Copped myself a Sony HDR-XR160 camcorder for $549, is it worth it?

REVIEW

 I leave for France tomorrow and I thought how awesome would it be to make a vacation video in HD while there. My previous camcorder is a bulky Sony Digital camcorder. Bought in 2004, it did the job but now with High def TV's and the ability to upload HD clips on to site such as Youtube, it was time for a much needed upgrade.

I did a lot of research. A crap ton of research, mind you. It wasn't easy figuring out what features made a camera vastly superior to another. I knew what I wanted: HD recording in 1080i or 1080p with 60p, steady correction, recording in low light conditions, and realistic colors. What I found was the Sony HDR-XR160, a mid-level HD camcorder with all the bells and whistle, and then some. Click the jump to read more.

My first impression of this camcorder is that it is very sleek. The black glossy finish is nice and in direct sunlight, it shares a certain feature of those sucky vampires we love to hate, it 'sparkles'. Oooh! Whatever, it looks rad. Holding it, the camera is fairly lightweight and feels durable. The viewfinder screen is touch control. It lacks a physical viewfinder, so you'll be peering your recorded subjects on screen only. There is clever built in USB cord attached to the handle of the camcorder. It has wide lens capability so you get those nice cinematic shots if you please.

I know, shut up already and tell us how the camera quality is like. After tinkering with the settings a bit, I can say that the picture quality is pretty good when shot outdoors in sunlight. You can have the camera automatically adjust optimal settings. Scenes are a bit brighter in auto mode. I tried recording some flowers in my front yard and the colors were a bit off. Colors seemed a bit muted and had a brightness to it. I hope I can mess with the settings to get close to true colors as the camera could. You can actually see when recording in the dark. Just slightly grainy but it looks great. Now celebrities and pseudo-celebrities, *cough* Paris Hilton *cough*, have no reason to release grainy sex-tapes in the dark. It's pointless if you can't see shit, gawd.

The camcorder also boast a meaty 160GB internal hard drive. NO, it's not enough for all the clips I'm planning on recording of super cute ass puppies. It'll have to do though. You can also add more storage via an SD card or Sony's lame propriety card, the Memory Stick Duo 2. Annoyingly, I have a Memory Stick Duo and it was too long and wide to fit the hole. Yeah that's what she said. You also get 5.1 Surround sound which is pretty kick ass.

What sucks is that the camera doesn't have a shoe, which is an area on the camera for attachments such as external microphone or flash. Also, there isn't any built in flash.

Overall, this camcorder sits pretty high for a mid-level camcorder. It has great features like face recognition, 42X digital zoom, 3.3 MP stills, 5.1 Surround sound, and 160GB built in storage. It can do better with color match detection and I wish it had a shoe for attachment. I give this camera a 8/10.

You can find it for $549.99 at certain locations or here: Sony HDR-XR160 High Definition Handycam Camcorder (Black)