Rating: 
Summary: You can't go wrong with this one!
Review: I decided to get this camcorder for the better picture (3CCD) and slew of excellent features versus some cheaper models. I have not had reason to regret my choice! I do action photography and have actually been able to capture some stills off it that are quite impressive. Nowhere near as colorful and crisp as my Canon SLR can give me, but quite useable. And without the cost and time of having to take a slew of photos, develop them, print them and scan them in. Don't be fooled by cameras that might offer more than 640x480 resolution...larger pictures don't do you much good if they aren't as good quality! These are almost as good as some digital cameras give you. In fact, I will be selling my digital camera off, as I don't really need it in addition to this camcorder and my regular camera. The camera is a little larger and heavier than some other digital camcorders, and it does not come with a memory stick included. Instead it includes a floppy disk adapter for capturing stills off your tapes. Neat to have, but not real useful in the field. Be sure you get the PC Card Adapater as well as a memory stick, this camera does not take them directly. I love the LCD screen, it will flip completely over and lay flat against the side facing out. Really nice for watching playbacks. It gives quite good sound and is nice and bright. The battery life is actually not bad at all, compared to a digital camera! But still worth getting an extended battery. Be careful about getting the highest life ones, they are quite big and heavy. Controls are pretty well placed and easy to use. I like having things like a neutral density filter turned on with a simple button push. Overall, the useability of this camera is very well-thought out and implemented. If you want a quality camcorder that will last you a long time, this is one of the best for the price you can get.
Rating:
Summary: Be causious of reviews
Review: I find it helpful to read the reviews of consumers that have already bought the product. But click on the review from Wayne C4 listed here where it says "Wayne C4 (see more about me)" and he has reviewed 40 + items with many of them using the same words in the review or with only a few words changed. And the items are similar that he reviewed. So he has obviously not purchased these items. So be careful what you read here. Shame on you Wayne C4.
Rating: 
Summary: Sony Handycam [messed] up my computer
Review: I find myself using the DCR-TRV900 as a digital camera almost as a matter of course. I purchased the Sony 64Mb memory card (you need to also buy the PCMCIA attachment that it fits in) and taking pictures is a veritable joy. The supplied floppy drive is next to useless - in fact, I don't know how you'd use it in an active environment. There are manual options: aperture setting (depth of field) and shutter speed (great for darker environments)among them. You can also record stills right on the tape and later extract them on your computer. Transfering video and stills to a PC is effortless; I use the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. To make great movies, including voice over (if needed) and background music, I'm happy with Ulead Video Studio rather than the Microsoft XP Windows Movie Maker program - which appears to be a minimal implementation of Ulead's program. Adobe Premier 5.0 might still be better, but I'm not professional enough to shell out [that kind of money] or so for that program. By the way, Ulead also allows you to create NTSC VCD files, which, once downloaded to a regular CD-
ROM (I use Easy Cd Creator Platinum), can be played on your DVD player (not all of them, but certainly those produced in the last 2 years). Anyway, a great camcorder and camera; I find myself walking around with it for hours on end - it just feels good!
Rating:
Summary: Great - without a single doubt
Review: I find myself using the DCR-TRV900 as a digital camera almost as a matter of course. I purchased the Sony 64Mb memory card (you need to also buy the PCMCIA attachment that it fits in) and taking pictures is a veritable joy. The supplied floppy drive is next to useless - in fact, I don't know how you'd use it in an active environment. There are manual options: aperture setting (depth of field) and shutter speed (great for darker environments)among them. You can also record stills right on the tape and later extract them on your computer. Transfering video and stills to a PC is effortless; I use the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. To make great movies, including voice over (if needed) and background music, I'm happy with Ulead Video Studio rather than the Microsoft XP Windows Movie Maker program - which appears to be a minimal implementation of Ulead's program. Adobe Premier 5.0 might still be better, but I'm not professional enough to shell out [that kind of money] or so for that program. By the way, Ulead also allows you to create NTSC VCD files, which, once downloaded to a regular CD-
ROM (I use Easy Cd Creator Platinum), can be played on your DVD player (not all of them, but certainly those produced in the last 2 years). Anyway, a great camcorder and camera; I find myself walking around with it for hours on end - it just feels good!
Rating: 
Summary: Solid image - great to use
Review: I have been using it for six months now and am very pleased. The larger batteries can interfer with the view finder however, this is not an issue when using the flip out LCD display. Great image quality. The still image function works great with a PC Card.
Rating:
Summary: Killer Product
Review: I have owned my TRV-900 since it was first released and have nothing but praise for the product. This product produces amazing image quality, is well laid out functionally, and I would put a video produced on the 900 up against a Betacam SP anyday.
Rating:
Summary: Understated...
Review: I have owned the trv900 for over a month now. I bought it instead of the VX 1000/2000 because of the smaller size and price. (about half the size of the vx2000 and 2/3 the price.) It has a 52mm lens front, color viewfinder, 3.5" LCD screen, and of course 3 CCDs. The camera is just over 3 years old (as of Aug. 2001) , but don't let that stop you from choosing it over the vx2000 because the image quality is right on par with it. Some people think the image is a little "colder" than the 2000, but since the Trv900 has full manual control (including manual audio, without the "hiss" the Vx2000 is now infamous for) you can easily adjust the picture to your liking. Some good things about the camera are: -3 1/4" CCDs.
-Full manual control including focus, white bal, iris, and audio.
-Amazing resolution. (I got about 520 vertical lines in my own tests).
-Zebra stripes(Black bands that appear in over exposed areas).
-Color bars.
-A really good onboard mic rivaled only by the XL1's.
-Great LCD screen and nice color viewfinder.
-PCMCIA Type II slot for memory cards.
-PAL playback. Things that need improving:
-The included lens hood. (can't screw on filters between the lens and hood without modification).
-Low light preformance. (not bad, but the vx2000 is WAY better).
-Telephoto is only 12x (the GL1 has a 20x).
-Battery must be charged on camera, a rather annoying feature sony is implementing on its "newer" cameras. You can buy a seperate charger though.
-I have read reports of a "tape crinkle" after a year or so but I cant prove or disprove them as I have not had the camera that long. In conclusion the Trv900 is a great camera with outstanding resolution with full manual control. You will not regret buying this camera over the other 3ccd models out there.
Rating:
Summary: A Pro Camcorder in Consumer Clothing
Review: I used to be a professional photographer, TV news videographer and news producer, so I was weaned on high quality broadcast quality TV pictures from expensive pro equipment. They are sharp, with excellent color and low noise. Consumer camcorders, even digital ones, left me cold. They just didn't cut it compared to the pro gear I had used. That is, until I saw the Sony TRV900. This baby is really a sleeper. The picture quality from this 3 chip camera is professional quality. The picture is very sharp, digital artifacts are not noticeable, and the picture is amazingly noise free, even in marginal light. (In low light,it's noisy, like all CCD cameras.) Manual controls on almost everything let you tweak the picture as you learn more. It doesn't look "pro" so it might not impress your friends, until they see the results. And the sound quality is not quite up to the picture quality, at least with the built in mics. But if you want to really do some fine quality videography which could be shown anywhere, even on network TV, this is your best choice.
Rating:
Summary: I like it even better now that I own one
Review: I wrote a review after I had decided to purchase the DCR-TRV900 (see "Great for a Mac DV user"). Since then, I've had a few e-mails asking how it works in practice. I have no trouble capturing video from my TRV900 to my Apple PowerBook G3 "Bronze." What I thought I expected was the size of DV video clips -- 16GB (yes, gigabytes) for one hour of video with sound. I ordered a 37GB drive, and now have an additional 75GB drive on backorder. Keep that in mind if you decide to do your own video editing on a computer. I learned that you should record a signal across the entire MiniDV tape before you use it. This makes capturing easier, since unrecorded sections have no timecode, creating a 'new' zero-point for subsequent footage. The TRV900 has a very nice Color Bar feature which is perfect for this basic signal. I never thought I'd use the flip-out LCD screen. I use it all the time. I did video 15 years ago in high school, and thought I preferred viewfinders. I was wrong. Further, you can flip it all the way around so your subject can see what the camera sees, and kids LOVE this. (The viewfinder starts working when you do this.) One feature which has provided great entertainment is the Frame Recording. This will record about six frames of video and then pause. Using a tripod and the remote control, you can do a decent job of stop-motion animation. I bought the 8-hour battery, and it was worth it. The included battery is next to useless for any recreational recording. Finally, I got the PCMCIA adapter for the Memory Stick. The TRV900 has a PCMCIA slot for recording still images at 640x480 resolution, with varying compression levels, and I've used it a lot. (The progressive scan is always on for this Memory Mode; you can turn it on or off for Camcorder mode if you want video frames you can capture.) I also ended up buying Sony's USB Memory Stick reader so I don't have to remove my Ratoc FireWire card from my PowerBook. Overall, I'd say this is an excellent camera for someone who wants to do home video editing and enjoys playing with the medium. For me, having fun is a big part of videotaping...this camera is a fun camera.
Rating:
Summary: Very Impressed
Review: I've been using my 900 now for 9 months and I am very pleased with the quality of picture and manual controls. I previously only rented cameras and only used the Canon XL-1 and Sony VX1000 previously of which got me very interested in digital camcorders. At first I had doubts about the 900 as it looks so much smaller and cheaper when compared to the XL-1 or VX1000. It just didn't give that professional look (You have to admit the XL-1 is pretty cool looking). That has been somewhat of a hinderance when making professional video productions and I show up with what looks like a small family video camera. So as first impressions go clients sometimes think your joking. But it wasn't long before people were very impressed with the picture and sound quality (I use seperate mics as in all camcorders I have found the built in mics pic up motor noise of the digital tape - for those who don't know these use MiniDV tapes so even though they are digital they still store the video on a cassette). On the plus side to being small camera it allows me to do things I couldn't do with the larger XL-1 and it is also lighter, easier to manoeuvre, and has a much more useful battery life. I found the controls behind the LCD a little bothersome when I needed to quickly access those controls when the LCD is closed but fortunately most manual controls are easily accessible on the back or front of the camera. I also loved the manual audio level feature but I wished it had it on an outside knob/button and not have to select it from multiple pull down menus on the LCD screen. But I found the manual controls more useful than the VX1000. The XL-1 had easy to access manual controls as well and in fact if I had to choose I would pick the XL-1 controls setup over the TRV-900 but that could be because that was the first digital camera I learned to operate and get familiar with. My video quality is I believe clearer for most shots on the 900 than the work I did on the XL-1 and it also was easier to avoid hot spots if an interview subject turns causing a bad reflection from the lighting as it has a nice zebra mode to show you hot spots. On the downside I did find the XL-1 a bit better in lower light levels and it has what I feel is a better quality lens which is also interchangeable. It is most likely due to the better lens on the XL-1 that it didn't resort to digital enhancements that washed out blacks to a slightly towards grey in poor light conditions when filming motion. The 900 has low light level settings but can only be used for still shots as the frame rate is too slow for normal video, but it does sharpen up a still image quite nicely in poor light. Overall I am very happy with the product. I did a fair amount of research before buying it and it paid off for my needs. I was able to find I could get this camera along with XLR adapters and a basic steady cam for the same price it was going to cost me for just the XL-1. And I much preferred the 900 over the VX1000. For those curious I use this camera to make video productions (mostly promotional videos) and I can obtain broadcast quality video using this camera along with a good video editing card on a PC. If you plan on purchasing a DV camera to make a production or even a movie I would recommend the TRV-900 or at least a digital camera with the 3CCD feature. (Yes you can have a DV recording converted to 35mm film for theatres but your looking at probably $45,000US plus for a 1.5hr feature and then there is the whole issue of getting someone to run with it). If your interest is not in professional or near professional quality and don't want the expense of the 3CCD camera I would still highly recommend a digital camera (either DV or miniDV). I also use a TRV-9 and in good lighting it can come pretty close at first glance to my TRV-900 for sharpness. It also has a very cool night shot feature where you can get a black and white image in absolute blackness (only for about 10-20 feet from the camera though). The biggest advantage to digital video is it has a much higher bandwidth designated for image colors than your standard home video camera including Hi-8, VHS, S-VHS and even the Digital Hi-8 (which is in between Hi-8 and Digital Hi-8). Higher color bandwidth means a better picture quality and there is more information there for your editor to work with thus there is less loss in rendered edited video. The advantage of the 3CCD feature on cameras such as the TRV-900 means more realistic colors (one chip is dedicated for each of the 3 primary colors) I hope this review is useful for those of you debating the should I get a 3CCD camera or not.
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