Sony MHS-PM1

Motion (4.6)

The Sony MHS-PM1 records video at 30 frames per second (30p), which is a slower frame rate than regular HD camcorders use. Most traditional camcorders record 60 interlaced fields per second (60i). This 60i footage is faster, smoother, and appears more fluid than 30p. This is one of the big problems with small, budget camcorders, as few of them offer a record mode other than 30p. The Sony MHS-PM1 footage appears less fluid than most video recorded at 60i. The footage is particularly choppy—even more so than the Sanyo VPC-CG10 video, which also records with a 30p framerate. Another problem is, that most ultra-compact camcorders don't use the PAL-System, which would be 50i or 25p. It really doesn't make a big difference, if you just want to upload you videos to YouTube. Playing the footage back on a PAL-TV, however, will give you a video which seems to have less quality than it really has.

When watching the YouTube videos here, remember they have all been heavily compressed during the upload process. The HD links will show you higher-quality footage, but it is still compressed quite a bit by YouTube. (More on how we test motion.)

The motion on the MHS-PM1 appeared to be quite good, but below average—even for an ultra-compact budget cam. There was lots of artefacting in the RGB pinwheel, the footage was choppy, and trailing was significant. The PM1 also has options for 1280 x 720 and 640 x 480 (standard definition) recording. All recording, no matter what the resolution, is captured at a 30p frame rate.

The video embedded above was recorded at the CG10's maximum quality setting, in 720p. The CG10 records video at either 30p or 60i, but only the 30p frame rate is in the camcorder's highest resolution. The resolution at 60i is a mere 640 x 480. This footage is also choppy, even though not as bad as the PM1's.

The Kodak Zx1 is unique in this set of camcorders because it offers two frame rates for recording HD video: 60p and 30p. The video above is taken with the camcorder's 60p mode (called HD60). The Zx1's 60p mode offers smooth video that is the same, natural speed of a regular 60i camcorder. The Kodak's 60p mode, however, is actually even smoother than 60i and has less trailing because it is progressive. The Kodak's 30p mode (called HD) is more or less the same as the rest of these ultra-compact budget camcorders. The Kodak had a generous amount of artefacting in its recorded image, although that is the case for every one of the camcorders in this set. The Zx1 records at a maximum video resolution of 1280 x 720.

The Flip UltraHD doesn't offer any resolution or frame rate adjustment on the camcorder. All video is recorded at 1280 x 720 with a 30p frame rate. While the Flip doesn't offer any options for changing size or frame rate, it did have the least amount of artefacting out of the camcorders in this set. Again, its footage was choppy and not very smooth thanks to its 30p frame rate, but this is entirely expected.

Video Sharpness (9.77)

In our testing, the PM1 measured a horizontal sharpness of 600 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) and a vertical sharpness of 650 lw/ph. These are excellent scores for an ultra-compact budget camcorder. Surprisingly, the Flip UltraHD wasn't far behind the MHS-PM1 even though it records video at a lower resolution (1280 x 720). All the camcorders in this set produced rather good video sharpness scores, which suggests the ultra-compact market is making steady improvements in video performance. (More on how we test video sharpness.)

Video Sharpness Score Comparisons