Sony Handycam DCR-TRV240 Digital-8 Camcorder

Pros: Price, picture quality, InfoLithium, features, analog inputs, USB and FireWire
Cons: Battery life with LCD use is short, poor digital still picture quality, could be smaller

The Sony DCR-TRV240 is a Digital 8™ camcorder with compatibility with 8mm and Hi8 tapes – it can play your old 8mm/Hi8 recordings.

The camcorder is more compact than older Digital8 models.

Digital8 – DV...

Pros: Digital, Hi8 playback, analog-to-digital conversion.
Cons: Light on still features, bottom-loading tape compartment, no manual white balance.

You won't find a better deal for the money in a digital camcorder than Sony's Digital8-format DCR-TRV240.

If you don't need a digital camcorder, you can get a fine analog camcorder for less, such as Sony's Hi8...

Pros: Great picture. Easy to use. Loads of features. Backward compatible with Hi8 and 8mm recordings.
Cons: Hi8 and 8mm playback not perfect. Not that great for still pictures.

I own two of the Sony Digital 8 camcorders, the DCR-TRV240 and the DCR-TRV140. Since the DCR-TRV140 isn't listed here on epinions, I will try to make some comparisons of these two camcorders for those of you trying to decide which one to buy.
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Pros: Great pictures, plenty of features, easy to use
Cons: Bottom loading, not the greatest when it comes to still pictures

Sony has always had a habit of luring people to their amazing products. Recently I bought DCR-TRV240 and believe me it is really cool.

1) The DCR-TRV240 loads from the bottom which may seem awkward but you get used to this

2) It has...

Pros: Good color, works great, saves picture.
Cons: Not any.

This camcorder works very good for me. I can use it in mostly every outdoor and in door event. This camcorder comes in handy, and works well in the light and in the dark. The battery chargers in no time and I am able to us it mainly whenever I need. This...

Pros: camcorder for beginners
Cons: camcorder for beginners

If you're looking for your first digital camcorder, then this is a good one.

If you're a non-technical person, read here:
Simple to operate, uses the popular Hi8 cassette format, has image stabilizer so your movie won't wiggle if your hand shakes. Can shoot in the dark. You can use it as a VCR, if you're that fancy. :-)

If you're familiar with the digital technology:
This is a really entry-level camcorder. Good for family movies and stuff like that, but nothing more.
Has a poor low-light performance. Basically, if you're not shooting in full daylight, the image is grainy and the colors are a bit dull. But that's normal for a 1/6 inch single-CCD system.
You can manually override focus and exposure.
It has a so-called HDTV mode, but it's faking it - instead of enlarging the used CCD area horizontally, it shrinks the vertical CCD size. That sucks. :-(

Pros: Nice picture
Cons: Does not last long! Don't buy it!

I bought this camera a few years back. Recently, it has started flashing the message C:31:23. It looks like new, but I think that Sony messed up this one!

This is an awesome digital camcorder. Don't know why other person said sound was bad. This is hi quality digital audio! Makes great movies and with teh USB port you can stream to your computer or internet. Also has port for firewire.

My brother-in-law let me use his Sony Camcorder last Christmas,and I loved it,but like I said the sound quality is not up to snuff,otherwise it is the best bargain that your money could buy.If I had the money to buy this Sony Camcorder I would certainly buy it right now. But I can not afford it at this time.The picture quality is the best that I have ever seen,outside of paying over $1,000. or more.I also like the view screen on this model,you can see the entire view quite well and easy to see.

Overall, this is a very good performer both indoors and outside. The operation is intuitive and did not require a great deal of reading before use. Because I have still digital cameras, I was not interested in having a camcorder that also took still photos. I am very happy with the performance of this unit.

we are a family with young teens and this cam travels well, from hockey to baseball and everything in between. for the price i dont think it can be beat. the reason we bought this is it uses our old 8mm tapes from our last cam, a big plus for us!

I have filmed many movies using Digital Camera's before. This camera makes it better than ever. It has wonderful sound and picture and features Dubbing which is new to the Sony Series. It also has a line in. Dubbing allows me to cut out bloopers and the line in allows me to add music and sound effects. After all is done I can even put it on the computer for my friends to see! I've never needed a spotlight before because I do other lighting but it can be attached and I'm not bothered by not having it. It also includes many faders and is the first sony series digital camera to include titles.

The previous reviewer stated the sound quality was not up to par. I'm not sure what the reviewer's up to par is? I've owned three camcorders, and the sound quality of this camera was quite good. So is the picture quality. The one draw back is that there is no spot light on this camera. That feature came in handy when natural light was lacking. However, since this is a zero lux camera, with a night feature, I'm assuming taking pictures in something other then total darkness will turn out ok. It appears that a spot light can be bought and attached if one is needed.

This is an awesome camcorder, except for the fact that the tape drive is so loud and makes such a metallic noise that on playback of quiet scenes the video is dreadful to watch. I returned mine and am still searching for a camera with the same quality. I also tried the external microphone and that did not help. You were so close to the perfect camcorder sony!