Don't believe the hype
Written: Jun 02 '00 (Updated Jul 26 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy to use
Cons: barrel distortion, muddy colors, noise
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| 1GQ's Full Review: Sony Handycam® CCD-TRV108 Hi-8 Analog Camcord... |
I bought a Sony DCR-TRV10 based on reading many glowing reviews on Epinion and reviews on popular DV (digital video format) related websites. I purchased the camera at Sound Advice for $999 (floor model), and since Sony has discontinued the model I was able to negotiate an upgrade of the included accessories. I traded in the standard NP-FM50 InfoLithium battery (2hr) for a new NP-FM70 InfoLithium (5hr), and the missing 4MB MemoryStick for a new 32MB MemoryStick all for an additional $110.
Armed with a fully charged battery, a 32MB MemoryStick, and two Sony Premium DV tapes, I flew out the next day on a Memorial Day weekend getaway ready to film my first amateur movie. Like a kid with a new toy I took the TRV-10 everywhere, filming everything…something’s for my eyes only :-) I easily filled the two 60 minute DV cassettes on one battery charge with power to spare, sometimes using the LCD and sometimes not. In later testing I've found that the InfoLithium system is quite accurate. I only took about 20 shots on the 32MB MemoryStick which can hold >300.
When I got home and started reviewing the videos on a TV using an S-video connector I was truly disappointed. The footage filmed at night outdoors was dark, the colors were bleeding and muddy, and there was plenty of noise present making the footage look grainy. For the most part the lightning was provided by street lamps and was good. Although noticeably brighter, footage indoors was not much better; the colors again were muddy and bleeding only this time with a slight yellowish hue. The footage filmed during the day had washed out colors and there was evidence of noise, but not as noticeable as the night scenes. The lightning was naturally provided by the sun and was bright enough to hurt sensitive eyes like my own which may have lent to the washed out colors. Further daytime testing at home showed no significant improvement under daylight though.
Barrel distortion is the phenomenon where straight lines near the edge of the frame become arced or bent. The TRV-10 exhibits barrel distortion, sometimes quite severe. After further research it seems all Sony’s with the Carl Zeiss optics suffer from this problem and its also common place amongst other brands especially in the MiniDV format.
The still shots were a little bit less than what I expected. I knew 640x480 wasn’t going to deliver anything spectacular, but I expected it to be at least relatively noise free. No such luck here, the colors were muddy and bleeding with a significant amount of noise present. The resulting photos can be repaired to reasonable VGA quality using Photoshop; however you’ll have to be using Windows98 since neither the included serial port or optional USB MemoryStick reader will run under Windows2000.
Nightshot! I went cruising along Ocean Drive at 2am one Sunday morning and filmed the hordes of people walking the strip. In regular mode you barely see anything because of the almost non-existing light, but activate Nightshot and you won’t miss a face. Its too cool even though the video is filmed in a monochrome format.
I took the camera back to Sound Advice and complained about its lack-luster performance and they took it into their service department where they cleaned the CCD, lubed something, and so forth. When I got it back a couple of day’s later wow, the picture quality had significantly improved. There were still obvious traces of color bleeding, noise, and barrel distortion but not as bad as before. I also tested three other brand MiniDVs with film this time around but they weren’t any better and in some cases worse so I’m going to stick with the Sony especially since they took back the 32MB MemoryStick and gave me a 64MB for my troubles :-) Talk about commitment to customer satisfaction.
In conclusion, the Sony TRV-10 shoots as well if not slightly better than majority of its competitors but is still plagued with color bleeding, noise, and barrel distortion. The current model MemoryStick readers only work with Windows95/98, there currently is no or planned Windows 2000 support according to a Sony customer service representative. Its value for the dollar is comparable to the competing models…however neither the TRV-10 or other models I tested are anywhere near DVD quality as some have touted. Basically if your looking for a MiniDV camera, I believe this is a good choice especially since you can probably bargain a good deal now that it’s discontinued.
I hope you enjoyed this epinion and award it the "highly recommended" honor.
Update 7/26/00
Sony has begun releasing Windows 2000 USB drivers for their digicams. I presume we can expect a driver for the MemoryStick reader soon!
Intrested in a digital camera? Check out these epinions:
Sony CyberShot DSC-S70
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4E87-48EE456-39551BA8-prod1
Canon PowerShot S100
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-9B5-407A8DE-3953CA0D-prod4
Sony DSC-F505
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-333-B4C35F4-3947CD21-prod2
Canon PowerShot S10
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4010-A2B9892-392D3B74-prod1
-- 1GQ
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
1GQ
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Location: Miami
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