Lens
The lens is a famous, high-quality Carl Zeiss construction with a single 1/4.7-inch CCD capturing the image, enabling the camera to produce 520 lines of resolution. The SteadyShot function stabilizes the picture and reduces camera shake. Use the infrared NightShot for shooting at night or in dark settings. The TRV27 also sports a 10x optical zoom, which is enough for most purposes. Turn on the digital zoom, which electronically magnifies the optical image, and reach up to 120 times.

Digital Stills
Digital stills can be stored on a Memory Stick, which works independently from the DV tape system. The camera performs with 1-megapixel resolution, making it capable of sharp images that are up to 1,152 x 864 pixels in size. The camera can also shoot in MPEG movie mode, storing 320 x 240 videos onto the memory stick. MPEG movie lengths range from five seconds to the length allowed by the capacity of your Memory Stick.

Inputs and Outputs
The TRV27 is equipped with the standard DV IEEE 1394 port (also known as FireWire) for a super-fast, lossless connection to a PC or other DV machines. The USB connection is used to transfer digital photos and MPEG movies. The traditional S-video and RCA connections are also present for direct viewing on a television or VHS dubbing.

The DCR-TRV27 comes with one 8 MB Memory Stick. Memory Sticks are reusable, but if you tend to take a lot of digital images, then you'll want a bigger card.

MiniDV Format
MiniDV digital technology delivers clear, sharp video with over 500 lines of horizontal resolution--far superior to the 240 lines of resolution offered by 8mm camcorders. You'll also get minimal color noise interference for a more stable picture.

You'll also get excellent sound quality, recorded in either 12-bit or 16-bit audio recording modes.

• 16-bit audio includes on set of stereo audio tracks to produce CD-quality sound.
• 12-bit audio utilizes two sets of audio tracks so you can easily add background music or commentary into your videos while maintaining the existing soundtrack.

This is all delivered on a cassette that's 1/12th the size of a standard VHS tape. A MiniDV tape offers digital recording time of two full hours--20 times the capacity of a CD.

One of the reviews I read said that the upright camera wasn't comfortable to hold in comparison to the horizontal style of the TRV27. I could not agree more. I held the Canon for about two minutes and had a hand cramp. The TRV27 is certainly small enough too. I also noticed immediately, that it was near impossible to hold the Canon Elura 40MC without covering the light sensor with my finger. I would say that this is a serious design flaw on Canon's part.

That aside, the features of this camera far exceed my expectations for the price point. There are almost too many features! In all seriousness, the video I have captured so far has all been excellent, and I could not be more satisfied. The most common complaint I read about this camera (and all others BTW) is that it is not that great in low light situations. All I can say is that 1) Even cameras costing 3x this have the same issue and 2) this is easily remedied with a $... video light. For those reasons, I will not take any points away from this product. For me (first time camcorder owner with demanding tastes) this camcorder is fantastic.

The only additional feature I would like to comment on is the digital photo quality. This is NOT a digital camera. The photo quality is fine for what it is, and to expect more would not make sense. I am more impressed by the 1 trick pony type of electronics, as I think that multi-purpose products tend to do a lot of things fair, and don't do anything great.

...


Sony DCR TRV27   June 18, 2002
Jekka (NJ United States)
66 out of 67 found this review helpful

Excellent camcorder!

Was looking for TRV30 which went out of production and came across this one.

Pros: 1) clear and vibrant video picture (video 690K pixels and still 1 mega pixels CCD)
2) Fast focusing when using zoom in auto mode
3) simple to use knobs and buttons
4) Value for price
5) still photo fairly good with 1 megapixel rating
6) video looks great on TV (at least in Sony Wega TV) than the LCD screen (May be I have reduce the brightness of screen)

Cons:
1) 10x optical and 120x digital zoom slightly less than the competion JVC, Panasonic, Canon
2) Battery life is short with LCD usage
3) No memory stick holder/case supplied
4) No flashlight/ video light (have to buy separately)

Will recommend for anyone who wants good decent video with high resolution and money to spend.


You get what you pay for... a good camera!   September 7, 2002
41 out of 43 found this review helpful

This is a good camera. I wanted a camcorder for a recent vacation. I shopped around & tried the cameras in the stores. I originally wanted a panasonic with 700x zoom, but found that a digital zoom over 120x is worthless. This camera had better resolution, better night vision, a great feature to slow the shutter down in low light conditions, but still get color, interval recording (i.e. record for .5 seconds, every 30 seconds or such... neat to watch a plant grow or such), remote control (great to get in the shot), a nice sized screen, fits the hand well. It really is a great camera.

Cons: tape loads on bottom, so has to be taken off of tripod. The memory stick it comes with is usable, but needs to be larger. Be SURE to read the manual to get the most use out of the features (didn't figure out how to mix still images from the memory stick with live shot images until after a week of use on vacation)...


Nothing to dislike   December 21, 2002
Nicolas S. Martin (Indianapolis, IN United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

After one VHS and two Hi-8 camcorders, this is my first digital machine. I think it is superb. The pictures are incredibly sharp and clean. I didn't expect to use the memory stick much, but I'm already snapping and emailing loads of pictures of our kid. (The downside is that it subtracts from the number of quality film stills I take.) The 27 is quite easy to use and feature-rich. It is a cinch to plug it into my Mac and edit movies. The one glitch I had was finding a memory stick reader that worked properly, but I seem to have solved that. I think an accessory light is essential for better results. I bought Sony's 10/20 watt (less than 10 is too little light). I also bought 2 NPO-QM91 batteries and a Sony SQ quick charger. This battery is necessary for the light, and it works in the camcorder to give something like 6 hours of power. The 10x zoom isn't spectacular, but usually good enough, and Sony sells a magnifying lens. As always, the digital zoom is awful. The image stabilizer works well and I hear zero camera noise on playback. This camcorder and a Mac (and I suppose even a PC!) are a perfect home film making combination. It's a splendid camera.


Great Digital Camera for even the techincally challenged   June 10, 2002
Eugene Hsia (Great Falls, Virginia United States)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

This camera is great even for the technically challenged. For those of who think u won't be able to handle such an advanced camera, your wrong. It's simple. I got it for my birthday and have played with it a lot since getting it. The camera offers digital effects for still shots and movies. The battery life with the camera is also sufficient for normal users. It carries about 155 minutes of filming using the viewfinder and not the LCD screen. A great buy but a little [pricy].