Sony's Hard Disk Drive Camcorders Deliver High Quality and High Capacity

For consumers who would prefer not to sacrifice capacity while recording high-quality video, Sony today announced three hard disk drive Handycam® camcorders.

The new DCR-SR80, DCR-SR60 and DCR-SR40 hard drive models have extraordinary recording times and eliminate the need to manage removable media, such as tapes or discs.

The 60GB hard drive of the DCR-SR80 camcorder captures up to 41 hours of video in long-play mode (3Mbps) or up to 14 hours of footage in high quality mode (9Mbps). The DCR-SR60 and the DCR-SR40 models have comparable recording times with 30GB of internal memory -- up to 20 hours of footage in long play mode and more than seven hours in high quality mode.

"With the explosive growth of Internet blogs and vlogs, people are capturing more video and sharing their recordings in new ways," said Linda Vuolo, director of marketing for camcorder products at Sony Electronics. "Our new hard disk drive camcorders' simple connection to a PC will be beneficial for people who upload and share their videos online."

All three of the new camcorders are designed to capture the activity and spontaneity of life. They each use the HDD Smart Protection system, which combines physical shock absorbers, G-sensor™ shock protection and video stream buffering to help prevent data loss if the cameras are dropped or shaken. These new models also feature Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lenses for maintaining image clarity and color resolution.

So Handy To Have Around

The three hard disk drive units are supplied with a Handycam Station that connect the camcorder to a personal computer, television set or DVDirect™ DVD recorder with the supplied USB, AV and DC-in cables. When the Handycam Station is connected to a compatible PC, the system will detect and transfer new video content to the computer's hard drive. The new camcorders are also packaged with DVD authoring software to edit video once downloaded to a PC.

One Touch DVD Burn

For those times when you want to take your video "offline," the Handycam Station features a One Touch DVD Burn button that automatically burns video to a DVD via a PC. The Handycam Station is also designed to work seamlessly with the Sony's new VRD-MC3 and VRD-VC30 DVDirect recorder models. With advanced synchronization via USB, the DVDirect recorders will automatically detect the camcorder's newest contents and burn the footage from the DVDirect to a disc.

  New Model Pricing and Availability:

  *  The 60GB DCR-SR80 model has a wide 2.7-inch wide hybrid LCD display
     with start, stop and zoom buttons, 12x optical zoom, a one-mega pixel
     CCD imager and an active interface shoe for attaching accessories such
     as an external microphone or light.  It will be available in September
     for about $800

  *  The 30GB DCR-SR60 camcorder has a wide 2.7-inch wide hybrid LCD display
     with start, stop and zoom buttons, 12x optical zoom, a one-mega pixel
     CCD imager and an active interface shoe for attaching accessories such
     as an external microphone or light.  It will be available in September
     for about $700

  *  The 30GB DCR-SR40 model has a 20x optical zoom, six hour battery life,
     2.5-inch (4:3 ratio) LCD monitor and touch panel functionality.  It
     will be available in September for about $600

All three hard disk drive camcorders will be available online in September at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style retail stores around the country (www.sonystyle.com/retail), and at authorized dealers nationwide. Pre-orders begin on Friday, July 21 at www.sonystyle.com/handycam.

SOURCE: Sony Electronics Inc.

CONTACT: Yolanda Hunt-Boes of Sony Electronics Inc., +1-858-942-4174,
yolanda.hunt-boes@am.sony.com; or Joslyn Beloff of Burson-Marsteller,
+1-212-614-4664, joslyn.beloff@bm.com, for Sony Electronics Inc.

Web site: http://www.sonystyle.com/handycam

Web site: http://www.sonystyle.com/retail