Sony Handycam HDR-TG1:Sony Handycam HDR-TG1 Review

Posted on Mon May 05, 01:38 by mechboy, IT, Tokyo
Home Page:
I too have recently bought the English version of the Sony TG1. The price differential is I guess because it's just out; when I bought the Sany HD1000 when it came out, it cost me like 18000JPY. The one thing I really bought this for is for it's size; Sanyo is very small but unfortunately isn't exactly pocketable with it's funny shape. Also, the Sanyo experiences great difficulty with focusing in dark and zoomed environments, many a time it cannot distinguish between background and main subject which meant a lot of my vid caps of the main subject were out of focus; Sony seems to excel in this area.

Posted on Mon May 05, 08:00 by Home
Home Page:
UI is pretty easy for one who ever got sony handycam...

Posted on Mon May 05, 08:24 by PhilippeC, CEO, Paris
Home Page: http://www.splitgames.com
Does it work with Premiere Elements ?

Posted on Mon May 05, 09:40 by mang, Office Drone, KL
Home Page:
Its made of Titanium, with an additional hi-gloss coating, not aluminium

Posted on Mon May 05, 09:28 by Jonny5, Seniour manager retail, Melbourne
Home Page:
I have the new TG1 and am very impressed by the video capability, but the camera is pretty ordinary - typical of Handycam, both in regard to picture quality (which is rather washy) and menu navigation - if they used the cybershot menus it would be so much easier. I was intending to ditch my T200 and use the TG1 as my casual carry round - but no way can I do this with suc quality. Little tip - taking pictures in video mode (you dont have to have it recording) and the pictures are unexplainably better (though fixed in 2mp). Form factor styling is excellent and will turn heads everywhere. I think the physical usage is simplistic - I know what you mean about moving the wrong dial - think thats a bit of practise - it is compact afterall. THe software bit - yep I found that annoying too - I did it and it loads up fine - though I have bought Sony Vegas pro to use. Isnt this evolution from those hybrid cameras that sony brought out - was it the M1 or something

Posted on Tue May 06, 04:37 by dexxx, Sdudent, Ukraine, Kiev
Home Page: http://escort-models.kiev.ua/en-index.html
Very good review!

Posted on Thu May 08, 09:25 by Paul007, Not an English Teacher, Tokyo, Japan
Home Page: http://paulhartrick.com
Not a big fan of that style of camera, clumsy to use in my opinion. I wonder how fast and effective the Sony Software is, drives me crazy when you need proprietary software to use your hardware.

Posted on Sat May 10, 01:42 by AlmostaGeek, Trainer, Internet Consultant, Seattle & Fukuoka
Home Page: http://www.almostageek.com
Wow, that looks like something I might have to pick up. Looking for something similar to the FlipVideo but better quality and expandable memory. Great Review!

Posted on Tue May 13, 02:08 by Debudabu, IT Manager, Tokyo
Home Page:
Take I
its seems like you guys have a lot of contacts in Sanyo and that is why you also get to review their products before its hit the market. unfortunately, it looks like you are "paying" back by giving biased reviews. the TG1 is way better camera than the HD1000 will ever be, the Sanyo's price is lower currently but was not so, when the camera was just launched. in few months the Sony will be cheaper than the 128,000 it is selling now for, as well.
to be continued in the following comment

Posted on Tue May 13, 02:09 by Debudabu, IT Manager, Tokyo
Home Page:
Take II
Price aside, those two cameras just cannot be compared, the Sony video is much better in quality, in sharpness, in vivid true colors and very close to much bigger cameras, the Sanyo video suffers from a very slow focus (any changes in light, makes it go crazy). as for the stills quality; if you know what you are doing the Sony (with the inferior pixels) give a better result. all the pictures I took with the Sanyo are full of noise, dull colors and 80% are out of focus. the result with the Sony are far from being perfect, still if you do the right settings, correct matrix, stable your hand (with the digital stabilization feature OFF) you can get reasonable results. again, not perfect, but much better than the results I got from the HD1000, the CG9 or the CA8.

Posted on Wed May 14, 07:02 by newbie, IT Manager, San Diego
Home Page:
Debudabu,
Thanks for your unbiased opinion.
On another note, I have heard some very positive reviews on the Canon HD100, and I am curious how do you feel the Sony compares to that camera?

Posted on Thu May 15, 07:56 by Patricio, Student, NYC
Home Page:
Is this handicam compatible with a Mac? Will it run on Imovie or better yet on Final Cut Pro? I bought it already but havent been able to use it yet.