Rating: 
Summary: If you want to burn DVDs with your video, avoid this.
Review: I have bought a lot of Sony products over the years so when I was in the market for a camcorder I foolishly just picked this up without researching it. After recording four tapes of my one year old I tried making a DVD and after 20-30 hours and using 3 programs, including Sony's Movieshaker (constant crashes) I have still been unsuccessful. I have just ordered a well reviewed Panasonic camera in DV. MicroMV is a terrible product with zero support from Sony. I won't be buying Sony again.
Rating:
Summary: VERY BAD SUPPORT
Review: I have problems with capturing the movies recorded witht this camera to a Sony VAIO. After waiting for ever, Movie Shaker 3.3 crashes and the movie is not captured. Sometimes it works but it is random. But the major problem is that since buying the camera in December 2002, I have been writing emails to Sony and receiving only promises of support but only autamated answers that are not helpfull at all. Also funny is that a couple of times I have received apologies from Sony via email apologizing for not having provided support, using as a justification that they were rebuilding their support site and asking me to send my request againg if I had not solved it by now. There I went and innocently I sent my request again. Have you heard anyting about it? Because I have not. Unless they make a decision to change and start supporting their products and customers, I strongly advice not to buy anyting Sony till this changes. I used to be their fan due to their quality products, but this seems to be true no more. Making money and saving money by shaving support costs seems to be their main driver. Gone are the days where quality was their driver or so it seems from my experience...
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing camera
Review: I purchased this camera yesterday because I was due to make another impulse electronics buy. While I was not surprised by the quality of the Sony product, I was surprised at how many features they packed into to this little camera. I also have JVC DV camera and can see no difference in "quality of image". While my larger camera has a strobe, the Sony has none (or I have yet to find one). Therefore, shooting at night could be problematic. The Sony does however have a low light setting that appears to work OK. Admittedly, I haven't realy given the camera a good road test yet. The main difference with this camera is the format. It uses a smaller (MicroMV) tape. This of course means you can't use your existing tapes...and they don't come cheap.... Also, due to the new format, there may be software recognition issues as I am having with my Pinnacle Studio DV. My camera isn't recognized. Also, as always, you'll need a spare (larger capacity) battery. I find that I am getting the listed 80+ minues when I don't use the LCD screen. Back to the software. It comes with a neat little capture/edit package (Movieshaker) that, while its not Video Factory or Pinnacle, is sufficient to get the film uploaded. From that point on, you can use your existing software to edit. Again, I haven't been able to get it to work with Pinnacle but that may just be the format I chose (I doubt it though). I guess the botom line is that I am enjoying the quality and the compact size. Incompatibility issues come with early adoption so you deal with it until the industry catches up. So far I am very pleased with my purchase. I find that more and more of my electronics (from Sony WEGA - Walkman) are Sony. Is it worth [the money]? That's for you to decide. Like most things the price is high now. In a year this camera wil be half that price. For now, I find that it is worth it (relatively speaking of course).
Rating:
Summary: Great DV camcorder
Review: I read the reviews and the software that comes with the camera isn't the best. i bought pinnacle 8 dowloaded the latest patches and it works great. I searched on google and found three programs that support micromv. I plugged the camcorder into my firewire card and transferred my vacation video to my pc. From their I edited my movie and made a DVD. it couldn't be any easier. Sony just released a new micromv camcorder. I don't know that noob was saying they discontinued micromv. Some people just don't have the brains for technology or computers. It funny how it's 90% user error that are most of the problems.
Rating: 
Summary: small size, poor video quality
Review: I really like the small size, easy to take anywhere. I was hoping to download the video to my computer & burn a DVD-R of my video. Movieshaker (included) is the ONLY software to date that works with this camera. You can export video from movie shaker in several formats so you can import into Pinnacle,Ulead,etc. Problem is the video quality is rather poor, especially if fast moving object in video.
I do not recommend this camera.
Rating: 
Summary: small is good, but there are some gotchas.
Review: I was sold on this camcorder due to it's very small size and the fact the it can be held like a pistol (even tho it doesn't really have a pistol grip). It does NOT have the typical side strap holder. These always gave my hand a cramp. It's LCD is easily viewed while filming and the size is so small sometimes people don't know you have it in your hand. This can be good for those who are intimidated by cameras. Pluses: It has speakers on the top and it's Stereo. The cassettes are small, about 1/4 smaller than MiniDV. The pkg comes with all the cords you need. Easy to set up. Minuses: The cassettes cost about 5$ more than others like MiniDV. The batteries are also more $. The red hues on the video are not quite right; too pinkish. My pink dress looked coral colored. The zoom button is not quite sensitive enough (or I don't know how to use it). If you press hard nothing happens and then suddenly you are zooming. Biggest drawback: Compatibility. It comes with software called MovieShaker. It will not work with any other software than the MovieShaker software, nor will it work by connecting it via the iLink cable to another MiniDV camera. The Movieshaker instruction manual is very small; there isn't much to it. But I found the software versatile and useful. The software is installed fine via the book (I am using XP). I can slice a frame out of the movie for emailing around. Even tho the resolution is not good (like 360x460) I am still using it. The reason they call it MovieShaker is because of it's ability to take a bunch of clips and "shake" them randomly picking from each clip and make a small movie. You can pick the mood of the movie from sad to crazy and it will back your movie with music and special effects to fit the mood. I find it quite entertaining. You can then email the movie. Drawback again is that the movie can only be 30 seconds long. The fileformats it creates are Mpeg2 in many sizes depending on which setting you pick. Yes these are large files. You can also create an Email file but it limits the movie to 1 minute. ?? I had a 10 second email file and it was 20MB. The purpose of Mpeg2 is to be able to burn the movies onto a DVD and play them in a DVD player. I do not have a burner otherwise I would test that feature. Again, I expect format to be a problem. Bottom line; I am content to continue to copy my video's onto VHS. I feel the quality and size of the camera is it's big plus. It actually makes me want to bring it more places because it's so small.
Rating:
Summary: Small has its price
Review: Sony does a fine job of telling you of all the positives for such a small camera. But they fail to tell you of some of the weaknesses that come at the expense of the small size:
The microphone is on the top of the camera near the back. It has difficulty picking up a low sound subject in front of you and is more prone to pick up background noises than a front mounted directional microphone. There is no wind guard foam over the microphone so you will pick up wind noise when shooting outside. There is no input jack for an alternate mike.
Because of the limited data transfer with the MPEG file compression on to the small tape, certain shots such as panning a landscape may appear jerky. About 10% of my outdoor landscapes did not provide a smooth frame to frame transition.
Be sure to take enough tape with you. The availability of this tape can be very limited. On my last trip to France, I had to search out a Sony store to buy more tapes.
There is no Night Vision feature on this camera but it did work well in low light situations.
I probably would buy this camera again because of its small size. It is easy to tote around and tha camera, extra batteries and tapes can fit in a very small of camera bag. To bad Sony didn't find a better design solution for the microphone. To offset the jerkyness, you just need to remember to move the camera a little slower so that the camera has a chance to keep up with the data transfer.
Rating:
Summary: Warning: This Thing Does Not Work With Anything
Review: Sony made it sound like these MicroMV shoots in .mpeg format which you can edit directly. It is in .mmv format. There absolutely no software that will edit .mmv except the crappy one that came with it. I have one. Here's how it works. After shooting, you have to download via MovieShaker, the software that comes with it. Then, export each clip via MovieShaker to DVI or .mpeg files. Then, use whatever editing software you use to open the exported files. It takes more than twice the time and twice the hard drive space if you want to keep the original .mmv files. I had to keep my original .mmv files because by the time I'm done, the audio would be off-track. After using it for a while, I ended up just downloading the shots to ... yeah, VCR! Quicktime can read the .mmv files, so it is obvious that those .mmv files are in fact .mpeg files that Sony claims, but NO editing software that can downloand and read DV files and .mpeg files can recognize .mmv files. It is obvious that this incompatability is deliberate. Avoid wasting your time doing double work. Avoid microMV at all cost.
Rating:
Summary: Please sign petition requesting Sony support MicroMV on Mac
Review: the dcrip5 is for the early adopters among us. it has "wow" written all over it but make sure you're ready for the limitations of the microMV format. pros:
- small size, and lightweight: 1.88"W x 4.0"H x 3.13"L weighing 12 oz. this is the main selling point of this camcorder.
- 10x optical zoom.
- Super SteadyShot image stabilization - and sony's system works.
- delivers vibrant colors when shooting in daylight.
- connectivity options: firewire, S-video, composite. cons:
- microMV format is proprietary and may go the way of betamax.
- microMV video quality is noticeably worse than MiniDV.
- microMV also uses a different data-compression scheme than MiniDV, which means that it may be incompatible with your DV-editing software.
- no still photo capability.
- no video light.
- not Mac compatible.
- very bad ergonomics - a small camcorder will have small buttons and consolidated controls.
- as with most sony products, you pay a premium, pushing up the price.
- battery life could be better.
- only 2.5" LCD.
- non-intuitive menu system.
- no headphone or mic input jack.
- no accessory shoe. given the limitations of the microMV format, a smaller camcorder is the only reason to use it. and a tiny camcorder is what sony has delivered and that's why this is a four star product for me. but if you can stand a slightly bigger camcorder, check out other miniDV options. these are more affordable, better supported, and almost as portable. i hope this helps your buying decision. peace.
Rating:
Summary: ultra-portable but microMV is not for everyone
Review: the dcrip5 is for the early adopters among us. it has "wow" written all over it but make sure you're ready for the limitations of the microMV format. pros:
- small size, and lightweight: 1.88"W x 4.0"H x 3.13"L weighing 12 oz. this is the main selling point of this camcorder.
- 10x optical zoom.
- Super SteadyShot image stabilization - and sony's system works.
- delivers vibrant colors when shooting in daylight.
- connectivity options: firewire, S-video, composite. cons:
- microMV format is proprietary and may go the way of betamax.
- microMV video quality is noticeably worse than MiniDV.
- microMV also uses a different data-compression scheme than MiniDV, which means that it may be incompatible with your DV-editing software.
- no still photo capability.
- no video light.
- not Mac compatible.
- very bad ergonomics - a small camcorder will have small buttons and consolidated controls.
- as with most sony products, you pay a premium, pushing up the price.
- battery life could be better.
- only 2.5" LCD.
- non-intuitive menu system.
- no headphone or mic input jack.
- no accessory shoe. given the limitations of the microMV format, a smaller camcorder is the only reason to use it. and a tiny camcorder is what sony has delivered and that's why this is a four star product for me. but if you can stand a slightly bigger camcorder, check out other miniDV options. these are more affordable, better supported, and almost as portable. i hope this helps your buying decision. peace.
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