HD camcorder/HDMI cable question

Jo_Mc_2

Please be gentle with me, I'm a bit thick when it comes to technical stuff....

I've just this week bought a Sony HDRCX115EB HD camcorder and at present I'm connecting it to the TV either by using the supplied A/V cable for a HD TV (which our TV is) and I've also tried the supplied A/V cable for a non-HD TV.

With the HD compatible A/V cable, the colours are dreadful - greens are grey and yellows are green and it just looks washed out, and picture quality isn't too good either. It's certainly not HD quality.

With the non-HD A/V cables, the colours are more vibrant but again, picture quality isn't good.

Am I right thinking I need a HDMI cable to be able to view anything I'm filming at it's best. As it is, the footage I'm recording is nowhere near as good as any I've taken on my trusty old Sony DVD camcorder.

almillar

What are these 'HD compatibe' AV cables you're using? yellow, red and white (composite)? If so that's you're problem. Check what connections your camcorder has (I'll guess it might be mini-HDMI, or Type B or Type C I think they call them) and find a cable on eBay that suits your needs.
I hope you're not expecting the lens, sensor etc on your camcorder to get you pictures the quality of a film - the only thing that defines HD is the number of pixels!

Jo_Mc_2

Thanks for your reply. What Sony are stating as HD compatible A/V cables are green, blue, red, yellow and white. This is the one that's giving poor colouring and, I forgot to mention, lines across the screen on playback. The yellow, white and red one is what they call non-HD compatible but that's at least playing back the true colours.

The picture quality using either of the cables supplied has no definition and is quite fuzzy, not that far removed from the quality we used to get using the old vhs video camera and while I'm not expecting something that Stephen Spielberg would be proud of, I do expect better than that

I've ordered a mini-HDMI so hopefully I'll see an improvement with that.

Jo_Mc_2

Just to update this, the mini-HDMI arrived this morning and it's solved the problem. The footage is now playing back on the TV in crystal clear HD quality.

almillar

Nice one, and just FYI, I guess that HD one that was supplied was a component cable. Red, Green, Blue (as in RGB) for picture, and Red and White for stereo sound. I guess you had them plugged into the wrong places on the TV - the two reds are easy to mix up I suppose. HDMI is the most convenient solution anyway.