New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

3D - HDR-TD10 (2011).
Professional models - HXR-NX70 (2011). HXR-MC2000, HXR-MC50 (2010).
Flash Memory / consumer - HDR-CX260V, HDR-CX580V, HDR-CX740VE, HDR-CX760V (2012). HDR-CX360V, HDR-CX560V, HDR-CX700V (2011). HDR-CX110, HDR-CX150, HDR-CX300, HDR-CX350V, HDR-CX550V (2010). HDR-CX100 (2009). HDR-CX12 (2008). HDR-CX7 (2007).
Hard Disk / consumer - HDR-XR260V (2012). HDR-XR150, HDR-XR350V, HDR-XR550V (2010). HDR-XR100, HDR-XR200, HDR-XR500, HDR-XR520 (2009). HDR-SR11, HDR-SR12 (2008). HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7 (2007).
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Stephan
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New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by Stephan »

The new consumer Sony camcorders, that were announced at CES 2012, are out any minute now...

In the US, you have the new HDR-CX760V with 96GB embedded flash memory, while in Europe you have the HDR-CX740VE (French website) with only 32GB internal memory. My guess is, the crippled memory capacity is probably to keep the price under the dreaded 1300 EUR cap (VAT incl.) That's too bad really, Sony.

Some notable changes this year:
- Not using "Sony G" lenses anymore, Sony is back to the "Carl Zeiss" franchise. Is it good, is it bad? That's anybody's guess, opinions seem to vary widely.
- "Balanced" Optical Image Stabilization - Quote from Sony: Balanced Optical SteadyShot(TM) image stabilization w/ Active Mode moves the entire optical block at once, maintaining the integrity of the optical path and improving shake reduction by up to 13X. It also reduces vignetting (light falloff towards the edge of a scene) and lowers distortion in videos and still photos.
- The camera is provided with a lens hood for sun protection - woohoo!

And still no capacity to shoot 60i in Europe, we're stuck with the 50p nonsense. But I'm probably going to get one anyway. Nice and handy for vacation trips.
HDR-CX740
HDR-CX740
hdr-cx740b.jpeg (47.47 KiB) Viewed 18867 times
HDR-CX740
HDR-CX740
hdr-cx740a.jpeg (39.49 KiB) Viewed 18867 times
luxcam
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Re: New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by luxcam »

Hi there, so basically if we have the choice should we buy the CX760V in the US rather than the CX740VE in Europe ? is the difference only on the price as I read that also the recording is different 60i vs 50p 60i being better ? but also can you easily post MPEG4 format etc ? or do we have NTSC format on one side and PAL in the other ? ... thanks in advance
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Stephan
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Re: New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by Stephan »

Hi, great question! With no easy answer.

Not just price, the HDR-CX760V has 96GB internal memory vs. 32GB for the HDR-CX740VE. They are all recording the same MPEG4 (AVCHD), the resolution is exactly the same (1920x1080 square pixels), and you are right to say that the only essential recording difference is the allowed frame rates: 50i/25p/50p for the European HDR-CX740VE, 60i/24p/60p for the US HDR-CX760V.

It depends which use you have of the camcorder (outdoors / indoors / artificial lighting), what's your target distribution medium (DVD / blu-ray / internet):
- For Internet distribution, a US camcorder is absolutely best because shooting 60i (59.94Hz) almost perfectly matches the default refresh rate of 60Hz for computer monitors. Said differently, you will only achieve smooth motion video on the Internet if you shoot 60i, not 50i.
- But if you shoot indoors with artificial lighting, you need to pay attention to the frequency of the power lines because some neon lights will flicker at the same frequency as the power line, and if your camcorder doesn't match, you're in big trouble. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem to happen so often - but as the world is in the process of replacing incandescent lights (which do NOT suffer flicker) with low-power bulbs (which MAY), I don't know.

So in short:
- If you have a choice, you shoot outdoors, and your target is the Internet, then get a US 60i.
- If you shoot indoors in Europe, then be careful because a European 50i may be the safest choice.

By the way, I recently bought a HDR-CX740VE and brought it with me on a 1-week cruise in the Mediterranean. Fantastic picture with a few tweaks, great build quality, but very bad sound wtih an external Rode mic and slightly insufficient picture controls. I need to post a review - will try to find time for that.
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Doughie
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Re: New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by Doughie »

Stephan wrote:but as the world is in the process of replacing incandescent lights (which do NOT suffer flicker) with low-power bulbs (which MAY), I don't know.
That is a very good point - in that there IS a switchover going on from incandescents to flurorescent etc and incandescenets do not flicker. So whilst in the past 20years flickering videos (due to the Hertz rate of the bulbs interacting with the field rate recording and producing 'beat' interference) was never really a big issue as incandescent bulbs have dominated interior lighting entirely, people are going to have to consider this 'flickering lights' issue a little more as other types of lights taking over now from tungsten bulbs do flicker very fast (60Hz in USA/Canada, and 50Hz in PAL-countries).
Stephan wrote:By the way, I recently bought a HDR-CX740VE and brought it with me on a 1-week cruise in the Mediterranean. Fantastic picture with a few tweaks, great build quality, but very bad sound wtih an external Rode mic and slightly insufficient picture controls. I need to post a review - will try to find time for that.
Curious about the bad sound. What external rode mic ? Videomic? a different Rode model? Possible bad mic connector? Or is it just a windnoise issue (bound to be lots of wind on a cruise ship outdoors). Rode condenser mics like the Videomic and Videomic Pro and Stereo Videomic are VERY sensitive to moving-air such as wind noise.
To remedy that, Rode (or other companies) make 'Deadcat' windshields and Rode now make an 'uprated' version which i think is coded as a "WS6" - can handle more wind.

But.... the bad sound may be nothing to do with wind,.... just a guess...
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Stephan
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Re: New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by Stephan »

Hi,

That's the new Stereo Videomic Pro, and I do have a DeadCat (actually, the smaller Dead Kitten LOL :-)

No, as there is no visual indicator for saturation (as opposed to FX7 for instance) I decided to record "lower level" (there's a setting for that) in order to try & avoid saturation. But the auto level adjustment (which we can't deactivate) overreacts in strange ways to bass / low-freq sounds, and the sound volume oscillates in a strange wowowowowow alternative sound. Next time I'll try & use the low-cut filter in the microphone maybe.

I'll record normal level next time, but even then it seems the audio input saturates a bit easily. Not the hard / digital audio clipping, but the soft saturation of analog audio that makes it sound odd and slightly distorted. And in other situations at normal level, some strange internal reverberation was amplifying background noise a lot like in an echo chamber. Very, very disappointing.
Ahoy-Boats
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Re: New Sony HDR-CX760V HDR-CX740VE

Post by Ahoy-Boats »

Maybe you should have used a Sony mic as this is a Sony Camcorder. I have a Sony A33 and I discovered when experimenting with Sony lapel mics that when I tried to combine two together it was important to use the correct Sony cables as the Sony cables provided automatic attentuation! Also the jack on standard, off-the-shelf cables simply did not fit into the sockets on the camera far enough. So maybe the signal from your Rode was just too great and needed to be attenuated. Just a thought.
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