Thumbs Up:

High video quality and good performance; geo-tagging videos; compact design.

Thumbs Down:

Sticky control layout; no audio controls, iris and manual shutter speed; no wind filter and SD card slot; expensive price tag.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony HDR-CX500V is 1080i camcorder that features 150x digital zoom, Steady Shot Optical Image stabilization, digital photo shooting mode, wide-screen video capture and inbuilt flash. The CX500V has 32GB internal memory and one Memory Stick PRO Duo slot. It has 1/2.8” Exmor-R CMOS optical sensor of 6.631-megapixel resolution. The still effective resolution is 6-megapixel and video effective resolution is 4.15-megapixel. Maximum shutter speed is 1/725 second and minimum is 1/8 second.

Sony HDR-CX500V has 3-inch touch-screen LCD display that has a resolution of 230,000 pixels. It also works are rotating viewfinder. The CX500V also has inbuilt microphone with zoom feature.

The shooting programs of Sony HDR-CX500V includes Twilight portrait, Twilight mode, Portrait mode, Spotlight, Landscape, Fireworks, Sunrise, Sunset, Beach and Snow. Digital scene transition is of two types: White fader and Black fader. The exposure modes include Automatic and Programs.

Zoom lens has a focal length of 5.5-66mm with an aperture of F/1.8-3.4 that provides 12x optical zoom. Sony HDR-CX500V has 37mm filter and inbuilt lens shield. Zoom adjustment is motorized drive and focus adjustment is both Automatic and Manual.

The additional features of Sony HDR-CX500V includes Dolby Digital 5.1 channel recording, Lox Lux/Night Mode/ Smile Detection Auto Shutter, Dynamic Range Optimizer, USB 2.0 compatibility, Touch-screen control, Accessories hot shoe, Face detection and inbuilt GPS.

Sony HDR-CX500V has six connectors including Remote Control, 1×S video output, 1×HDMI output, 1×Component video output, 1×USB, 1×composite video/audio output. The camcorder has one Sony NP-FH60 lithium ion rechargeable battery. Supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

Sony is providing 90 days limited labors-and-parts warranty and one-year limited parts warranty with its HDR-CX500V. Accessories supplied inside the package are USB cable, A/V cable, component A/V cable, drivers and utilities disc, battery, power adapter and infrared remote control.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony HDR-CX500V is 2.6 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide and 5.4 inches deep and it weighs around 15.8 ounces. Both the CX500V and the CX520V has the same size and shape. Despite of large lens, the CX500V is relatively light and small. The HDR-CX500V has well-constructed and solid body and feels comfortable while shooting.

Inside Dope:

Sony HDR-CX500V and CX520V have better features than their siblings HDR-XR500V and XR520V. Both of them have different control panel layout and user interface as compared to its predecessors. Sony HDR-CX500V and HDR-CX520V has same features and design, but only differs by inbuilt hard-drive and their price tag. The CX500V includes 32GB hard-drive that costs $999.99, whereas the CX520V has 64GB that costs $1299.99. Sony’s another model HDR-CX550V has different lens, audio slots and electronic viewfinder as compared to CX500V and CX520V. The HDR-CX550V will give tough competition to Panasonic HDC-TM700 as both have EVF in $1000 price-range.

Sony HDR-CX500V has 3 inches touch-screen LCD display. You can use the finger tap for record and zoom options. GPS switch, disc burn, Night Shot, playback and power buttons are located on the corners of LCD display. You will find USB connector, Memory Stick Duo slot and mini-HDMI connector located behind a cover.

The manual dial sits on the back of Sony HDR-CX500V and you can operate it using left hand. You can hold it down for selecting white balance presets, AE shift, Exposure and Focus. The manual dial is tight that makes it slow to respond. On the dark side, LCD will be blocked when you are operating the dial.

The photo and zoom buttons sits on the top of Sony HDR-CX500V. Zoom control is a well balanced and easy to use button. 5.1 channel mic is located in the front and accessory shoe sits underneath a sliding door. We liked the touch and release option for recording. However, we did not like to hold down the touch screen for zooming in and out.

You can add or remove six menu options on a custom pop-up menu that appears even before entering the menu listing. We appreciated the Sony to remove confusing Options and Home menus. However, we disappointed for endless and straightforward scrolling through menu list.

Sony HDR-CX500V has GPS support with in-camera geo-tagging of photos and videos, and inbuilt antenna. The company licenses NAVTEQ Class 4 map data to provide inbuilt maps and links for GPS satellites. It is worth to mention that map data and geo-tagging is not available for all locations. Moreover, you can use geo data to display all videos on a selected map location. On the dark side, the Class 4 data does not cover all the landmarks and street names. It can only mark museums and galleries, but cannot mark parks. The video editing options at the computer are also limited. Sony has manufactured a sidecar file to store the metadata information and these files can only be read by included Picture Motion Browser software.

Sony HDR-CX500V has some mode options. Its Smooth Slow Record allows recoding the slow-motion capture. The SSR mode is not usable in low light. It provided dark and muddy slow motion footage while testing. The other option is Sony Infrared Night Shot mode. Both the CX500V and the CX520V has capability to down-convert to MPEG2 for direct to DVD transfers and up-convert 60p playback while connecting to TV via HDMI. It also has Face Touch for face detection. These three features are upgrade over their predecessors XR500 and XR520.

Like XR versions, Sony HDR-CX500V and the CX520V continue to have same 12x G-series zoom lens and back-illuminated Exmor-R sensor. They also have Active SteadyShot image stabilization and produce steady video even on the fully extended lens. We would expect that focus and exposure rates were fast. On a contradiction, both were slow in indoor dim light, but quick responsive in normal and bright light.  The automatic exposure was looking little dark, especially in indoor backlit lighting. It was same even with spot exposure or auto backlight correction. The auto-exposure and AF were quick, but most of the AF modes are confused between background and foreground objects. The LCD screen is smaller and has low resolution as compared to XR models. We did not like the LCD performance while adjusting touch and manual focus.

The video quality of Sony HDR-CX500V is overall good. It is very sharp in bright light and there is no significant aberration and fringing in low light. The color rendering and automatic white balance are good. There is some visual noise in low light, which is normal for the camcorders in its class. On the dark side, there are visible rolling edges with de-interlaced playback. You can also notice fur like mushy look at details when zoom is not in close position.

The Low Lux mode of Sony HDR-CX500V is better than low light modes. It provides brighter picture with increased image noise as compared to standard mode. However, there is a bit de-saturation without any slow-shutter speed artifacts. It provides shadow reproduction, mid-tone and saturated colors for better sharpness.

The mic recording and audio sound for Sony HDR-CX500V are good. The still image quality was also good as per 12-megapixel resolution. These photos looked mushy and over-processed, but still good for prints up to 8×10.

Nitty Gritty:

If you are looking for high video quality on compact camcorders and do not need audio jacks and electronic viewfinder, then you can go for Sony HDR-CX500V or CX520V. The internal memory is overpriced, so the CX500V is better choice. Both of them are expensive than models from Canon and Panasonic. We will recommend you to check the CX550V, Panasonic and Canon models also before making any final decision.

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