Imaging System
The foundation of any camcorder is the imaging system: the lens and CCD. The lens is a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar. While less expensive models may have a larger zoom, the truth is that the larger the optical zoom, the larger the chance that any lens defects will show up in the video you are shooting. A 10x zoom is a good tradeoff in terms of image quality and zoom length. Additionally, Super SteadyShot technology helps keep your video from suffering from the common malady known as handshake, an unavoidable consequence of high zoom levels. Super SteadyShot essentially means image stabilization. There are varying types of image stabilization, but the Super SteadyShot variety moves the internal mechanisms of the camcorder to compensate for any camera movements. Finally, the lens on the TRV50 also has a manual focus ring--a step better and more immediate than the clunky interface most often used in digital camcorders with a manual focus.

The CCD in the TRV50 is of enough resolution to capture 1,360 x 1,020 digital stills onto the included 8 MB Memory Stick--about a 1.38-megapixel image. That resolution is currently tops in the digital-camcorder world (the digital still resolution of camcorders hasn't risen nearly as fast as that of digital cameras), and is good for prints up to about 6 by 9 inches. As far as video is concerned, Sony claims the high-resolution CCD translates into a video resolution of around 530 horizontal lines.

LCD
LCDs are probably the best way to frame your shots on a camcorder, and that usually means the larger the screen the better. At 3.5 inches, the argument could be made that the TRV50 offers the best, just based on size. The only downside? The larger the screen the larger the battery drain. This isn't that serious an issue, as there are many other factors in battery life besides LCD size.

Inputs/Outputs
Two items jump out as features that should be included on all camcorders: a headphone jack and a mic input. Not only do most camcorders have poor built-in microphones, but also they are often situated too near the tape mechanism, meaning you get the annoying throbbing sound of the tape pulled through the heads. Additionally, a headphone jack takes some of the guesswork out of your audio sources. For example, if you're recording a child's presentation, you'd most likely want to make sure you can hear the child.

Of course, the TRV50 also has a slew of other ports, including the standard IEEE 1394, which is used to transfer footage to a computer digitally. Other important ports include S-video, a special AV port, and USB for transferring stills and use with the USB-streaming mode. Additionally, the analog ports (S-video, special AV), allow you to archive your analog footage. Sony has taken the extra step of making the ports pass-through, which means you can plug an IEEE 1394 cable into your computer and archive directly to that without going through the extra step of recording to a tape first.

Special Features
USB streaming essentially allows you to use your camcorder as a Webcam, broadcasting 320 x 240 video at 30 fps. It's a fun feature that should allow you to get even more use from an already loaded machine.

Finally, Sony also added an MPEG movie mode; essentially, this allows you to record movie clips onto a Memory Stick. While the quality won't replace MiniDV anytime soon, it's easier to shoot short MPEG movies and e-mail them than it is to edit your DV footage to a manageable length, render it into a format that's easy on the bandwidth, and send it off.

The Sony DCR-TRV50 has a 1/4 in. 1.5 Mega Pixel HAD CCD. The effective video pixels used is 970K while the still is 1,390K, but more about the still performance later. The DCR-TRV50 has a 10x optical, 120x digital zoom while the horizontal resolution is rated at 530 lines, the top for the MiniDV format.