Sony DCRTRV820 Digital Camcorder

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [4.18mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000050GNZ
• Item model number: DCR-TRV820
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,975 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The DCR-TRV820 is Sony's top of the line Digital8 camcorder. Sony Digital8 records a digital signal onto standard 8mm or Hi8 tapes. It is possible to record up to 500 lines of resolution on a Digital8 tape. This camcorder allows you to digitally transfer your video to a computer using the FireWire standard, just like MiniDV. The camcorder comes with a 4-inch Liquid Color Display (LCD) screen and a color viewfinder. A nifty gadget that comes with the camcorder is a color printer. The camcorder has a large 25x optical zoom and a 450x digital zoom. It allows for analog input so you can transfer old VHS tapes to DV. The camcorder includes Control L, which allows usage in a standard and linear editing system. Still pictures are captured and stored on Sony's memory stick media, so you can proceed to print out those still pictures. Sony's LaserLink system uses infrared light to make a wireless connection from your camcorder to your television.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool camcorder with lot of features, October 27, 2000

By 

Edwin Kurian (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV820 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

This is the best camcorder that Sony currently has. Its worth every cent that I paid. Each component snaps into its place. The features never end. I can zoom across the water and video a boat far away. Taking still pics is great too. I could take still pics on the cassette, and later transfer the good ones to the memory stick. The TRV820 is packed with cool features and also came with software/cable to transfer video clips or still to PCs. This is a cool video cam upgrade for those who may have had Hi8 cams previously... you can still play your old Hi8 videos and can begin shooting digital videos. 3 in 1 (video/still/printer) is neat. The prints are great for "on the fly" handouts, a good ice-breaker when shooting children and strangers. The 450X digital zoom is an overkill and somewhat useless (pixelation at the maximum zoom) and really can't be hand held at these magnifications. Very solid: functioned well even at hot and humid conditions. Couple of negative comments:

1. The still resolution is low (640x480). This needs to be pumped up Sony! 2. The camera does not have the capability to play wide-screen format filming on regular TVs (a feature on Hi8s). You get a vertically streched video images unless you have a wide-screen TV. 3. If you take videos on 16:9 widescreen format, and later transfer these photos to the stick the photos get stretched and does not look good. Other than that I would definitely recommend it. The printer is worth the extra [money] over the other model. And the printer doesn't add much weight but it adds lots of fun! A piece of advice while buying accessories, if you need 8 hours battery, buy two 4 hour battery as the 8 hour battery is big & heavy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Owned it for 6 months...., December 26, 2001

By 

Hsiang Tu "Hsiang Tu" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV820 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

Good things about this camcorder:
1. The 25X zoom
2. HUGE LCD screen
3. Great video and sound quality
4. Solid build
5. Easy connection to computer with iLink--especially with a Sony VAIO computer
6. Enough special effects and super nightshot.

The bad things:
1. It is very heavy and big
2. The build-in printer: I stop using this feature completely since the still image quality is quite low so the pictures came out not pretty at all and it takes more than 2 minutes to print one photo. The 830 does the right thing to have the printer externally.
3. Slow rewind speed

I have no trouble finding the Digital-8 tapes and got quite a lot of photo papers for it (even though I don't use them at all).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars worth every penny, June 6, 2001

By 

Jim "tech junkie" (harrisburg, nc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV820 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

great overall camcorder. you have to love the 25x zoom. easy to use. i've gone through just about all the features with only two trips to the manual. the grandparents loved being able to get print out pictures of their new grandson instantly during our last visit.