Sony HDR-UX1 AVCHD 4MP High-Definition DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Average customer rating: 4.0

Great for Techies,Excellent quality HD
Very Good, but not Great
CAMCORDER
Awesome!!!!!!!!
Awesome picture quality

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HIGH DEFINITION DVD's

Sony HDR-UX1 AVCHD 4MP High-Definition DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Manufacturer: Sony
Product Group: Photography
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B000GX43E0
2006-09-18

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Product Description

Record every detail of every moment with the HDR-UX1 Handycam. Make high-definition DVDs directly from your camcorder with supported DVD-R/-RW/+RW and +R DL media formats. In addition, the HDR-UX1 features a 10x Optical/80x Digital Zoom and Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T Lens. Capture more than just video with the 4.0 Megapixel Still image feature and Dolby Digital 5.1-channel Audio Recording. Once you've recorded your footage, you can easily transfer and share with complete composite, component, USB 2.0 and HDMI connectivity. Capture, create, connect, and share in high-definition with the HDR-UX1. 10X Optical/80X Digital Zoom - The optical zoom helps to bring the action close up from far away. In addition, the Digital Zoom interpolation means that extreme digital zooming is clearer, with less distortion than previous types of digital zooms - 35mm Equivalent - 41.3-485mm (16 - 9 Camera Mode), 50.5-594mm (4 - 3 Camera Mode), 40.4-404mm (16 - 9 Memory Mode), 37-370mm (4 - 3 Memory Mode) - Accepts 30mm filters 3.5 LCD Screen Color Viewfinder Capture still images up to 2304x1728 resolution, directly onto Memory Stick(R) Duo Media for easy transfer to PCs for emailing, printing or sharing Super SteadyShot(R) Picture Stabilization System

Customer Reviews:

Great for Techies,Excellent quality HD.......2007-05-13

Bottom line, the picture quality that you get is incredible on the standard HQ setting. You can go two levels higher(just higher bitrates) but you shorten your recording time to 20 minutes or 15 minutes depending on which you select. If you have a ps3 ,you can just pop the disk in and watch it on your high def tv. The Dolby Digital recording is excellent as well. I recorded a Disney show at Epcot and the sound was just like you were there. I couldn't be happier with this camera but it may be a challenge for those who are beginners with high def equipment. It also records in standard dvd format if you choose. Nice feature but if that's all you are using it for then you will want to go with a dvd camcorder which is much less money.If you have an external hard drive on your ps3 than you can copy the m2ts files from the stream folder on the dvd and just play them directly from the ps3 when you want. The ps3 downmixes from Dolby Digital to stereo which I hope can be fixed by one of their many firmware updates. If you do purchase this camera then go with the MiniDV-RW media as you can just copy to a standard dvd via the sofware included and then use your MiniDV-rw over many times.The stills are just ok but then again I am used to the Canon S2-IS which really does a great job. You have the options of 4mp,3mp widescreen,or 2mp screen capture during video recording. All seem to do a pretty good job.

Very Good, but not Great.......2007-04-19

A lot has already been said and there are some excellent reviews here (as well as elsewhere), but I just want to add my 2 cents. I purchased this guy a few months back, and have since purchased a light and a second battery for it (I'll talk about those shortly).
My favorite features include:
1. The 3.5" screen, which should be a must for ANY camcorder, as the 2.5" screens common today are worthless IMHO.
2. The sliding door for accessing the HDMI port as well as the other video ports. This is unique to Sony's UX1 and SR1 HD Camcorders (as far as I can tell) and is the BEST implementation I have seen to cover and uncover ports. Much better than the little plastic plugs that inevitably break-off and are lost.
3. Beautiful, detailed video.

My least favorite features include:
1. The stupid little plastic cover plug for the power port. As mentioned above, this camera has a great sliding door for all its video plugs. Inexplicably, Sony used the plastic plug for the power port, which is right next to the video ports and could have used the sliding door. Stupid. Mine is already threatening to break.
2. Short recording times. It is hard to blame Sony for the short recording time on DVDs. This is just a fact of life and the short time isn't limited to the HD DVD camcorders but it problematic for all DVD camcorders (though less so than here). You make a choice and you live with it. While lots of the reviews mention the dual layer DVDs out there, they are MUCH more expensive and I don't even really consider them an option. Luckily, the lower quality modes still look very good, especially when taping outside. For lower light situations, I would use the higher quality settings. Still, all of the video I take with this thing looks better than any standard def. stuff you may see. Also, related to the DVD issue is that the camera insists on popping up a little comment saying it recommends Sony brand DVDs every time I put in any other brand. This is completely annoying and Sony should rethink the way they try to lock you in to their own brand.
3. Automatic lens cover. Not having to bother with a cover is a great little addition to this thing.

Features I thought I wanted but could have lived without:
I haven't yet used the focus ring or the mic in or headphone out yet. I really wanted these, but in retrospect, they were unnecessary for my home use. The mic on this thing is plenty good, and I just don't want to mess with the focus at the end of the day.

Other notes:
I purchased a light and an extra battery here on Amazon and couldn't be happier with them. The light is the Sony HVL-HL1 and the battery is the same one that comes with the camera, the Sony NPFM50. The light is just right to give a boost to indoor recording and makes the picture MUCH better in low light situations. It's only 3 watts but seems VERY bright. It attaches to the hot shoe on the top of the camera. It's priced right and works flawlessly.
As for the grainy picture mentioned by many reviews, I haven't noticed anything distracting. Every camera has positive and negative aspects, but I am more than happy with the quality of video this thing takes.
I give this Camcorder 5 stars not because it is perfect, but if you weigh the price and the features, I'm not sure there is a better HD or SD camera out there right now. It would not be worth the list price, but at the price they have it for now, you simply can't beat it, as long as you can live with the DVD format. If that is a dealbreaker for you (it wasn't for me, obviously), it's a dealbreaker, but otherwise, this is by far the best buy at this price point.

CAMCORDER.......2007-04-02

FANTASTIC camcorder!! Awesome stills and vids. Highly recommended for beginning user based on low price and ease of use!! Only tough part is converting video's. Still recommend to any user looking for HD quality!!

Awesome!!!!!!!!.......2007-03-15

This is an awesome piece of equipment! This cam produces some of the most stunning video and right now the price has to be the deal of the decade! The dvd format is outstanding and it really is the best of both worlds. I use -rw discs and copy my video to my computer then reformat the disc (which takes about 7 seconds) and use it over and over again so the price of media is virtually nothing, unlike tape which you have to keep buying and buying. The other benefit is unlike a hard disk based cam I dont have to worry about the drive filling up while I'm on vacation with no place to offload the video. And unlike A tape based cam I dont have all the problems associated with tape like head cleaning and trying to dig out tape that is wrapped up inside the cam or having to endure hours of tedious capturing or having to properly tension a tape before use or how big of a box I need to store all those old tapes in or worrying about recording over something I have already shot. I could go on and on and on about it but tape is just an old unreliable pain in the rear. As you can tell I have had bad experiences with tape based cam's so enough of that.

The AVCHD codec is very efficient you will have about 4.5gb per hour of video compared to 13gb per hour of video from a tape based hdv cam and it records audio in dolby 5.1 surround which is alot better than the stereo only that you get with hdv.

Others have mentioned the short recording time and I suppose it may be an issue for someone but it is not for me. Think about it when you are watching tv or a movie how many times does the cam just sit there pointed at one thing without a break for longer than a minute (or even a few seconds)? There is nothing I can think of that I can record for more than 20 minutes (hq mode) straight that I would want to sit down and watch anyways. Now if you have to record something like a childs school play sure maybe a couple times in your childs life you need an hour shot but I dont and even if an event took say 1 hour straight it only takes 15 seconds to change out a disc and be recording again so in 1 hour I would change twice and miss 30 seconds of video, not a big deal. Most all the stuff I shoot is like 1-3 minutes tops and I'm on to the next scene. I have shot a wedding and I was able to get all of it from the time the bride walks in to the time the couple walks out all on 1 20 minute disc. I think most of the people that complain about short recording times are just to lazy to change a disc! As far as the video being noisy in low light well give me a break, it does but so does every other cam that is priced south of $3,500.00! Besides that they do make these things called lights! In the daylight there is no noise at all in the video when played back on my HDTV, just beautiful high def video.

The bottom line for me is that this cam is by far the best bang for the buck available today. Nothing in this price range even comes close to the video quality that this cam produces. It is a snap to record brilliant video and transfer it to the computer. Editing options are limited right now but they do exist and more are on the way so the editing thing is a non issue as well. It has pro type features that are just not found on other cams and I especially like the manual adjustment ring and I would never own a cam again that did not have at least a 3.5" lcd screen. Having used the smaller 2.7" screens before I can tell you that the big screen is way better especially when you are trying to manually adjust elements like focus and exposure. With the big screen you can actually tell what your video will look like, the small screens just dont show enough detail. This cam also takes beautiful still pictuers, I could keep going on and on but the truth is I really enjoy everthing that this cam has to offer and I would not trade it for anything else.

Awesome picture quality.......2007-03-13

I bought this camcorder few days back and this is one buy that iam not going to regret. In spite of some of the drawbacks, seeing yourself in HD gives you real high. The picture quality is awesome. Its like stack of 5-6 mega pixel images put together. I have infact paused the video at few places and taken screenshots of them.

Lack of video editing tools is a drawback. Sony provides tools to convert H.264 to Mpeg. So that I can use the Mpeg files on Sony Vegas. Audio quality is excellent. Great camcorder when shooting outdoors. Night time shooting needs improvement. Can spot lot of noise in the video when shooting in dark.

I would recommend to buy a RW disk and dump all its contents to your computer, then erase the DVD contents.

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