Memories

14 SOLUTIONS

Capture your

Sony now has a Handycam for everyone, from professional ﬁlm makers to home movie enthusiasts. If you’re planning to buy

a Handycam you need to work out what media type suits you best.

Making the move to High Deﬁnition

One of the ﬁrst decisions you’ll have to make is whether you want a high deﬁnition (HD) Handycam. Sony now has a range of HD camcorders that record to either DVD, Hard Disk Drive or Tape.

High deﬁnition is all about image quality. An HD Handycam records images in much higher resolution capturing ﬁne details that a standard camcorder will simply miss. HD footage can have

more than four times the detail of regular video, in fact, the picture is so clear it’s almost like it’s happening outside your window.

The new Sony HD Handycam HDRSR1 allows you to record your memories to a 30GB built in hard drive (for long recording) and has easy connectivity to a PC for editing. The HDRUX1 records to a standard 8cm DVD disc for simple playback in new Blu-ray drives or PLAYSTATION® 3. This means there is no need for computer editing. It also means your memories will be in the best possible format for the high deﬁnition future. You do still, however, have the choice to edit your HDRUX1 recordings on a computer.

These new HD camcorders use a video recording format called AVCHD (advanced video codec high deﬁnition) to store the HD video on non-linear media such as DVD disc or hard drive. It’s a highly efﬁcient compression technology, so you can save on memory, effectively getting more bang for your buck.

Blu-ray players, like Sony’s upcoming PLAYSTATION® 3 will provide an instant playback mechanism for AVCHD discs. The soon to be released Sony Blu-ray players will enable direct playback of your HD movie or alternatively, these small compact HD models will also allow direct connection to your TV with HDMI or component cables.