3 New Sony Prosumer HDV Camcorders

Sony has three new HDV models on their website. Shipping around July 13th.

Two look to be model upgrades from the SR1, the third is a new designation - CX7 that records directly to their proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo media.

The new models are:

HDR-SR7, a 3.2MP(2.28MP actual) 60GB HDD camcorder. Recording in AVCHD format

HDR-SR5 a 2.1MP(1.4MP actual) 40GB HDD camcorder also recording in AVCHD. Fortunately both of these have LANC ports and microphone jacks.

And the aforementioned HDR-CX7, a 3.2MP(2.28MP actual) 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo camcorder. In XP mode, it can only record 30minutes of HDV footage. It also lacks a LANC port and Mic jack.

The most surprising thing is that there's no viewfinder on the HDR-SR5 and HDR-CX7 models. What were they thinking?

Personally I can't see the CX7 being a runaway best seller either. It's too limited in storage time unless you're willing to sacrifice resolution for recording time. Possibly if larger Pro Duo cards are produced in the future it might find a niche.

Well have you noticed how most people shoot with their handycams? LCD monitor open. Viewfinder is mostly for more advanced users, not for consumer consumption. These cameras cater to the new and intermediate consumer at the most. I believe the CX7 is also AVCHD.

I hope Sony adds other format cards like Express. Even CF and SD are beginning to break the 40mbps mark, which means even long GOP Mpeg2 or AVCHD is possible.

Tape is going to be extinct in a few years. Keep those old cameras safe, you'll need them to play the old tapes.