Review: Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo vs. Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX (updated)

Long time readers will note that this is an article that we ran almost a year and a half ago. Seeing how many hits the story still gets, I felt like I should update the article a little and brush up the links. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, holy shit Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX is a long name but we move on. My test was a simple one; to use the Cybershot HX5 (one of the best damn pocket sized cameras I’ve ever used) and I wanted to see, if I used a higher speed Memory Stick, would it impact my shooting experience. There have been plenty of scenarios where I’ve been wanting to take a picture but my camera was still processing the past picture which will of course cause you to miss the shot that you wanted to take. Things only gets worse when it’s a lower light situation and you think your camera is done taking the picture in which you move your hand away and in return, cause a blurry picture, seeing how your camera was still processing the shot.

From the video you can tell that when my Cybershot was using the Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX, that it was able to snap pictures and process them at a faster rate then the normal memory stick. I can imagine that this is only exponentially more apparent on a NEX or Alpha camera. But for me, the difference you see in the video is much more visible on a daily use. My Cybershot just feels snappier from the time I turn it on and hit the shutter. Also as I noted, transferring files to the computer is extremely faster. This is nice because when I got out, I don’t take 200MB of pictures, I take 3GB+.

Conclusion:

If you have a higher end camera from Sony like the NEX or Alpha series, this is a must own for you, no way around it, seeing how those cameras can truly utilize the higher write speeds. For those who own Cybershots, if you take a lot of pictures, this is something I still recommend although they don’t come cheap unless you buy from Amazon. However, if you are more of a casual user, you can stick to the regular Memory Stick Pro Duo and save some money.

Shop:

You can right now pick up one of these guys from Amazonwith a USB card reader for around $54. Beats the $100+ that a retailer will want to charge you.

Sony’s New Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX Offer 50MB Per Second Transfer Rate

Although in the grand scheme of things, Sony’s Memory Stick day are numbered as the company has begun to deploy a hybrid of Memory Stick and SD card input system in their Handycam, Alpha, and NGP lineup, that doesn’t mean that there are not millions of products out in the market who currently use Memory Stick. For those consumers, Sony is releasing the Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, which offers an impressive 50MB per second transfer rate. The new high speed Memory Stick come in:

• 32GB (¥17,000 about $200)
• 16GB (¥9,000 or $106)
• 8GB (¥5,000 / $59)

I have to say that I myself was skeptical as to what difference a faster transfer rate could provide on a shooting experience till I did my own tests, putting Sony’s Memory Stick Pro Duo against the Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX. The new Pro-HG Duo HX is currently available in Japan, and although there is no US announced date, we expect them to quietly appear in store shelves in the following months.

[Via Impress Watch]

Review: Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo vs. Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, holy shit that is a long name but we move on. My test was a simple one. I used the Cybershot HX5 (one of the best damn cameras I’ve ever used) and I wanted to see, if I used a higher speed Memory Stick, would it impact my pictures. There have been plenty of scenarios where I’ve been wanting to take a picture but my camera was still processing the past picture. This can cause you to just miss pictures during daylight and worse, when it’s a lower light situation, you think your camera is done taking the picture and you move your hand away and bam, blurry picture.

From the video you can tell that the camera with the Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX does indeed snap pictures faster. I can imagine that this is only exponentially more apparent on a NEX or Alpha camera. But for me, the difference you see in the video is much more visible on a daily use. My Cybershot just feels snappier from the time I turn it on and hit the shutter. Also as I noted, transferring files to the computer is extremely faster. This is nice because when I got out, I don’t take 200MB of pictures, I take 3GB+.

Conclusion:

If you have a higher end camera from Sony, this is a must for you, no way around it. For those who own Cybershots, if you take a lot of pictures, this is something I still highly recommend although they don’t come cheap unless you buy from Amazon. If you are more of a casual user, you can stick to the regular Memory Stick Pro Duo.

Shop:

You can right now pick up one of these guys from Amazonwith a USB card reader for around $80. Beats the MSRP of $120+ Tax

Updated: Sony Ericsson Picks Up MicroSD, Ditches Own Memory Stick Micro

In some of the latest Sony Ericsson models, we have seen the lack of Sonys own Memory Stick Micro, their version or competition to the MicroSD that many cellphones use. This holds true in their upcoming K850 and the newly announced Satio and came to us as odd but we figured, it was due to the development methods and partners with those models. Will today, all that is cleared up as Sony Ericssons Global Marketing Director Fortuné Alexander, stated that the company is “moving in that direction” when asked about dropping the Memory Stick Micro line in favor of the MicroSD.

As a user of  Sony products, it’s not fun to see the company give up on their on smaller formats, but from a business practice, I’m beyond glad. A problem Sony is currently having is that they are fighting far too many battles. If there is an electronic device or format, Sony has a version. Many times, (looking at you BetaMax and Mini Disc Players), they were indeed superior but because the company is do divided up, they cannot poor in the real amount of resources needed to fend and advance that product/brand or format. With one less format to worry about, it means that the costs of their devices can potentially come down as the tap into a universal format and in hopes, also make more money, because they can sell a MicroSD to lets say 400 million phones versus a Memory Stick Micro to only 20 million phones (all numbers being made up). Maybe Sony is indeed serious about moving to a more open format.

Update:

So here is an odd twist to the story that makes no sense. It seems that Sony is indeed ditching their M2 for MicroSD and so one would assume that this would be a company wide policy but in fact, during the E3 announcement of the new PSP Go, the unit will be using…you guessed it, Sony’s Memory Stick Micro. Now, I understand that products will be in different development cycles and such but one would assume that ditching M2 would be a company wide policy and that the PSP Go would also adopt MicroSD as they are extremely similar in size.

[Via Engadget]