Rated 
best in its class
15x zoom, hard-disk storage, lowest cost, superior image clarity/auto-focus, expandability options, face recognition technology, remaining battery time in minutes
a little larger in size than its direct competitor - Panasonic HDC-SD9, smaller HDD (compared to 60GB)
Posted 1 year ago - I looked for a hi-def camera in the low price range (lowest!) since it did not make much sense to invest much in it, as with any latest technology, in a couple of years there will be much better choices. Main differentiating factors were: 1) image quality at max. zoom level 2) optical image stabilization (at max. zoom) 3) storage space 4) battery time I looked at Panasonic (owner of two Panasonic cameras in the past), Canon, JVC. All of them looking cool, bells and whistles, but inferior in what should matter most in a camcorder: image quality (resolution,brightness,color) AND battery time. This camera seems to outperform all rivals in this price range. The main temptation was to go with Panasonic's HDC-SD9 - which is build smaller and has all the nice features of this one too, EXCEPT that it showed some problems with its auto-focus at max. zoom levels (only 10x vs. 15x). When zooming quickly at a distant object the auto-focus had to adjust several times up/down until locking up and then, similarly if you re-focus on another object. It seemed that the system was confused if with multiple-object scenes where the objects were at a significantly different distance (a lamp pole or insignificant object closer to the main object in the distance). Also the white-balance and color saturation seem to adjust a few seconds after change in the scene compared to very good steady lock by Sony's camcorder. This was my final "yes" for the Sony's product.
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