Take care (Sony Handycam DCR-IP55)

Member Name: chrisso

Product:	Sony Handycam DCR-IP55
Date:	31/12/02 (1005 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gorgeous to look at

Disadvantages: fiddly, poor documentation, incompatibility

I bought this little gem in August 2002 at £1250 from Jessops (currently it was then ~£1500 rrp) and I have recently seen it in John Lewis for £999. Be very aware that to do justice to MicroMV (Sony's version of MPEG2) you basically need to buy into the Sony way of life (aka VAIO). I made the mistake of thinking that Pinnacle Studio DV+ Version 7 could deal with this..well, not even Version 8 does in truth, with no ability to export back to the camera, once you have finished editing.

This really blighted our experience of this format, as did Sony's version of Firewire, which, unlike the Mac, does not allow either for recharging. I used the dismal Sony MovieShaker software on a brand new NEC 1.7Ghz Athlon and Carrera 2.2 Ghz Athlon (the latter fitted with the firewire card supplied by them with Studio DV+) and together with my daughter struggled ++ to edit her A level project. The end result that should have taken days, taking weeks with frequent crashes and time-outs. Much of the work could only be undertaken by using the MAC hardware at college..so whatever happened to "Simply Connect"?! (I receive SPAM from Sony about this on a regular basis, and have spent many happy email hours trying to bring this to both their and Pinnacle's attention).

IF you have a VAIO, you will probably be all right, but, in my view, this is a glaring example of a global monopoly enforcing and 'enabling' loyalty through sheer co-ercion of non-connectivity. It must be exasperating for companies like Pinnacle who have to try and keep up with this sort of marketing absurdity.

I have been a loyal Sony customer for over 30 years and this experience has soured my view ++ of them

Summary: