Digital 8 at its BEST
Written: Jun 29 '01
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Pros: Good price, quality picture, USB!!!
Cons: Not so hot Still pictures. Only comes with 4 MB Memory Stick.
The Bottom Line: Great camera for the money, new price point is very reasonable. I love the USB connection to computer for still picture transfer.
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| scottyk924's Full Review: Sony Handycam DCR-TRV530 Digital-8 Camcorder |
This camera will not only take Digital Video on the Digital 8 tapes, but also can record still pictures like a digital still camera on memory sticks. I am very happy that Sony came out with this new camcorder that has USB connectivity. This USB transfer will only transfer still pictures that were captured on the memory stick. The last model year used Serial Port transfer which was about as fast as uploading a large picture with a 56k modem to grandma, yeah, that slow. Also, Serial port was NOT plug and play, which means its hard to setup. The new cameras, (DCRTRV530) comes with new software which is easier to use, and of course USB connectivity which is a breeze. That is the only change from the DCRTRV520. Also, the price of the new DCRTRV530 is much less than the DCRTRV520. Look to pay around $840 for this camera. This is the camera to go with, the other models in the Digital 8 line, like the DCRTRV730 only adds a larger LCD fold out screen, which drains battery life like crazy! This screen is plenty adequate. Digital 8 also means you can hook this baby up to your computer Via Firewire cables and ports, which means a very fast digital transfer to your computer. Beware though, very few computers come with this Firewire port, also called IEE-1384 by some companies. (You can always get a firewire card installed in your computer) As always, this product, like most sony products has an easy learning curve. If you've ever used a camcorder before, you'll be right at home. Nice icon/picture driven menu which is easy to follow.
Remember to get an extra battery with this camera, its only 2 hours with the LCD screen shut...No one records like that, expect about 1.2 hours of battery life. Also, the 4 MB (Megabyte) memory stick is not enough, get at least a 32 MB memory stick if you plan on really taking pictures. Do NOT think you can throw away your point and shoot film camera with this. The picture quality is good enough to send to relatives via email, but not good enough to print out anyhing larger than 3 x 4 inches. To put this in perspective, this is about .6 Megapixels, where as you can get a 3.1 megapixel camera which takes good enough pictures to print out full 8 x 10 " without any picture loss. Use this mainly for video and you'll be fine, occasional snapshots are an added plus!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 850
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Epinions.com ID:
scottyk924
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Location: West Bloomfield, MI, USA
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Salesman at a Electronics Store. University of Michigan Student.
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