Sony Delivers
Written: Sep 08 '02
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Pros: Compact, easy to use, quality pic for the price
Cons: Haven't found any yet
The Bottom Line: Great camera for the price, lots of nice features.
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| flouswa's Full Review: Sony Handycam CCD-TRV68 Hi-8 Analog Camcorder |
My old Sony Camcorder was starting to show it's age (9 years) and had become very unreliable--so it was time to start looking in to a new one. I didn't want to spend a ton of money because we don't use ours frequently, but I did want something that produced a nice image and that was somewhat similar to what I had before. I looked at several different models--but one advantage to having a Sony Outlet store nearby is a good competitive price. I had several things I absolutely HAD to have on a camcorder too--decent zoom, flip out color screen and Steady Shot. I found all I wanted (and a few extras) in the Sony CCD-TRV68. Keep in mind that I did buy a reconditioned model, but when I asked the salesclerk what that meant, he said it could have been a defective model sent back for repair, a return that someone just wasn't happy with, a model that had a blemished case at the factory and didn't meet quality control, or simply a new unit that they had way too many of. The best part was that the reconditioned units came with the identical warranty as the new for a considerably lower price and let's face it, most electronic equipment either goes haywire in the first months of use or long after the warranty is over with--so I figured it was worth taking the chance on.
One of the big decisions now in the video camera market is digital or not digital. A good friend has a Sony digital and while it's a very nice camera, I couldn't see the point in purchasing one for myself. For one, I have a very good Olympus digital still camera so the digital still option on a camcorder was not necessary. The other drawback is the added expense of the Digital 8 tapes as well as the memory stick (should you decide to use it for still images). And I have no great desire to put my images on the computer and try my hand at being the next Fellini--I'm taping kids birthday parties, family events and the occaisional vacation (when I feel like lugging it along) so for me, analog is just fine.
The features on the Sony CCD-TRV68 are plentiful, the 20x optical zoom was already an improvement on my old camera and the controls for it are easy to use and access. The 460 digital zoom is good to a point--I really don't understand why they bother making them this long because the longer the digital zoom, the poorer the quality of the picture, but oh well. I have noticed that the auto focus is very responsive and that the menu for adjusting settings and such is very easy to use. I love the LCD screen too, well worth the extra money as is the Steady Shot. All of the controls on this camera are easy to understand and the manual is pretty good too and easy to read, even for the novice user. I had it taping within 2-3 minutes of taking it out of the box. The only thing it didn't come with that would have been a nice addition is a remote control, but it's not something I can't live without. Transferring video from the camcorder to a VHS tape is very easy to do and I thought the image quality was very good.
Overall I'm very happy with my purchase and I paid a whole lot less for it than I did on my last camcorder, so that in itself is a big plus! I would definitely recommend this camcorder to someone who wants an easy to use camcorder that produces a good quality image without a huge pricetag.
NOTE: My rating on the battery life isn't 100% accurate because for some reason, I got the really long life battery (8hr) with mine, guess that was a bonus for buying a reconditioned unit!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 249.00
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Epinions.com ID:
flouswa
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Member: Flo
Location: Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 3 members
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