Sony Handycam HDR-XR520VE

Motion (8.3)

Determining how good a camcorder can capture motion is a very difficult task. We look at artefacting, trailing, smoothness, and interference to come up with our motion score—but still, a large part about judging a camcorder's motion quality is based on personal preference. The Sony HDR-XR520VE showed very good motion, comparable to the best performers in the consumer HD market. Keep in mind, the YouTube videos below have been heavily compressed. Click on the HD links to watch higher-quality versions.  (More on how we test motion.)

The HDR-XR520VE showed a bit more artefacting in its moving image compared to the Canon HF S100. We mostly noticed this extra artefacting on the train as it made its way behind the two pin-wheels in our motion test. The overall image was very smooth, but it did exhibit a bit of trailing and ghosting at times. Perhaps the biggest let-down for the HDR-XR520VE is its lack of a 25p frame rate. There is a low-quality slow motion setting on the camcorder, but it recording in just ten second clips makes this feature more of a gimmick than a practical shooting mode.

All the camcorders in this set offer top-tier motion recording. The Canon HF S100 showed the least amount of artefacting in the bunch and it rendered a sharp, crisp image throughout. The HF S100, as with all high definition Canon camcorders, offers a 25p record mode. These settings are great if you want to give your video a slower, more film-like look.

In our motion test, the Panasonic HDC-HS300 and Sony HDR-XR520VE showed very similar results. The XR520VE had slightly less artefacting, but this was countered by the fact that the HS300 has a 25p mode (called Digital Cinema by Panasonic). Panasonic's 25p mode doesn't look quite as good as Canon's, but it is still an excellent feature to have.

The Sanyo VPC-HD2000 is not a camcorder that blends into the crowd. Apart from its unique design, it also offers native progressive recording at 1080/60p. This gives its footage a smoother look than any of the other camcorders in this set (all of which record at 1080/50i by default). The HD2000 also has less trailing and interference, but we did notice more artefacting. The VPC-HD2000 includes 60i and 30p record modes, as well as a few low-quality slow motion settings.

Video Sharpness (10.59)

Being Sony's top-of-the-line camcorder, it shouldn't be a surprise that the HDR-XR520VE has very good video sharpness. The camcorder measured 650 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) horizontal and 700 lw/ph vertical. These are both strong scores and are significantly better than last year's HDR-SR12 from Sony (625 lw/ph horizontal, 600 lw/ph vertical). The Sony HDR-XR520VE had the same horizontal and vertical sharpness scores as the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 and its numbers were only slightly lower than the Panasonic HDC-HS300. The Canon HF S100 had the best video sharpness of this set, but even it wasn't that far ahead of the pack. All four of these camcorders have excellent video sharpness and capture a very detailed image. (More on how we test video sharpness.)

Video Sharpness Score Comparisons