I WAS LOOKING FOR A DIGITAL CAMCORDER THAT RECORDED ON TO HARD DRIVE IN FULL HIGH DEFINITION (HD) RESOLUTION. THE SONY DOES THIS. I ALSO WANTED TO EDIT THE HIGH DEFINTION FOOTAGE ON A (NLE) VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE. THIS CAMCORDER IS CAPABLE OF DOING THIS BUT, THERE IS A CATCH. THE SONY SAVES ALL VIDEO CLIPS IN A FORMAT CALLED "MT2S." WHEN I BOUGH THE CAMCORDER MOST (NLE) VIDEO SOFTWARES DID NOT SUPPORT MT2S FILES. I HAD TO COVERT THE FILES TO MPEG BEFORE EDITING THEM. THE CONVERSION SOFTWARE THAT COMES IN THE BOX ONLY ALLOWS YOU TO CONVERT HIGH DEFINITION TO STANDARD DEFINITION 720 x 480. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN (NLE) VIDEO SOFTWARES THAT SUPPORTS MT2S FILES YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO EDIT HIGH DEFINITION (HD) RESOLUTION VIDEOS. SONY VEGAS PRO 8 DOES SUPPORT MT2S VIDEO CLIPS. WITH THIS PROGRAM, AND A FEW OTHERS, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EDIT HIGH DEFINITION FILES. AMEN.

THE HIGH DEFINITION PICTURE QUALITY IS FAIR. IT CLEARITY IS FINE BUT, IT IS NOT THE BEST IVE SEEN. THE CHEAPER JVC GZ HD3 PRODUCED A SHARPER LOOKING PICTURE IN DAYLIGHT. THE SONY'S LOW LIGHT PERFORMANCE IS POOR. THE PICTURE IT PRODUCES HAS A LOT OF NOISE. THERE IS A FREATURE CALLED COLOR SLOW THAT SLOWS DOWN THE SHUTTER SPEED AND GIVES YOU BETTER COLOR AND LESS NOISE IN LOW BUT, IT OFFTEN TIMES PRODUCES BLURED IMAGES. THE NIGHT SHOT FEATURE WORKS WELL IN LOW LIGHT BUT, IT GIVES EVERTHING A GREEN TINT. OVERALL, THE COLOR REPRODUCTION IS FAIR.

THE STEREO MIC IS GOOD. IT RECORDS SOUND WELL. THERE ARE NO MIC INPUTS. THERE IS NO HEADPHONE OUTPUT. FOR EXTERNAL SOUND YOU WILL HAVE TO PURCHASE AN EXTRA GADGET.

OVERALL, IT IS OK. JUST A BIT EXPENSIVE FOR THE PICTURE QUALITY YOU RECIEVE.