Broadcast quality video and weight less than 2 lbs?

Over the years, I've owned several Sony camcorders. From Hi8 to the recent Sony DCR-PC115 I just purchased a couple of months ago. Even though I was happy with the DCR-PC115, I find it very hard to hold especially when I am trying to film my newborn (now at 4 months old) and the video quality is still not up to the standard that I had hoped. So I decided to get a bigger size camcorder in MiniDV format so I can hold it more steady and have better quality videos.

I've read many excellent reviews on the DCR-TRV900, but I was afraid to purchase it because it has been out since August 1998. I was deciding if I want the DCR-TRV30 or the DCR-TRV900 since I could get either one at almost the same, identical price. When I compared the the size of the DCR-TRV30 and the DCR-TRV900, they are not that much different but of course, the DCR-TRV900 is a little bit larger and weight about 5 oz. more. Also, the zoom button on the DCR-TRV30 is too sensitive. I did more research and I finally decided on the DCR-TRV900 because of it superior image quality and I did not really need the megapixel digital still option from the DCR-TRV30, since I already have the highly praised Sony DSC-F707 5 megapixel digital camera (please read my other review regarding that).

Ok, now lets get to the actual review part of the DCR-TRV900. When I first got my battery charged up and started doing some test shots, the one thing that really surprised me is how well the optical steady shot worked. Unless you make big sudden movements, the optical steady shot will help stabilize your shots so you don't get the camera "shake". The DCR-TRV900 has 12X optical zoom, which is very sufficient and I almost always never use the digital zoom because the video will look somewhat pixelized.

At Sony's website, it states that the DCR-TRV900 can record up to 500 lines. Alot of magazine reviews has put it above 500 lines. When I compared the video quality between the DCR-TRV900 and my DCR-PC115, the color quality on the video is night and day difference. This is probably due to the 1 CCD on the DCR-PC115 compared to the 3 CCD on the DCR-TRV900. The 3 CCD will also have an advantage in low light shootings compared to the 1 CCD camcorders.

You can choose to record in between SP (short play) mode or the LP (long play) mode. Alot of people will tell that it is best to shoot in SP mode to get the highest quality. This is simply not true since digital is digital. Digital signal is 1 and 0 and it will record the same no matter if you are in SP mode or in LP mode. The only difference is that in SP mode, you have an option to record in 12bit stereo sound mode so you can dub another sound source later on onto the same recorded segment. However, if you record in LP, it will only let you record in 16bit mode and you cannot add additional sound later on. Some MiniDV tapes will have IC chip built in. These tape cost 2 to 3 times more than the regular MiniDV tapes. The advantage of the IC chip tapes is that it will let you name the tape and each scene that you take so later on, when you do a search from your camcorder, you can just find the scene that you had named and it will rewind or fastforward to that particular scene automatically. If you take digital stills and save them onto the MiniDV, the IC chip tapes will do the same, let you find the photos (preview) them. To me, that's alittle useless and not worth the price.

If you really want to take full advantage of this camcorder, you will have to learn to use some, if not all, of the manual controls. I won't mention them all but I will only mention the ones I find them the most useful. One is the white balance mode. There are 3 manual modes, default, sunny (outside) and inside w/ light. When you are shooting inside with some kind of light source , use the inside w/light icon (light bulb) and it will automatically adjust so your picture will not look yellowish. The sunny one is great for outdoor on very bright days. It will make your subject less "white" and not overexpose everything. The default one is that if none of the factory settings is sufficient enough, it will take a reading of the light at that moment and adjust the white balance. However, if the lighting changes, you will have to make the adjustment again since it won't adjust continuosly by itself.

There are 5 Auto Exposure modes.

1. Aperture priority mode.

This will let you control the depth of field. Lets say you are shooting a wedding video and the groom is making a speech. You would want to focus on the groom and make the background out of focus so the attention is on the groom. You can adjust the aperture (f-stop) accordingly to achieve this affect.

2. Shutter speed priority mode.

If you are shooting fast moving objects, choose a higher shutter speed so it won't look blurry.

3. Sports lesson mode.

The name speaks for itself.

4. Sunset & Moon mode.

This mode is useful when shooting in sunset, nightviews, fireworks or neon lightings.

5. Low lux mode.

I don't use this mode because unless you are shooting something that is stationary with your camcorder on a tripod, it will look very distorted.

Another useful manual adjustment is the exposure. The DCR-TRV900 has a function called "Zebra", which will show a zebra pattern on anything that is overexposed. Using this function, you can manually adjust the exposure until the zebra pattern is no longer visible. Don't worry, the zebra pattern will not show up on your video even if you see them on the viewfinder/LCD screen.

The DCR-TRV900 has a 3.5 inch LCD screen, which you can view on what you are recording or you can flip it inside out so you can let the people you are filming see what they look like. When you are in this "mirror" mode, you can still see what you are shooting by looking in the viewfinder. Kids love this feature because they always try to make funny faces and see what they look like.

It also comes with a built-in ND filter (neutral density). It basically cuts out some light and will reduce the depth of field. It will automactially tell you if you need the ND filter switched on or not. Again, this is very useful when you are shooting outside when it is VERY sunny and bright. A lens hood is supplied with this camcorder, it will reduce flare/glare when shooting outside on sunny days.

After you record a scene, you can review it right away without having to switch to VTR mode (VCR mode) by using the edit search -/+. By pressing the edit -, it will rewind as far back as you hold the button. Once you release it, it will stop at that point and if you want to review the scene, press and hold edit +. If you want to re-record a certain scene, just go back to the scene where you want to start over and record. It will have a smooth transition and no one will ever know that it was a re-recorded scene. However, if you just want to go back to where you had originally left off, just press the End Search button and it will do it automatically.

Have you ever seen one of those videos that show a flower blooming in a 12 hour span? Well, you can do this with this camcorder and it is called interval recording. What you need to do is set your camcorder on a tripod and focus on the flower. You can set the camcorder to take a .5 second shot, 1 second, 1.5 second shot or 2 second at every 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and 10 minutes. I never knew that I could do this with a consumer camcorder. I did one on my newborn when he was sleeping. I recorded .5 second every 1 minute and I can see how he tosses and turn and it is a really fun function. This feature could also be used as a Nanny cam or a security camera. As long as you have enough tape and battery power (or you can plug in the AC adapter), it will film until you run out.

There is progressive scan mode for both the video and digital still mode. The progressive scan mode let you capture the full detail of each frame of shot with full resolution. The downside to this is it will look jerky. This is useful when you are, lets say, evaluating a golf swing. You can review it frame by frame at full resolution after you shoot it in progressive scan mode. Or, if you are going to use this camera to shoot digital stills, use the progressive scan mode to capture the best resolution stills. Like I had mentioned previously, you can save the digital stills on the MiniDV tape, or you can hook up the supplied floppy disk adapter and save them onto floppy disks. Another option is to buy a PC card/Sony memory stick adapter and use it to capture digital stills. The biggest memory stick you can find is 128MB and they retail for $89.00 while the PC card adapter retails for $69.00.

The TRV-900 comes with all the standard Sony's digital effects/faders. It will also let you superimpose a tittle onto the scene with different color fonts/size/location.
There is an option to shoot in 16:9 wide mode. It is not a true widescreen mode (not anamorphic). It basically just shoot your video in letterbox mode, meaning that you get less "lines" in your video so it is best to just leave it in standard mode.

If you have old Hi8 analog tapes and is wondering if you can records those to MiniDV, yes you can. The DCR-TRV900 has a built in analog to digital converter. You can record all your old analog tapes into MiniDV format or you can record anything off of your TV for that matter. It does have S-video input, so if you have a S-VHS or Hi8, the picture quality will not degrade.

The DCR-TRV900 also comes with headphone output. I like this feature because I could monitor what is being record. It also has an external mic. input. One thing I find lacking from the DCR-TRV900 is the built-in microphones. I am currently trying out a few external microphones to get better sound so I will update my review once I am done evaluating them. Just to let you know, since the DCR-TRV900 has an intelligent hot-shoe, some external microphones will work from the intelligent shoe without having to plug in the mic. input. The intelligent shoe will also control and power external video light/flash for digital stills.

A supplied remote commander will let you control alot of functions like zoom/record/VTR playback. The DCR-TRV900 also comes with laserlink. You will have to buy a laserlink receiver ($50) to hook it up to your TV and it will transmit video and sound signal to your TV without physically hooking up the camcorder. If you have a compatible Sony TV, it will allow you to turn on the TV and set to the desire Video input when you press the Laserlink button on the camcorder.

There are so much more I could write about this camcorder but I don't want to make this review too long. I paid approximately $1550 out the door for the DCR-TRV900. If video quality is your highest priority, you do not need to look elsewhere. Just to let you guys know, there is a newer version coming out later this year called DCR-TRV950. It is rumored to have 3 megapixel in 3 CCDs and it will retail for about $2899. The reason why I did not wait for the newer one is because 1) It cost twice as much and 2) the 3 megapixel would help digital stills more than the actual video part.

As you can tell, I am very happy with my DCR-TRV900 and just had wished I got it earlier.