For some of my travel video jobs, I have pretty basic video needs and don't need to audio. In this case I currently use the CX520v hand held. I am mostly outside and but can occasionally be indoors in darker areas such as museums. I usually only use the touch spot meter, white balance and scene selection.

Would you expect the video (no audio) captured by the HX5 to be comparable to the CX520v? Would the IS be comparable? For video compressed for web delivery, would the higher bitrate of the CX550v buy me much?

Thanks!

Dan -
Hard to know for sure, since we're talking two unreleased cams... and no way to know until they are in hands...

I CAN add some insight from what Sony currently has, as I'm using the TX1 (which does 720p, the new models add 1080i), which I believe uses the same CMOS R sensor as the TX7 and HX5, and the HX1 (current model, 1080, 30p), which I'm about 99% sure uses the prior generation CMOS. Also have the CX500V...

The CX can handle low light video better than the still cameras, reaching FAR further into the murk before losing it. No contest, IMO... BUT in better light conditions, it's probably going to be a pretty decent horserace if you're ultimately going to web resolutions.

The TX1 does reasonably well in low light, I'd expect the HX5 to have about 1-3 stops on it because of lens differences (the current WX1 has about 1-2 stops on the TX1 for this reason). Depending on how well the electronics are optimized, it "might" be usable for low light conditions, but I'd suspect it will be noisier and not "quite" as good when the light is really bad.

The "still" cams are going to give you better pictures, and pretty decent video, the CX should be better video. That seems to be part of how they tweak the guts of these - wish they would get one that does it all!

I would be surprised if the OIS is going to be as capable, simply because the entire camera is so small with the P&S format - there's limits to physics. I have a small folding flash bracket I keep handy to help stabilize video... don't always use it, but probably should.

All that said, I'm carrying the TX1 and will be looking at the HX5 and TX7 as "upgrade" possibilites. Last trip I found the TX1 was so convenient that the CX500 got very little use - but the CX was a necessity for video in the low light of Monterey bay aquarium (I'll figure you'll be familiar with the conditions there). These little P&S cameras are getting quite capable of doing video duty for many purposes, and have the advantage of being the camera you're likely to have on you, simply because they are so small...