On Fri, 27 Dec 2002 21:52:29 GMT, "Magnusfarce" wrote:

>I spent some time this morning at Fry's where, to my surprise, they have
>camcorders set up to view on some good quality screens instead of just
>looking at the LCD viewfinders. The monitors are all the same, so the setup
>should yield reasonably fair comparisons. I went back and forth between the
>Sony TRV18 and the Canon ZR45, comparing short shots, zoom shots, low-light,
>etc. to the best of my ability. The store was uncrowded and I was able to
>take my time doing these tests. My conclusions are:
>
>The Sony has a very slightly better picture at close range, although I felt
>the colors were more saturated and less natural looking than the Canon's.
>Slight edge to Sony on clarity, and a slight edge to Canon on color
>(possibly more of a personal thing).
>
>At greater distances, e.g., 10x, I think the Canon looked a bit better.
>Couldn't tell any difference between colors. At greater distances,
>presumably into the Sony's digital zoom, but still in the Canon's optical
>range, the Canon was much better. At extreme zoom distances, for what it's
>worth, the Canon was much, much better. (Looking through the Sony, I
>thought I saw the A-V manager waving to me from across the store. Switching
>to the Canon, I realized he was actually giving me the finger.)
>
>I was able to find some low light targets, both close and at some distance,
>and the Sony was able to lock in focus somewhat better than the Canon. I
>assume from my research that the Sony would be superior at very low light
>conditions, but I couldn't test that.
>
>Overall? I believe I'll buy the Canon for $100 to $150 less. Seems like a
>better deal to me. I'm not buying today, so if there are any other thoughts
>and opinions, I'd still be very interested in hearing them. Thanks for all
>the help, especially Neuman - Ruether.

Thanks for the report. Though it is rare that two TVs actually
produce the same picture, making true comparisons
possible, it appears from your descriptions that you saw
what I would expect... With exterior images, you may
appreciate the greater saturation and bit better detail
of the Sony wide - one-chippers' main failings compared
good 3-chippers are their relatively poor saturation of
"nature" colors and their lack of good fine-detail
rendering at WA (in addition to the "blown-out highlights"
and reduced low-light range). Also keep in mind that if the
Canon audio is noisy, you will spend more money (and have
a bulkier result) adding a good external mic... I would
also still look at the TRV25 for its tad better yet color
and sharpness...