Sony DCRTRV460 Digital8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

Product Description

The Sony DCR-TRV460 Digital8 Handycam camcorder gives you the best digital features at the price of an analog. Just some of its numerous features include a huge 2.5" SwivelScreen LCD display, a monstrous 20X optical zoom, NightShot Plus infrared recording, USB streaming, and Stamina Battery Power Management System. It also includes touch-screen operation through the LCD display and digital still image capture onto convenient Memory Stick Media. Plus, Digital8 recording means high-quality digital recording on inexpensive Hi8 and 8mm video cassettes, so you get professional results without paying professional prices. It's the digital camcorder that anyone can afford!

Customer Reviews:

Good Camera but you need lots of extras to actually use it.......2007-08-06

I bought mine in late 2005, but didn't use it when I was overseas because the supplied software was TERRIBLE and I never could get it to work. I ended up using the video capture on my separate Digital camera. So, a year later, I fired it up this week and spent an entire day trying to play a video I recorded yesterday on my PC... being a digital video novice, here are the caveats you need to know after I spent all day on it, plus read all 43 review before this one:
- I like the features of the camera, the zoom and fold out screen, but the pain is usability and working with the videos or pictures once you take them. If you just want to take taped videos, and watch them on a TV using the provided AV cable, it is ok, but NOT if you want to see or use the video on a PC and edit it. So read on...
- You really need a second battery, which I ordered automatically, which added to the price. Some of the reviews here say you can use 3rd party batteries, but others say an embedded chip prevents using them. Mine was an expensive Sony battery.
- There are no tapes in the box, so you have to buy some.
- READ the simple manual first for each task you do... for instance if you try to plug in the USB cable to a pc first it screws up the drivers, and you have to go to troubleshooting sections to manual delete the drivers, then reload.
- Sony uses a 4 wire firewire cable called "iWire" (they don't say firewire anywhere).. BUT THEY DON'T PROVIDE THE iWire CABLE. So the user wastes time trying to get provided USB cables to work and after two hours trying to install, reinstall and use the TERRIBLE Sony provided "Picture Package" software, or keep flipping through all the touchscreen menus to turn on "Burn DVD" which uses a CD-R (not DVD) and never find a way to transfer the video to the PC. I finally got the low budget USB Streaming player to work so I could see my video in a small screen on the PC, but there was no option to capture it to a file (stupid). Sony also provides an "AV" cable that has three composite rca jacks to plug into your vcr so you could play the video through that method, but I don't have a VCR anymore - I use a Comcast DVR which has the physical jacks, but they are disabled (a whole separate story about Comcast DVRs).
- Using firewire - finally, I fired up my previously purchased Pinnacle Studio version nine, which apparently can't recognize the Sony USB connection, as it kept saying it was looking for a connection on ieee 1394 input, which is firewire (Sony refuses to say that common name). I finally figured out I needed firewire for best transfer to the PC (and so do some of the reviews), and ordered the 4 wire to 6wire Sony iWire cable by part number (read the Accessories catalog) because my PC does have the standard 6 wire Firewire jack on the back. Just after I ordered it, I found that Belkin had much lower priced cables of the same type on Amazon, or you can order used ones or generic ones. ALSO, I happen to have a Sony laptop, and it has a Sony design 4-wire firewire jack on it (not the standard 6-wire jack), so I ordered a Belkin 4-wire to 4-wire cable to connect my camcorder to the Sony laptop.
- Sony doesn't provide any memory stick card at all so you can't use that storage feature until you buy one. Other reviews here say 64-128mb are fine for storing the 1mpx pictures it takes. 1-2 reviews say that you can't store movies on the memory stick, but I would confirm that - I haven't tried it.
- Conclusion:
- Get a second battery
- Don't rely on the USB connection for anything except a streaming video to the Sony viewer, but you can't capture it. Go for firewire, which means you need the cable (see below) and a standard firewire port or Firewire card on your pc.
- Get a 128mb memory stick to start (which means you also need a memory stick reader on the PC or laptop). The HandyCam pictures are only 1 megapixel, so I will rarely use it, but the memory stick is how you transfer the pictures to a PC (There might be a way with the USB line, but I don't want to waste anymore time on their software)
- Order the 4 wire to 6 wire iWire or Firewire cable for playback and transfer, and if your computer doesn't have firewire, add a card with it. The Sony part number is VMC-IL4615 - but get the Belkin alternate or another supplier - Sony's price is $39.95 when Belkin's is 1/4 of that. (I ordered it, but haven't gotten it yet).
- Expect to not be able to do ANY work on the PC editing your video with the USB cable or Sony's poor software. Instead, try using firewire and the free Microsoft Movie Maker that comes with XP. OR, expect to pay $100 or more for Pinnacle Studio, or ULead's Movie product, or Adobe's video maker products. Pinnacle has special high end audio visual cards with firewire you might look at. Or just make sure you have a good AV card with firewire and the right hardware specs to use the video editing software (i.e. ATI Radeon, etc.) . MY HP has the right specs, so I didn't need an additional card.
- To process video files on the computer, you might need to add more memory - if the editing is slow, determine if more RAM will help.
- The camera doesn't come with a bag, so you will need one.
- The battery is charged by plugging the power brick into the camera and charging the battery in the camera. It is slow, and means you can't use the camera while charging, but I always have two batteries charged, so that is what you have to live with, or buy an external charger.
- Misc - I bought an infrared filter and tripod also for the camera.
- Cost - So even though you budgeted $400 or so for the camera, the true price with all the above is more like $600-700 to actually be usable.

And now, my budding You Tube production might actually happen, once I get those cables...
VJ

Good Product.......2007-05-13

Works well. Has fire wire and is Digital Quality. Would recommend this product.

Mine's still working after 26 months.......2006-12-10

I've read some poor reviews on what's happened over time with other people's Handycams, but I must say that mine still works after 2 years, a few typhoons and several 'dropping' accidents. I'm just now beginning to find some of the neat features of this camcorder, too!
The reason I purchased this camcorder was because of the colored infrared nightshot, which works great! You can take pictures in pitch darkness. Although I must say recently I've noticed problems with the handycam's playback feature. It keeps switching to Hi8 mode when the video isn't taken with the Hi8 feature (this makes the LCD screen turn blue so you can't see the playback). I'll most likely buy another Sony with the color enhanced nightshot, but I think I'll switch to the DVD or harddrive version.

2 years old and same problem.......2006-12-02

I bought this camera in winter of 2004. It was a good camera for about a year and a half. This past summer I started getting the same "Video Heads are Dirty" message that everyone is getting. I've tried cleaning, but am still getting the message. Now it won't even recognize that there's a video cassette in it.

Looks like I need to take it to be serviced, but I fear what the cost will be.

Long time owner.......2006-10-26

I have had this camcorder for at least 3 years. I received it as a gift. I love it. It's easy to use, takes great still photos as well as awesome video. I make many little home movies with this camera along with my computer. It's zooms in and out nicely, had night shot and the battery charges quickly and lasts a long time. I did require a special cable that didn't come with the camera though. But as a long time user of this camera I must say its worth the money. I know it was under $400.00.

Amazon.com Product Description

Skillfully observing the many visible stars and planets can be very daunting for the beginner and trying for even the intermediate amateur astronomer, but the Meade DS-2114ATS telescope makes it easy thanks to the Autostar computer controller system. You can locate any astronomical object by entering it into the keypad; electric motors then align the telescope to display the object. The Autostar's catalog includes 74 galaxies, 135 star clusters, 26 asteroids, and the 8 major planets, for a total of 1,586 viewable objects.

You can store up to 200 objects in the memory for an immediate go-to function. Digital readouts display the telescope's position in both radians and decimal form. Oversize bearings and locks on both of the telescope's axes eliminate imprecisions of movement that are common to lesser telescopes.

Since it is a Newtonian reflector, the DS-2114ATS's aluminized primary mirror and elliptical secondary mirror provide sharp and bright images at a relatively low price. This optical system has a 114mm aperture and a focal length of 1000mm. The 6x30mm viewfinder and eyepiece, with a diameter of 1.25 inches, makes viewing comfortable and free of any eye strain. Also included are an aluminum tripod with a fold-up accessory shelf and astronomy software on CD-ROM.

Customer Reviews:

Good telescope for the beginner.......2004-07-02

This is an acceptable scope if you get it for $250 or less. If you intend to spend more than that, get yourself an 8" or 10" dobsonian.
After using it for a few months, I now realise that its not the electronics and motors that matter in a good telescope, but the optics for a beginner. The 4.5" primary mirror is good enough for planetary / lunar observation. The eyepieces that come with this scope are just acceptable, and I can afford to have kids smear jam and butter on them. For my own use, I use a set of Series 4000 plossls I purchased separately.
I do want to add that Meade customer service is excellent. If I were to purchase a higher end scope, I would go to Meade. Primarily because of their superb customer service.
Hope that helps.
Clear skies :-)

Poor quality, not worth the money.......2004-03-06

I bought this telescope 2 months ago from a local telescope shop. I wanted a simple "GO TO" telescope and I did not want to spend top dollars for my first scope. while unpacking the scope I made an observation that the primary tube was not packed very well (only one layer of bubble wrap), in any case assembling the scope took about an hour and the first time I started using it I realized the scope motor was failing to engage the lever responsible for the vertical motion (up and down) I packed the scope back in the box and asked the store for a replacement. This is when it gets really interesting; I opened the box, unwrapped the tube and heard something jiggling inside the tube. The secondary mirror has come lose and was hitting the primary mirror and damaged it, so I decided to try to swallow my frustration and attempt to fix it which I did ,I glued it back, looked though he provided 25 mm eye piece and could not notice any scratches, so I continued with the assembling the rest. I took the mount with the motor from it's box and it was broken in half, at that point I realized that this "THING" is not worth my time, I went back to the store returned it and got a Celestron GT114. All I can say about my experience with the Celestron is it's cheaper, far better quality, arrived very well Collimated.
took me 10 minutes to assemble. If you are looking for a good quality beginner telescope that would be satisfactory for a long time go with the Celestron GT114, or GT130.

Damaged during shipment.......2004-02-06

I ordered the Meade DS2114ATS Telescope through Amazon.com, but it was actually shipped by J&R Music and Computer World (JR.com). It only took a couple of days for the telescope to arrive, but unfortunately it had been damaged during shipping. The smaller, secondary mirror had becomed detached from its mount and was bouncing around inside the tube. As a result the secondary mirror was chipped around the edges, and the primary mirror had numerous scratches.

The telescope seemed to be packed well for shipping and there was no apparent damage to the outside of the box. The main tube of the telescope was packed in three levels of boxes. My impression is that Meade's process of gluing the secondary mirror to its mount just isn't strong enough to withstand the rigors of shipping. I decided the quality of the telescope was not quite what I had expected. I returned it to J&R and requested a full refund which I received about 3 weeks later. After doing some more howework, I have decided to try ordering my next scope from Orion.

Was well worth the price (free!), some issues.......2004-01-13

I ordered this 'scope because I'd always had a slight interest in stargazing, yet not enough to spend enough for a decent view. Where I live is pretty dark, no street lights, so when I had the opportunity to get this thing by using points on my credit card, I took it.

Got the box, found that some thingy inside the big tube came loose (some lens) and was bouncing around. It did have minor scratches on the big mirror, but I polished them out. I saw where the glue came loose and reglued the lens, and it worked.

The spotting scope is a real piece of work, took forever to get it to point where the big scope pointed.

The "free" $89 software that it came with was crap. It wouldn't install on Windows XP, and was copyright 2000. Got it this afternoon. The help files and "manual" had links to www.starrynight.com, but the links were broken. Went to www.starrynight.com and found that the "bundle" had no upgrade path, and the new software was $149. Cheapest I found was here on Amazon at $130. I'll probably play around with the scope for a few weeks before deciding to get the software. Sure, $130 overall cost for this telescope is good, but $130 for a freebie, well, I have to sit on that for a bit :).

So-so.......2003-04-14

If you're not lucky and you need to collimate the telescope, you'll quicky regret buying this newtownian. Collimating a telescope is a real pain, the instructions are not clear and the customer support at Meade is mediocre at best.

After many tries, I was able to collimate the thing and was able to see saturn's rings. The autostart is a wonderful thing, the tripod is pretty good. I did return the telescope because the altitude lock broke.

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