Sony HDR-CX200

Sony Handycam HDR-CX200

Sony's trio of entry-level camcorders -- the Handycam HDR-CX190, CX200 and CX210 -- seem amazingly, aggressively priced. But they're priced like standard-definition camcorders because they use SD-level components to produce video in HD format but not HD quality. Sony's not alone in this: both Canon and Panasonic play the same game to various degrees with their entry-level models. All of them use low-resolution sensors and interpolate the video up to HD resolution. In this case, Sony actually is using a sensor that's even smaller and lower-resolution than the 2-year-old CX110. The three camcorders differ from each other in a few ways. The CX200 and CX210 incorporate touch screens; the CX190 has a small joystick and playback button on the LCD bezel for operation. In addition, the CX210 has 8GB of internal memory -- keep in mind when comparing prices between the CX200 and CX210 that an 8GB flash card costs less than $10. This review is based on testing of the CX190. (There's also a version of the camcorder with a built-in projector, the PJ200.) As far as I can tell, the video quality doesn't look any worse than predecessors like the CX130, which many folks consider acceptable.