Sony Bloggie Live at Hoover Dam, a Video Demo

Gear Diary is independently owned and operated. We receive compensation through advertising and from the companies whose products we review, usually in the form of the reviewed product. We test the products supplied to us, and the opinions expressed are our own.

Gear Diary is also reader-supported. When you buy through links posted on our site, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. You can learn more by clicking here.

DSC00019

Image taken with the Bloggie Live

Judie received a Bloggie Live video recorder last week at CES and we brought it along with us to take some images and video while at Hoover Dam. As the video demonstrates, this diminutive Bloggie Live takes some amazing video and is incredibly easy to use.

Safari

From Sony:

Meet the world’s first Full HD pocket camera capable of shooting and sharing footage wirelessly in real-time. Turn your friends and family into your biggest fans by broadcasting your latest adventure live. Wi-Fi® connectivity allows snappy wireless uploads to Facebook®, YouTube™, your Mac® or PC with a simple touch to the “Share” button on the generous 3.0″ touch screen. Store up to 3 hours of web optimized MP4 footage with 8GB of internal memory.

We’ll run down the specs but before we do lets take a look at the Bloggie Live in action.

Sony’s Rundown:

Live Broadcasting: Turn the spotlight on yourself with live streaming. Say hello to Mom from a hotel in Paris. Show the world your new puppy. Give your audience a front-row seat to your life as the story unfolds. Best of all, they can follow the action while it’s happening on their compatible smartphone, tablet, PC or TV and post comments that will show up on your Bloggie™ Live screen instantly.

Upload Wirelessly: Did you just capture a hilarious moment and want to share it with the world — right now? Just tap “Share” to upload directly to Facebook, YouTube and PlayMemories Online™ wirelessly wherever there’s a Wi-Fi® connection. No Wi-Fi? No problem. Transfer movies and photos wirelessly to your compatible smartphone or tablet and start sharing with friends via the PlayMemories Mobile™ app.

Delightfully Hi-Def: Record precious moments — and silly ones — in stunning Full HD 1080p clarity. Get razor-sharp 12.8MP shots thanks to a phenomenal CMOS sensor that makes recreating moments with vivid color and eye-pleasing contrast possible. Store up to 3 hours of HD footage without a memory card thanks to 8GB of built-in memory then create mega-montage of astonishingly entertaining clips to share with your friends and family.

Supreme Touch Screen: Slide your finger across the 3.0″ touchscreen display to effortlessly scroll though photos and videos. For easy uploading, simply tap the “Share” button that appears after each recording. Enter login information with ease using the intuitive full keyboard that knows just when to appear. Sun going down? No worries, just tap the light bulb icon to add instant illumination to your subjects with a built-in LED light.

PC and Mac Friendly: Enjoy your Bloggie Live photos and videos on your PC or Mac. Free to download PlayMemories Home software makes uploading and playback a cinch.

Swing Into Action: Forget about hunting for cables. Just swing out the built-in USB arm and directly connect to your compatible computer to upload your footage or even charge the battery. Simple and easy.

Geardiary ces 2031

Our Impressions:

First things first, the Bloggie Live is simple. It has an on off button, a camera button and a separate video button. The rest of the controls are accessed through the touchscreen. Everything is self-explanatory which is surprising since this little camera comes with a host of features.

Still Camera: I used a Bloggie Touch for a brief period but stopped after finding the quality of the images to be rather poor. For such an advanced camera this was a bit surprising but still, when my iPhone could do a better job than a dedicated image/video device there is no reason to carry it. That is not the case with the Bloggie Live. Its camera takes excellent still and, while this is primarily a video camera, I found it coming in quite handy at the Hoover Dam as I was able to go between stills and video with ease. Sony claims you can “Get razor-sharp 12.8MP shots thanks to a phenomenal CMOS sensor that makes recreating moments with vivid color and eye-pleasing contrast possible.” and that has actually been my experience. The 4X zoom is a nice feature, as is the auto macro. All of these combine to make a nice package. The fact that the video and still buttons are separate is a nice touch that makes using the device a bit more intuitive.

Video: This camera is all about video and on that front it does well. You can shoot and store up to 3 hours of HD footage thanks to 8GB of built-in memory. While this is not expandable I don’t see this as a limitation. As good as the images are when shooting video I can’t say the same thing about the audio. It isn’t that the audio is bad but I do think the Bloggie Live would benefit from offering the ability to add a separate microphone. It doesn’t and that will limit the usability to some extent.

The camera shoots in MP4. This format lets you upload video and pictures to Facebook and YouTube with ease. That’s where the “LIVE” part of Bloggie Live comes in. Sony explains

The Bloggie Live™ lets you tag captured movies and photos and upload them later when connected to the Internet to services such as Facebook and YouTube, or to Sony’s Play Memories Online service. Videos and photos are converted to an optimum format for faster uploading and viewing on smartphones, tablets, computers, and HDTVs, allowing you to share more content with friends and family.

And because it has built-in WiFi you can upload video without plugging into a computer so long as there is a WiFi network available. (This is where having access to a MiFi hotspot can come in quite handy.)

Finally, the Bloggie Live offers Wi-Fi Live Streaming that can let you share video in real-time. Sony explains,

When connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, videos can be streamed live to Qik.com, a video streaming platform, where your select contacts can watch them via over wireless networks. Viewers can also post comments back to your camera in real-time. Optimized videos are stored on Qik TM, allowing you to share links to them via email or social networks, while high res versions are stored simultaneously on the internal 8GB memory.

While I cannot see wanting to post a video to YouTube on the go (I like to edit and add an opening) I can see the live streaming coming in quite handy. In fact, it is something we will likely be experimenting with on the site in the coming weeks.

In all, the Bloggie Live is a neat package and at under $250 it is a great way to carry a good still and video camera with you while saving the charge on your smartphone. You can learn more here on Sony.com.

MSRP: $249.99

What I Like: Small package that takes good still and excellent video; Easy to carry and use; WiFi lets you upload and share on the fly

What Needs Improvement: The Bloggie Live would benefit from offering the ability to connect an external microphone; Does not come with a carry pouch

 Review Item Source: Judie was given this directly by Sony, one of the sponsors of the Ladies Who Tech event at CES.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks for your support!

About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.