... We bought this camcorder before our first child was born in January. Due to the horrible faults of this product, we have lost precious video memories of our son's first six months! We have tried multiple disc formats (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and brands (TDK, Maxell, Sony), and every time we receive a message of "Disc Error" or something similar and all of the data is lost. It cannot be replayed on the computer or DVD player. When we actually got one disc with video saved on it, it was impossible to copy the video onto the computer or another disc to share with family. We have wasted countless hours trying to figure this thing out! And Samsung help gave pointless explanations of "bad discs," "wrong disc format," "you overfilled the disc." Count on losing whatever you want to record. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Samsung SC-DX103 DVD Camcorder
... This camera is a great bargain and so versatile.
The optical zoom is incredible. I was able to film a drowning swimmer being rescued down on the beach from my 12th floor apartment!
Not only is this an excellent camcorder, it also makes a great webcam when connected to your computer with a Firewire cable
The USB streaming is useless: for some reason it won't let you record the audio track over USB even though it installs an audio driver when you plug it in, and the camera will go into standby while it's in use if you're not recording or playing the tape, so I recommend sticking with Firewire.
Note that if you buy this camera, keep the application CD that comes with it in a safe place. Sony does not offer drivers for download for this camera and when you call tech support to request them, their customer care doesn't know where to get them either. I was only able to find them by scouring random seedy websites.
One of the best features of this camera is that it records digitally on standard Hi-8 video tapes, which saves you a lot of money over the more expensive digital tapes. This is the only video camera in the world that does that.
Another great feature of this camera is its onboard stereo microphone. You can use this camera as a digital sound recorder by recording the sound and then dumping the video to your computer and extracting the audio track over Firewire.
I've had two of these cameras and I will buy another if something happens to the one I currently have. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony DCR-TRV280 Digital8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom
... I wanted a camcorder that was small so I could take it with me most places and very simple yet took good video. The DCR-SX41 has been all of this. Yes, if I wanted the best picture, I would have spent four to five times as much and gotten an HD Camcorder. Simple, is what this camera is. When I have finished taking video I just plug it into the computer and record straight to a DVD. How much simpler can you get? The built-in memory takes apporx 2 hrs of video at the highest resolution, and you can add an additional memory stick to increase your storage. The last camcorder I had was a Sony that recorded to a small tape. It took good pictures but was a lot of trouble getting it to a DVD. I see all of these reviews where people are complaining about this camera not working with Mac's. Well Sony tells you up front that it is not Mac user friendly. If you are looking for something to take on vacation or taking video of the grand kids (that is what I do) you will love this camera for its simplicity and price. I am over 60 and not the most computer literate individual you will find. The picture is not HD, but it is as good as any non HD video I have seen. I would most definitely recommend this to my friends. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony DCR-SX41 Flash Camcorder w/60x Optical Zoom (Red)
... I got the camera from different retailer but I love it.
It beats the hack out of Panasonic HDC-SD9 (borrowed from a friend for a test drive)in PQ department.
It's much better on low light as well. Of course it gets grainy but if you play with presets you can get dissent picture. I like the form factor! It fits perfectly in my pocket and loads faster than my canon elph digital camera even when not in standby mode.
I figured that the zoom on the flip out screen is more presize
And guess what it's 1080p as appose to 1080i only for the SSD models from samsung.
Anyway I thought I'm going to miss the remote that I have on my old canon minidv camera but PS3 recognizes the camera as usb drive and I can use the PS3 interface and remote - doesn't get any better than this.
I guess it uses h264 main profile level 4 which is enough - I've seen it go even over 20 mbit/s which should be the cap. And I've seen not many scenes if br disks to go over 25 mbit/s.
I'm finding cool features every day ...and I yes I read the manual and review from camcorderinfo.
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Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Samsung HMX-R10 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/5x Optical Zoom (Silver)
... Way too expensive for what you get. The resolution is awful even on the player's screen. Don't think about watching it on your PC full screen or upload it to YouTube. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Archos Helmet Camcorder for Generation 5 Archos Portable Media Players
... well, this was my first real camcorder
this camera is packed with great features, is very light and compact, has great zoom and the image quality (still or video) is fantastic.
the thing that really got me was the format that it records in. ---.mts---
this was a real pain in the wedding vegetables, as no editing software that i have is compatible. i ended up buying a program online for about 40 bucks.
i also have a free one too, which works just fine and is made by koyote soft.
another thing is, it doesnt come with a case, but thats ok. this camera is also tough. ive dropped it several times, once from about 15 feet high and it survived without a scratch. the price on amazon here is rather steep, and i ended up buying one in my local electronics store for about 150bucks less, and a 2 year warranty
great camera, definately reccomended. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
... This is the second Sony we purchased. I received this last year for Mother's Day eventhough it had a tape and wasn't digital. We wanted to be able to transfer our old tapes onto dvd's but wanted to record also. To our surprise when we went on vacation and went to record we get a black screen, playback works, but you can't record. This is common with this camera, save your money and buy a different camera, this is the second sony we have had problems with. check this problem by doing a search and put in the model number, but please, if you want to use for special occasions, how would you like to get sound only? and be faced with costly repairs? Buy a different camera. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom
