Prizefight: Canon Vixia HF10 vs. Sony HandyCam HDR-CX7

^M00:00:00 [ Music ] >> What's up Prizefight fans? It's time for tech showdown, throw down. I'm Brian Tong, and we're here to find out who reigns supreme in the battle between flash-based high definition camcorders. In this week's Prizefight, it's a face off between Canon's Vixia HF10 and Sony's Handycam HDR-CX7. Let's get right to it with round one. We're talking design. ^M00:00:25 [ Music ] Both of these cameras feature a sleek and shiny black chassis that are drool worthy. But when it comes to operation, that's a different story. Canon's HF10 features a joystick-based control on the side of the LCD and it's physical buttons are larger and easier to press. Sony's CX7 uses a touch screen interface that is cool in concept, but it's just not as easy to use. And its buttons are smaller targets to hit. The HF10 takes it this round with a four. [ Bell rings ] And the CX7 gets a three. Next up, features. The HF10 brings all the connections you can think of without the use of a dock. A key feature is the mike input that many cameras at this level ignore. And it also has manual controls and a longer 12x zoom lens. The CX7 touts XV color technology, but it's not a big enough difference to make up for a lack of mike input and headphone jack. Also, it says "full HD," but this camera only records at 1440 by 1080 resolution and not the full 1920 by 1080 Hi Def Res. You'll also need a dock for additional connections that are built in to the HF10. Canon hit Sony, unh, in the chin in this round. The HF10, unh... [ Bell rings ] ...gets a four. And the CX7 gets a two. Canon's up by three. It's gut-check time for Sony. Next round is about performance. ^M00:01:44 [ Music ] Flash-based cameras are snappy when it comes to starting up and start step execution. But autofocus, exposure, and image stabilization are the real indicators. The HF10 has some of the best focus characteristics in a consumer camera that we've ever seen. And it has a solid fast focus and image stabilization that works all the way out to its 12X zoom. The CX7 is just as good. It has a snappy autofocus with great auto exposure. Its Zeiss T-Star coated lens is superb, and it has image stabilization that covers the entire lens range. Both of these cameras bring excellent performance to the table, and we're handing out, unh... [ Bell rings ] ...fours to everybody. It's still a three-point lead for the HF10, and next round is about compatibility. [ Music ] Both of these cameras support AVCHD, so how compatible are they to work with? Well, the HF10 was able to handle plain and editing at both the full high def and 1440 by 1080 resolutions. It also uses the more common SDHC cards to record media. Now with the CX7, we had no issues with plain or editing its files, but the main bummer is that it still uses Sony's proprietary and more expensive Memory Stick Duo Pro cards. No surprise there. With these two cameras, it's the media format that makes a difference. The HF10, unh... [ Bell rings ] ...gets a four. And the CX7 gets a three. The HF10 leads by four going into the final round. It will take a miraculous comeback for Sony to take the lead, but it's still not too late for a knockout punch. The final round is about what we care about with our camcorders, video quality. ^M00:03:18 [ Music ] Camcorders of this caliber look great no matter what, but it's the little things that make the difference. The HF10's video quality is very good and bright in low light conditions, but it's inconsistencies in photo versus video wipeouts make it lag behind the CX7. The CX7's clear vid sensor produces great, sharp images as well, but Sony's attention to still image quality gives it the slight edge over the HF10. In the final round, we're giving the HF10 a three, and the CX7, unh... [ Bell rings ] ...a four. The HF10 is crowned champion 19 to 16. I'm Brian Tong, and we'll catch you guys next time on another Prizefight. Woopah. ^M00:03:57 [ Music ]