Sony DCRTRV230 Digital8 Camcorder

The 230 is this year's lowest price "complete" digital 8 camcorder. (the 130 does not play analog 8mm tapes). The camera is a pleasure to use. The picture quality is a startling step up from 8mm and the ability to display complete single frames one at a time is fun. I've compared to mini dv and can't see any quality difference (Digital 8 is 500 lines vs 525 for dv). The tapes are easy to find and less expensive that mini-dv... Sony has added a helpful "intermidiate limit" on digital zoom. This feature allows the digital zoom to be limited by the user to a range that is usefull. (about 3x over the tightest optical zoom.) The Color LCD screen is perfect for off eye shooting and great fun with children.

Any downside? -Some don't like the B&W eye viewer. I prefer it since the detail seems better in it. -The backlight button is easy to confuse with the adjacent control. -Sony dropped the "force to infinity" focus button this year. (This was often helpfull). -I'm not fond of the bottom opening deck, but it makes sense since you can keep the camera strapped on your hand while you change tape. -The standard video out plugs have been changed to a mini-video plug. This helps make the camera smaller but may make replacing a lost cable harder.

The features I'd most like to see next year: Move the menu button to the outside of the camera and add an option for a brief date and time display at the start of each scene in play mode.

What about the memory stick option in the 330. I suppose that this is a matter of personal preference, but I bought this to have very good video camera, if I want a good digital still camera, I'll go buy one.

I have found exactly the same problem grainy and unnatural colors for indoor shots. In fact I compared the video quality with my 6 year old Sharp camcorder and found the older camera had clearer images than Sony DCR-TRV230 in almost EVERY case.

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I read all the negative reviews and whining in the reviews of the Sony TRV-230 Digital 8 camcorder, and bought it anyway for use of live-action reference for my animated projects. I didn't need stellar image quality, anyway, so the complaints didn't apply to me. I was suprised when I got this thing.

The image quality is wonderful! It has natural looking colours, excellent sound reproduction for a built in microphone and is razor sharp. While it is true that indoors you may have a bit of grain, it isn't a detriment like the people here would make it out like. I lit my subjects evenly and brightly, and the grain disappeared. Scratch one problem. If you have good lighting, there's no grain. Very simple. But, if you do not have even, bright lighting, it can become very grainy indeed.

The camera has a mind-boggling array of effects, all of which can have a nice effect if used in moderation. The effect I particularly like is the "flash" effect. If you crank it down to one bar, you get a nice cinematic look that is very similar in look to 35mm film at 26fps. The lens is very good, but in very bright situations some glare can appear on subjects. However, all cameras do that in some respect so if you're doing a lot of outdoor shooting, Sony has some lens filters that you can screw on. Scratch another complaint.

I especially liked how virtually everything is near your thumb. Record mode, play mode, zoom. The zoom is amazing, but you can forget a 700x zoom. It gets blurry around 400 or 500x, but as someone else at Amazon put it, who needs that much zoom anyways? If you really want to shoot something, then get off your [behind] and shoot it.

The remote is also handy, as well, especially if you are doing stop-motion/steadycam work. It may seem like a toy, but when it's on a tripod, you don't want to jolt the camera when you're doing stop-mo. It has most of the functions of the camera itself.

One complaint that I have is the tape loading mechanism. Most 8mm camcorders have a simple door, shove in the tape and slam the door shut --just like a cassette deck. Not this one. It has a fancy little motor that wheels out the cassette like some kind of science fiction movie. It definitely looks cool but if it breaks down, how are you supposed to get the tape in? demerit point for Sony there. I did like the bottom tape loading mechanism, though, because most 8mms have the door where your palm is, so you have to slip your hand out. Not so here. Tripod could be a problem, but a display tells you how much tape you're used and how much tape is left, so it doesn't reall matter because you have more than enough notice to change the tape anyhow.

It is a simple point and shoot camcorder which does a good job. It also suits me well in professional ways, as it runs circles around all the other broadcast cameras at Cogeco. This camera exceeds quality than any of the other cameras at the Cogeco studio, before or since. It takes some photography know how and a true artistic eye to get professional quality out of this camera, but it can certainly be accomplished.

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This is not a bad camera but I am having trouble with it not wanting to record or playback tapes. I have tried different tapes thinking maybe it was the tape but no matter what I do, it won't work. Took it to the place I got it, they had to send it away, which took forever, and all they done was use a headcleaner on it. They said they could not find out any problem with it. I brought it home and it started doing the same thing again and I bought a Maxell head cleaner and used it several times on it and it worked okay for awhile. Now it is back to doing the same thing again on not recording or playing back a tape. Do not know what the problem is. It just could be that I got a "lemon." I have contacted Sony but have never heard anything back.

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Several of the previous reviewers complained about the poor picture quality especially indoors. I thought the same until I

turned off the elctronic stabilization. Aside from the tape ejecting on the bottom I find this camcorder to be a good value.