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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Colour & Noise Performance
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03.Motion & Sharpness Performance
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04.Low Light Performance
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05.Compression & Media
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06.Manual Controls
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07.Still Features
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08.Handling & Use
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09.Playback & Connectivity
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10.Audio & Other Features
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11.Kodak Playsport Comparison
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12.Sony MHS-CM5 Comparison
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13.Picsio GC-WP10 Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Specs and Ratings
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16.Comments
Sony Bloggie Touch MHS-TS20
Previous: Part 2
Colour & Noise PerformanceNext: Part 4
Low Light Performance
Motion & Sharpness Performance Summary
• The Bloggie Touch can record using a 30p frame rate at a 1920 x 1080 resolution, or a 60p frame rate at 1280 x 720 (it can also record 720/30p).
• There is no standard definition record mode on the Bloggie Touch.
• Sharpness levels weren't bad, but other ultracompact models did better.
Motion (7.40)
The Bloggie Touch can record video using a 30p or 60p frame rate, although to record at 60p you must use the 1280 x 720 record mode (Full HD is only available at 1080/30p). In our test video, the camcorder did a good job keeping artefacting to a minimum and producing a crisp image. When we looked closely, we did see some artefacting in the waterfall portion of our test, but it wasn't too noticeable. The video in the camcorder's 1080/30p mode was also choppier than we'd hoped it would be, but the 720/60p setting produce very smooth video. (More on how we test motion.)
| Sony Bloggie Touch | Kodak Playsport | Sony MHS-CM5 | Picsio GC-WP10 | |
| Frame Rate(s) | 1080/30p, 720/60p, 720/30p | 1080/30p, 720/60p, 720/30p | 1080/30p, 720/60p | 1080/30p, 720/60p |
| Artefacting | Much of our test footage looked crisp, but artefacting was prominent in the water fountain. | Artefacting was noticeable, but there was less than we saw on previous Kodak models. | Improvement from previous models, but still a noticeable amount of artefacting in our test. | Noticeable artefacting, but not a hugely distracting. |
| Smoothness | The 1080/30p setting was very choppy, but the 720/60p mode looked perfectly smooth. | Smooth motion in all shooting modes. | Video looked smooth and impressive for an ultracompact camcorder. | Not the smoothest video, but decent overall. |
| Trailing | Trailing and blur wasn't a major problem—similar to what we saw from the Sony MHS-CM5. | There was a lot of blur and trailing when using the 1080/30p record mode. | Blur and trailing was a minor problem for the CM5. | Blur and trailing worse than TS20 but better than Playsport. |
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Frequency Interference |
Interference was a problem in our test and it was noticeable on both rotating pinwheels. | Strong colour bleeding in the RGB pinwheel during our test. | Some straight lines looked choppy during our test. | Lines weren't as jagged, but it was still a problem. There was also quite a bit of blocky pixelation in our test video. |
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Slow Motion Mode(s) |
None | None | None | Time-Lapse Record |
The Bloggie Touch didn't have the best motion performance we've seen from an ultracompact camcorder, but its results in our test weren't all that bad. It had less artefacting than the previous generation Bloggie MHS-CM5, although the CM5 captured smoother video. If Sony could just clean this aspect up a bit, the Bloggie Touch would be well ahead of the pack in terms of its motion rendering capability. The video from the Bloggie Touch shown below was shot by holding the camcorder horizontally, which creates a normal widescreen video (16:9 aspect ratio). Holding the camcorder vertically will result in a much different video image that is tall and thin with black bars on both sides. You can see an example of what we're talking about here.
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Sony Bloggie Touch click here for large HD version |
Kodak Playsport click here for large HD version |
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Sony MHS-CM5 click here for large HD version |
Picsio GC-WP10 click here for large HD version |
Video Sharpness (9.34)
The Sony Bloggie Touch MHS-TS20 can record Full HD video, but that didn't translate into a top-notch performance in our video sharpness test. The Bloggie Touch managed a horizontal and vertical sharpness of 600 lw/ph each, which is a bit lower than the sharpness levels we measured from the competition. Even so, this performance from the Bloggie Touch isn't terrible—we just expected better from the camcorder. (More on how we test video sharpness.)
| Video Sharpness Score Comparison |
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Compare the Sony Bloggie Touch to the Kodak Playsport |
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Compare the Sony Bloggie Touch to the Sony MHS-CM5 |
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Compare the Sony Bloggie Touch to the Picsio GC-WP10 |
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