Tag: Reviews

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Sony HDR-XR520V Camcorder Raw AVCHD Sample

Sony HDR-XR520V – Retail Price $1,499.99
Sony HDR-XR520V is priced as low as $1,240.99 at Amazon.com (July 14th, 2009).
Sony HDR-XR520V is priced as low as $1,248.00 at Buy.com (July 14th, 2009).

Check out the sample video from Sony HDR-XR520V below.

sony_hdr_xr520v_sample

ISO of the raw AVCHD files is also available here.

Sony HDR-XR520V features:

  • 1920×1080 HD video recording
  • 12.1 MP still image capture
  • 240GB hard disk drive
  • 1/2.88″ Exmor R CMOS sensor
  • Geotagging support with built-in GPS receiver

One of the first consumer grade High-Definition AVCHD camcorders with GPS receiver that I have ever played with. Another feature I really like about Sony camcorders is the NightShot capability which is practically absent from other brands. Sony HDR-XR520V is also capable to record up to 240 fps.

Smooth Slow Record:

The Smooth Slow Record mode increases the record rate from 60 frames per second (fps) to 240 fps, allowing you to capture 3 seconds of fast motion and play the video back in 12 seconds. This is a great tool for analyzing a golf swing or a viewing a bird in flight. In addition, you record an audio track to narrate the video footage.

I only have a short time to play with this camcorder, I found the on-screen menu is a little bit less intuitive. Overall I like this camcorder, the sticker price is a little bit high.

sony_xdr_hr520v_side

sony_xdr_hr520v_gps

sony_xdr_hr520v_manual_ring

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Disclaimer:

If you bought anything through Amazon link above, and I get some kickbacks.

“If you buy Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Fifth Season, I can buy this Canon Vixia HV40 HDV Camcorder” to paraphrase the great Robert Schimmel.

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iPhone 3GS: The First Seven Days

iPhone 3G S officially went on sale on Friday June 19th, 2009. Three days later, Steve Jobs is reported to clock in for work for the first time after his medical leave of absence. Strangely, the iPhone 3G S was renamed to iPhone 3GS on the same day. From this then on, it shall be known as iPhone 3GS.

Things that I discovered after using iPhone 3GS for the first seven days:

  • The iPhone 3GS in general is much faster than the iPhone and iPhone 3G.
  • iPhone 3GS renders a considerably complex web page faster on 3G than iPhone/iPhone 3G on a Wi-Fi. I was on a fast network. This shows the processing power of the iPhone 3GS CPU. This makes web-browsing a much more pleasant experience on iPhone 3GS.
  • I really like the “tap-to-focus” feature. This is one feature that should be implemented in digital camera and camcorders.
  • I never cared for recording video using any phones before. Now I can’t stop using it on the iPhone 3GS. OK, I was wrong before.
  • The Compass doesn’t work well in the car. Too much electromagnetic interference.
  • Battery life is noticeably better than the iPhone 3G.
  • There are still some lags when switching from landscape to portrait and vice-versa. Could it be the hardware design that caused this?
  • The speaker is noticeably louder.
  • Voice Control works well with the phone but not with the iPod function.
  • Physically iPhone 3GS is identical with iPhone 3G, so all the cases and screen protectors can be used with both.
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Mac OS X Snow Leopard: Upgrading from Leopard

Generally I avoid OS upgrade but this time I am giving it a try in a production machine.

Upgrading from Mac OS X Leopard to Mac OS X Snow Leopard Developer Preview on my MacBook Pro.

My colleague tested the upgrade on a MacBook Core Duo and it went smoothly.

I’ll see if the upgrade went smoothly on my MacBook Pro Core Duo.

P.S. I ordered another 320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive for the MacBook Pro. It is still much cheaper than the 500GB 7200RPM notebook hard drive.

Western Digital Scorpio Black 320 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 2.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD3200BEKT

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The Road Left Behind: May 2009

May 2009 has been a busy month and I’ve been posting less on this blog. I figured that I should post the stuff I’ve been meaning to post here.

……. to be continued.

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Moron of The Week: Adam Frucci of Gizmodo

Yet another gem from Gizmodo, where common sense is not required. It is Adam Frucci who must be desperate for page-views on his contributions. Spare yourself from reading the abomination that is his so-called article. A not-so-well-thought-out excerpt:

“Every single Mac app costs money. Where’s the freeware on Macs? On the PC, I used Texter to create macros for things I type a lot, which is free. On the Mac, there’s TextExpander, and it’s $30. There are loads of free FTP clients for the PC. On Mac, you use Transmit, and it’s $30. Tweetie is a nice enough Twitter client, but it sure isn’t $15 worth of nice. TextMate is a great, robust text editor, but no text editor is worth $54.”

Seriously? Every single Mac app costs money?

I guess Adam Frucci is the authority of computing world. He knows for sure that every single Mac app costs money. There are no freeware.

  • I wonder what Filezilla is. It is an open source FTP client that is available for Linux, Mac and Windows. It is also free.
  • There’s Cyberduck. “Cyberduck is an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Mosso Cloud Files and Amazon S3 browser for the Mac.” It is also free.
  • There are other free Mac OS X FTP clients.

Evaluating the statement about the absence of freeware on Mac OS platform, we hereby award Adam Frucci as Moron of The Week.

Way to go for perpetuating the idiotic Mac vs. Windows argument, Mr. Adam Frucci. Please stop using computer now.

If you want to read his idiotic “article” just search for “Adam Frucci Mac Freeware” using your favorite search engine (Google).