Sony Handycam DCR-TRV240 - Camcorder - 460 Kpix - optical zoom: 25 x - Digital8 - black, silver

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [8.39mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• ASIN: B000063LGI
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,183 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Sony DCR-TRV240 Digital8 camcorder is a well-specified model with both DV in and out connections, making it ideal for those wishing to edit digital footage on a PC. Sony's new Digital8 cameras are more compact than previous models. The TRV240 sits neatly in the hand and is light enough to use without effort. Digital8 has the added advantage of being able to play your old analog Hi8 tapes. It's also a less expensive way into digital video than MiniDV camcorders, both in respect of the cameras themselves and tapes.

Digital video comes as a real surprise after analog systems, the image quality is superb and free of all the noise associated with analog systems. Digital8 offers a resolution of 500 lines, over twice that of VHS. The superb Super SteadyShot picture stabilization system means you can produce good, shake-free shots. Sound is also digital, and the built-in microphone is adequate--as long as you remember to keep quiet yourself--but an external one is an idea for more serious work.

There are a wealth of features, many controlled by a menu system on the LCD screen. This helps keep the number of buttons down, but can be tiresome to navigate. Getting started is easy, as everything comes set at automatic. Just pop in a tape and away you go.

The camera boasts a remarkable level of zoom: a healthy 25x optical backed by digital zoom that extends this to 700x. At higher levels, however, the picture degrades considerably and you are advised to keep the digital zoom within reasonable levels. Usefully, the display indicates when you've exhausted the power of the optical zoom and are about to move to digital zoom. The zoom control reacts to pressure, right down to a gentle creep.

There's little else to do for easy shooting. There's a manual backlight button and exposure control. It has 16:9 support, which simply cuts strips off the top and bottom of the image so that, when replayed on a wide-screen television, the image fills the screen. This does of course cut back the image resolution a little. It can also take stills, fitting over 500 on a tape, though the quality of these do not make it a sufficient replacement for a high-quality digital camera.

Battery life is enough for a day trip, but spare or better high-capacity batteries are a wise investment. A full charge takes an hour and a quarter and is good for about an hour's continuous use. If you can resist using the LCD, you might get an extra half an hour. High-capacity batteries that can provide up to 10 hours use are available separately.

Another interesting feature is the time-lapse function, enabling you to film flowers opening and so forth. The Super NightShot mode offers a green-hued recording in darkness thanks to an infrared lamp below the lens. The multitude of buttons can be daunting, but after a while you begin to wish the camera had more to offer direct access to some of these features.

The edit modes include the ability to select scenes, which is excellent if a little fiddly to use. It outputs and inputs analog video either in composite or S-VHS and comes supplied with a composite lead and SCART converter, but includes no S-VHS lead. Digital input and output is via iLink, also known as FireWire or DV-in/out. There's also the ability to output video directly to a PC using a USB cable, enabling you to view them on your PC screen. It can even act as an analog to digital converter, feeding the signal through the camera to another device.

The TRV240 is a sophisticated and capable camera with an impressive feature list that'll take considerable time to explore fully. Having tasted what can be done with a digital camcorder, you won't ever want to go back to analog. --Miles Berkeley

Pros:

• Sophisticated digital camcorder, yet easy to get started shooting
• Impressive feature list: time-lapse function, digital still capability
• 25x optical zoom lens

Cons:

• Will need to invest in extra batteries to shoot comfortably all day

Product Description

Make a memory last forever with a Digital8 camcorder from Sony. The 2.5" Swivelscreen LCD is easy to use and captures events in true-to-life detail. Steadyshot Picture Stabilization will hold true to its name by reducing the effects of a shaky hand or movements. With Super NightShot you can record in complete darkness. and the 20x optical/560 digital zoom gets you up close and personal. The built-in light will brighten up all your shots!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, but watch out for hidden costs, October 25, 2002

By 

World Traveler (S.F. Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony Handycam DCR-TRV240 - Camcorder - 460 Kpix - optical zoom: 25 x - Digital8 - black, silver (Electronics)

I wanted to give this camera Five Stars because it is splendid, but there are hidden costs associated with this camera that I was dissapointed to find out about, so it is only getting 4 stars. Read on to learn more.

The camera itself is fine. It takes clear pictures, and the image stabilization helps keep things steady. It is a little bigger than some of the other digital video cameras available, but easy enough to work with. I have taken this on vacation to Disneyland and the Southwestern U.S. and was happy I had it with me. The night shot feature makes it possible to film in darkness, which is a plus, although the picture comes out a bit green (but it's so awesome to be able to film in the dark, that everyone who has watched my night shots has been impressed and the green wasn't an issue). One of the main reasons I chose this camera was that it plays and records on both regular 8mm and digital video. It was easy to learn how to use this camera, and after reading the instruction manual a couple of times, I was using many of the features, such as night shot, fades, titles, etc.

I found that the microphone picks up the sound of the air going by when I film while hanging out the window of a moving car. It's fairly loud.

I bought a cheap (less than $10) UV lens cover at the advice of the sales girl, and have read about others who have done so as well. It seems like a good idea. This way, the $10 lens cover gets scratched, not the expensive camera lens. This does not appear to change the image quality.

Problems:

~You will want to buy at least one extra battery, and Sony cameras ONLY use the Sony Info-Lithium batteries, which are horribly expensive. I bought the longest lasting one for (Money). It was so frustrating to see other brands of batteries that were less expensive but not compatible with Sony cameras.

~You have to charge the battery ON the camera (you plug the camera into the wall, and use the power coming into the camera to charge the battery), which means you can't film while charging the battery. The solution to this is to spend MORE MONEY and buy a battery charger. The one I purchased cost me (Money). I was happy that this charger came with a car adapter, so I can charge the battery while driving.

~The other problem I have read about but not experienced yet is for users of tripods. The video tape goes in the bottom, and if you have a tripod attached, you need to remove the tripod to get the video out. I haven't used a tripod yet but it will be a bit of a hassle if I decide to try one.

I love this video camera and have no issues with perfomance or quality, but I was disappointed about the expensive batteries and the method of charging them.

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feature rich camcorder... with significant flaws, May 1, 2002

By 

Tim Allison "Tim Allison" (Manteca, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Handycam DCR-TRV240 - Camcorder - 460 Kpix - optical zoom: 25 x - Digital8 - black, silver (Electronics)

From first impressions....this is a great camera.It is rich in features and well priced for the consumer market, particularly for those folks with a lot of old 8mm tapes that you haven't yet converted to VHS or digital.

PROS:
- Digital 8 with backwards compatibility (reads all analog 8 tapes) and can still record in digital.
- Electronic Image stabilization (Called Super-Steady Shot)
- Excellent 25x optical and 700x digital zoom (very nice).
- Camera controls and data connectors are laid out quite nicely.
- Solid audio capability (records nice 16-bit stereo sound).
- Intelligent hot shoe: for adding accessories like a brighter light or bigger microphone (few other cameras in this price range have this expandability).
- Nice remote control and video playback features.
- Both an auto and manual focus capability
- Comes with an "infoLITHIUM" battery, good for about 60 minutes and which indicates the precise time left on the battery.
- Both USB and 1394 (fire wire) data transfer.
- Video/Audio in jacks: very nice for converting non-digital formats to digital (i.e. VHS).
- Streaming web-cam capability

*Note: Up to this point, this is a 5 star product...but read on, for my biggest complaints with this camera.

CONS:
- Tapes feed from the bottom, which is not a big deal UNLESS you use a tripod. When using a tripod, to change a tape you must remove it from the tripod AND unscrew the tripod mount to get the tape bay open. A call to Sony and every camera/tripod place in town resulted in the same answer...you are out of luck, there is no adaptor made that will address this problem :(MAJOR bummer to me).
- The camera records poorly in lowlight. Even though it is considered 0 flux (able to record in color one foot away), it desperately needs light or the quality takes a dramatic dive. The advertised super night shot turns everything green; which is good if you are a sniper, bad if you are a video enthusiast.

*Note: You can add a bright light accessory using the aforementioned hot shoe, to help address the lighting issue.

- The battery ratings from Sony are very misleading. For example: you can buy the "ultra battery" (NP-FM91) which is rated at 10 hours-which seems quite impressive... The problem is most folks will never use the battery the way they achieved those 10 hours.

Here's the "real" breakdown of estimated battery time with actual use:
* 10 hours - in standby mode (no LCD and no Super-Steady Shot)
* 6 hours - recording/ playback (no LCD and no Super-Steady Shot)
*3-4 hours - recording/playback (with LCD & Super-Steady Shot on)

So what LOOKS like a clear Sony advantage re: battery life is really not, when you consider other brands can also achieve 3-4 hours of battery life with their "ultra battery" and the same manner of usage.

Summary: In my estimation, this camera could be a good or bad buy depending on what your needs are.

* This camera might be a good buy IF you use 8mm, record in adequate light, need a strong zoom function and don't use a tripod for more than 1-2 hours at a time or would like to convert older video formats to digital.

* It is not such a good buy IF you don't need 8mm backwards capability, use a tripod for an extended period of time (2+ hours), need a memory stick function, are choosing Sony based upon it's "clear advantage" in battery life or consistently do recording in lowlight

For me however, the tripod fiasco and the poor lowlight recording was enough of an issue for me to knock it down a bit and return it to the place of purchase.

*Note: in all fairness to Sony, every bottom feed camera available will have a similar tripod/tape issue, and many low-end digital camcorders perform poorly in lowlight.

87 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unless you only shoot outdoors, avoid this camcorder..., April 22, 2002

By 

"cqualey" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony Handycam DCR-TRV240 - Camcorder - 460 Kpix - optical zoom: 25 x - Digital8 - black, silver (Electronics)

This is the 3rd camcorder I've owned, and it's my second Sony...

I purchased this camcorder and returned it within a day. The first shots I filmed were in the sunlight. Picture quality was bright, vivid, and sharp with great detail and skin tone. BUT, I made the mistake of next shooting video of my baby inside my apartment and that's all it took to ruin my day...

I tried every manual exposure setting, and every AE option, with varying degrees of suck as the result. Here's the setup: My living room is connected to my dining room, so I had 2 dining room lights (70 watts each) and two living room lights (70 watts each) going. In other words, standard indoor lighting. The quality took a TREMENDOUS dive, regardless of the camera setting, when shooting in this indoor environment. Colors became muted to the point of almost looking greyish, skin tones took on a whitish-grey death tint, grain and color noise was dramatically increased... in other words, this camera is worthless for indoor shooting. The image looked like an old overexposed, color-devoid photo with poor detail, worse color, and flat-out ugly results.

Sure, you could fork out the [money] for an add-on light and get better quality results, but there's nothing candid about shooting video in an apartment when the subject has a bright light beaming into their eyes making them squint.

For comparison sake, I also have a Sony CCD-TRV43 Hi8 analog camcorder. The results are night and day when compared to this Sony digital (DCRTRV240). Put simply, the analog camera performs WONDERFULLY under the same lighting conditions.

What sold me on the camera was the features and digital effects. They're cool. The analog input option to run other video through the camera and into the computer is great. But features don't help you much when the video you actually SHOOT with the camera doesn't look good. The bottom line is that the video you shoot with this camera simply looks bad. I showed the results to 4 different people and they all grimaced when they saw it.

Don't buy this camera. Maybe it'll force Sony to finally deal with such an obviously inherent problem with their digital cameras (read other reviews by customers of this and other cameras in the same Sony line and it's a reoccuring theme.) Either that or it'll force them to start being honest with consumers about what I've come to find and regard as the dirty little secret of digital camcorders under $1,200: they simply do not look good in low light environments. I'm reading that about the Canon models, the JVC models and the Panasonic models as well. Nobody, other than angry customers like me who feel like they've been had, is talking about it. That's just plain shifty.