SONY DCR-SR37E

[damcdon40]

I have had the above camcorder for a few years now but have always been disappointed by the moving picture quality when transferred to a PC or television. Am I doing something wrong or is it just a poor camcorder? When I bought it I thought being a Sony would guarantee some quality as my previous camcorder was a Sony and the picture quality on it was excellent before it died of old age. Any tips on sorting this problem would be greatly appreciated as I am heading off to Florida in the summer with my family.

[Mick2011]

Hi there, welcome to the Sony Forums

The camera shoots pretty good quality video for an SD handycam. You might find issues with playback if you go directly to a TV; it's often best to convert it on a PC and burning a DVD.

Can you post the details of the PC you've tried it on, particularly the software you've used to view or edit videos with?

Cheers

Mick

[damcdon40]

Many thanks for your prompt reply Mick.

I have an Acer laptop with Windows 8 and use Windows Live Movie Maker when putting on to a disc. The quality is the same as when I watch straight from the TV.

Regards

David

[damcdon40]

A further note is I notice the picture size is 720 x 576. Can this be increased? I always record on HQ but the quality as stated is poor when the size of screen is increased.

[Mick2011]

As an SD camera, its maximum 480i resolution should look good when replayed in a window with dimensions up to 720x576 pixels. If you playback SD foortage fullscreen on a computer monitor or on an HD television, it won't look so good, basically due to the unassisted enlargement of the video, which (with a modern screen) could easily be as much as four times the recorded dimensions. In essence, if you want to view videos on an HD device, you need an HD handycam

It is possible you camera has a fault of some kind. The quickest way to check image quality would be to compare it with online videos such as those uplodaed to YouTube. If you google your camera model you should find any number of 'test' videos shot by owners of the same camera. Be sure to select '480p' if it's available as a playback setting.

If you're still concerned, you could upload a video to on online service and post a link here. I'd be happy to look at it for you.

Cheers

Mick

[damcdon40]

Thanks a lot Mick.

I did what you said regarding Youtube and the quality looks the same as what I get. I think it is probably down to using Windows Movie Maker as I have since tried the software I received with the camcorder and there is a definite improvement.

Once again many thanks for your time and help.

Regards

David

[Mick2011]

My pleasure David

Interesting to hear you got better results using the Sony software too. Thanks for your feedback.

Cheers

Mick