CNet's Aussie site reviews an AVC-HD camera, the HDR-UX1 (pictured.) While they feel like the camera is pretty nice, a few interesting paragraphs in the manual seemed to spoil an otherwise interesting consumer camera. Apparently, the manual states that if you play an AVC disc in anything but a blu-ray player, the contents of the disc could be erased without warning -- or the disc may not eject. Hmm... while I'm no Blu-Ray expert, nor an expert on the AVC format, I don't understand how a red laser (or, for that matter, a blue laser of a different wavelength) hitting a disc would erase the contents of the disc. The non-eject part I could understand a little more (probably an over-zealous manual writer, though.) Potentially, the reading device could attempt to read it continuously without success, at which point I'd turn off the machine, turn it back on and hit the eject button before it tries to read the disc. At any rate, the camera isn't flawed, but the reviewer leaves scared that their home movies could be vaporized with any laser but a "Blu" one.HDR-UX1: CNet sez "Thanks, but no thanks."
CNet's Aussie site reviews an AVC-HD camera, the HDR-UX1 (pictured.) While they feel like the camera is pretty nice, a few interesting paragraphs in the manual seemed to spoil an otherwise interesting consumer camera. Apparently, the manual states that if you play an AVC disc in anything but a blu-ray player, the contents of the disc could be erased without warning -- or the disc may not eject. Hmm... while I'm no Blu-Ray expert, nor an expert on the AVC format, I don't understand how a red laser (or, for that matter, a blue laser of a different wavelength) hitting a disc would erase the contents of the disc. The non-eject part I could understand a little more (probably an over-zealous manual writer, though.) Potentially, the reading device could attempt to read it continuously without success, at which point I'd turn off the machine, turn it back on and hit the eject button before it tries to read the disc. At any rate, the camera isn't flawed, but the reviewer leaves scared that their home movies could be vaporized with any laser but a "Blu" one.

