COLOR:
The camcorder does a good job in the color department, most of the time you get Accurate & Natural colors but other times it tends to vivid the blues & reds. The same happens with the Canon HF-S21, while Panasonic HDC-TM350 & HDC-TM700 looks more natural "most of the time".
LCD:
The touch responsiveness is simply amazing, comparing it to the Very Difficult to handle of the Canon HF-S21 and the just OK of the Panasonic family. The resolution is the best of his class by far. Also you can organize it in a very custom way; "You can use the menu items easily by registering the menu items you use most often on MY MENU. You can register 6 menus items on each MY MENUS of the MOVIE, PHOTOS and PAYBACK. That's a total of 18 pre-determent Custom Menus.
LENS:
The HDR-CX550V has larger lens than last year's model. The new G-Lens is capable of capturing videos at enormously wide angles, Close to 20 degrees more than Canons & JVC are capable of. It's also a much wider angle than you'll get from the Panasonic HDC-TM700.
Low Light:
In this area the clear winner is the HDC-TM350 or HDC-TM700, Sony has the Night Shot which allows to record in almost 0 LUX but you get a graining and unacceptable quality. Using the LOW LUX feature improves the image quality but some light is needed to be able to record.
RECORDING MODES:
Format Resolution Bitrate Codec
HD FX 1920 x 1080 24Mbps H.264AVC (AVCHD)
HD FH 1920 x 1080 17Mbps H.264AVC (AVCHD)
HD HQ 1920 x 1080 9Mbps H.264AVC (AVCHD)
HD LP 1920 x 1080 5Mbps H.264AVC (AVCHD)
STD 720 x 480 9Mbps MPEG-2
ZOOM & STEADYSHOT:
For some reason the SteadyShot has an impact on the zoom of the camera, when you have the SteadyShot set to Active the zoom goes up to 14X (this has been a complain for some reviewers because they have said it only goes up to 10X) but if you have the SteadyShot in Standard or OFF it does only go to 10X. Based on this, it seems like a good idea to consider that setting depending on the scene and recording conditions, example; if you are going to use the camcorder on a tripod to film landscapes, sunsets or any other scenography in which you want a wider angle it will be very helpful to turn OFF or put in Active the SteadyShot, but if the situation is the other way around, you want to record a far away object and want them to looks closer then the SteadyShot should be in Active mode even when using a tripod.
Comparing the HDC-TM700 (12X) to the HDR-CX550 (10X) in Optical Zoom and TM700 (18X I. Zoom) vs. CX550 (14X Without been named or pointed out by anybody else). At Digital Zoom the TM700 goes up to 30X or 700X (complementing its name) while CX550 MAX is 120X, either of them display very bad and distorted images when the Digital Zoom is used.
The Stabilization produced by the STEADYSHOT is one of the best I have ever seen, it works great in all situations while keeping very sharp image quality.
STILL PICTURE:
In the still picture nobody can beat the JVC GZ-HM1 as far as quality-sharpness-colors; the Sony does a descent job just like any other camcorder in this price range. The Smile Shutter is one of the FUN features of this Camcorder, this allows to take a picture every time the cam detects someone smiling, Smile shutter can be set so that it is always on, to work during video recording only, or it can be turned off completely but unfortunately this is NOT available when recording at the MAX Quality Setting of 24Mbps HD FX Mode.
FUN Features:
Smooth Slow Record: A slow motion setting that records 3 seconds of footage and turns it into 12 seconds of Very Slow Video. This setting shoots at a very high Frame Rate of 240fps in order to create the slow motion effect. You have the option to select that the Camcorder record those 3 seconds after you press the START button or be recording at all time (like a Pre-Record Mode) so when you press the START button the last 3 seconds will be converted into the 12 seconds of Very Slow Video. The quality of this Smooth Slow Record is NOT quite close to HD, it may be SD quality at 16x9 aspect ratio.
Golf Shot: Takes two quick seconds of video and divides it into frames that are recorded as a movie and photos in a 16x9 aspect ratio.
GPS: The built-in GPS allows you to keep track of your videos & photos by the location in which they were shot. By having the GPS on, the battery life decreases by 2-3 %.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is a good camcorder with lots of Manuals and Fun features, very portable, with a good overall performance; it looks like a very good choice for a Family-Vacation's Camcorder.
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