| Brand: | Sony | ||
| Average Rating |
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Sony’s Handycam(R) camcorder, HDR-TG1, records Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution video from a small, light, and slim body crafted from pure titanium that’s tough enough for travel or everyday HD video shooting. The stylish model incorporates a Premium Hard Coating for superior resistance to even the smallest scratches. The HDR-TG1 records to convenient Memory Stick(R) PRO Duo media, and Sony’s ClearVid CMOS Sensor (with Exmor derived technology) and BIONZ image processor provide spectacular video and stunning 4.0 MP still images. Additionally, Sony Face Detection technology automatically finds and enhances a face, to help capture faces beautifully. Dynamic Range Optimizer enhances exposure and Contrast Smooth Slow Record (240fps) with Audio Recording x.v.Color technology captures lifelike color Bionz Image Processor PictBridge Compatible Face Detection technology controls focus, exposure, and color for both video and still images, so faces are captured more clearly and skin tones look more natural Dual record capability lets you capture precious still shots while simultaneously shooting HD or Standard Definition video 1920 x 1080 Full HD video Resolution 10x Optical Zoom and 20x Digital Zoom 1/5 ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor technology) 2360K Pixel Gross 2.7 wide touch panel Clear Photo LCD Plus Display 4.0 megapixel JPEG still image capture Video Formats – High Definition – MPEG4, AVC/H.264; Standard – MPEG2 Recording Time with supplied 4GB Memory Stick(R) PRO Duo (We recommend purchasing an optional 8GB Memory Card for optimal usage)High Definition – FH = up to 25 min., HQ = up to 55 min. SP = up to 65 min., LP = up to 85 min.Standard Definition – HQ = up to 55 min., SP = up to 80 min., LP = up to 160 min. Connections on Handycam(R) A/V Remote Station – Analog A/V Outputs, Component Video Output, S-Video Output, Audio Connections on Handycam – USB 2.0, HDMI (mini) 1-Year Pa more info
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Problems with cards over 4GB
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought the product about 2 months ago and have had serious problems with memory cards over 4GB. It also exhibits low battery when you charge the battery using external sources and then put it into the camera. The pictures are good in daylight and grainy in low light.
Sony HDR TG1 HD1080 camcorder
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So far the camera has been awesome. Its very portable and the battery life has been excellent. I have yet to record continuously to test the full battery life. I have recorded for 5-10min blocks but have done so for weeks and the battery is fully charged. Very weird. I have not transferred any video as of yet to see quality so I cannot comment. The picture quality is so so but I have not played with the settings to get the yellow out or reduce it. My main reason for getting this camera is the compactness. What good is a good quality film camera if you don’t have it when you need it because it is too bulky.
If this is what you’re looking for it’s a great product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is my first video camera. I am no way a video expert. I bought it for the arrival of my first child.
Pros:
Out of the box it is easy to get started. The controls are very intuitive, The 10x optical plus digital zoom give you more zoom than I expected when I purchased it.
I own a new Intel based Mac Book, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to transfer the ACVHD easily to IMovie. It turned out to be incredibly easy and I had no issues with the image stabilization causing distortion.
The TG1 is small and easily portable but the image stabilization really keeps the video from appearing jerky.
Sony packages everything you need: charging adaptor, hdmi cables, usb cables, standard video cables
Cons:
Sony memory stick not industry standard SD. San disk is now making a cheap memory stick knockoff
HD down loads are a bit slow. This is just a function of the amount of information and transitioning to IMovie.
You can hear this funny little noise with the auto focus and zoom on playback if the recording doesn’t have much other sound going on. Kind of sounds like Predator, minimal annoyance.
Overall: This thing is awesome, absolutely love it. Not to rat out Amazon but B&H photo has it for $535. 40% off the amazon price.
Not for videophiles, but a good premium travel camcorder.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The TG1 is Sony’s attempt at producing a premium quality ultra-compact camcorder. They touted it as the world’s smallest full HD camcorder and yes the thing is very slim, and pretty much pocketable in a coat pocket. Much of the body is titanium metal with some kind of coating to help resist scratches. This is a camcorder that you could comfortably carry with you everywhere you go, which makes it a great choice as a secondary camcorder. It’s great for the person who wants to travel as light as possible. I’m not going to write a verbose review describing every feature, because frankly, you can read much of what you need to know about its features, specs, in the marketing description above. Rather I’ll just focus on the essentials of what I think of it as a user. I’m still experimenting with it so I will keep this review up to date if I discover anything new.
- Build: This thing feels solid and substantial. From what I gather, the body is basically all metal, mostly high-tech titanium alloy to save weight, and everything about it feels high quality. Easily meets my expectations for the price.
- Accessories: the package includes a docking bay so you can charge and transfer files from the camcorder without fiddling with cables. If you don’t want to use the dock, it also includes a special cable that plugs into the dock connector which allows you to plug in a USB cable to transfer files. It includes brick charger that plugs into the camcorder or docking bay. You do not get any sort of case, nor does it include a remote (none is available). It’s also missing an HDMI to mini-HDMI cable if you want to view your videos on your HDTV (note: there are some inexpensive online sources for this….you don’t have to buy a $50-75 cable that your local big box store might be charging you). You get a 4GB memory stick which gives you around 30 minutes of video at highest quality, but of course if you lower the quality and resolution setting, you can get a lot more recording capacity. For my precious memories, I always kept it at the maximum quality setting. I recommend buying a 16GB memory stick for about $80 (as of early 2009) which gives you 2 hours of full quality recording which was enough for me to capture my one week vacation.
- Software: I don’t have anything to report on this because I didn’t even install it. People say it doesn’t do much for editing so I’ve been looking at using other software to transfer and edit my videos. More on this later. You don’t really need to install this if you have other editing software.
- Quality: if there is good light (e.g. daytime, outdoors). The quality is very good at the high quality setting. Being HD, the scenes are chockfull of detail that are lost on lesser non-HD camcorders. There is a small degree of graininess but nothing objectionable unless your reference is much bigger camcorder. However, the picture quality falls apart when the light level falls. It becomes very grainy and the focussing is slow and gets confused often. When I took the camcorder on side theme park rides that went into some dark areas, the camera lost focus fairly easily and seemed to “search and hunt” a lot and very slowly regain focus. The 10X lens is decent enough to capture a lot of detail, more than average for this size class. It’s not particularly wide-angle (starts at 43mm) but it’s about the same as others. The still picture is 4 megapixels which seems like it could be good enough on paper, but I suggest that any $150 point and shoot still camera will still take better pictures than this camcorder so. I think it is worth carrying around a real still digital camera rather than relying on the TG1 for still pictures for your precious vacation shots. The stabilization is decent, as good as my last two camcorders in that respect, so no complaints there.
- Battery: the real-time charge indicator indicates around 60 minutes of recording but in reality you’ll get much less if you start/stop/shutdown your camcorder repeatedly. I’d estimate more like 30-40 minutes if you have that usage pattern. So you really want to have an extra battery with you if you plan to go all day recording on your vacation. The camcorder goes into “standby/quick start” mode every time for about 10 minutes when you first shut the LCD panel, and then finally shuts down completely after that. That could contribute to the diminished battery life if you film in short bursts over the day.
- Ease of use. The touch screen operation isn’t that complicated to use if you are the type to not read the manual and you plan to use it in “fully automatic” mode most of the time. There were a few things I needed to consult the manual for, like how to get it into the “Fireworks” mode (which by the way, you’ll want to use this mode because it locks the camera into long focus so the fireworks don’t go out of focus and sets up a better exposure). I also had to look up how to get the camera hooked up to transfer the files (use the dock, flip on the display, press USB connection button on the screen). I scratched my head a little bit to figure out how to delete multiple clips at the same time but after playing with it, I figured it out by trial and error. I think this camera is about average in difficulty to use compared to every other camcorder I’ve used, no big surprises here.
Case: I like the optional LCM-TGA case which is made of leather, has a belt loop (but is a bit small so you need to use a narrow thin belt). The case is custom sized to fit the camcorder perfectly. I used it exclusively on my belt and I was able to draw the camera very quickly due to the magnetic clasp on the flap. If it’s still in standby mode, you can be filming is a few seconds.
Software: As I said, I never installed the software, but I have a Apple Mac with iMovie 08, and I decided to buy Sony Vegas Platinum 09 ($85) for my PC with Vista to try as well. The issue with this camcorder and a lot of others is that they record in AVCHD format, which isn’t handled by a lot of older editing software, even pretty recent versions of Adobe Premiere for example. The Mac OS/iMovie 08 recognizes the camera natively, but for some reason, when I rendered the movie to my hard disk, there was a lot of jaggies in the resulting movie using either Quicktime H.264 or MP4 movie codec at 1920×1080 settings even at high bitrate, but it looked good for generating DVD quality movies. When you import the movies on iMovie and opt to import them as full HD resolution, it eats up your hard disk space very quickly (2 hours ate up 100GB I think) because it converts them to Apple Intermediary format. I might upgrade to iMovie 09 to see if it works better. It was also very slow in generating even short movies so I also decided to give Sony Vegas 09 Platinum a try. I figured that Sony software would work well with Sony AVCHD files. Sony Vegas is a much more complicated and feature laden piece of software, which is fine, but it also keeps crashing on my project whenever I generate the movies. Why oh why does all this have to be so difficult? I’ll report back if I discover more.
Some other thoughts:
Not being able to attach auxiliary lenses is unfortunate. I would have liked a wide angle lens option. Also there is no hot-shoe so you can’t attach lights, or external mics. Too bad….it really limits this camcorder for just casual use.
So all-in-all, I’m pleased with this camera. My main points you should take away are:
- Slow focusing and below average low-light performance.
- Battery life could be better.
- Good daytime performance, and excellent build quality
- I still haven’t found a good AVCHD software package to let me edit/generate movies easily and reliably. Still looking.
I’ve owned it for a year – excellent compact video camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been using this camera now for over a year to record family vacations and events. I have greatly enjoyed the camera and feel that it was well worth the purchase price.
Put the camera in proper context before evaluating – it is not a professional video camera – it is a small, high quality camera that I can slip into the front pocket of my jeans or my coat pocket and carry with me wherever I go. The all metal construction makes it feel like the high quality device that it is – no cheap plastic construction. It turns on almost instantly and is ready to record family moments.
If you don’t like fooling around with AVCHD, then simply place the camera in Standard Quality mode – the resulting output is still excellent in both daylight and dark or indoor situations. When I get home, I simply remove my 4 GB or 8GB memory stick and place it in a card reader to save on the PC.
Don’t get all hung up on the difficulties with the AVCHD (high definition) format. If you don’t have the computing power or software now, just use SD until you are ready. Many people fumble with HD clips and then wind up downgrading them to SD to fit them on a DVD. (BTW, you can record about 20 min of HD on a standard DVD and play in a Blu Ray player. The memory stick cards play natively in HD on my PS3.)
To sum it up, this camera has allowed me to record MANY more family moments than any other video camera I have owned over the last 15 years. It is so easy to take it with me, conceal it in a pocket and not look like a tourist, that I take use it much more than I would with a regular camera. The high quality construction and the high definition video are simply icing on the cake.
P.S. – for night shots, such as recording half time performance at high school footbal games, I bring along a $20 monopod – it greatly helps in stabilizing highly zoomed shots.
Cool camera but….
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It’s a very high quality camera overall..but I have one complaint ; transferring files (videos) to PC.. That’s a very very hard process for me..
Excellent compact HD digital video camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Sony HDR-TG1 4MP High Definition Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Super Steady Shot Zoom (4GB Memory Stick Included)
This is an outstanding compact HD camcorder.
Chic, Well built, Stylishness, Elegance, and Very Practical;
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love it; works great; Looks great;
It has Stylishness and Elegance,
Beautiful design and very Chic;
It has all you need for fast films;
The photos are not bad; It is well built;
And Very Practical camcorder;
Great and BETTER THAN New Model HDR-TG5V Due to 5.1 Sound!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camera has been replaced in the Sony lineup by the HDR-TG5V. I bought this a few weeks before this stopped showing up on Sony’s website and boy I am glad I did.
For one thing (besides the much cheaper price), THIS CAM HAS AMAZING 5.1 DOLBY SURROUND. I had mine outside at a festival and wow.. it sounds amazing.. you hear voices from the rear and front and sides like you do with any surround broadcast…. If you are filming and talk to your subject, the sound actually comes from rear…. I was skeptical about this feature originally since the mic is top mounted and one piece but boy.. it is great.
Now.. the NEW HDR-TG5V does NOT HAVE 5.1 SURROUND! All of the new Sony cams DO.. but for some reason it seems they took a step back here… it is just standard STEREO 2 channel sound…. I don’t feel the true HD experience is complete without Surround… Sony talks this up on EVERY HD cam.. and now in the newer model it is removed.
The only things different with the newer one are GPS location, cool but not easy to use nor necessary and 16 GB built in memory.. which a stick can be used all the same on this one… and it is slightly smaller
I HIGHLY recommend getting this over the newer HDR-TG5V as long as it is available…. The main thing you buy these for is picture and sound and let me tell you.. the 5.1 Dolby Surround is incredible… don’t give it up for the other “features” on the newer unit…
convenient and fully compatible with Macintosh OSX
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is an extremely convenient, easy to use digital camcorder and camera. It fits very nicely into both my pants pocket and small pockets on skirts, and the controls are very easy to use. It has good zoom control, is easy to switch back and forth between movie and photos, and allows photographing while also filming at the same time (which used to require a high degree of coordination with camera in left hand and video in right).
Best of all, it is fully compatible with Macintosh OSX (at least with iPhoto and iMovie 09), working seamlessly once it is USB connected. This is no thanks to Sony, who had terrible documentation that actually misled me into thinking the video was not compatible and that only photos on the memory stick (which I did not buy) would be compatible. I am very glad I decided to just hook it up anyways, and Mac OS X came through to the rescue!
The GPS tags worked perfectly with iPhoto (you just have to make sure it has found its location before shooting, as the movies and photos taken before this is done remain untagged). While it lacks night vision, it makes up for it with manual focus and automatic optimization of focus and exposure on faces. Recommended for its compact all in one and convenient use.
Great Camera – some hints for best usage
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got the TG1, which didn’t have GPS. No big deal, but make sure when traveling abroad that the time is set to local, and the TIME ZONE is also. If you plan to download clips consistently, set the time and time zone of your PC the same or times will be translated and confusing. Do the same with your camera and you can intersperse high quality photos with videos.
Buy the case – this was so easy to use with the case and attached strap. It even has a pocket for an extra memory stick. So easy I wore it everywhere and didnt feel encumbered like one of those bigger camcorders.
Turn off the quick-on mode. Sucks up battery like crazy and the difference is just a couple seconds to turn on, but you can get at least an hour of record time instead of 20 minutes or so.
View the enclosed CD video – it really helped me record well.
Get the Sony editing software – free for the first month.
Would give it 5 stars but not very good in low light, and image stabilization could be better. I’m looking for SW that would stabilize the images and any recommendation is welcome.
Only had this a week, but am loving it so far!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Had this a week, and have nearly filled the included 4gb memory stick with test footage, shot in all sorts of situations.
I’ve seen complaints that it doesn’t do well in low light. Haven’t found that to be a problem yet, even shooting in a dim hallway with half the light fixtures out.
Also have seen that the still pictures don’t come out well. The ones I’ve shot seem perfectly fine to me, no complaints there either, they’re coming out nice and sharp.
And so far as the AVCHD footage issues, well, given that I’ve got a 6+ year old Sony Vaio that has been upgraded as much as it can handle, I sort of expected my PC to choke on the HD footage. And it did. Would play the first frame, and then would get stuck there while the audio played on. Solution? Well, there were several: convert the footage into something that my PC CAN handle, burn it directly to DVD without trying to edit it, or just shoot in SD mode, which my PC could handle just fine. Most likely I’ll just burn the footage directly to DVD most times and not worry about it.
Complaints? That I can’t use the included software to burn an HD disc that will play on my standalone player. I’ve got a Toshiba HD player, and I’m fairly certain that the included software will only burn a disc that will play back on a Blu-Ray player, which I don’t have, but I’m sure I’ll get eventually, so not a big deal. Plus I have other software that will burn HD footage to an HD DVD on standard DVD-R discs that IS compatible with my Toshiba, so that should take care of the problem until then.
Also that it treats HD and SD footage completely separately; while the camera is in HD mode, it won’t play back SD footage, and vice versa. Will probably shoot mostly in HD anyway, so also not a big deal.
It SAYS that I can hook up the camera via USB cable and record the HD footage to a DVR, but I tried that tonight, and it didn’t seem to work. It recognized the camera, and would play the stills, but didn’t find the videos. I still have more manual to read, so I’m not worrying about that too much yet either, I’m fairly sure that the problem is just a user error not a hardware error.
All in all, very happy with this little camcorder so far. It’s got all the features I wanted (some sort of optical zoom, rotating LCD display, anti-shake feature, in a “flip” body type) packed into a very small unit.
Nice, but not earth shattering
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It seems that I’m a fan of the latest Sony releases, because I bought the HDR-SR1 when it first came out as well. With the HDR-SR1 I was transitioning from a tape to a HDD camera and I think that was a rather dramatic change. Now I am going from HDD to flash and the change doesn’t feel so monumental.
The size of the camera is nice, it weighs virtually nothing and yet it is stable in my hand. I think this must have something to do with the stabilization feature, but I’m not an expert on the subject. The quality of the video is the same as with the SR1 or other HD cameras, so I wasn’t as wowed as before, but considering the size of the camera I suppose I should be. The photos (as others have warned) do seem to be of a poorer quality, but it seems that if you switch it to camera mode they are better, so it’s only the photos while in video mode that aren’t top notch.
All in all, I think this is a good evolution, though not a revolution and something worth getting if you enjoy HD video. If I had one of the later Sony HDR-SR cameras, I might wait for the next iteration of the HDR-TG. However since my SR1 was getting long in the tooth, I have found it a good time to buy.
Awsome Small 1080p HD Camcorder
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the HD camcorder I’ve been waiting for. Great Color and Detail are what you get with this take anywhere camcorder from Sony! I would have bought it sooner, but decided to wait till pri ces dropped. My first recording was shot on my Disney Bday trip. Watching it on my 50″ plasma is like looking through a window into the past! Sony does have a newer version, the TG5, but the only difference is a GPS Tracker. Which I dont really want or need, save yourself about $300 to $400 and buy the TG1 before they run out!
Incredible
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The minute I saw the camera on the Sony web pages, I knew I had to have
one. I am a long time fan of Sony’s ability to turn out these small,
watch like products, back to the original Sony walkman, a player for
standard cassette tapes so thin and small that the player itself would fit
into the same box as the tapes did.
The HDR-TG1 is another Sony hit clean out of the park. The complaints
about it sound like complaints that the Apollo moon rocket could have
gone farther. This camera unites everything about where consumer video
cameras are going in the future, pocket size, high definition, flash
memory, and features fit and function.
Some of the complaints about it might have been solved simply with time.
The video format it uses is now widely supported, and I got a new
version of Pinnacle Studio that supported the format just fine (but
beware, if your video card does not have enough memory, Studio just
fails to display it without telling you why).
I choose the HDR-TG1 because the newer version simply added GPS and
a built in memory. I just added a 16gb card to get the same capacity for
far less, and I guess I will have to miss being able to navigate via
my pocket camera. The price difference is breathtaking.
I tried a shot in low light, and it has noise like all other cameras.
The photo still shot capability is adequate, but I carry a 12 megapixel
Sony along with this camera, and am happier with those shots.
One warning, the software that comes with it is fairly useless. The
“motion browser” was annoying with still images due to its need to
waste tons of computer time accomplishing nothing that I can figgure
out. With movies, it becomes downright obnoxious, taking HUGE amounts
of time. When you try to cancel it, it warns you that you are going to
lose video, a claim I will have to test at some point. Sony, allow us
to turn this useless option OFF.
The other gripe is that the export to .avi or .mpeg mode is thoroughly
USELESS. All it does is turn any motion shots into nightmare comb
(interlace) artifact displays. Pinnacle Studio managed to filter this
out just fine, and had far more output options that the Sony freeby
application. Sony, if you paid people for this software work, ya got
taken.
Otherwise, the Sony app is quite nice. It catalogs the movies and photos
together well, and thus I was impressed at how it integrates the shots
from my movie and still cameras (both Sony) well. The only other issue
was that on one machine that already had the still camera version the
software with Windows XP, it canceled the installation with an
incomprehensible message about “use the original installer” without
accomplishing anything. It took wiping the entire application and
starting over to fix it. At the risk of being repetitive, Sony, you need
to get better software programmers for your PC applications.
That’s it. Buy this camera before they discontinue it. Its a deal.