Sony  Full HD Camcorder with 30x Optical Zoom- Black

I was looking for a value driven high definition camcorder to replace my old trusty Sony digital tape model with a firewire interface. This one with the USB interface was very easy to operate and I was shooting high quality video's soon after the battery was charged. I did not use any of the Sony solftware from the included disk and I was able to easily drag and drop video and photo files onto my computer for storage and video editing with other software. My computer played the HD files and I was able to create SD DVDs for distribution to friends without HD DVD players. It does just what I expected it to.

Nice small unit that is easy to use. Picture quality is awesome. I bought a 32 gb card so I will have more than 12 hours use plus if needed there is the internal 16 gb memory that will give me 6 more hours.

For an entry level HD camcorder, the HDR-CX160 is awesome. My old camera is a Sony digital 8mm I bought in 2004, so for me this is a huge technological leap forward. My old camcorder took very good standard definition (SD) shots, but it's nothing compared to the world of HD video. The CX160 records great picture quality. I am even more impressed with the sound that the built-in stereo mics can pick up. I took a few test shots and used separate software to burn an HD DVD (AVCHD format). I stuck it in my Blu-ray player and watched it on my 55" LCD TV and was blown away by the picture - very, very nice. No, it's not going to give you the same quality as professionally edited video, but then this is an entry-level HD camcorder. Even so, the camera has a pretty versatile set of outputs - HDMI, USB, component video and standard video. I hooked it up to my big TV with the included component video cable and was duly impressed. The CX160 is very light and quite small. Because of its size, some of the controls are quite close to each other, which takes some getting used to. You just have to memorize where stuff is so you don't hit the wrong button by mistake. The image stabilizer is lights out. The camcorder being small, you'd think shaking would be a problem, but the stabilizer has two levels and the higher level (active stabilization) even improves jittery video on full zoom. And under normal zoom levels the video is very, very smooth. The LCD menu is pretty easy to use. The touchscreen is not anywhere near as sensitive or efficient as, say, an iPod Touch, but the main thing is that it works and isn't that hard to use. The built-in 16Gb flash memory is enough for a little under 4 hours of HD video at very good quality. Coming off my 8mm camcorder, that would be like 4 one-hour tapes' worth right out of the box. And of course you can add an SDHC or Memory Stick Pro card for more on-board storage. The CX160 lacks a viewfinder, and the LCD panel brightness has only two levels, but for how I plan to use the camcorder those are minor issues. I also noticed that while recording, there is some latency (delay) in that the LCD display is maybe a tenth or fifth of a second behind whatever you're recording, but again that's pretty minor and shouldn't really pose a problem. Note: Some reviewers thought they couldn't share videos online from this camera. Actually, you can. Sony includes PMB software that you can use to import M2TS (high-def) video from camera to computer. You can also use PMB to upload video clips directly to YouTube, Facebook or other social sites. And PMB can convert your M2TS video files into Windows Media or MPEG format on your computer for sharing later. (Other video editing software like Adobe Premiere Elements 10 can do the same kinds of things.) If all you want to do is shoot-and-share, I would forget about camcorders like the CX160 and instead go with a bloggie camera that is meant for that sort of thing. Camcorders like the CX160 are designed to capture high-quality video, where it is presumed some amount of editing or pre-processing of raw video footage will happen. This camera stores raw video clips in M2TS format which is meant for making HD discs, so it must be converted before it can be conveniently shared online. (Note also that M2TS is a common high-def format and is *not* proprietary to Sony. M2TS stands for "MPEG-2 Transport Stream". Google it for more info if interested.)

While playing video on handycam and my computer sound quality is very poor and huge back ground noise ... I tried all the options specified by the representative ... I got shocked why Sony is maintaing these kind of low quality products ... Now I changed my openion on Sony ... sony stands for low quality & less customer satisfaction ....

This camera shows high quality pictures and video indeed! But I can't share my videos with anyone. I download to a dvd, cd or flash drive and no one I give my films to are able to open the mts files. So the camera does what I need it to do, but if I can't share it it's just not worth it.

I like the camera it was my first one but its lack of features was annoying so i had to do color correction to make the shot accurate to real life. the reason i got this camera is because i didn't see the drawbacks. with the money that i spent i could of gotten a good camera. over all this camera is over priced and you should only buy this unless you are a parent and you only want to document your child's soccer game. but it will still break after a few months of hardware failure.

Spec. Info Interface, say HDMI Terminal (yes mini) when I unpack my HDR-CX160 NO HDMI Terminal only A/V R terminal. Sony should correct spec info.

Bought the HDR-CX160 model camcorder at Costco a month ago and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the picture and sound. Still photos were good also. One of my cons is the LCD picture. I do a lot of outdoor filming and it can be very difficult to see the images in sunlight. My other cons are the interface and software provided by Sony. GrafxADM is right. The software is very limited and without proper video editing software the USB interface is almost useless. Be prepared to transfer files. Most of the better video editing software for HD will now accept the USB interface. Personally I love this camera. I purchase a Sony VCT-60AV Tripod with remote feature and it makes filming anywhere you are not moving around much easier. All camera functions are located on the tripod handle. No touching the screen to do anything. Makes for a very steady picture both vertically and horizontally. Very Cool accessory. Battery life on my standard battery was good. Lasted about 2 hours. But remember the more you turn the camera on and off or zoom in and out the shorter the battery life. If the bundled software had been better I would have rated this camera 5 stars.

I bought this camera on the recommendation of a Sony phone rep after having had a previous Sony Digital-8 Camera that?s never given me any problems; however, I have to say I?m very disappointed in this camera. First the rep told me there were 2 SDHC card slots, there is only one. Second, it appears this camera cannot use both the internal and external memory at the same time. Panasonic?s can load 2 SDHC cards and use one up then move automatically on to the next one. This is just bad design. Next, when shooting at 60p (highest quality), the camera can shoot 10 minutes 40 seconds of video before creating a new file. Now, every other vendor on the market goes to the 4GB limit of FAT32 (not even talking about exFAT) files. This really stinks when you have a performance of say 11 minutes. There?s little to no mention of this in the manual and certainly not online. Next, Sony is clearly missing some IT folks who understand where it?s at today without any support for x64 Windows 7 given MS expects 85% of all new Win7 installs to be x64 (try walking into a big-box retailer and buying a box with 4GB or more of RAM and see if it has Win7 32-bit on it). Support says there?s a jury rigged work around but that they?re still working on it 18+ months after Win7 shipped. So I bought Sony Vegas Platinum HD Edition 10.0 only to find that it has also has a lot of bugs, including one that makes it unusable claiming I don?t have rights (have tried it on multiple Win7 x64 boxes) to save files to folders that EVERY OTHER program, including the demo to Adobe Premiere Elements can save to, but alas support is all but non-existent based on my experience with Vegas 9. I?m just about ready to return all the Sony products, buy Panasonic?s and Adobe?s and walk away from Sony forever. This is after multiple Sony camcorders, TVs, and multiple versions of Vegas. Clearly Sony has lost focus.

I've had my share of camcorders over the years including a VHS "dockable." I'm no pro but I am "seasoned", and I take a LOT of video of family, and now grandkids. So my comments are based on a fairly extensive background. I'm confused by those who complain about short battery life on the CX160, because I have just NOT experienced that, and this one seems better than others I have had. The standard battery lasts a good long time when videoing my granddaughters at Band concerts or choir performances. I carry a spare but I've never been forced to use it. The zoom is smooth and easy to control. The image is very steady, and the options are intuitive and easy to get to in the touch-screen menu. I REALLY like the ability to "snap a still" while I'm recording video, and they actually come out pretty darned good, too. The low-light capability is amazing, and while there is a touch of graininess to those images, at least you can see them! Someone said that the file format is "proprietary." I don't think so. Windows Media Player showed them fine, and Live Movie Maker read and edited them, too. You do have to wait a fairly long time while the video is rendered into Movie Maker, though. I agree that the USB download is slow, and that's why I bought an SDHC card so I could pull it out of the camera and push the movie directly into the computer through that MUCH FASTER port. I'm looking forward to working with this one for a long time.