Rating: 
Summary: ULTIMATE CAM
Review: Ive used a number of camcorders in the past,VHS,VHS-C,8mm,Hi-8,Mini DV,and now Digital-8. At first I thought it was a joke,recording onto the old 8mm format in digital, but once I used the camera and saw the flawless picture and incredible sound I was proved wrong.It looks like a regular 8mm camera but it's silver,that seems to be the digital camera color.I feel the most impressive feature on this camera is the night shot mode, you can see and film in total darkness. Also with most digital models being so small you can't get a very big zoom, but since this one is 8mm size the optical zoom is 20x. And of course since it's a Sony it is packed with unmatched looks and great specials modes. I have no reservations for the DCRTRV103 its a top of the line camera with top of the line features at a reasonable price.
Rating: 
Summary: Former Sony customer
Review: My wife purchased a Sony camcorder model DCR-TRV-103 in the summer of 2000 and gave it to me as a gift for to take on our 25 day tour of Europe in September ,2000. After familiarizing myself it I never had a reason to use it until on our trip. About half way into the trip the unit failed in Rome , Italy with about two weeks left on our tour. After returning home I sent it to a Sony Service Center near St. Louis and received it back about a month later. I did not use it again until the following August for about 15 min. to record a Christening at our church and it Worked o.k. I didn't use it again until Christmas day to record our last holiday in our present home .All our family was present. After nearly an hour I checked to see if the cassette had finished and I was shocked to see it had failed with the same exact failure as the first .I believe it should have held up longer than two hours of recording time since the repair but not so. Now Sony refuses to make the repair good ...
Rating:
Summary: Superb camcorder especially for sub $1000 models.
Review: Originally I wanted a DV model camcorder but I couldn't find one that I really liked that was under $1000. I had looked at the Sony Digital 8 format and thought it was a great idea so I bought this model. I has the features I wanted; DV firewire in/out, S-video in/out, rca a/v in/out, it's stereo, and has a built in 2.5" lcd monitor. The separation on the stereo audio is quite good considering how the left/right mic pickups are in the same chasis. I have yet to hear scanner motor noise in the audio either and it has an external stereo mic input if you want to get a higher quality mic. I used it on an overcast day in the country to get some footage of the dark clouds and the audio was beautiful. The tapes I've tried using are regular 8mm tapes and it came with a Hi-8 tape and to be honest I have yet to see a difference in the video quality (although years from now there may be more dropouts).If you want manual white balance, you'll have to pay more, but for what this camcorder cost's, it's amazing. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: A great Camera at a Great Price
Review: Sony® came up with a winner with the Digital 8 format. I have heard of problems importing the data into the Sony Vaio laptop but I have had no problem importing into the Vaio work station. Also, Windows 2000 will support the IEEE-1394 firewire as a native application which means you will be able to bypass the Sony application for video capture and import directly into windows applications such as Adobe® Premiere and internet video conference. This camcorder is the basis for all my current work in snow country (next week I will use it on the ski slopes- and Feb 19th I will be using it to record sled dog races in Redstone Colorado for internet distribution by converting the AVI files to MPEG-2 on my website thebroadscreen). The photo shot capability is not really necessary because this camera does an excellent job of capturing every single frame in full motion and transferring every single frame to the computer for manipulation and production. A real winner for a camera and it plays all your old 8 tapes as well. IEEE1394 will also standardize on several high capacity hardware items this year including the LACIE DVD ram recorder/player due out at the end of this month which will record over 2gb per side of disk at 545.00 MSRP. and IEEE1394 capture cards are now available at 135.00 street price. The digital revolution has arrived!
Rating:
Summary: A great Camera at a Great Price
Review: Sony® came up with a winner with the Digital 8 format. I have heard of problems importing the data into the Sony Vaio laptop but I have had no problem importing into the Vaio work station. Also, Windows 2000 will support the IEEE-1394 firewire as a native application which means you will be able to bypass the Sony application for video capture and import directly into windows applications such as Adobe® Premiere and internet video conference. This camcorder is the basis for all my current work in snow country (next week I will use it on the ski slopes- and Feb 19th I will be using it to record sled dog races in Redstone Colorado for internet distribution by converting the AVI files to MPEG-2 on my website thebroadscreen). The photo shot capability is not really necessary because this camera does an excellent job of capturing every single frame in full motion and transferring every single frame to the computer for manipulation and production. A real winner for a camera and it plays all your old 8 tapes as well. IEEE1394 will also standardize on several high capacity hardware items this year including the LACIE DVD ram recorder/player due out at the end of this month which will record over 2gb per side of disk at 545.00 MSRP. and IEEE1394 capture cards are now available at 135.00 street price. The digital revolution has arrived!
Rating:
Summary: Great Video Camera for Engineering Consulting
Review: The Sony DCR-TRV103 is a great camera for engineering consulting work. I've used for recording video through the video in port from a crack microscope fitted auxiliary camera, looking at minute structural details on a walkway on a 170 ft. tall elevated water tank (from the ground), as a recorder for an underwater camera for well video inspections, and for many other "normal" uses. The 360X digital zoom is fantastic, however, it must be used in a tripod to keep the video usable. I use it with a video Snappy to pull stills off of the tape. The built in "Still" feature is useful for catching a shot for a steady section on the tape. Great camera. I would be interested in hearing how others use the camera with the FireWire transfer feature.
Rating:
Summary: Downloading photos and videos on your PC...
Review: This camcorder is great EXCEPTED for 1 thing the video capture card for your PC. No where does sony or anyone else tell you that I got a Quote of $400.00 for this card?????? Nothing like finding this out before you buy, huh...WHY so much? I WAS going to buy this BUT not now or not until the price of the card Drops Significantly....
Rating:
Summary: I love it but...
Review: This camcorder is truly awesome. All the features are great and go beyond expectations. The only problem I have is trying to transfer the video to my computer. I bought the IEEE 1394 Firewire by SIIG, Inc. and for some reason it doesn't work. I've contacted SIIG and Sony and haven't heard back from either. When my camcorder is connected to the computer, the computer does not detect it. I have done everything on the SIIG trouble-shooting web site to rectify the problem, to no avail. It is very frustrating and if anyone can assist please send me an e-mail. One of the biggest reasons I bought this camera was to put video on CDs and send to relatives throughout the country. I can't do that until the capture card works!
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic camcorder
Review: This is a fantastic camcorder for the beginner through to the more advanced user. The features on this model are great and given the ease with which you can capture and edit it on a PC or Mac, I would recommend this model for anyone interested in producing low budget digital home movies. With numerous digital and picture affects, it is a great buy and great value for money, especially given it's lasting Digital 8 format. A great buy and I recommend it to anybody.
Rating:
Summary: A great camera.
Review: This is a great camera for the money. It has a relatively small color LCD screen and a black & white viewfinder, but those are the only drawbacks. There are great digital features, and picture quality is outstanding. I routinely use the Ilink connector to transfer video to mpg files for distribution on CD-ROM.
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