Choosing The Right Sony HD Camcorder

I am in the market for a new HD camcorder as we will be going to CES 2009 in less than a month. We plan on providing HD coverage of the CES experience through Vimeo‘s video hosting services. Choosing the right HD camcorder is a bit overwhelming to the novice, however. I’m pretty set on choosing a Sony camcorder, of course, because I want people to see the footage shot through a Sony camera as a demonstration of its great quality. Right now, my options are the HDR-SR12, HDR-S11, and HDR-S10.

One of the best tips I can recommend to someone who is confused as to what camcorder they should purchase is to check out the aforementioned Vimeo site and type in the camcorder model name into the search field. For example, here is a search for the HDR-S11, which brings up numerous videos shot with the camera. The beauty of Vimeo is that they allow HD uploads and HD viewing, which allows you to get a general idea of how your videos will turn out.

I want a HD camcorder with built-in hard drive and USB/firewire connectivity because I don’t want to purchase memory sticks that I’ll end up misplacing nor do I wish to use tape. My price range, like most consumer camcorder purchasers, is under a thousand dollars. Unfortunately, it seems like the HDR-SR10 is slightly less in quality than the HDR-SR11 and HDR-SR12 for several reasons. Unlike the SR11 and SR12, the SR10 has no viewfinder, but has the LCD which should be more than sufficient for most people including myself. Furthermore, the SR10 has a 2.36 MP Optical Sensor Resolution, whereas the SR11′s is 5.66 MP.

The SR10 is capable of taking roughly 4MP still pictures, where the SR11/SR12 has 10MP effective quality. And of course, the SR10 has a 40GB hard drive, where the SR11 and SR12 has 60 and 120GB, respectively. The major factors that keep me from buying the SR10 is that I need a HD camcorder that can shoot still pictures in higher quality. That way I wouldn’t have to take a camera and a camcorder to the show. I would much prefer to use the SR11′s 10MP resolution for still images at CES..

I was able to find the HDR-SR10 at Dell.com for $699, which is about $770 after taxes – this is a very good deal. I also spotted the HDR-SR11 at Dell for $969, and the SR12 for $999. I stopped by Best Buy the other day and they agreed to price match Dell’s website. Is the SR12 at $999 the sweet spot? It sure seems like it, but money is a little tight and I’m expecting more price cuts for their camcorders as this range is nearly at the end of its product lifecycle. No matter what, I will be buying something soon, or maybe I should just make a formal request to Sony and ask if they’ll lend us some nice equipment.