Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode

This camera was a birthday gift from my sweetheart and isundoubtedly the best there can be for ME ! But for all you guys outthere here's what I found out.

1. Being digital hasadvantages... better resolution, color's great etc. Editing, however,is not so easy takes time and the right tools (e.g. 'AdobePremiere') so consider tapes being your primary storage medium. I'vemade VCDs and they're worth it but the quality is significantly lesserthan on tape.

2. Requires lots of light outside it'sbeautiful... inside JPG-like artifacts appear (also, colored dots ona perfectly white wall) But this is acceptable if you're *not* lookingfor professional quality.

3. Optical Zoom is great 25X one ofthe highest and definitely comes in handy. I've turned off digitalzoom (MoreThanYou'llEverNeed X) since it reduces picture quality and Ican anyway do it on the computer while editing. 25X optical is enoughfor most needs.

4. Picture stability (steady shot technology) isgreat shots from a moving car are stable.

5. Buttons are a bit tooclose to each other in my first exp., at a friend's party, I must'vemissed a cycle of on/off so, we got to see shots of table tops, walls;) and cleanly missed the action ;) fortunately this lasted for onlyabout 5 mins before i realized. The recording indicator is easy tomiss when you're concentrating on the subject (and if you've had ali'l too many beers ;))...

6. Memory stick stills taken in mediumlight again have JPEG artifacts and paying extra $... (over DCR-TRV230with no memory stick you *can* take stills on tape) for this is notworth it if you have a digital camera already. However, your cameramight not have 25X optical zoom so think about it. This camera usesthe same chipset for video and stills. In more expensive models, thereare two chipsets.

7. Night shot (shooting in darkness) sounds greatand works great if you don't mind loss of almost all color and agreenish tinge to everything. To our party, however, it gave a 'BlairWitch' effect everyone loved it. It's better to have some normal(intruding) light source attached to the CAM.

8. MIC is verysensitive and sound has been amazing throughout.

9. LCD is great -less dotty than DCR-TRV530 and uses less battery (1"smaller).

10. The bundled battery lasts for about 75 mins on an avgso you want to buy a backup for trips. Charging to FULL was somewhatslower than I expected.

This camera has some built-in editingfeatures which I am yet to explore fully.

To transfer the video tomy computer for editing, I had to shell out an extra $... for aFireWire kit. The installation on Windows 2000 was quite painless itdid everything for me except plug in the card physically.

Overall a4 rating a great camera and worth the money you put in even inthis recession.

My fiance and I just purchased this camera and boy was I impressed! This is our first camcorder but not the first one I have used. It's light weight make it easy to handle. And the steadyshot works quite well. My hands are quite shaky but you could never tell by watching something I taped! The picture quality is good, but I am only using the standard A/V cables. Once I get the S-video cables I should see a dramatic upgrade in picture quality. The battery it comes with isn't the best, only about 90 minutes fully charged. I particularly liked the nightshot feature. Although the images come out in a green tone the picture quality is outstanding. I was fooling around with it in a pitch black room and you could see everything clear as day(green of coarse). The LCD is exceptionally smaller than the 530 but it is still big enough to fit most people's needs. Of coarse if you want to save battery power just don't use the LCD. The only thing I can't comment about is the still picture option. I just spent a large sum of money on a straight up digital camera so I don't need to use that option. So I am sorry I can't help you out there! Overall the camera is excellent and I would suggest it to anybody looking for a new camcorder.

Buy Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode Now

I must say its a decent camcorder. It has a easy user interface for downloading into my computer. Video quality was excellent . Unlike other people who bitched that under low light conditions that the picture was more grainier then earlier versions of Sony camcorders I found this to be not the case. This has been my 3rd Sony camcorder that I have purchased in the last 12 years and as usual I found it to be an excellent product. BE SURE TO FILL OUT THE ONLINE REGISTRATION AS YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH AN 12 MONTH FREE LABOR EXTENSION OF YOUR WARRENTY! Oh yeah the only bad thing was that the mike is too sensitive for me.....

Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode Here

I love my sony dcrtrv330! i have taken it everywhere with me this summer. It is small and compact enough to carry around and gets the job done very well. The digital still camera function isn't the best. But i suggest just exporting frames from your actual video tape for that. Its very easy to do and you can get it in higher quality as well. You can also avoid closed eyes and the like b/c you can choose frame by frame what to do. i definitely recommend you get a ieee 1394 firewire adapter card to get better connectivity with your computer. The usb is fairly useless! Works better in brighter lights but does fine even with no light at all! I love mine and will never own anything else but a sony in the future!

Want Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode Discount?

The product comes with a starter package complete with a battery, charger, memory stick, cables, tripod, and various cables neatly tucked into a carrier the size of a shaving kit. The plug and play features and the MGI software provide easy installation via the VCR, computer, or still photos. Unfortunately, you'll have lots of fun exploring images but then your battery dies during the 4th quarter of your son's football game, and you miss the winning play! Buy a backup battery and a 32MB memory stick to catch all of the action! Great product.