Review of Sony DCR-TRV18 Camcorder

Sony DCR-TRV18 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder at Abt Electronics.

Unnecessary replacement of the DCR-TRV17. Cheap cam offering good video quality.

DCR-TRV18 includes a 680,000 pixel CCD coupled with superb Carl Zeiss lens. 10x optical zoom and 120x digital zoom are usual for this type of camcorders. Reliable autofocus and easy manual focusing. The zoom control is a little complicated, but not a "problem". For really good zoom control you should buy Sony wired remote control.
Although the camcorder lacks optical image stabilization, Sony's Super Steadyshot image stabilizer works well enough.

This camera offers USB Streaming, so if you have Windows, you can stream footage at 30 frames per second over the Web via a USB connection.

TRV18 is not a mega pixel camera and can take usual VGA quality 640 x 480 stills, which, of course, is quite low by the standards of dedicated digital cameras, but typical for most cams.

Some DV camcorders now offer megapixel CCDs that offer much higher resolutions. Some of Sony megapixel camcorders can deliver still images at 1152 x 864 or 1200 x 900 pixels. So if you are going to replace your digital camera, DCR-TRV18 is not a choice.

The camcorder has a IEEE 1394 Firewire port for transferring your video to and from your camcorder to your computer or to any other digital device. It has both standard, RCA and S-Video in out ports.

The TRV18 also features a color optical viewfinder, a bright 2.5-inch flip-out LCD, and a hot-shoe for an external light.

Conclusion
Good video quality for very good price.

Look at the store. Price: $799.00.

July 12, 2002