Buy Sony HDR-SR5E 40GB High Definition CamcorderSony HDR-SR5E 40GB High Definition Camcorder Product Description:
Product Description
The ultra-compact, stylishly-designed AVCHD HDD Handycam with ClearVid CMOS Sensor, and Carl Zeiss Vario-SonnarT lens. Featuring 40GB HDD, it records 1080i HD movie for up to 15 hours....
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
244 of 247 people found the following review helpful.
Superb HD Camcorder from Sony
By Mr. R. Lilleker
I'd been looking into purchasing a HD (High Definition) camcorder in order to take away on holiday and capture all of those memorable moments in stunning HD. I heavily researched the few HD models which are currently on the market and took an interest in Sony's new HDD (Hard Disk Drive) camcorders which were released in June/July of 2007.Sony have released three HD models which record to HDD in the new AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format: the HDR-SR5E, HDR-SR7E and HDR-SR8E. The HDR-SR5E is the cheapest of the three.I purchased the HDR-SR5E a few weeks ago, shortly after the release date, based on my research and my own personal requirements. At the time (and even now) there were very few reviews on this model, which is mainly why I am writing this, for the benefit of others!Upon receipt of the camcorder, my first impression was 'WOW!'. I had seen in a Sony Store a few days before-hand and so wasn't too shocked at the size, but others could be. The device is fairly small, considering its capabilities, but feels strong and is of the typical high build quality from Sony.All of the required cables etc were included in the box, along with a Handycam Docking Station and remote control. Be aware though, that the HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) cable needed for a HDMI connection is not bundled with the device. However, the camcorder can be connected to a HDTV using the supplied component cables.I put the camcorder to test on a recent trip to Norway, capturing approximately one hour of footage at high quality (HD-XP). To my surprise, I used just under 7GB of the 40GB hard drive and did not even have to charge the supplied battery during the trip (takes approx. 2hr 20 min to charge). The touchscreen LCD is a joy to work with and the camcorder itself is easy to hold when filming for long periods of time.Now for the real stuff...picture quality. In my opinion, the picture quality produced by this camcorder is superb. When viewed on a HDTV, footage is sharp and clear, and colours are strikingly accurate. The focus of the camera is accurate exposure adjusts automatically to produce some stunning shots. The camcorder has 10x optical zoom which is excellent, especially for capturing those shots a little bit further away. Moreover, the camcorder records in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, which is extremely good quality.Footage can be uploaded to a computer for editing and playback using the supplied USB cable. However, be aware! This new AVCHD format requires quite a lot of processing for playback alone, never mind editing. If your computer is more than 18 months old, I wouldn't recommend trying to edit such footage. The supplied Picture Motion Browser software will play the footage but editing options are limited. The software will, however, allow you to burn the AVCHD footage to DVD for playback in a PlayStation 3 or convert the footage to MPEG-2 for standard DVD players. Obviously, this loses the HD quality, but having tested this option myself, I can confirm that the quality is still relatively good. At present, support for the .m2ts format (which the camcorder records in) is also limited. However, if you have a Sony VAIO computer released from 2006 onwards, you should have no problem importing the .m2ts files into Adobe Premiere Elements for editing, as the VAIO Edit Components software (v6.2) provides AVCHD support.Differences between this cheaper model and the other two models (SR7E and SR8E) are, in my opinion, very little. As far as I am aware, both the SR7E and SR8E offer a viewfinder, larger hard drives (60GB and 100GB respectively) and the inclusion of 'Super SteadyShot' as opposed to just 'SteadyShot' which IS included in the SR5E. Unless you have an extremely shakey hand, I can't see there being much difference with the addition of Super SteadyShot. Obviously the larger hard disk drives and viewfinder do support the higher prices of these two models, but the SR5E is much cheaper and still offers approx. 5 hours and 20 minutes of high quality HD recording to its 40GB HDD.Overall, this is an all-round winner. I would definately recommend this camcorder to anyone who is looking for a new model to capture memories in HD. Build quality is very good, both picture and sound quality are superb, and the unit is very easy to use. All of which you would expect from a Sony product.As a final note.....a suitable bag for this camcorder is the LCS-VA20 which I purchased from Amazon. I would also recommend a larger battery, such as the NPF-H70, to compliment the supplied battery, should you be going on a longer trip with the camcorder.
83 of 85 people found the following review helpful.Superb in every way
By Paul Dodd
This is another superb camera from Sony. As soon as you take it out the box you know it's something special just by the way it feels, looks and sits in the palm of your hand. The build quality is superb, on many cameras you'd just get a normal resolution LCD screen to watch while you record but Sony have even installed a 2.7" HD screen. The docking station makes it easy to backup or transfer files and everything feels sturdy and made to last.The video quality is just unbelievable, it is the highest quality you could imagine and looks even better than £2,000 TV studio cameras - no joking. Due to the x.v system the colours are lifelike, sharp and very bright. There's no ghosting, blurring or shaking at all thanks to the super steady shot, it's hard to see how this kind of quality could ever be improved upon. I filmed a cat walking on a fence which was a good 50 metres away, I had it on full zoom filming through a glass window and even then it was so clear you could see every whisker on his face. I have used it on a 40" and a 19" TV, it looks stunning on both. Thanks to super nightshot It's equally as good in total darkness for all those of you who do ghost hunts or film nightlife, you can see up to 20 metres away and the quality remains as stunning and clear as if it were day. With up to 28 hours of "film" in standard definition and 5 hours at the top quality I doubt you'll ever run out of room and it's so much easier than carrying round spare tapes with you everywhere you go.There're lots of super features like the "old film" effect where you can make it look as though you're recording on an old black and white camera from the 1930's. There's steadyshot to get rid of shaking caused by your hand. You can use the camcorder as a normal digital camera too and get 9999 pictures on the hard drive and there's memory stick slot you can use too. The camera even has a flash, you can take them while still recording videos and the photos are as good as on a still camera thanks to the 4 megapixels. You can record in 5.1 surround sound which can really add a new dimension to your films and if all this sounds too much for you then just hit the "easy" button and the camera makes all the decisions for you! There's a cool slow motion feature so you can record live action at about half the speed, great fun!The list of features goes on and on.Editing is a slight problem although it is getting easier as time goes by. In High definition mode it records in a new format called AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition). AVCHD is not very editing friendly, it won't load into about 90% of editing programs such as windows movie maker so I thoroughly recommend buying Sony Vegas 8 platinum for about £50 at the same time as this camera so you can edit footage. You'll need a powerful PC to edit HD footage (minimum 3.0 GHZ with 512mb ram and a 256mb graphics card) and even with that it takes 30 hours to publish a 1 hour film in 1080i. You could always just film in normal resolution though and you can easily edit that straight into any program.Overall this is a top-notch camera.There are higher spec models in the range such as the SR7 and SR8 but they just have bigger hard drives and a very slightly better lens so this seems the pick of the bunch for me. I tried several hard drive high definition cameras before i bought this including JVC and Aiptek but this Sony model just blows everything else out the water.
62 of 64 people found the following review helpful.
Great Camcorder BUT one massive issue!!
By Gaz
Hi, firstly let me say that i totally agree with the other comments posted, yes this is a wonderful camcorder with the magnificent film quality , sound quality and build quality and the added bonus of a 40gb hard drive to store all your footage on - no need for tapes , dvd e.t.c. BUT... and this is one very big BUT (which i cant believe any of the other people which have reviewed this camcorder have not commented on) when you are recording , when the footage is being wrote to your hard drive (which is every 9 seconds) it makes 2 some times 3 little popping kind of noises (every 9 seconds) and it picks this up on the recording so when you have finished shooting and you playback you can hear this. Its not much of a issue if you are outside or if you are somewere where its noisy because you wont hardly notice this. but if you are like me and sometimes will be recording in more quieter enviroments it is terrbile. which is a massive shame because this is a fantastic camcorder. Massive design fault though in my oppinion putting the mic right next to the hard drive. I have now taken this camcorder back and replaced it with the Sony HDR-CX6EK (memory card) rather than hard drive. This is a much better camcorder. No silly popping noises. So to finish.. all in all yes the Sony HDR-S5E is a great little camcorder with some fantastic features its just a shame its been let down by a massive design fault! If you dont want silly 'popping noises' (caused by the hard drive) every 9 seconds in your filming then i would stay clear of this camcorder. I would advise the other people who have reviewed this camcorder to place there camcorder in a quiet room and put it on record or 1 minute or so then play it back, you will then know what im talking about! thanks.
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