Great Camera for the Money
Written: Nov 01 '03
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Pros: 20x optical zoom, plays 8mm analog tapes, fair price, it's digital, good color, reasonable sharpness
Cons: No 16:9 steadyshot, heavy and bulky, video not as sharp as some higher Mega-pixel models
The Bottom Line: A fine digital camcorder with very good quality video and audio, and can play your old 8mm analog tapes.
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| celesteandbob's Full Review: Sony Handycamâ„¢ DCR-TRV350 Digital-8 Camcorder |
I was looking for a new camera to upgrade from my old Sony 8mm analog camcorder, and my primary concern was the quality of video in the 16:9 mode. I also thought that if the camera worked out, it would be convenient to play back my old analog tapes with this camcorder connected to my PC and then burn the old tapes into DVDs.
First thing I noticed was that it seemed bigger and heavier than my old camcorder, and the eye-piece viewer was in black and white. So I took some videos inside and outside in both 4:3 and 16:9 modes to see the video and audio quality. I put earphones on to hear the audio better and could hear a faint motor noise, but nothing more than my old analog camcorder. The video quality in the 4:3 mode was excellent with good color, very sharp, and the steady shot was great. The 16:9 looked a little less sharp (as to be expected) than the 4:3 mode, but the main gripe I had was that there was no steady shot with the 16:9 mode. I actually took the camcorder out to view an air show and filmed in 16:9 mode on full zoom the airplanes doing their acrobatics and found that I was able to hold the camera pretty steady and could probably live without the steady shot. But after trying out other camcorders with 16:9 steady shot, I decided to return it.
Overall, I thought it was a great camcorder and was affordable. However, I want a good 16:9 camcorder, and that means to me that it must have steady-shot in that mode. Otherwise, I probably would have kept the camera. I tried out the Canon ZR65 and thought the video quality much worse. Then I tried the pricey Panasonic PV-DV953 and the 16:9 wide mode was not proportionally correct on the playback. Finally I tried the Sony DCR-TRV33 and its 16:9 format looked very good, so that's the one I'm keeping. I would estimate that the horizontal resolution for the TRV350 was something like 480-500 and that the TRV33 was more like 520 just by what I observed from playing back on the TV, so the TRV33 looked sharper in addition to it being steady-shot.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499
Recommended for: Home and Families - Keep Memories of Family Vacations
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Epinions.com ID:
celesteandbob
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Reviews written: 2
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