Description

Capture stunning 1920 x 1080 high-definition video and 3 Megapixel still images with the HDR-XR150, which employs an "Exmor R" CMOS sensor for superior low-light performance and a 120GB internal hard disk drive. SteadyShot™ image stabilization with Active Mode enables you to capture remarkably smooth video even when you’re on the move.

Customer Reviews

 Fantastic upgrade from my old video camcorder - Aug 09, 2010

Purchased this camera before our World Series trip to Orlando. Quickly picked up on all all the functions. The zoom is excellent and the anti-shake works very well as long as you are not fully zoomed in.

The best feature for me is the super slow motion setting - allowing me to video my team as they swing and throw at super slow motion. The video in this mode is crystal clear and I am able to see minor flaws in swings and in pitching.

I also ordered a wide angle lens for my recorder to use indoors at my daughter's volleyball games.

Downloads video easily.

The software that comes with it gives you minimal support. If you want to create anything fancy for your DVD or Blu-rays, you'll need to purchase better software.

 Looks poor on a 1080p HDTV - Jul 31, 2010

This camera is actually a Consumer Reports Best Buy, so I went to my neighborhood Fry's Electronics to take a look at it in their showroom. To my surprise, they had already mounted this camera on a tripod and hooked it up to a 40" 1080p HDTV through an HDMI port. I played with the camera focusing on people at various locations throughout the store and checked out the results on the TV. The quality was such a disappointment. Edges were fuzzy and pixelated even on faces that the camera auto-focused on. Anything with sharp lines (like the edges of tiles in the ceiling) actually wiggled while the camera was motionless on the tripod. If I hadn't read the one-star review for this model on Amazon, I would have thought there was a problem with that particular camera.

I guess if you were just going to create low-resolution videos to upload to YouTube this camera would probably be just fine. Since I wanted something I could capture good quality home videos to display on my HDTV, I passed over this camera.

 Excellent product in its category - Jul 13, 2010

I was looking for good picture quality camera which should be portable and easy to use. This is really a good production in terms of video quality, portabiliy and user friendlyness. I was very much impressed when I saw its recorded video on TV and laptop. I would it's unmatched and very nice product in its category. enjoy with it....... :-)

 I can't believe this is an 'HD' camcorder! - Jul 12, 2010

Sony XR-150 camcorder videos are mushy at the best, whatever the setting, be it in SD (640x480) or HD mode (1080/60i FX, FH)... I compared this camcorder's HD video output with my 4-year old Fuji F30 digicam's upscaled SD video (my Fuji digicam has only SD video resolution). Disappointingly, this camcorder produces mediocre HD videos that are soft and are only marginally better in resolution compared to the upscaled SD video of my Fuji digicam. The marginal improvement in resolution is offset by the oversmooth, soft, washed out appearance of this Sony XR-150 camcorder's video colors. Exposure-wise and color-wise, the Fuji F30's upscaled SD output looks sharper, and overall, much better despite the being much noisier.

Comparing Sony XR-150 camcorder's SD output with my Fuji F30's SD output, the F30 is a bit noisier but again, the color and exposure and sharpness and detail is way much better. I was expecting a really dramatic improvement considering the price of this camcorder and considering that we're talking about 640x480 resolution (Fuji) vs. 1080/60i (Sony `HD'[?!!!] camcorder)... What a disappointment... I had to return this camcorder and stick to my Fuji F30's SD video until I find a more deserving replacement. (I'm looking at the Canon Vixia HF100).

My advice: Don't buy this camcorder if you want to improve on your digicam's SD videos or the existing videos of your SD camcorders... The video quality improvement (if you'd call it that) is not worth the price of this `barely' HD and 'pretentiously' 'HD' camcorder.
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Update: August 8, 2010

I've just bought the Canon Vixia HF M300 and all I can say is... Wow!!! What a world of difference in sharpness and resolution! Now that is HD! This Sony has fixed auto settings with no manual controls whatsoever while the Canon is fully customizable with manual controls (aperture priority; shutter priority, gain control, etc.). While I do admit at the default point-and-shoot settings (program AE mode) the Canon output looks visibly noisier (horrible trailing noise) but more detailed compared to this Sony camcorder's program AE mode (clean, but oversmooth and mushy with little detail left not fit to be called 'HD'), the ability to customize the Canon and adjust manual settings set these two camcorders a world apart. With the correct manual/custom settings, the Canon at $110.18 cheaper ($438.82 for Canon vs. $549 for the Sony) leaves this Sony in the dust. With the Canon, you will see what HD is supposed to be (sharpness and resolution that rival blu-Ray movies and HD channels). If you don't want to learn and fiddle with manual controls however and just want to point and shoot, only then will I suggest this more expensive Sony because as much as I hate to admit it, the Sony's program AE settings does appear cleaner (but less detailed) in indoor lighting than the Canon's default program AE settings which I can describe as detailed but just too noisy for my taste. (I'm not talking about what the Canon is capable of achieving with the correct manual settings which is simply spectacular whether it be in the bright sunny outdoors or dim, low light indoors. [Check out my review for the Canon HF M300]).

 NICE CAMCORDER - Jun 17, 2010

VERY NICE AND EASY TO HANDLE. THE TOUCH SCREEN IS A BIT TOO SMALL FOR MY OLD HANDS AND THE STILL PICTURES CAN OFTEN BE BLURY. OVERYALL, A GREAT CAMERA FOR THE PRICE.

 Great little camera!! - Jun 10, 2010

Wanted to replace my VHS-C camcorder with a more updated camera. After research, I picked the HDR-XR150. Loaded with features, but small enough to fit in pockets, fanny-packs,etc. Worked great for first communion and graduation footage. Battery runtime is great, would recommend upgrade for extended uses. Works well in low light, 25x zoom is awesome!! Need to learn all of the features yet, but easy enough for beginners to use. I also need to get a blu-ray player so I can take advantage of the HD. Easy to burn dvd's with either computer or Sony DVDirect. Would highly recommend to those looking for a good family movie quality camcorder.

 Great but not amazing - Mar 13, 2010

i ordered this product off Amazon around a year ago so i know its ups and downs quiet well, i used this camera for my multi-media classes to make short movies and advertisements, it was a great experience, the bottom line is the camera is great outdoors but needs alot of lighting indoors, just a few light bulbs won't do the job of decent lighting, the camera's zoom with 1080p is amazing, the best thing about this camera is the sound quality it records without attaching any attachments like a shotgun mic to it, i was extremely impressed with how clear the sound was as oppose to other brands, even when the person is pretty far it wasn't a problem, it also have a zoom-mic option that can come in handy.

the main reason i gave it a 3/5 which is also the reason that gave me a really hard time shooting was it had no microphone jack, so i couldn't install a boom mic or a shotgun mic or any type of mic that will give me smooth crystal clear sound. What also really annoyed me is you could ONLY install sony accessories because the way accessories were installed in the camera was different from other camera's, i had alot of stuff i wanted to use with the camera that i didn't simply because it won't install on the camera.

having a camera with an HDD was a great idea, but out of every (approx) 50 video's i recorded i had one that was corrupted and wouldn't open. Not sure if its just my camera.

 Awesome! - Mar 01, 2010

25 X Zoom in 1080p! Where else you get gonna get that? 300 X digital zoom! Now those ufo pics will be indisputable! Minus 1 star because no way to attach an infrared light or flash. :(