Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [4.54mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005A3M8
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,302 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The DCR-TRV330 is a great midlevel Digital8 camcorder. Digital8 utilizes the digital video format, but records onto Hi8 tapes, and can play your old Hi8 and 8mm movies. The 25x optical (28x digital) zoom is combined with image stabilization, a boon since high zooms can lead to increased shakiness. Additionally, the DCR-TRV330 features Sony's NightShot system for 0-lux shooting. An assortment of special effects and faders help give your footage a more professional feel. Also, a 16:9 widescreen shooting mode lets you shoot movies in the same aspect ratio as Hollywood films.

The black-and-white EVF is adequate, but the 2.5-inch color LCD monitor is the better bet for framing your shots. Digital stills can be recorded onto the accompanying 4 MB Memory Stick, and images can be downloaded to your computer via USB. Like all DV camcorders, the audio is recorded at CD-quality levels--PCM digital stereo. Should you need more professional sound than the built-in mic provides, a mic input jack is located on the camcorder.

Because the DCR-TRV330 uses the DV format, you can download your footage to a computer for editing using an IEEE 1394 cable. Analog pass-through ports are built-in, letting you digitally archive all your old analog footage. Also included are a shoulder strap, lens cap, battery, AC adapter, and remote control.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just the hard facts, April 7, 2001

By 

Saurabh Saxena (Campbell, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

This camera was a birthday gift from my sweetheart and isundoubtedly the best there can be for ME ! But for all you guys outthere - here's what I found out.

1. Being digital hasadvantages... better resolution, color's great etc. Editing, however,is not so easy - takes time and the right tools (e.g. 'AdobePremiere') - so consider tapes being your primary storage medium. I'vemade VCDs and they're worth it but the quality is significantly lesserthan on tape.

2. Requires lots of light - outside it'sbeautiful... inside - JPG-like artifacts appear (also, colored dots ona perfectly white wall) But this is acceptable if you're *not* lookingfor professional quality.

3. Optical Zoom is great - 25X - one ofthe highest and definitely comes in handy. I've turned off digitalzoom (MoreThanYou'llEverNeed X) since it reduces picture quality and Ican anyway do it on the computer while editing. 25X optical is enoughfor most needs.

4. Picture stability (steady shot technology) isgreat - shots from a moving car are stable.

5. Buttons are a bit tooclose to each other - in my first exp., at a friend's party, I must'vemissed a cycle of on/off so, we got to see shots of table tops, walls;) and cleanly missed the action ;) fortunately this lasted for onlyabout 5 mins before i realized. The recording indicator is easy tomiss when you're concentrating on the subject (and if you've had ali'l too many beers ;))...

6. Memory stick stills taken in mediumlight again have JPEG artifacts and paying extra $... (over DCR-TRV230with no memory stick - you *can* take stills on tape) for this is notworth it if you have a digital camera already. However, your cameramight not have 25X optical zoom so think about it. This camera usesthe same chipset for video and stills. In more expensive models, thereare two chipsets.

7. Night shot (shooting in darkness) sounds greatand works great - if you don't mind loss of almost all color and agreenish tinge to everything. To our party, however, it gave a 'BlairWitch' effect - everyone loved it. It's better to have some normal(intruding) light source attached to the CAM.

8. MIC is verysensitive and sound has been amazing throughout.

9. LCD is great -less dotty than DCR-TRV530 and uses less battery (1"smaller).

10. The bundled battery lasts for about 75 mins on an avg- so you want to buy a backup for trips. Charging to FULL was somewhatslower than I expected.

This camera has some built-in editingfeatures which I am yet to explore fully.

To transfer the video tomy computer for editing, I had to shell out an extra $... for aFireWire kit. The installation on Windows 2000 was quite painless - itdid everything for me except plug in the card physically.

Overall a4 rating - a great camera and worth the money you put in - even inthis recession.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good choice for a home camcorder, March 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

This is a very good camcorder for a home user, that is, for recording birthday parties, football games, general family activites, etc. Its easy to use and has lots of features. It is also easy for my wife (who is not a gadget person) to use, and is well featured for me (I am a gadget freak). Video quality is excellent if you have good lighting - it does get a little grainy if the light is particularly low. Both the low-lux feature and the nightshot feature help, but at a price (frame rate and color quality respectively). I did find that this camera is much LESS susceptible than my old video cam, but it was ancient technology. I have since added a 3.3 megapixel Sony DCR S70 digital camera to the collection - and if you want both, Sony makes the partnership a good one. Both cameras share the same battery (M series), Memory Stick media, and charger. This makes traveling with them rather nice, as well as savings on accessories. Overall, Im impressed with the 330, although I question whether the additional ,,,($$$) I paid for it in excess of the 320 price was worth the feature differential. As the price comes down, this will be an even better deal.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A decent camcorder, but a bad digital camera, November 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DCR-TRV330 Digital8 Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

We purchased this camcorder specifically because of its dual function as a camcorder and digital camera. I'm not really going to comment on the camcorder aspects because I agree with most of the other positive comments that people have made.

As for the digital stills, pictures taken outdoors look fine, but indoor pictures are VERY grainy and pixelated, even in a very bright room. In my opinion, the quality is just unacceptable. The Memory Stick with USB output is an incredible technology that makes downloading pictures to your computer so EASY, but this benefit can not make up for the bad pictures that it takes. (I did not try to capture stills from the tape because I do not have the ieee adaptor needed to do this, so I do not know if stills taken in this way may look better than those taken on the memory stick)

If you are just looking to take video, then this camcorder is probably fine, but I see no need to pay for the extra memory stick capabilities because they are not worth it.