Sure, any decent camera paired with a good mic (like the Nessie USB Mic) will work for recording cover performances you upload on YouTube, band rehearsals for watching at home, and live concerts you bootleg for sharing on P2P. But if you want something that’s rigged to have those functions as its specialty, you can’t go wrong with the Sony HDR-MV1.
Billed as a “music video recorder,” it’s a full HD camera that’s designed to capture “CD-quality audio,” either in uncompressed Linear PCM or AAC. That way, you don’t need to worry about acoustics, boom mics, and whatever else when shooting those Coldplay cover songs nobody watches on your Vimeo channel from the comfort of your bedroom — just set the camera up on a tripod and do what you do best. Yes, we assume that means singing.
To ensure strong audio pickup, the Sony HDR-MV1 sports a pair of 120-degree stereo microphones right under the lens, with an input for external mics if you need extra recording options. It records video in full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution at 30 fps using a 120-degree wide-angle Carl Zeiss lens that’s reinforced with a back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor for improved low light performance (because, let’s face it, your mom’s basement is dark and dingy). A manual audio-level control is also available in case the auto-adjustments aren’t quite cutting it, so your friend can modify sound levels via an on-screen meter for those times you hold a live show in UStream.
Designed to support you all the way to the glorious future that you become a pro (you know, those days when you have enough juice to sing over a backing vocal track instead of doing everything live like they do in every music awards show), it even bundles an Audio Lip Sync function for ensuring synchronized A/V during post-production. Other features include built-in WiFi, NFC, a 2.7-inch display, onboard NP-BX1 battery, and a super light weight of just 165 g.
The Sony HDR-MV1 will be available starting November, priced at $300.