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Sony DCR-SR90E review

Verdict:

Sony's hard disk camcorder looks huge when compared with JVC's dinky GZ-MG57EK, and it has a whopping price to match.

Review Date: 19 Feb 2007

Price when reviewed: £528

Supplier: http://www.pcworld.co.uk

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

User Rating 5 stars out of 5

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Like JVC, Sony has fitted a 30GB disk inside its hard disk camcorder, giving around seven hours of video storage at the highest quality setting.

You can drag and drop the files to your PC and play them in Windows Media Player. After installing the supplied software on your PC you can use the DVD Burn button on the camcorder. This automatically sends all new files to your PC and burns them to a disc.

Like all Sony camcorders, the DCR-SR90E has a touch-screen display for browsing thumbnails, playing clips and accessing menu functions. The powered accessory shoe on top of the device works only with Sony accessories.

A four-way microphone captures surround sound, which is encoded to Dolby Digital 5.1. This makes little difference in practice, as the effect is minimal. The lens cover is automatic, and there's a flash for taking still photographs.

PERFORMANCE

This camcorder uses the same lens and 1/3in CCD sensor as the company's DCR-HC96E. It produces higher-quality video than every other DVD and HDD camcorder here. Colours are vibrant yet realistic, the edges of objects are sharp and results are excellent even in low light.

However, like all the devices that record in MPEG2 format, the DCR-SR90E's videos suffer from compression artefacts. This is particularly noticeable during fast action and panning shots. We also noticed that this camcorder and the DCR-HC96E have lenses with a marginally narrower angle than the others. It takes good still photos, though, which you can save to Memory Stick or the hard disk. The battery on the back lasted for just over two hours.

VERDICT

This excellent camcorder provides high-quality video capture with the convenience of a hard disk. However, the DCR-HC96E produces even better video and costs £180 less.

Author: Seth Barton

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User Reviews

Independent customer reviews from

Sony DCRSR90E scored:
9.0 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 2 reviews:

27 Oct 2006 Stephen, Richmond

10

Good Points

Fantastic picture quality and possibly the best image stabiliser ever

Bad Points

Battery life can be shortened quite a lot by using LCD screen on the side

23 Nov 2006 Anonymous confirmed purchaser

9

Good Points

plenty recording time no need for other media like tapes or dvds.

Bad Points

video editing software is crap

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