Why Sony? Why?
Written: Jan 07 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
| Movie Quality: |
 |
|
|
Pros: TINY! Plenty of usable features, good video quality.
Cons: MicroMV has major compatibility issues.
The Bottom Line: If DON'T plan on doing any digital editing: Get this amazing small camcorder!
If DO plan on doing digital video editing: LOOK ELSEWHERE.
|
|
|
| tad29's Full Review: Sony Handycam DCR-IP5 Micro MV Camcorder |
This camcorder has a tragic flaw: MicroMV. Since I've had this camcorder I've pulled my hair out hunting down ways to get standard video editing programs to recognize the video format that this camcorder uses. I've tried everything from XMuxer to Pinnacle Studio 8 with varied results, but still I can't say that video editing is easy with this camcorder. And for me, if I can't easily edit the video I take with a camcorder then the camcorder is useless.
So is there light at the end of this tunnel? Yes. The camcorder comes with some software called Movie Shaker that actually works pretty well. It's slow, and doesn't have a ton of features - but for basic movie editing it actually works well and has the options that you really need. I'd say it's about the same as Windows Movie Maker, but funner to use.
What about Pinnacle? Yes Studio 8 is supposed to support MicroMV. I have the program and it sort of works. The video preview is messed up when watching footage on the camcorder, and it disappears completely when I try to capture footage. Despite losing the image it does capture the film, and I can watch the captured video when I'm done. So after some trouble I have the video on my computer. I edit the video, make it pretty, and then try to render the final version and Pinnacle then decides to crash. I've tried this on a few different computers with the same results.
My last complaint: This camcorder is starting to have trouble working even with the included software. Sometimes when trying to capture video the image becomes garbled and jerky even when viewed on the camcorder. If I play around with the wires (unplug and replug at just the right moment) I can get the problem to go away. But is that how it's supposed to work? I don't think so.
What I'm saying here is that I can't easily use this camcorder to send footage to my computer.
But what if I don't want to use this camcorder with my computer? Then this camcorder is awesome. I took it with me to Japan this summer and literally carried it in the front pocket of my pants. The picture quality is very good, battery life is about enough to capture one tape of video, and did I mention that it's small? Finally carrying a camcorder around isn't a chore. The controls are small and in different locations than a conventional camcorder, but if you give yourself some time to learn them, their use is just as easy as any other camcorder. Also, the fold out screen is easy to see and use.
In summary this camcorder is great if you plan on leaving the video on the tapes and using the camcorder as a VCR when you want to watch them. It has more features than you'll ever want to use, and great image quality. But if you want to do any video editing and like the digital camcorder as a way to easily get the footage onto your computer, look for a different camera right now.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1200.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
tad29
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.