If they'd only put true 24p on these things like the Canon HV20...

[tekdroid @ Apr 24th 2007 4:54PM]

AVCHD still sounds like an intermim "Let's milk this HD thing for all its worth" stop-gap format to me. MiniDV does just fine and edits are lightning quick. I'll record in standard definition if it means not being able to edit my vid (or edit it at reasonable time/cost), thanks.

Pass on the AVCHD hype. I personally trust removable miniDV tapes a lot more than HDs, too. I feel like a dinosaur saying this but it all comes down to too many sacrifices for little gain with AVCHD (at least at the current time).

[walk2k @ Apr 24th 2007 7:06PM]

AVC is not "hype", MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) is the High-Definition codec used on Blu-ray and HD-DVD (one of the codecs). HDV is still only MPEG2.

[R @ Apr 24th 2007 6:08PM]

Regarding HDD size: There is a solution. It's called USB 2.0 On-the-Go. Get a battery powered Thecus N1050 enclosure for ~$50 USD, pop in any IDE notebook HDD and when your SR1 gets close to full, back up all your video on the external disk. Easy, even when you're out in the field.

Regarding, AVCHD editing support complaints: This tired canard needs to be dropped now. The newest versions of Nero, Adobe Premiere Elements and others now support AVCHD editing. It's already been adopted by a number of NLE's. AVCHD editing is fine on my 3.2 GHz Prescott XP box. Also I've read there are now a couple of good AVCHD video conversion solutions out there in case you want to edit in a different HD format. Sony's included editing/playback software is terrible, though, and I don't use it.

Now, as a recent SR1 purchaser, and an audio guy, I do have one very big problem with this camera. Here it is: Sony made this thing with an external microhone jack and a headphone jack. Great, I thought. I can shoot in 1080i (looks great) and use an external microphone for interviews, shotgun sound gathering...whatever...and I won't need to bring along my portable DAT machine or a minidisc to get my audio. Boy was I wrong. I've played with two SR1's and found that when recording in HD XP (15 MBp/s) both of them make an awful buzzing/humming background noise as soon as the record button is pressed. I'm not joking. Switch to SD record mode and the sound does not appear when you hit record. It's even there when you use Sony's little condenser mics, or the Beachtek DXA-2S camcorder audio adapter, which I bought to try and get rid of the noise. Just ridiculous. I basically bought the camera because it was the only consumer HD camera that didn't record audio at 12bit (like the HV20 does for example in HD mode). The SR1 supposedly tracks in Linear PCM. Instead, I find a totally noticeable buzzing sound all over everything I record in HD. Note: this does not happen when using the onboard 5.1 microphone (which sounds really good) and it is not there when you are sitting in standby mode. Very crap, hopefully solved in the SR5 and 7. I've just sent a nasty letter to Sony Canada. Oh ya, and the SR1 has been discontinued for anyone who doesn't know already. Can't really say I'm a happy camper right now, but at least I only spent $1300 CAD and I have a DAT for any serious video-with-audio needs.

[Information Central @ Apr 24th 2007 6:51PM]

More interlaced horseshit from Sony. Nobody, NOBODY should be buying interlaced video products in this day and age. The presence of interlace in our "new" digital-TV standards stands as testament to the incompetence of the FCC. Yes, let's maintain a relic of the '30s, which is a royal pain in the ass to everyone who might want to actually do anything with the images he captures.

And this is BS: "Sony's position is that 720p is not "true HD" because it doesn't use the full resolution allowed in the ATSC spec."

Bullcrap. This so-called spec provides for 1280x720 progressive and 1920x1080 interlaced. One could just as easily condemn 1080i as fake because only 540 scan lines are displayed at once, whereas 720p shows all 720. And Sony's products, all the way up to the top-of-the-line CineAlta cameras, only record 1440x1080 pixels anyway.

"HD" is largely a fraud at this point. If lying about resolution isn't enough, there's the fact that it doesn't matter when you compressed the image to hell.

And finally, the laments about not being able to edit HDV, AVCHD, or other interframe-compressed codecs are TRUE. Don't pretend not to know what people mean when they say it can't be edited. It can't be edited without decompressing it and converting it to something else. That stands in contrast to DV-based codecs, in which each frame stands on its own and can be cut without recompression.

[walk2k @ Apr 24th 2007 7:27PM]

Well I'm not sure what you are asking for...

If you are asking for a 720p recording mode (1280x720 @60p), yeah sure that would be nice, and it would save a little room on the HDD as well.

But if you are asking for a consumer-priced 1080p (1920x1080 @24p) camcorder - you'll have to wait a little while for that one chief. The only cameras that can do that are $100k professional digital cinema cameras like the ones George Lucas uses..

[R @ Apr 25th 2007 11:21AM]

Truly, 9/10 people won't be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080i on a 32" TV, which is plenty big for 9/10 living rooms, which is where all the content shot on this consumer cam will end up anyway. So who cares. It looks friggin great at 1080i. (Provided you have good light, lol.)

Regarding editing, again, it is a rapidly fading problem, only hanging around because early reviews of the SR1 at the time of release did not have access to editing solutions. And those reviews are still online for people to read, even though they are out of date. There are consumer and professional AVCHD solutions available now that do not have a deleterious effect on the quality of the original footage. Of course, I could be mistaken, but I believe the folks at sonyhdvinfo.com have found this to be the case.

[Alex Moyler @ Apr 25th 2007 6:07AM]

The lower end models are kinda naff, I have to say. Not really good enough quality and needed some heavy filtering to make it look respectible on a pc. Le sigh.

[Pete @ Apr 25th 2007 11:03AM]

I am sick of seeing MPEG-2 based HDD video cameras. MPEG-2 is a delivery/transmission format and is horrible for practical editing.

[Jason @ Apr 29th 2007 5:10AM]

I recently (5 hours ago) had my Sony PD-170 stolen and I'm looking for a cheaper replacement. I've read all the posts and was wondering how the SR7 does as far as stacking up to the quality of my old PD-170. It seems that some of you are pro SR7 and some are against. Thanks for any help. Most of my work ends up on-line (www.theboardwok.com) if that makes any difference.

[kits @ Aug 15th 2007 12:43PM]

The big draw back with HDV format is the capturing process of video to PC. It's a slogger. I hate it so bad that I have over 30+ MiniDV that I recorded from almost late 90's. I tried to burn one tape on DVD and gave up after I made one. It's almost a day process to capture, edit and burn DVD. Sometimes, I want to delete part of the earlier recording but that is a wasteful attemp on tape as it doesn't go with the video flow to reuse that space.

I think future will me flash memory camcorders. So, easy to copy files, more durable, insert and play with PS3 and probably will be easy to burn on Blu-Rays soon.

Flash memory is expensive but the prices are falling fast and I think come this holiday season, we will see lot more new models using flash memory.

[S @ Feb 12th 2008 11:34PM]

HOW TO get rid of noise on the hdr-sr1

IF YOU BUY A VMCK100 ADAPTER FROM SONY..THERE IS NO EXTERNAL MIC NOISE..UNLIKE USING THE ON CAMERA PLUG...NO MORE HARD DRIVE NOISE THE SECOND YOU HIT RECORD!!!!!!!!!