Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1

	Video
	Resolution	Page 6 of 16	Sample Photos

Movie Mode (15.50)

Like most modern point and shoot cameras, the HX1 offers a movie mode. But it is better specified than most, as the camera captures videos at a resolution of up to 1440 by 1080 pixels, which will look great on a HDTV. The HX1 also captures these movies at 30 frames per second, and with stereo sound. The videos are saved as H.264 files, which can be imported and edited in most video editing applications, including iMovie.

We found the video mode of the HX1 to be generally very easy to use: while recording you can use the optical zoom lens and the camera automatically refocuses while recording. This refocusing is rather slow, though, but at least the microphone didn't seem to pick up much noise from the focusing or zoom mechanism.

Video Color (13.42)

We test the color accuracy of the video by shooting a video of a color chart under good lighting conditions, then measuring the accuracy of the colors that the camera captures. We found that the colors of the HX1 were very accurate; the camera only produced a few minor color shifts from the original colors.  Click here for more on how we test video color.

Video Color Score Comparison		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Nikon P90
		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Canon SX1
		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Olympus SP590UZ

Video Sharpness (7.13)

We were also favorably impressed with the sharpness of the video. We test this by videoing a special chart while panning the camera, to simulate how well the camera can capture detail on a moving object. We found that the Sony did an excellent job here, with a lot of detail remaining in the image despite the movement; we found it to be slightly superior to the Canon SX1. One thing to clarify here is that we tested on the 1440 by 1080 (Fine) mode, which uses the least compression. This also means that the video takes up more space, so a 4GB MemoryStick Pro Duo card can only hold about 41 minutes of video.  Click here for more on how we test video sharpness.

Video Resolution Score Comparison		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Nikon P90
		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Canon SX1
		Compare the Sony DSC-HX1 to the Olympus SP590UZ

Nikon P90	Canon SX1	Olympus SP-590UZ
See how the competition stacked up against the Sony DSC-HX1