Sony DCRTRV50 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 3.5" Touch Panel LCD, Mega Pixel Video/ Still, Memory Stick & Network Capability

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [10.30mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006686S
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,847 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

From its professional Carl Zeiss lens to the 3.5-inch LCD, and everything in between, the DCR-TRV50 screams quality. It is unequivocally Sony's top consumer model, and well worth the expense.

Imaging System
The foundation of any camcorder is the imaging system: the lens and CCD. The lens is a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar. While less expensive models may have a larger zoom, the truth is that the larger the optical zoom, the larger the chance that any lens defects will show up in the video you are shooting. A 10x zoom is a good tradeoff in terms of image quality and zoom length. Additionally, Super SteadyShot technology helps keep your video from suffering from the common malady known as handshake, an unavoidable consequence of high zoom levels. Super SteadyShot essentially means image stabilization. There are varying types of image stabilization, but the Super SteadyShot variety moves the internal mechanisms of the camcorder to compensate for any camera movements. Finally, the lens on the TRV50 also has a manual focus ring--a step better and more immediate than the clunky interface most often used in digital camcorders with a manual focus.

The CCD in the TRV50 is of enough resolution to capture 1,360 x 1,020 digital stills onto the included 8 MB Memory Stick--about a 1.38-megapixel image. That resolution is currently tops in the digital-camcorder world (the digital still resolution of camcorders hasn't risen nearly as fast as that of digital cameras), and is good for prints up to about 6 by 9 inches. As far as video is concerned, Sony claims the high-resolution CCD translates into a video resolution of around 530 horizontal lines.

LCD
LCDs are probably the best way to frame your shots on a camcorder, and that usually means the larger the screen the better. At 3.5 inches, the argument could be made that the TRV50 offers the best, just based on size. The only downside? The larger the screen the larger the battery drain. This isn't that serious an issue, as there are many other factors in battery life besides LCD size.

Inputs/Outputs
Two items jump out as features that should be included on all camcorders: a headphone jack and a mic input. Not only do most camcorders have poor built-in microphones, but also they are often situated too near the tape mechanism, meaning you get the annoying throbbing sound of the tape pulled through the heads. Additionally, a headphone jack takes some of the guesswork out of your audio sources. For example, if you're recording a child's presentation, you'd most likely want to make sure you can hear the child.

Of course, the TRV50 also has a slew of other ports, including the standard IEEE 1394, which is used to transfer footage to a computer digitally. Other important ports include S-video, a special AV port, and USB for transferring stills and use with the USB-streaming mode. Additionally, the analog ports (S-video, special AV), allow you to archive your analog footage. Sony has taken the extra step of making the ports pass-through, which means you can plug an IEEE 1394 cable into your computer and archive directly to that without going through the extra step of recording to a tape first.

Special Features
USB streaming essentially allows you to use your camcorder as a Webcam, broadcasting 320 x 240 video at 30 fps. It's a fun feature that should allow you to get even more use from an already loaded machine.

Finally, Sony also added an MPEG movie mode; essentially, this allows you to record movie clips onto a Memory Stick. While the quality won't replace MiniDV anytime soon, it's easier to shoot short MPEG movies and e-mail them than it is to edit your DV footage to a manageable length, render it into a format that's easy on the bandwidth, and send it off.

Included with the DCR-TRV50 are a power adapter, InfoLithium battery, remote control, stereo AV cable, lens cap, shoulder strap, 8 MB Memory Stick, USB cable, and a software CD-ROM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars real handycam, July 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV50 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 3.5" Touch Panel LCD, Mega Pixel Video/ Still, Memory Stick & Network Capability (Electronics)

Sony's MiniDV DCR-TRV50 is their upgrade to the popular DCR-TRV30. The camcorder is a standard form factor, with many neat features and good still quality. The DCR-TRV50 carries a street price around [$$$].

The Sony DCR-TRV50 has a 1/4 in. 1.5 Mega Pixel HAD CCD. The effective video pixels used is 970K while the still is 1,390K, but more about the still performance later. The DCR-TRV50 has a 10x optical, 120x digital zoom while the horizontal resolution is rated at 530 lines, the top for the MiniDV format.

An upgrade of the DCR-TRV50 over the DCR-TRV30 is the addition of a touch panel LCD screen. The LCD is 3.5 in. and 246K pixels. The camcorder also has a color viewfinder. When you first hear of the touch screen feature you?re likely to think it?s frivolous, but it?s actually quite useful. Using the touch screen LCD you can adjust the focus and the exposure. If you have an area that is under or over exposed or an area that you want to put in focus all you have to do is touch on it an the camcorder adjusts automatically. This is a great intermediate between automatic and manual control. It gives the inexperienced user a way of tackling the camcorder controls which can be very daunting. Sharp was the first company to add a touch screen LCD but I think Sony has really taken this option and flown with it. It?s a really great feature, especially for those less experienced camcorder users.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars all neat, July 17, 2002

By 

Roster Brown (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV50 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 3.5" Touch Panel LCD, Mega Pixel Video/ Still, Memory Stick & Network Capability (Electronics)

if you are planning to buy a good handycam go for trv50. if you are planning to buy trv950 or sony vx2000 please have a look this camera too. i bought this camera last month....it is really nice. picture quality is excellent. still mode is wondeful and touch screen is very useful. the only gimik is bluetooth technology, but other features are just fantastic...you cann compare trv50 with trv950 only.the difference is only 1ccd and 3 ccd. but otherwise you will not feel much difference. i recomend this handycam to semi professionls too.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feel like professional, July 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DCRTRV50 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 3.5" Touch Panel LCD, Mega Pixel Video/ Still, Memory Stick & Network Capability (Electronics)

I bought Sony DCRTRV50 MiniDV Digital Camcorder last week. i can say that this is the camera of my dream. this is my second handycam. before this i used sony trv120. even i have tried sony trv900 too (trv900 was good). but trv50 is very cool. nice features. very good video quality. if you want to buy a handycam in mid range (i prefer not very expensive like trv900/950 or vx2000) this the machine you will love. compact size, looks good, video quality is just like professional and still is far better than my 1.3 mega pixel fuji camera. sound quality is really nice. just check the trv50 in stores, i'm sure you would love to buy this camera for this price. i must say this is the camera for 21st century. a new generation handycam.