Sony DCR-SR40E Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Ok quality combined with exceptional ease of use. HDD media is a definite plus.
Cons: Poor quality still shots, limited options - no video light, no remote.

Sony DCRSR40 The Sony DCRSR40 is Sony’s entry level HDD (hard disk digital) Handycam Camcorder. This is a camcorder which can introduce you to the convenience of the latest in camcorder technology by offering an extensive (yet basic in ...

Pros: Quick zoom, great resolution, plenty of storage space, no lens cover
Cons: One click button on the base to transfer to DVD always produces an error

This is a nice video camera with a minor flaw that can be overcome if you you don't mind saving your movies in other manners.  I continued to get a software error when using the one click button on the base even with software updates.  I use a ...

Pros: Easy, flexible, sturdy, rugged, convenient.
Cons: Uploading pictures requires brain power and know how.

I have enjoyed the convenience of having both movie and pictures in one unit. My husband's camera looks like a camera but also does movies. My Sony HandyCam looks like a CamCorder but also does pictures. For some reason I feel like my pictures are ...

Pros: easy to use
Cons: low quality of still photos

I received the Sony Handycam Video Camera as a gift from my mother. She lives too far away to visit often and wanted to be able to watch her granddaughter grow up. This camera is really easy to use. It holds several hours of video on its built in ...

Pros: Ease of use, picture and sound quality, 30GB Hard drive.
Cons: Picture is a little grainy when light is dim.

SO it was the day before Christmas and all through the townhouse, not a creature (my husband) was stirring but rather snoring. I bought my husband the Sony Handycam DCR-SR40 Camcorder while he was upstairs in Best Buy and I was downstairs. A heck of a ...

Pros: Ease of use
Cons: funky codec

"Video Capture" a thing of the past! Just hook it up to USB and copy the files over to your computer, tada, your video capture in your video editing suite is complete! That is just completely way cool.

Quality of the camera, especially in low light conditions is less than desirable. Steady cam helps a little but can make for some jittery videos. (Tripods work nicer)

Big annoyance is the mpeg2 codec that Sony writes in. In Premier Elements especially, the field dominance of the imported clips is just messed up. Very difficult to get the nice crisp video instead of the jagged interlaced variety. Premier helps this a little more. Also, in Windows Vista (if you're so brave to try it) the "icon previews" in Explorer cause rundll32.dll to crash for each and every single clip. When copying 20-30 clips, that can be a lot of "close this application" warning boxes to click.

Otherwise, portability and fun factor is high with this camera. My kids love playing with it and I do too. With a nice big battery, you can have hours of fun with this.

Pros: No disks or tapes, easy to use, fun, good quality.
Cons: For the novice, none.

I bought the Handycam mainly to make videos of my toddler, and capture memories on vacations. I am very happy I chose to pay the extra $150 and get the 30GB hard drive instead of a DVD or miniDV cam. It fits well in your hand, has plenty of space to store footage, and is easy to transfer to the computer to burn a DVD or watch on the PC. As a novice, I don't know, and don't particularly care about whatever features the camera is missing - I may wish it had a night light at some point, but as of now, am perfectly pleased with this camera.

Pros: small, light and hdd recording
Cons: poor quality, no backup from sony with a common fault.

Had this camera 5 months used it for a total of 15 minutes. The lcd screen image is now upside down. Sony says I have to pay for it to be repaired. $180 minimum. Upon investigations over the net, this is a common problem with no care or answers from the sony tech line,,,just pay the money if you want it fixed. Great quality.

Pros: easy to use
Cons: speaker breaks days after labor warranty expires.

I loved this camera (have had it now one week after labor warranty ended) until the playback speaker stopped playing audio when reviewing video on the camera. The sound records and plays back on the television but not when playing back on the camera. Now it's going to cost me at least $129 US for a flat rate labor cost. Had it for just over ninety days and it's costing me money already. I'm extremely disappointed and completely dissatisfied. Very annoying. I feel like I've been ripped off. Why do I have to pay them to fix a part still covered under the one year warranty? If it's a bad speaker that went bad less than four months after purchase why should I have to pay to have it fixed? I didn't break it, didn't drop it, submerge it or leave it in the hot/cold weather. The stupid speaker just stopped working (yes the volume is set to max)! I went to the Sony troubleshooting site and chatted with a rep and he eventually told me to send it in for repair.

Pros: Compact,lightweight, and easy to use.
Cons: no place to attach a flash attachment

I love the Sony handy cam.
It is very user friendly.
Its light weight and fits you palm great.
With the extended pro battery I can take up to 3 hours of high quality video before changing batteries.
The bundled software makes transferring to my computer a breeze.
I haven't used the DVD software yet.
I guess I am too used to using Nero.
I love not having to fool with tapes or disks, the 30gig hard drive has plenty of space!!
I purchased the pro package which includes 2-lens, 3filters, tripod, extra battery, hard case, and camera bag.

Pros: Cool toy if you're just a home user and don't care about features.
Cons: Stay away if you need pro anything, get more expensive ones

I'd agree with dmezzer. No pro anything.
MPEG2 format is not read by Microsoft movie maker
No hard buttons for anything, even volume or focus, all buttons are on touch screen
Have not used burn to dvd because it's easier to just feed it into a DVD recorder that I also have.
Remote and jack to work with sony tripod is next model up
No headphone jack, you'll have to jury rig one with adapters and a/v cord.
No firewire output, but usb2 file copy is faster.
Friend remarks video looks awful compared to pro cam, but non-pros seem to think it looks ok, notice some tears and jitters if you pan at moderate speeds.
Got mine with sony card points.
Nice to be able to go to date to find or erase shots.