CircuitCity has the camcorder on sale for 850.00. I realize that the picture quality is not as good as the HV-20 or some of the others, however would you guys/gals consider this a pretty good buy?

I really like the 3.5 inch view finder and the manual focus ring. I do not need anything larger than 30 GB.

I know there have been mixed reviews but was curious if you thought this was a good buy at this price?

Andrew,

Doing a price check, that looks like a very good price.

Do your homework, and make sure to buy from a reputable dealer!

I too am possibly interested in this camcorder. Is the SR-7 worth the extra 100-200 dollars? How much better is the manual focus ring? Any other features that stand out?

Forget it. I just bought the Cannon HV-20 for the same price.

candler8,

Wow, that is a great price. I think my wife paid about $1,400 twelve months ago.

It is a great camera; I have enjoyed every minute using it. It is very reliable and I have yet to run out of battery or hard drive space.

Sony makes a cool Bluetooth microphone that attaches to the camera. The camera records in Dolby 5.1 and the sound coming from the microphone plays through the center channel.

Good Luck!

Brady

candler8,

Wow, that is a great price. I think my wife paid about $1,400 twelve months ago.

It is a great camera; I have enjoyed every minute using it. It is very reliable and I have yet to run out of battery or hard drive space.

Sony makes a cool Bluetooth microphone that attaches to the camera. The camera records in Dolby 5.1 and the sound coming from the microphone plays through the center channel.

Good Luck!

Brady

Thanks for the input. Do you use your computer or a dvd recorder when burning dvd's?

How do they look?

Hi Candler8,

For the first 10 months of this year, I used Sony's Picture Motion Browser (comes with the camera) to transfer the Hi-def AVCHD files from the camera to the computer . I would then use the same program to convert the Hi-def files to Standard Definition mpeg files.

I loaded the Standard-Definition mpeg files into Cyberlink's PowerDirector video editing software and burned a DVD from there. If you use a video editing program, you can get rid of the boring stuff where you left the camera on "record" when it is pointing at your shoes.

Sony's Picture Motion Browser software has the ability to burn Standard Definition DVD's also, but isn't too great at editing.

I must say the video quality of the DVD's burned in Standard Definition with either software is very, very good. Dolby 5.1 surround sound is pretty cool too.

This month, Cyberlink provided a free update to their software to enable the importing of the AVCHD files into their video editor. For the first time, I am watching my kids in glorious 1080i Hi-definition!!

This has been a long-term project. Got the HDR-SR1 for Christmas in '06 and started learning how the video editing software works. Picked up a Samsung Blu-ray player for my birthday in March '07. The price dropped on the Sony Blu-ray burners around September so I purchased one of those. Now, the video editing software is AVCHD enabled. I must say I am in Hog Heaven!

Hope this is helpful.

Which blu-ray burner did you buy? I am in the market for an external burner that will work with the imac I am buying. I have the hdr-sr1 and love it as well.

if best buy still has them (clearance, and replaced by the newer sr5 and sr7), I scored one at 699. I couldn't believe it. YMMV, as they're hard to find at a bby. There's a display model left at the appleton WI East side Bestbuy.

I too purchased a Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray burner from BB at a deep discount.

I kept checking prices at CC, BB, ebay, and Amazon for a few months until I found a deal.

The drive has an EIDE interface, and my computer is all SATA, with no EIDE connector. I found out that they make SATA to EIDE adapters. Seems to work exceedingly well.