Camcorder Review:
Sony HDR-FX1 HDV (page 2)

The HDR-FX1 records a clean audio signal. You'll need an XLR to 1/8-inch adapter to get your microphone into the camera, but the jack is there, as is a headphone jack, of course. A user can switch between Mic and Line levels, although the setting placement on the menu is inconvenient. Switching between the automatic gain control and manual is a snap and a single dial sets the gain for both channels in manual mode. A plastic cover snaps back into place to protect the dial from accidental brushes once you have everything set up. There is a simple 2-channel level meter on the LCD and in the viewfinder, but it is not labeled with dB units. Our audio tests with a couple of shotgun microphones proved that the camera records a strong signal. The camera also has a peak limiter that has a fast attack and a slower release, but it cannot (unfortunately) be disengaged.

Besides the almost limitless image tweaks which let you get the picture you want in almost any situation, we also took the camera through our test bench for more objective measurements. In low-light situations, the Sony VX2100 proved to be a slightly better performer, but only by a stop or so. Our resolution tests also showed that the VX2100 shoots an objectively sharper image on our SD production monitor, which brings up an important point: on an SD television, whether by S-video or by component video outputs, the advantages of HDV and higher resolution will not be apparent. The image of the HDR-FX1 appeared slightly soft on an SD set, but only when compared with the incredible sharpness of the VX2100. Subjective image quality was still very beautiful and we did not notice any degradation when switching between DV and HDV modes.

We also ran tests on a dozen or so HD televisions of various kinds. The quality definitely depended at least partially on the quality of the television used for viewing. For example, on a 42-inch plasma television that can typically only hit 852x480 resolution (which is very common), the HDR-FX1 doesn't look any better than the VX2100 (but it sure doesn't look any worse, either).

Once we started testing on better televisions, the difference between SD DV footage and the HD HDV footage was dramatically apparent. Our test footage was simply breathtaking on a 52-inch JVC HD-ILA rear-projection television (MSRP $4,500). The level of detail was amazing and our resolution tests topped well over 700 lines. The image was sharp, but it wasn't too contrasty and retained fine details, even in deep shadows. We could see some compression artifacts on high-contrast edges and diagonal lines, but the effect was much (much!) less pronounced than test DV footage of the same scene. (We were not able to analyze the video on a computer at the time of this review.)

Interestingly, larger projection, LCD and plasma televisions are mostly 720p, that is, they downsampled the native 1080i image from the camcorder to 720p. Smaller HD direct view televisions often support 1080i, however.

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