Basic Review: SONY Handycam HDR-XR150

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• published: 18 Mar 2011
• views: 30250

This is a somewhat basic review of the SONY HandyCam HDR-XR150 Camdorder, which has: * 25x optical zoom * 120GB HDD * Memory card port for SD/Memory Stick DUO * 3.1Mpixel CMOS (color enhancemnt option to offset technology) * 24, 15, 9, and 5Mb/s recording in AVCHD 1920x1080 * STD (DVD-quality) recording, in 4:3, or 16:9 * Low Lux option, for darker areas * CAN read photos from older Handycam systems. Just have to tell it to. COMES WITH: * Camera (duh) * Component RCA Cable (P/Cr, P/Cb, Y) * Composite RCA Cable (Standard TV's) * USB Cable * Power supply, and cord, separately This is a good overall product, packed with features to make recording a video fairly simple, once you get used to the menu system. If an idiot like me can figure it out in 10 minutes, anyone can do it twice as fast! :) You can record up to 4 different AVCHD (AdVanced Codec High Definition) formats, from 24Kb/s, down to a low 5Kb/s, which is mislabeled as Mb/s on the camera, and manual. They went a bit cheap on the optical sensor, opting for a 3.1Mp (Mega Pixel) CMOS sensor, rather than the 4MP one my old Handycam had, as well as higher Mp models before it. Nevertheless, you only need a little over 2.1Mp to shoot full 1920x1080 HD video anyhow. Pictures will suffer slightly, simply for resolution. One of the first things I noticed about the video quality is that unlike their TX camera series (primary use are for photography), is it doesn't have "Fish-Eye Disease", where straight lines are not grossly curved by wide angle distortion. This camera DOES have Fish-Eye, but it's more natural-looking. One thing I did notice, is probably because of the AVCHD format, is when you start recording in darker environments from outdoors, that you'll get some "ghosting" effect, where the prediction frames get a little messed up, due to the initial frames being too far apart. Most people may be able to overlook that. This has a 120GB HDD (Hard Disk Drive) which holds hundreds of hours of video, depending how high quality you want the videos. (Shooting for YouTube, stick to the "9Mb/s" option, because 1080p is 10Kb/s on YouTube videos.) Audio quality has improved quite a bit over the older camera, but the wrist strap tends to make noise that translates into the video, as well as the optical zoom, but not much. As for image quality, it is clear edge-to-edge, but the contrast gets duller, and edges more grainy, as you zoom into objects, especially at or near 25x. Still, this is a vast improvement over previous designs, with color separation. You have a choice of maximum Steadyshot, for stable recording, you can opt for minimal Steadyshot, which gives you a little more recording angle, or no stabilization, which has maximum viewing angle. The differences between none and full is signifigant, but likely not enough to interfere. There is no NightShot infared ability, so very dark recording is not an option. Where it's a little dark, you can use the "Low Lux" option, to gain sensitivity. Couple that with shutter exposure maximized, you can get halfway-decent results, but framerate will siffer a little (slight smearing). Another minus is the MANUAL lens cover. When you're done, you shut it yourself. Photos are easy to take, just point, and shoot. You have 3.1Mp (4:3 aspect), 2.4Mp (Widescreen, same as 3.1, but with top and bottom cut off), 1.9Mp (4:3), and 640x480 (4:3). Again, crisp, clean images, without the color separation the older Handycams suffered from. You can use either an SD memory card, or SONY's Memory Stick DUO to store videos, instead of the HDD, if you'd like. You can view photos from an older camera. You'll have to tell the camera, under "Photos", you'd like to store pictures onto the media. There is NO flash for the camera, so it's either use the "Low Lux" option, as above, or nothing. Menus take a little getting used to, but it's not hard to figure out. You can customize the "My Menu", which brings up the 6 most used options. If you want to change them, you can do so with "My Menu Settings", and switch out unwanted options and adjustments, with ones you want. On-screen instructions are stupid-easy.