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Average Customer Review
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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
Sony DCR-TRV355 Digital8 Camcorder, 13 Sep 2003
I had been concerned that I would not be able to save my old Hi8 tapes that had been taken over tha past 8 years when my old camcorder packed up. I trawled the net to find a product that could use my old tape format Hi8 but also give me the new digitised system Digital 8 of recording. Well, this camera does it and more! Within minutes of it's arrival I was linked up and downloading my video footage. [Pre order a firewire cable]. The booklet that accompanies the camera is informative and well structured for novice use, with excellent diagrams to aid you. The features are truly awesome, USB download for video and still pictures on a Sony memory stick [not supplied again pre order 128 mb is sufficient]also pre-select USB in the camera's menu as the USB will not work.Firewire video streaming @ hi digital quality is awesome, you will need a large hard drive 80gb recommended. Further functions include backlight, nightshot, super night shot, tape search, special effects for video such as sepia, black and white, widescreen, art, mosiac the list is endless. This camera is a high quality product, slightly larger than the newer camera's, which seem to get smaller by the minute. The button's to select all the functions are a dream to use and my large hands had no difficulty in using them. To conclude, pre-order the memory stick, firewire cable, tapes either Hi8 or Digital 8 [tapes not supplied] and an additional battery. You will I hope enjoy using this quality camera as much as I.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
The Sony TRV355, 13 Jun 2003
If, like me, you need a camcorder that will play your old analogue 8mm and Hi8 while making new recording in a digital format this may be the camcorder for you. If that is not a must have feature I expect some of the other camcorders will be better and/or cheaper.The manual is a bit confusing covering 9 different Sony Handycam models in both English and French on the same page. This comment will naturally also apply to other models in the Sony Handycam range. The optional memory stick allows recording of low definition photos (JPEG) and movies (MPEG) 320 x 240 or 160 x 112. Photos are displayed on the TV full sized but MPEG are displayed in a compressed box in the centre of the screen. A 64Mb stick will hold over 350 photos or about 11 minutes of MPEG at the highest definition. The USB Cable and software supplied allows copying of images to your PC including the facility to make MPEG movies from your tapes, including your old analogue tapes. I am looking forward to trying out some of the features such as night shooting, interval shooting (1 second every few minutes) etc, but as with most camcorders I expect I will only use 5% of the features ( but you may use a different 5%).
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A good piece of kit ...., 10 Jul 2003
The camera is easy to use and has a good menu system. Although it is a little chunky, I havn't found this a problem. The advantage of the TRV355 over the similar but cheaper models is the ability to use external microphones; this camera picks up a lot of wind noise and you can cut this out with a blank jackplug. I wasn't fussed about the memory stick option as I have a good digital still camera. Overall good value. It does the job and has the same video quality as a digital video camera but a lot cheaper. The zoom can be a bit quick if you are not careful. The software supplied is a good intro to editing on the PC. Only point is that Sony could have put a cassette in the box - buy a pack of three with your order!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Full-featured, high-quality camera, 2 Jun 2004
Bought primarily as a means of recovering old 8mm/Hi8 recordings, this camera is so good that it has encouraged me to start shooting new footage again. Interfaces easily to my PC (USB or DV) and have been able to back-up 12 year old 8mm tapes to DVD with superb picture quality. Chunky, but not outrageously so, with the advantage over most purely Digital low-end camcorders that you get a large zoom capability and the use of relatively cheap Digital 8 tapes. Outstanding battery life - I bought a QM71D battery and recently completed a 2 week holiday without re-charging once - over 2 hours shooting in mostly small bursts, with considerable use of motorized zoom and LCD screen. My old camcorder managed about 30 minutes on a battery twice the size! Auto-focus is quick and optical zoom, although a little tricky as the control is so sensitive, gives remarkable close-ups and very high quality pictures. Lots of features that I haven't even looked into seriously yet but there appears to be plenty to keep the true enthusiast occupied. The manual is heavy going as it covers so many different models but the basics are simple enough to use with very little pre-reading. This could be a downside as its tempting to put the manual to one side and possibly never discover much of what the camera can do, but that's being picky. Was never quite sure if an "IR Commander" meant remote control, but indeed it does and it makes life so much easier for playback and editing. Using the iLINK connection to a PC allows the camera to be controlled directly from the computer as well. Completely satisfied that this was money well spent.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
TRV355 - A Great All Round Camcorder, 15 Aug 2003
This camcorder is simple to use and can be got up and running very quickly (although charging the battery for at least 8 hours first is recommended). The results are good, and once hooked up to a suitable PC, it is quick and easy to upload and edit your footage. This can then be saved to hard disk or returneed to the camcorder. The TRV355 is not particularly light or compact, but it uses tapes which are readily available, has a good (20x) optical zoom, DV in, DV out, and a 0 Lux night vision mode (as seen on Living TV's 'Most Haunted')For this sort of price, what more could you ask?
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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Lot of camera for such a little price!, 1 Dec 2003
By A Customer
After searching the shops without success for a dgital camera that would play my Hi8 recordings and 3 visits to the sony centre for the TRV355 model, only to be told each time that they were out of stock! I finally decided to order from Amazon. The camera was £112 cheaper than some shops had quoted and £152 cheaper than argos. The camera was ordered on the Saturday night and received Wednesday morning (a day earlier than was quoted - excellent service). The camera is proving to be a little asset with many features that I am still yet to try out. For somebody who has worked as a freelance videographer since 1988, I was impressed.
Cetainly ~ A LOT OF CAMERA FOR THE PRICE!!
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5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Sony DCR TRV355 GOOD FEATURES, 10 May 2003
This camcorder is as good as you would expect coming from sony no memory stick is included in the pack they sell even thou it does say in the manual supplied that item 10 is infact a memory stick and should be supplied with the camcorder.I recommend this product as it does video & still photos when supplied with the missing memory stick.I will be writing to Sony on this as memory stick is included in there check list at the front of the manuel.
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Nearly all singing, all dancing, 29 Jan 2005
The only time I have used a camcorder is when I borrowed a friend's old analogue 8mm, things have changed a bit sinse then: However, I was impressed at the compact size (given the features it contains). I was looking for specific features and found nearly all of them with the DCR-TRV355 :-
1) 8mm to play my old Hi8 tape.
2) DV in and out (my pc already has firewire).
3) USB - webcam capabilities.
4) Analogue in and out (other device connection).
5) Still Photo mode (with memory stick).This machine came up with the goods:
1) Not only did it play my old 8mm tape, it outputted it through DV out in such good quality I would have thought it was digital.
2) The DV connection was simplicity in itself - Plug and Play.
3) After installing the drivers, I was web-camming with ease (still having some problems with sound though - going to read through the manual again tommorrow).
4) Although I havent tried analogue in/out yet, the instructions look simple enough and I have plans to edit some home videos to send to family.
5) Still photos - Yes, it takes photos, but, they're not hi quality (640x480). Good enough to store on hard drive and look at but not good enough to print at a decent quality. (mpeg movies can be stored on the memory stick too). Many good points...
Now for the gripes...
The black and white viewfinder isn't the end of the world, but a colour one would be nice. I find myself using the LCD screen most of the time.
The zoom is quite fast. I tend to use the remote control for the zoom as it zooms in a bit slower and therefore appears smoother.
Limited effects, but, with DV out, effects can be enhanced with a decent software editing package.
Night Shot gives a green picture (like military night sights), not really a problem - but dont expect too much from either that or the front light (which only has a very short range). I havent attempted a lot of the "bells and whistles" yet, but am looking forward to experimenting with its full capabilities. All in all, this is an excellent camcorder which is comfortable to hold, easy to use and has more features than you can shake a stick at. Apart from the outstanding in/out connection capabilities, it will take you from novice to semi-professional movie making in an "easy to master" learning curve. With the right hardware and sofware combination, you are only limited by your imagination.
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