Product Description
Resistant to splits, bursts, moisture. Meets U.S. postal regulations. Use clear for protecting address labels, too. Strong and thick. Premium, heavy-duty, 3.1 mils thick. 3" core. 48mm x 50m.
Product Description
The DCR-TRV240 delivers all the benefits of Digital8 recording quality in a smaller chassis. Design includes an intelligent accessory shoe, an enhanced 25X optical/700X digital zoom, and backwards compatibility with your existing Hi8/D8 tapes. The DCR-TRV240 also provides Sony's new USB streaming feature and the flexibility of Super NightShot 0 Lux mode and Color Mode in addition to a Super SteadyShot Picture Stabilization System. Sony's new USB Image Capture Function lets you stream live and recorded images to your PC and send them through e-mail.
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
Amazon.com Product Description
The Digital8 line was conceived to provide a path to digital for current owners of 8mm or Hi8 camcorders. The DCR-TRV240 succeeds in that regard, playing back both 8mm and Hi8 tapes.
Sony put in a 25x optical zoom and paired it with Super SteadyShot image stabilization. Image stabilization is a handy technology that helps to eliminate the shakiness associated with high zoom levels. The only way to avoid shakiness completely is to utilize a tripod, table, or other stable surface. The 2.5-inch LCD is the best way to frame your shots, although you can use the black-and-white EVF to preserve battery life.
In addition to the normal slew of ports (IEEE 1394, S-video, Mini AV) that have made their way onto the TRV240, there's also a USB port, which, with some included software, offers some interesting functions. Specifically, it allows you to use the camcorder to capture stills, or "broadcast live video with audio," according to Sony, which seems to indicate you can use the TRV240 as a Webcam. There is also one very important port on the TRV240: 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.
The DCR-TRV240 comes with a power adapter, InfoLithium battery, remote control, two AA batteries, AV cable, lens cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, and software CD-ROM.
Customer Reviews:
very nice!.......2003-11-02
I bought this camcorder about a year ago & have been very pleased with it. It's a good size, easy to use, & has lots of cool components, especially for the price. I wouldn't buy anything other than a Sony!
USB connection total garbage.......2003-01-28
whoefully disapointed with the quality of the video coming from the usb connection. the analogue outs are much much better. so here we have a situation where the analogue is better than the digital out.
plan on buying a video capture card in order to get decent video to your pc.
USB streaming / Firewire.......2003-01-09
This camera works just fine; and despite having a few too many bells and whistles for my taste, the picture is as good as my trusty eight year old Sony camcorder that died last summer. BUT!!!... Be aware that the USB streaming capability that is touted as a selling point is absolutely useless. The USB's connection is slow enough that it's impossible to get anything other than jerky, dark, over-compressed video with tons of dropped frames and terrible sound.
The SOLUTION though, is simple if you have a reasonably new computer with plenty of muscle: ... I picked up an i.link / FireWire card with a video rendering chipset built in that gives me the decent quality video for burning VCD's that I expected. USB bad. FireWire good, camera good. 'Nuf said.
An amazing little camera!.......2003-01-07
This is an extremely versatile bit of technology, with a lot of very clever features. It's backward compatible with Hi-8, and has a useful digital pass-through capability that makes it invaluable in editing other video sources.
I simply don't understand the complaints regarding battery life, tape loading, or low light performance. At this price point, and considering the competition, Sony is way ahead of the game.
Two suggestion for all users:
1) Spring [$$$] for a UV or skylight filter to spare the lens.
2) Spend [$$$] for a Firewire card to take advantage of the i-Link port. You can edit video like a pro, record it back onto Digital 8, or even push it back out to any VCR.
If you want to be a professional, get a professional camera, for about [$$$]. If you want to have fun, get this camera and spend the rest on a vacation to try it out!
Great camera, but watch out for hidden costs.......2002-10-26
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.
Product Description
The ATN Night Shadow Generation 3 night vision binocular is a highly professional device long-range 5X magnification and specialized multi-coated optics for clarity in low-light situations. It's set-up with automatic brightness and gain control, bright light protection, a powerful IR illuminator, and a Proximity Sensor to automatically turn on the night vision when it's brought into viewing position.
Cheap Consumer Electronics:
- CD R 80MIN 700MB 52X Branded 1pk Slim Case (VER94776)
- CD R Discs, 52x, 700MB/80Min, Branded, Slim Jewel Case, Silver, 10/Pack (VER94760)
- Compaq / Maxell 2.0-GB 91.5M 4mm DAT Cartridge (DDS1) - Refurbished - 131148-001
- Data Cartridges, 4MM DAT Cartridge, 172M, 36 72GB (IBM18P7912)
- Dc5100Sff P4-520 40Gb 512Mb Dvd-Rom Wxpp
- DLT(TM) IV (40/80 GB) (TK88) (Quantum Certified) Data Cartidge (20/Ctn) (Replaces 42337)
- Double Drawer Steel 5 x 8 Card Cabinet, 16 Deep, 3000-Card Capacity, Black (BDY16584)
- DVC Premium Tape 60-Minutes - No Chip
- DVD-R Disc for General Use, 4.7GB, Spindle, 25/PK
- Eclipse FEC106 Side view camera for AVN Series DVD receivers
Cheap Consumer Electronics List
Cheap Consumer Electronics
Other Accessories
|
All Accessories
|
Accessories
|
Camera & Photo
|
Categories
|
Electronics
