Customer Reviews

Sony DCR-HC46 MiniDV 1MP Digital Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom (Includes Handycam Station)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the best camcorders in the market today and I would definitely recommend it to anyone planning to buy a Mini-DV camcorder

Positive factors:
- Very small and easy to hold with one hand. Can be easily attached even to a mini-tripod with ease.
- Excellent widescreen video and hi-fi audio. Your videos finally get that "Hollywood" feel when you shoot movies in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format). Even if you don't have a widescreen TV currently, you will very soon have one as more and more people are buying them. So its better to buy this camcorder and shoot in 16:9 format to enjoy your movies later in widescreen format.
- Includes widescreen rotatable LCD so what you see is what you get when you shoot in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format)
- Good battery life. One extra battery is enough. You can easily manage a day's worth of shooting with two batteries before recharging them again
- Includes docking station making it easier to connect to computer or TV. If you have a good computer with a firewire port, please buy a firewire cable to connect the camcorder to your computer. You can download your movie in excellent clarity in .avi format and edit it as required
- Make sure to change the audio setting to 16 bit (instead of the default 12 bit) for very good hi-fi audio
- Touchscreen menu system is great. You don't have to search for any buttons as they are all available in the touchscreen menu itself.
- 12X optical zoom is more than sufficient for ordinary home videos. Anything more produces more "shaking" and would necessiate the use of a tripod. When you shoot without a tripod, 12X is the best zoom you can achieve without worrying about shaky videos
- 1 MP widescreen still photo. You can use this feature if you forgot to bring your digital camera. The photo clarity is not good so please don't expect great shots. Since the photo is in 16:9 format, you can take panoramic photos and cover more people in group shots
- Nightshot: Cool feature that records using infrared light. Useful for shooting at night as you can record a video even in 100% darkness
- Color widescreen viewfinder - Very useful when you are running down on batteries and need to use the viewfinder. The color widescreen viewfinder gives an excellent picture and is as good as the LCD in clarity

Negative factors:
- Outdoor videos especially in bright sunlight are overexposed. So please adjust the white balance when shooting outdoors. Add the white-balance menu to your shortcuts so that you can easily access it and return to default once you start shooting indoors
- Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click "beep" sound).

Notes:
- Use a fresh cassette after recording 2 or 3 times on the same cassette. The head tends to get dirty if you re-record on the same cassette more than 3 times
- You can edit movies in Windowx XP using Windows Movie Maker, but beware it does not support 16:9 ratio video. Hence your videos look ugly as you shot them in 16:9 but Movie Maker converted it to 4:3. Invest in Pinnacle Software version 9 or 10 for better movie editing capabilities. Pinnacle is the only software, I am aware of, that preserves teh 16:9 ratio. Even Roxio could not allow 16:9 format.
- You can also invest in wide-angle lens as it gives excellent coverage

I bought this camera after looking through reviews on a plethora of sites; one of my primary requirements was to shoot indoor video. One good thing about this camera is that it is surprisingly small and light, which would no doubt make it easy to carry on trips. The other good thing is that it shoots fairly good outdoor video. But these are pretty much its only two strengths, and they are far outweighed by the lousy quality of the video I got when I tried the camera indoors. In the default mode, the picture is dark, extremely noisy, the colors are wildly inaccurate, and it looks as if the video is being shot through a yellow snow storm. Things improve slightly if the white balance is set to indoor mode, but the color fidelity and the graininess is still unacceptable. Another issue that I noticed was that the camera takes a noticeable amount of time to focus in on objects when you move it around, but this was a relatively minor inconvenience when compared to the abysmal low light performance.

I also noticed that there was a small but very prominent red speck on the LCD; the manual says that this is a "normal" result of the manufacturing process. Being somewhat familiar with this industry, I can tell you that it is more likely the result of lower QA standards to cut costs (how many of us have seen a color speck on a new laptop or desktop LCD?).

Before returning the camera, I went over to a local electronics store and shot similar footage with it and with a display model of a Panasonic PV-GS300. The quality of the video was far superior with the GS300; I noticed no graininess, the picture seemed to be steadier and always in focus, the colors more accurate.

My suggestion to all those thinking about buying this camera is to seriously consider spending the extra $100-$300 and purchasing the high end Sony HC96, the Panasonic GS300, or perhaps the GS500.

The Sony DCR-HC46 is a terrific mid-range digital camcorder. It has a more than adequate 12x optical zoom (any more and even image stabilization won't remove the jitters). There are quick access buttons on the body of the camera, and a ton of features in the on-screen menus (available only on the swing-out LCD viewfinder). Using your fingers on these menus is much easier than I thought they would be, and most of those features are for infrequent occasions. In addition to the LCD viewfinder, there is a color traditional viewfinder (missing on many up-scale models like the DCR-SRxx line of hard drive camcorders), which is great when outdoors where the sun can wash out the LCD. We really appreciate the Handycam Station that makes connections to computers and TVs a breeze while charging the battery. Now that really is "handy."

Technically, the image capturing technology is the same as the hard drive-based DCR-SR80. However, MiniDV recording technology does not compress the digital images where hard disk and Mini DVD technologies do. Therefore when you transfer the data to your computer for editing, you avoid the uncompress process required by the latter two technologies. When you create the resulting DVD, that is the first and only compression to hit your video, meaning you get better image quality.

The cons? Well, the included software is woefully lacking. I'd like to author DVDs, but ImageMixer is a Video CD authoring tool. And VCD is so ten-years-ago. And the built-in 1 megapixel camera is truly a joke.

I do not claim to be a technology expert. But I trust the judgment of those who share their experiences. And I did extensive research before purchasing this camera. I needed one for my mom's 60th birthday party, so the option of failure was ZERO. My experience... Phenomenal!!! So easy to use that my 16 year old cousin, with no instructions from me, was able to record and take pictures simultaneously. I was able to play it back that same night for my family with no stumbling for the manual or confusion over cords (which ALL necessary cords are included). Simply stated... it can't get any easier than this. I'm looking forward to doing my own editing through the computer. Sorry Mr. Professional Videographer... but I got this one!!!

I have been a fan of Sony for a long time. In fact, I bought this camera to replace my Sony Handycam Hi8 that was 11 years old and still worked great.

This camera is definitely the right purchase. The only reason I did not rate the camera a 5 is for two things:

1. The location of the zoom button is a little awkward under your finger. Probably because the camera is very small, but it probably could have been placed a bit better. It does get a little uncomfortable.

2. The battery life of the standard battery is poor at best. You really need to upgrade the battery if you want and reasonable amount of time.

Other than that, the camera is great. It works very nicely, takes very sharp, accurate pictures, and the color representation is great. I read some other reviews about some sort of "blue cast" on the image, but I really don't know what they were referring to.

I looked at JVC, Panasonic, and some others, and even though this camera has 1 CCD (instead of 3 like others are touting) I think this was a great purchase for the price.

I have used the camcorder for 5 days and recorded about 45min of video. No problems what so ever. I dubbed several DVD +R through the ILink cable to my Sony RG330 DVD Recorder. Out of 3 DVDs NONE have failed. One camcorder option I did change is the Audio Quality, the default is 12bit and I changed it to 16bit. Zoom is great, but the digital zoom you really need a tripod. Great Picture, I love the 16:9 widescreen. For the price I am very satisfied with the DCR-HC46.

I love using the camera itself. I'm a point and shoot type of person -- not too picky. But I always have problems trying to upload my videos to my computer. You have to slide the camera into the docking base just the right way so the computer can recognize it.

Bought this for my son's 14th b-day--he's taking a
class at school this September in video production
in conjunction with Mac computers. So far so good with
our Mac @ home. I really wasn't concerned with compatibility
since we've only owned SONY's and always had Mac's.
It has been sooooo easy for him to use. So lightweight and compact.
Battery life is very good and ordering addtional batteries for just in case
was as easy as ordering the camcorder and very reasonable!
He turned it on and it was a no brainer from there. The transferring of
photos off the video was instant and the 'video' transfer was easy as well.
(Though at this time I think he has used the photo option more than the video)
But none the less -- 'we' are all extremely happy with 'his' new SONY camcorder!
thanks for a painless and successful purchase!

Good quality camcorder for shooting home videos, easy to use and compact in size, it does what it say at right price, easy to use with computer.

I bought this camcorder to use on a camping trip to Yellowstone and South Dakota with my daughter and grandchildren. I have a larger Sony camcorder that takes great pictures, but I wanted one I could throw in my purse or backpack and use any time a photo opportunity presented itself. This MiniDV was perfect. I was able to take it everywhere and I got shots I never would have been able to get with my old, bulkier camcorder. It's very easy to use and the picure quality is very good.