Good pics & inexpensive (Sony Handycam DCR-TRV130)

Member Name: Cleudo

Product:	Sony Handycam DCR-TRV130
Date:	15/11/01 (657 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Video picture quality, Good optical zoom, Good battery life

Disadvantages: Rotten stills performance, Forget the digital zoom, Slightly bulky

For the detailed spec on this camera, read Flossy's opinion below. All the relevant points are covered.

I bought this camera because I wanted the cheapest digital camera with reasonable picture quality I could find - and at around £390 (if you hunt around), it's not a bad deal.

A few points that you should be aware of...

This camera, unlike other Digital8 models, won't play back your old analogue 8 or Hi-8 tapes.

The still capture feature isn't very good - if this is important to you, then don't buy this model.

The TRV comes with a DV-Out connector (firewire) This is DV-OUT only - no DV-IN.

Unlike almost every other digital camcorder, the TRV130 has no LANC remote control connector - so you can't buy one of those widgets for it that enable the DV-IN. (You CAN send it off to get done however)

Another annoyance is the lack of an external mic jack - can't see why Sony left this out -whilst including a headphone socket...

Other connectors out are composite video + audio and S-Video.

Finally, the tapes are a lot cheaper than DV tapes - I got 3 for around £12 from Dixons which isn't bad. Recording time is 60mins per tape in SP mode.

Hope this helps you if you're thinking of buying one.. J

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