Sony HDR-SR12 reviewed: Lovely high definition pictures and sound, but no Progressive Mode?

After a lengthy period of being off the Sony radar, so to speak, it seems that the company really does want us to take a closer look at the latest camcorder offerings. That's something we're happy to do - especially when the latest offerings come in the shape of the marvellous new HDR-SR12 AVCHD camcorder.

Like its sibling, the HDR-SR11, this sturdy, fully featured HD camcorder appears to be up for anything you ask it to do. Not only does it offer a full range of connections that includes HDMI and USB 2.0 but also sports a external microphone input and dedicated headphone output. The latter two are enough to score serious SimplyDV brownie points alone, but even then it has lots more to commend it.

Read our exclusive review of the full high definition camcorder that offers a choice of either HD recording to its built-in 120GB hard disc drive or to an optional Memory Stick PRO Duo flash memory card. As you'll see from our new review, we like it in almost every respect - except that it doesn't offer recording in Progressive Scan mode - all it offers is the basic 1920 x 1080/50i mode in addition to MPEG2 standard definition recoding.

Why no progressive mode at a time when the company's competitors all offer this? Answers on a postcard!

Read the review here

Meanwhile, you can chat about this and other matters of a camcordery nature over on our SimplyDV Forums. They're free!