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I mentioned the announcement of this device along with a size comparison chart.

Also known as the Sony HDR-TG1, here’s an exclusive unboxing of Sony’s new ‘Full HD’ hybrid cam brought to you by Matt of Tracy and Matt’s Blog.

Big thumbs up for the built in ports. It includes USB, HDMI, component video, composite video, and a docking port as well.

It does appear a bit long. May not be fit well in jeans but should fit fine in a jacket pocket or cargo pants.

Tracy and Matt’s Blog :: Sony HDR-TG3E Handycam preview video (exclusive)

5×5 Windy Day from Rodfather on Vimeo.

First 5×5 Vignette. It was a very windy day so I took some footage of some plants & trees blowing in the wind.

Shot from Canon TX1 at 720P. The audio had a lot of wind noise even though I turned on the wind filter. It was ridiculously windy though so it was expected. My hat flew off twice during this time.

I did an experiment in post. Edited this with my 800Mhz Fujitsu U810 UMPC using Sony Vegas. While editing, the preview screen couldn’t really keep up but it wasn’t actually too bad editing HD footage on such a slow computer. I’m somewhat glad now that the Canon TX1 encodes to MJPEG. If it encoded to H.264, there would be no way I would be able to edit it since H.264 is so processor intensive.

I ended up encoding the final product to 720P WMV. It took 54 minutes to encode 25 seconds worth of footage.

I doubt I will edit HD footage on a UMPC in the near future, but it’s nice to know it’s even possible.

Download WMV from Vimeo page - 1280×720 30FPS (99MB)

Cruise to bowling alley (unedited) from Rodfather on Vimeo.

Unedited.

My first video with my new Canon TX1. Took a cruise to bowling alley.

It was around 5PM, overcast, and raining. Basically just stuck in traffic. Somewhat of a good test to see if the autofocus would search all over the place. It wasn’t too bad though.

I had the camera mounted on a GorillaPod SLR. The video was very shaky but didn’t go into a mess of blur. The OIS did its job I guess. The shakiness was just too much.

I encoded the raw MJPEG file (2.48 GB!!) to H.264 at 3.5 Mbps with VLC player. VLC player is a very fast encoder but probably not the best quality. Especially since it only did 1 pass.

I did a bit of handheld toward the end. Someone was pulled over so wanted to see what the cops were up to.

Download MP4 from Vimeo page - 1280×720 30FPS H.264 3.5Mbps (274MB)

It appears the hybrid cam movement is in full swing. Sony announced the HDR-TG1 high definition camera.

Weighing in at only 300g, it’s appears very pocketable with its 32×119x63mm dimensions. This is now the smallest Full HD camcorder.

You can expect to record 1 hour and 50 minutes of 1080i 30 FPS video at 16Mbps on an 8GB MemoryStick. You’ll be able to snap 4 megapixel photos in camera mode and 2.2 megapixel photos while recording video. I’ll assume the video is not interrupted while taking photos like the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000.

As for the lens..

“Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 10x optical zoom lens and 2-megapixel ClearVid™ CMOS sensor with Exmor™-derived technology”

—–

The specs and functionality appear to be a combination of the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000 and the Canon TX1 which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Wish Sony would dump the MemoryStick and just go with SDHC cards though.

It has all the latest goodies such as an Easy mode and Face detection. I’m crossing my fingers for a 720P 60FPS video mode.

Using sizeasy.com, you can see it’s just a bit taller than the Canon TX1. This is most likely due to the Sony’s 2.7 inch LCD display.

Check out the video and gallery over at Akihabara news.

New Camera, originally uploaded by Rodfather.

I only checked the door two times after hearing a truck go by. Pretty good eh? Anyway, here’s what I received.

* Canon TX1
* A-Data 2GB SD card which came free with the camera
* A-Data 16GB SDHC card
* Dolica Canon Accessory pack. For only $15 it came with a mini-tripod, 2 screen protectors, case, and most importantly, a spare battery.
* Another Dolica spare battery

This should cover me for now. 3 batteries and a 16GB SDHC card.

Immediate impressions? A bit heavier than I thought. Very solid build. Trying to figure out how an AC adapter plugs into this.