Customer Reviews

Sony DCRTRV22 MiniDV Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, Color Viewfinder & Memory Stick Capability

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I did not buy my TRV22 from Amazon but from Circuit City due to their great return policy I had originally bought a Canon Zr70mc and within 2 hours I took it back because it needed a tremendous amount of light for indoor filming and even then it was very grainy. So I upgraded to the Sony TRV22 and what a difference, now filming indoors is not a problem the Sony does not need much light usually a table lamp is now plenty and there is very very little if any graininess to the picture. The picture quality for outdoors is fantastic.. Yes in bright light the LCD screen can be hard to see but most LCD's are hard to see in bright light. I don't feel the wind noise is an issue but that's me. As for uploading and downloading the video to computer is a snap... plug the camera into the firewire or USB port and Windows XP will see that it's a Sony camera and configure itself automatically and it's ready to go. I have not tried the still capabilities because I have digital camera. The Nightvision works, its neat to play with but I probably won't use it much. The menus are easy to navigate and the touch screen is a intresting idea but it works pretty good. The camera must have a noise cancellation feature because it does not pickup its own motor noise which is very quiet to begin with. The supplied battery is good for about 80 minutes with the LCD on. I made a short test video and used Nero 6 to burn it to DVD format and everything went smoothly and the quality was just as good as the tape. Overall I am very happy with the Sony TRV22...I hope this review will help somebody who is researching on buying a new camera....

I just picked up this thing over the weekend. My fiance and I decided to buy it to record our wedding and reception. We might buy the additional light (it's not too expensive) because we're not sure how bright things will be at the reception. And probably a larger battery too. The one [battery] that comes with the DCR-TRV22 can do about 70 min. That's not too shabby, but for what we're using it for... we need more.

Here are some pros and cons as I see it now:

PROS:

Tiny! This thing literally fits in the palm of your hand.

Touch-screen menu on the LCD screen. Very cool and easy to use.

Digital image. Transfer from the camera to your computer without any loss of quality!

The button to start/stop recording is easily and quickly accessible. So there's no fumbling around.

The Steadyshot works really well. No loss of quality as far as I could tell.

Nightshot works very well. I tested it out in almost pitch black conditions and still got a decent shot. It all has a green tint, but at least you can see!

Adjustable viewfinder, which is key when you're outside and the sun is keeping you from seeing the LCD screen.

Performs very well in low light situations. The optional back light feature can add some brightness if needed.

USB, Firewire, and RCA output... something for every occasion.

CONS:

Low picture resolution when using it as a simple digital camera. I don't plan to use it for that purpose, so I really don't care about this.

10x optical zoom. Other makes and models totally blow this camera out of the water in this department.

Conclusion:

I think it was worth the price. The higher-priced model (the DCR-TRV33, I think) was almost exactly similar except that it could take slightly higher resolution photos. So upgrading wasn't worth the price in our opinion.

I'm *very* happy with this camcorder. It's tiny and easy to use. The tapes are affordable and you can't argue with digital quality. I'd recommend this camcorder to my friends and I recommend it to you!

I recently bought a Sony TRV22 from Best Buy. I liked it very much. after using it for a day I decided to exchange it for TRV33 a 1Megapixel camera as the still picture quality is poor in TRV22. I brought TRV33 home and tested it. It was a real disappointment!. TRV22 performed much better compared to TRV33 under low light conditions. Still picture also is very much the same. I learned later that it is because of the difference in LUX rating of the two cameras. TRV 33 needs 7Lux to capture pictures, while TRV22 needs only 5 Lux. TRV 22 gives much better picture under flurescent and other indoor lights. I did not waste any time getting my TRV22 back!. It's a very good camera, I recommend it without any hesitation.

Pros: Compact and lightweight; spot metering with selectable spot area; flexible low-light features.

Cons: Hard to see LCD in daylight; fairly narrow-angle lens; bottom-loading tapes; no wind filter.

Summary: I purchased this camera immediately after returning a Canon ZR65MC. The problems I had with that camera were very poor quality video under normal indoor lighting conditions. With that experience fresh in mind, I tested the TRV-22 under the same conditions and found the results that I would expect from any decent digital camcorder: crisp, low-noise images far superior to those of the Canon. So to compare the two, I think the extra $90 I paid for the Sony is well worth it. I then took the camera on a mini-vacation, which is a more realistic test. I found the camera extremely easy to use - every family member was able to pick it up and start recording with no explanation. I took some video under poor lighting conditions, such as indoors on a cloudy day with a bay window as a backlight, and was very surprised later when I reviewed the footage and found that it was pretty good despite that. The final test was to capture the video to my PC using the IEEE-1394 interface. The video was captured flawlessly andthe resultant AVI is as sharp as any I've seen. To sum it up, I think I got my money's worth and then some with this camera. A digital camcorder should provide a high quality image, and this camera is the best I've ever owned. Add to that the abundance of cool features and you can't go wrong. The ONLY thing negative I can say is that the still image resolution is too low to replace a dedicated DSC. But unless you want to cough up a few more bucks for the TRV-33, you'll just have to carry two cameras like I do.

Bought my TRV22 online after lots of research, got a great deal from butterfly.com. Low shipping cost and 2-day FedEx, was delivered on 7/9/03. Bought a Tamrac 5201 bag from canogacamera.com that fits my Digital Camera as well as the TRV22 with room to spare. Also, a spare battery, and 10 DV tapes from ecost.com.

The TRV22 performs as advertised: great picture, very effective steady shot, great low-light performance. With video this great you should seriously consider buying a DVD burner and some entry-level software. I picked up a Plextor 504A DVD+R burner, and use Pinnacle Studio 8 for video capture. Don't even bother with the software that comes with the TRV22, Pinnacle makes it foolproof. One more thing: buy a IEEE1394 Firewire cable for transferring the video to the PC, but try sfcable.com for a price that is roughly 1/8 of what Sony wants for the iLink cable. Get the 6-pin to 4-pin model for a PC.

Also, I was using my video capture card to convert VHS tapes to digital, but the TRV22 has the same capability. I tried making two DVDs, one with the video capture card, and one passing it through the TRV22. The TRV22 version was far superior, much better final product.

Bottom line: you can't beat these features for the price.

I wanted a small camcorder, and I love my Canon Powershot and Canon printer, so I decided to stick with Canon and bought the new Canon Elura 50...great camcorder, so small and so cool, a perfect match for my Powershot! But then I had to go ruin it by taking video with it! Outside was ok..but as soon as you took any inside footage, the grain was just awful, and the audio only picked someone talking from within 5 feet...any further than that forget it. Also, the auto focus tends to fade in and out. I took it back for the TRV22 and now I can see why this camcorder gets such rave reviews...it just works, and works well. Video, both outside and indoors, was perfect, the touch screen is cool and works great, the auto focus is always right on, the sound is great (no motor noise) and the size,not the smallest available, but it's still acceptable. So in short, until Canon improves the video and audio quality of their camcorders, save yourself the trouble and get a Sony.

I must say that I am quite impressed with this little camera, and though its stature is quite compact, it skims not on features. From what I've captured thus far, the quality seems to be far superior when compared to other camcorders in the same class. The majority of the work that I've done with this camera revolves around DV-editing using the IEEE1394 interface, and the imported AVI is as clear as current technologies would allow it. The sound, too, is audibly vibrant and crisp. Moving on to physical features, then, I must comment on the touchscreen using one word: ingenious. No longer will one have to push awkward triggers and/or buttons in order to rewind and et cetera; the function keys you require are right there below what is being viewed/recorded. Next, this little powerhouse offers a plethora of connectivity options, ranging from the standard analog composite cables to the sharper S-Video port, and then to the digital USB and Firewire ports. Finally, the TRV22 offers the user a MS slot (included is an 8MB MS), which can be used to capture MPEG-1 A/V and still images (although it is still possible to save images onto the MiniDV per se). My, my... the TRV22 is another triumph among Sony's consumer legacy.

One thing to note, though, is that when transferring DV to and from the camera, one must pay attention to the type of IEEE1394 card that is being employed. I HIGHLY recommend the usage of a card that is based on the TI OHCI chipset, as cheaper cards will most likely garble the image and sound when printing to tape.

Have been waiting for two years for price to come down on DV camcorders, and still wanted to do analog to digital encoding for old Hi8 and VHS tapes. This unit is the best I have found so far, and I have been using it on the road for the last 4 weeks without problems. Reliable hardware, intuitive on-screen menus, makes shooting, playback and dubbing a snap. And did I mention the weight, barely more than a digital camera? I also purchased Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD for capture and DVD burning: what used to take me 2 hours in encoding and editing takes me about 30 min, with a better end product.

The Sony TRV series is a great series. I bought and am using the 22 since it was the best fit for me.

I bought an equivalent camera in another brand and returned it due to poor LOW LIGHT (inside your house) capabilities. The Sony is the best. Sure its a little more $ but I have never been disappointed when I spent a little more to get the best quality. I am always disappointed when I spend close to as much but dont get what I want.

I am a professional digital photographer. So getting a great value (high quality) was important to me.
I spent a lot of time researching my purchase. I would recommend staying away from other cheaper brands, alot of their features do not work the way you think they will

Thanks for reading my review (I am very pleased with my cam)

The only major complaint I have is that the motor makes too much noise, it is picked up by the microphone and is audible during playback. It is noticed while recording in quiet areas. The sound quality is excellent.

The only other minor gripe I have is that the zoom responds too fast. Zooming in is almost instantaneous. It can be distracting watching a film where someone is zooming in and out very rapidly. However, this is easily fixed because the zoom switch is pressure sensitive, the harder it is pressed, the faster it zooms. So just press it very lightly, and it will zoom very slowly. It is just too easy to push it too far and it will zoom very rapidly.

I have a PowerBook running OS 10.3.1 and it works flawlessly. I purchased a Firewire cable separately (have to buy for video import on Mac). Firewire is also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link or DV. I bought a 1394 cable for $10 at Target and it works just fine, don't need to buy a $40 cable (lots of profit for the vendor). I plugged it in, opened iMovie, it said the camera was connected, clicked the import button and it copied the video in real time to the hard disk. The video/audio is full quality, running about 1GB / 5 min. It can be exported and compressed in MPEG 4 which will drastically reduce the size, but will also decrease quality. It can also be sent back to the camera to be recorded on the tape again (full quality). So you import to your computer, make edits, send back to another tape, and watch on your TV.

For the stills, I plugged in the USB cable (included) and clicked import in iPhoto and the pictures copied over. I didn't have to install any software for video or stills. Picture quality is just fine for 640x480, this is an adequate size for email or eBay, not great for printing. This isn't a replacement for a still camera. The 8MB memory stick (included) is adequate size for stills, because they are relatively small. It will hold about 50 pictures total.

The lens is excellent. It zooms smoothly, and has an excellent 10x optical zoom. I don't use the digital zoom at all (it is 12x for a total of 120). Video quality is good, seems about the same as the Hi8 sony camcorder I was using before. There are a lot of manual controls, but they are difficult to get access to quickly. The side LCD has a sharp picture and is touch sensitive. The menus are all accessed by touching the screen (like a PDA). This is a little awkward if you have big fingers like myself, but it works very well.