Great home video camcorder (Sony Handycam DCR-HC37E)

Member Name: JohnCleese

Product:	Sony Handycam DCR-HC37E
Date:	12/06/08 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, good picture quality

Disadvantages: LCD menu can leave fingerprints on the screen

We bought Sony ahndycam DCR-HC37e for Christmas and it was £142 at Cameras2U.com. We bought bag as well as it was a good bundled deal and it is really necessary. It is very easy to use. Commands are displayed on LCD and I found menu intuitive to follow. The only drawback is that screen can get dirty from fingerprints quickly. Battery life is decent for our simple needs (children playing, birthdays, holidays with children). My wife is using it without any problem although not very technically savvy. USB cable can be used only to transfer still frames/pictures from the tape to PC. You need firewire card and cable to transfer video to PC. Software which comes with camera is great and will keep your videos organized in calendar or file view.
Picture quality is very good for such a cheap and simple camera. Replacment batteries are expensive as Sony did something that only their original baterries work. There is a workaround and some manufacturers produce baterries that work with Sony - take a look at eBay.
Probably not for professionals but for home video users great buy.

Summary: Probably not for professionals but for home video users great buy.

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