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Sony CCDTRV608 Hi8 Camcorder with 3.0" LCD, Video Light & USB Streaming

Sony CCDTRV608 Hi8 Camcorder with 3.0" LCD, Video Light & USB Streaming

List Price: $449.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good for some, bad for others
Review: The picture on this camera is good and it needs very little light. However, the colors are not quite as accurate as I had hoped for Hi8. Perhaps digital would have been better, but the price was a factor. I shopped around and found Amazon had the best price available.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for the money
Review: The picture on this camera is good and it needs very little light. However, the colors are not quite as accurate as I had hoped for Hi8. Perhaps digital would have been better, but the price was a factor. I shopped around and found Amazon had the best price available.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great camera, but missing important feature
Review: This is a great camera. We use it a lot. I love the night shot, the steady shot works great and it has a lot of other nice features. Everything on it works great all the time. The light metering and auto focus work very well too.

There is only one problem that really frustrates me. It has a right and a left microphone and records in stereo, but there is no way to get stereo playback through the analog A/V output. That's certainly one of the cheapest things I've seen in products that I've bought. It's very disapointing from a name like Sony.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: USB Streaming
Review: This is a great camera. I had an older Sony camera which I used Dazzle to bring my video to the PC. When I heard this camera had USB steaming I was excited. The quality and the images are really poor. It produces a very blocky MPEG-1 movie. There is also a post processing time in which PIXELLA converts the movie to MPEG. Dazzle USB brings in my movies faster with no post processing time, it also produces a MPEG-1 movie. Dazzle only pushes video through the USB and uses your sound card to bring in sound. This is in contrast to USB Streaming which pushs video and sound through the USB. I guess because of this architecture, the video bitrate must be lower because it is shared with the sound and thus produces a lower quality image.

Other than that, the camera is excellent.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great camera, but missing important feature
Review: This is a great camera. We use it a lot. I love the night shot, the steady shot works great and it has a lot of other nice features. Everything on it works great all the time. The light metering and auto focus work very well too.

There is only one problem that really frustrates me. It has a right and a left microphone and records in stereo, but there is no way to get stereo playback through the analog A/V output. That's certainly one of the cheapest things I've seen in products that I've bought. It's very disapointing from a name like Sony.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very good camera
Review: This is my first camcorder of any kind. i have used other types, VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, but this is probably the best that i have used. It's easy to learn the basics with and takes really great videos. The USB streaming capability is really easy to use and works great. Pixela seems to pixilate(spelling?) the movies, but it's nothing that really hurts and it's that severe. The NightShot is great, the lamp is really good, and the camera has a few little effects for the pictures. No big complaints except a remote would be nice for playback, and a colored viewfinder. But with a 3" color LCD screen, the chance that someone will use the viewfinder is small. i recomend this camera to anyone who doesn't want to spend a lot on a good quality camera.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very good camera
Review: This is my first camcorder of any kind. i have used other types, VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, but this is probably the best that i have used. It's easy to learn the basics with and takes really great videos. The USB streaming capability is really easy to use and works great. Pixela seems to pixilate(spelling?) the movies, but it's nothing that really hurts and it's that severe. The NightShot is great, the lamp is really good, and the camera has a few little effects for the pictures. No big complaints except a remote would be nice for playback, and a colored viewfinder. But with a 3" color LCD screen, the chance that someone will use the viewfinder is small. i recomend this camera to anyone who doesn't want to spend a lot on a good quality camera.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camcorder value.
Review: This is my second camcorder. My first camcorder was an early Sony 8mm. That was part of the reason I stayed with the format. I have used the TRV608 for a wide array of events, my kids are involved in music and sports so I have used the camcorder in many different situations indoors and out with outstanding results. One of my children used the camera for a "movie" for a school project and made a great grade.
I am very pleased. The clarity is amazing and the low level performance is incredible. An S-video cable does help the video image. Perhaps one of the other reviewers had a bad camcorder, but I am glad I chose this camcorder.
Sony reliability and quality is hard to beat. The only drawback I see at this time is the audio quality isn't up to digital, but since I wanted the better lowlight performance I went analog. Perhaps as the digital technology improves in lowlight I will go digital.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Best Camcorder you can buy for under ...
Review: This is truly an excellent camcorder for home movies and perhaps more advanced applications. I found myself toying around with the nightvision contantly. My only qualms about it was that recording videos to your PC is really dependent on how good a computer you have. For instance, my computer, which is fairly fast would typically have very smooth recording, but every once in a while would skip a few frames, and I would then have to go back and edit it. But don't get me wrong, I truly believe that this really is the best camcorder you can buy for this kind of money, and besides the computer transfer issure, I absolutely love the camera.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good for some, bad for others
Review: This overall is a great camcorder. I used it for a year and had very little trouble with it. I've made a list of good and bad things about this camcorder that will hopefully help you in your decision.

First the good stuff

1.It has a nice big LCD screen for easy viewing when recording

2.There are plenty of different features for recording in different lights

3.It has OK sound and picture quality

4.It is good for families, groups, teachers or anyone else who just needs a good quality camera for a cheap price that they can use to to record family outings exc...

Now for the bad stuff.

1. The size of the camera is a little big. it is hard to hold for long periods of time and somewhat heavy (if you have a tripod and you use it this shouldn't be too much of a problem).

2. the battery life could be better (only about 50-60 minuets with the LCD screen).

3. the sound is a bit metallic, and the picture doesn't show reds or yellows well.

4.if you have the need to edit your recordings it will be very hard and somewhat expensive with this camera. If you want to edit, I would definitely recommend a digital camcorder instead because it will be much easier for you to edit your videos (this was my big mistake and I had to sell it for a Sony digital).

If this review has helped you or if you want to ask me any technical questions, e-mail me at dave_lancer@hotmail.com


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