Product Reviews

As AVCHD grabs an increasing share of the HD camcorder market, it's encouraging to see Sony providing the HDR-SR12 with a microphone input and dedicated headphone output, in addition to enabling full specification 1920 x 1080i high-definition video recording to a choice of either 120GB hard disk or Memory Stick Pro Duo.

Aimed at the more serious enthusiast, the HDR-SR12 records movies in both standard and high-definition. It uses the excellent Mpeg-4 AVC/H.264 compression system to record HD, whereas SD recording is achieved with Mpeg-2 PS, which is equivalent to that used by conventional DVD systems. At the lowest of the camera's four HD quality settings, it's possible to cram up to 48 hours recording onto the internal hard disk drive at a rate of 5Mbits/sec. At the more respectable 16Mbits/sec, you can expect to capture nearly 15 hours of full HD material.

A Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 12x Optical Zoom lens, with an additional 24x and 150x in digital zoom option, supplies images to the 5.8mm (1/3.13 type) ClearVid Cmos sensor. The result is superbly resolved HD and SD images thanks to x.v.Colour processing, while its SOIS (Super Optical Image Stabilisation) does a very good job when shooting on the end of the optical zoom. Serious users will welcome the addition of a viewfinder in addition to the large 3.2in touchscreen

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LCD panel, although it's very small and useful in only a limited range of situations. The Photo button enables 7.6-megapixel (3680 x 2070) stills be taken simultaneously while shooting video, or 10.2 megapixels in 4:3 dedicated mode.

One of the major advantages of these hybrid camcorders is the ability to transfer movie clips and stills from HDD to Memory Stick, and vice versa. Moreover, you can move, delete and trim clips prior to adding selected sequences to a playlist prior to transfer. A welcome feature of the HDR-SR12 is its provision for connection of not only an external microphone, but also stereo headphones, for which a dedicated jack is provided in addition to the combined AV/Component Digital output. Such facilities, along with the Intelligent Accessory Shoe, will undoubtedly serve to increase the appeal of this radical new format.

Having to touch icons on the LCD screen to make selections will deter some potential users of the HDR-SR12, it must be said. However, with practice it can be a quick and efficient way to make necessary adjustments (particularly Spot Focus and Exposure), and we cautiously welcome it.

We also like the way that Sony's range of AVCHD products exploits Bravia Sync, enabling easy setup with the company's Bravia range of HDTVs and using common HDMI-based control interfaces. The quality of movie and audio recording at all but the lowest setting is excellent, with little evidence of the judder or jaggy artefacts we've come to see on lesser products.

What is strange, however, is Sony's continued use of only 50i interlaced frame scanning rather than the 25p progressive frame scan preferred by more discriminating users. It's a key feature that other makers - Canon and Panasonic, in particular - have embraced and we'd have loved to have seen it on this model. That apart, the HDR-SR12 is a well-featured HD camcorder that's a joy to use and comes highly recommended.