Sony MICROMV: micro cam & tapes

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.dvformat.com/cgi-bin/getframeletter.cgi?/2002/01_jan/news/cw_sony_cams_walkm.htm

The MICROMV cams;

MPEG-2 at 12 mbits/s
IEEE-1394
Carl Zeiss lens
SteadyShot
10x optical/120x digital zoom
Size: 1 7/8" x 4" x 3 1/8"
2.5" LCD
Some have Bluetooth & wireless email

$1300-1700 list

MICROMV tapes are 70% smaller than miniDV and hold 60 minutes.

Dr. Mordrid

[AndrewDV]

Thanks

I'm not too crazy about the look of it. On other hand, I like that it is Bluetooth enabled. The lack of implementations a few years ago gave me the impression that tech is gone. However, this year seems to be where it is getting a foothold.

[dchip]

Very cool. I was about to say cool toy until I read the feature list. Sony has loaded this little guy. Very sophisticated system. People with laptop editing systems are going to love this. Now they can get even smaller and more portable and still get DVD quality pictures. I've got to give it to Sony. They don't sit still.

[paulw]

The Dec 2001 issue of the Oz mag Videocamera said the following about this camcorder Firewire.

Connectivity Issues
Perhaps one of the biggest bugbears with the IP7’s release is its lack of compatibility. The camcorder has an i.LINK socket and you can transfer data via a conventional i.LINK cable to another IP7. However, users cannot move data from the IP7’s i.LINK terminal to a DV cam-corder or a PC via a FireWire card in the computer using regular DV editing software and hardware.
The camcorder’s MPEG-2 data rate makes Micro MV incompatible with aft); of the “other ‘ digital video formats (DV, Digital8, DVCAM or , DVCPro). There is really no way of transferring the data as pure MPEG-2 files into a PC to work with them and then output them to other media. Rumors are starting to surface that companies like Ulead, Pinnacle, ADS and even Adobe will be releasing MICROMV compatible software and hardware in 2002. Stay posted for developments !
There is one way to edit the IP7’s MPEG-2 footage. Sony supply the camcorder with proprietary Movie Shaker 2 software. Using a OHCI compliant FireWire capture card and the software it’s possibe to import video into the program, edit and output to the IP7 when complete.


Sony DCR-IP7 MICROMV
Camcorder
Performance 9
Features 9
Ease of Use 8
Value for money 8
Picture: 9
Sound 9


At the cost of OZ$4449 it's not cheap

[flyawaydog]

Gee what a surprise Sony using a proprietary (you must pay through the nose to get it, and it wont be very good.) device. PAH its a scam, The TRV20 DV camcorder they make comes with a terrible serial connection for getting still images off. It takes something like 35 mouse clicks to get one image off the memory stick and into a folder where you can use it in a useful photo editing program. The memory sticks are proprietary as well when there were already perfectly good compact flash memories available.

If you have a firewire pass through device or a DV in / out camera you could use that.

[Brian Ellis]

This is just another ploy by Sony to create their own standard. They have sometimes succeeded in the past and sometimes failed. Let's hope that this one fails, too. Sony is like Microsoft: they both try to flout existing standards to try and create new de facto standards of their own, in order to hook users into keeping with them, rather than follow the logical, sounder line. For this reason alone, I'll not be buying any Sony camera, not even a standard mini-DV one. I feel they don't deserve my money.

[Patrick]

Brian secretly worships Sony...

Brian, we know you have a Digital8 camcorder hidden in the closet!