Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 3.9 x 3.4 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007M3PJ4
• Item model number: CCDTRV138
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,072 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Enjoy the simplicity of Sony Worry-Free Recording with this Hi 8 Handycam that includes a 20x optical/990x digital zoom, a 2 1/2" color swivelscreen LCD and NightShot Plus infra-red recording system, which lets you shoot video in total darkness.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Camcorder - Better than my First., November 14, 2005

By 

Chris - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I bought this camcorder 4 months after the sound on my other one stopped working and I was impressed. The optical zoom is good at 20x and the digital zoom (which is completely pointless) is 990x. The second thing I noticed is that the LCD screen moved to more places and that there was 2 record buttons. One was on the LCD screen, the other was next to the off button. The viewfinder can also move to different places but is still in Black and white. Another feature that this camcorder has is Nightshot Plus. This feature allows you to record at night with a brighter picture than with a flashlight or lamp. There are also many DSEs or Digital Special Effects that you can play with in recording or editing. They are:

Sepia: adds a brown old tone to the screen
Black and White: the way films used to be
Negative Art: reverses the colors in the picture
Pastel: makes the picture look colored in with a pastel crayon
Solarize: makes the picture out of basic colors
Mosaic: the picture - made out of squares
Slim: stretches the picture vertically
Stretch: a lot like widescreen

When filming out or indoors there are different Program AEs you can use when the light in the picture changes. If you dont like switching them, you can set them to AUTO. The PAEs are:

Sports
Spotlight
Portrait
Beach/Ski
SunsetMoon
Landscape

If you want to buy this camcorder because it has great battery life, don't. It doesn't have a great battery life but it is still a great camcorder.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not good for playing old S-Video Tapes, January 5, 2007

By 

EF_IN_MD (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I bought this to play back old Hi8 tapes so I could transfer them to DVD. However, there is no S-Video out and no stereo out. Video quality was bad: output was noisey and reds were over saturated. I imagine this is because there is no S-Video out. I returned it and have ordered a Sony GV-D200. Hopefully it will give me better quality since it was more than twice as much. There are some cheaper used options available, e.g. Sony EVO-250.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good enough., January 2, 2006

By 

my name goes here (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is your basic video camera. I'd say it's good for those who just need a video camera for occassional video recording. It has the basic features, with NightShot as an additional bonus. The picture quality isn't as great as I thought it would be (it's a bit grainy on my 36" WEGA), it doesn't record in stereo, and I wish it could hook up on my computer, but there's no USB port. I guess for the price you pay, it's expected. I'd recommend it if you're not really looking for something too hi-tech. I wish I could've gone with something better, maybe the next model up, but hey, it gets the job done.