This camcorder does capture good video. But the main drawback is that it records in MPEG2 format (DVD quality). Initially its nice and easy to capture video and watch it on your computer by downloading the files using the USB 2.0 connection. It gives you instant gratification. But after capturing 4 or 5 hours of video, you will notice that your videos aren't so great as you expect it to be. Its not the fault with your camcorder. Its because all of us shoot extra footage, unwanted scenes, shakes, etc which we want to edit. You may want to add a title or two, add transitions, add backgroud music, combine your photos with the video, etc. Basically you may want to edit your footage. Its here when you find the major drawback of this camcorder. The MPEG2 quality video is not good for editing. The video quality is so compressed that you won't have sufficient bandwidth to edit the video.
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br /MPEG2 is a LOSSY compression technique used to compress large video files into smaller files that can be fit into a 4 GB or 8 GB DVD. Since the camcorder compresses the video and then writes to the hard disk, the source file that you download to your computer is already compressed and has lost much of its data during the compression. If you edit this already compressed file, you lose more data during the process thus resulting in poorer video quality.
br /
br /When you edit these videos, add some transitions or special effects, increase/decrease brigthness or noise, etc, the newly edited video loses further clarity and thus makes your video look ugly and pixelated.
br /
br /In summary please don't buy this camcorder if you are serious about your videos and would like to edit them. But if you are not bothered about editing and want to watch your unedited footage forever, then go for it.
br /
br /That said, if you still think you want to go for this camcorder, please read the review on its other features:
br /
br /1. Super NightShot Infrared System: Not a useful feature. Its amazining to initially see how this camcorder is able to "see" using infrared light. But the moment you shoot your subject using infrared light, you never want to shoot again as they will appear like devils when shot using this infrared light. Remember infrared footage appears almost black-and-white and not color. And the subject's eyes really look like devil.
br /
br /2. 2.5-inch wide SwivelScreen LCD display with touch panel capabilities: Sony convenietly "forgot" to mention that this screen is NOT widescreen. Most of the camcorders now-a-days come with widescreen LCD. Its a good feature if you always want to shoot in widescreen. In fact I would suggest you to shoot in widescreen only as all future TVs and current LCD/Plasma TVs are widescreen. You can future proof your video by shooting widescreen. This camcorder DOES support widescreen video but the LCD is NOT widescreen. So when you shoot widescreen, you see black bands on the top and bottom.
br /
br /3. Digital still photos: Please don't rely on this feature. The best photos from this camcorder as as good as the worst photos from any popular digital camera. Technology has still not matured to the point where a camcorder can shoot as good as a digital camera and vice versa.
br /
br /4. 20x optical/120x digital zoom: Optical zoom is very good. You can handle upto 10X optical zoom without a tripod. Any more zoom requires the use of a tripod. I was able to zoom in and read a car tag from the top of Sears tower, Chicago. I love the zoom feature in this camcorder. Don't use the digital zoom feature. Turn it off. As mentioned above, MPEG2 compression already makes the video bad in quality. The digital zoom further makes it worst.
br /
br /5. Professional-quality Carl Zeiss lens: Yes its good. The image quality is truly great. No doubt about it.
br /
br /6. Super SteadyShot picture stabilization system: Good enough to avoid small vibrations caused when going on a ship for example. But not good enough for the shakes encountered when walking with the camcorder. Don't expect to get great footage in such conditions. For great footage, you must still rely on a steady hand or a tripod.
br /
br /7. On-screen zoom and record buttons: Not an useful feature. The camcorder tends to shake more when you use these zoom buttons on the LCD because the LCD is always projecting outside when shooting video. Hence you shake the camcorder more when you touch the LCD than when you touch the camcorder's body.
br /
br /8. USB 2.0 interface: Good interface. Fast enough to download 30 GB in 1.5 hours. Firewire interface would have been great. But USB 2.0 is also good enough
br /
br /9. Image Mixer Software: Very useless software. The free Picasa software from Google is far better in organizning your videos and pictures than the software that comes with this camera. Forget about this software.
br /
br /10. InfoLithium battery with AccuPower meter system: Great battery life. I could shoot for upto 1 hour 20 minutes with one battery. Remember we always don't shoot continously in everyday life. We turn the camcorder on and off repeatedly when shooting. This battery last for 1 hour 20 minutes during normal shooting as explained above. If you shoot continously you may get longer battery life.
br /
br /11. NOTE: This camcorder does NOT have an Active Interface shoe. Other Sony camcorders do have this feature. This allows you to add other Sony accessories, for example, extra flood light. If you are not planning to add any accessory, then don't worry about the absence of this feature.
br /
br /12. DVDDirect compatibility: This feature allows you to directly burn your video and photos to DVD. I don't think this is a very useful feature. Its always better to download to computer, and burn only the good files and photos to DVD instead of burning all of them.
br /
br /Overall summary. Buy this camcorder only if you are not serious about editing the videos. Its a good buy for point-and-shoot-and-view pleasure only. In my opinion, a mini-DV camcorder (DCRHC42 for example) is still a better bet than a DVD or hard drive based model. The only inconvenience in a mini-DV model is that you have to be a bit techy to download video to computer. If you are ok with that, the mini-DV still provides good value for money as its far cheaper than DVD or hard-drive models.
br /

It's interesting how people will give this a really crappy review based upon one feature, or upon the fact that they didn't RTFM before making a purchase (or at least make an educated purchase).
br /
br /This is a very easy camera to use. Start up time is very quick, and how can you beat the silent operation of a hard drive based camcorder? The touch screen is also very easy to use, but I can easily see how it can annoy some people, especially those who don't like fingerprints on screens.
br /
br /Nightshot mode, as always, is an added bonus, but this camcorder could have better benefited by an accessory shoe - though nightshot is fun in low light situations, you suffer from a lack of full color range. An accessory shoe could allow the use of a light, which would add more useability to this unit.
br /
br /Connectivity is also good. I was able to mount the drive in both Windows and Linux with ease. Videos are stored as MPEG-2, which is pretty universal, just drop them into your video editor of choice. The included software is little more than basic, allowing you to backup your movies, or quickly create simple DVDs. Those with a desire to make quality DVDs will find other software packages better suited to their needs, such as Cyberlink's PowerProducer.
br /
br /Focus is very good in normal situations, but suffers noticeably in lower light, as does auto exposure settings. Though the camcorder does have manual settings, forget about setting it up for lower-light (higher aperatures). The settings just don't go in that direction.
br /
br /Video, in all three record modes, is saved in 720x480 resolution, and there's a handy button right on the main menu that allows you to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. However, image quality isn't as sharp as that in most high-end MiniDV camcorders. Much detail is resolved, but it lacks the sharpness required to make very sharp movies. There's also very little noticeable degradation in image quality switching between HQ and SP modes, though LP mode has a very noticeable change in detail and color noise in lower light.
br /
br /Overall, this is a very good and very useable camcorder. However, like all HDD camcorders, a certain level of organization is required, or you might find yourself looking to record some good memories, only to find the hard drive is full and you're nowhere near your computer to free up some space.
br /
br /In all, though, it's a great entry-level hard disk drive camcorder for people who want to make videos to upload to the net, or the casual camcorder user. This is also very well suited for vacationing, where baggage space is critical!

I bought this for my wife who teaches music and occasionally needs a camcorder to record the musical events. I filmed in low light from the back of the room with only spotlights on the cast of the musical and both my wife and I were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the output. However; several things I did not notice prior to purchase which are not show stoppers but would have influenced my decision about this camera: No USB connection on the camera. You have to put it into the docking station for the USB transfer of files to your computer. And the only other thing is that if you are running the camera off the power cord plugged into the wall - it will not charge the battery. You can switch the camera off and the battery will start charging - this again is not a show stopper but somewhat of a hassle for me.
br /
br /I really like the camera but these two small things distract me from an excellent rating.
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The reason I pick this camcorder is because it is hard disk drive and it is way cheaper than its upper level product DCR-SR60. The camcorder is small, cool looking, easy to use but poor image qualiy. Before I bought it, I did some research. Lots of online reviews for this camcorder mentioned the image quality is poor, I just didn't think it would be that poor. I can tell this, my Canon digital camera takes better videos than this camcorder. I also found out this camcorder does take still picture, but in a very poor quality. My Logitach Quickcam takes better still picture than it. I was actually disappointed of Sony, I cannot believe they can even produce poor video quality camcorder like this and sell for $500+.
br /For me to choose a camcorder, video quality matter the most. Others may not. Hence, If you can accept poor quality video but pay more attentions to other features, this camcorder maybe your choice. However for me, I returned the next day. I may buy DCR-SR100 which sells $300 more, I think there is a reason.
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most ppl buy too much camcorder and pay for capabilities they will never use. I am using the camcorder for home movies, and frankly dont have the time to do any major editing to make productions out of them. This is perfect for me. Movie quality is good ..more than enough for my purposes.
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br /Had I needed to do massive editing, I would have gont a step or 2 above, but they key for me was quality of product, easy of use, quality of film.
br /
br /I have a sony digicam for stills and do not intend to take stills with this. even the best camcorder stills are not at par with avg digicam stills so why pay extra to get marginally better still shot capability.

After testing this camcorder out for a couple weeks, I think I have finally decided to send it back. While it has some great features, there were some things I couldn't live with.
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br /Pros: Point and shoot without having to worry about getting a tape in the right place...gotta love it. Video during the daytime with decent light was simply amazing looking. Very compact and light weight. Easy to use on-screen menus.
br /
br /Cons: Very poor quality video in medium to low light. My old Sony 8mm does better in low light than the DCR-SR40. On this particular model, there is no way to attach a light. Based on my past Sony camcorder, I didn't think I would need one, but I guess you do. The software that comes with the camcorder is not very powerful. I tried to use Windows Movie Maker to edit the video and it constantly crashed (not sure if it's the fault of WMM or the video format of the camcorder). The video's simply would not play on wife's computer because of a missing codec. The video out jack the camcorder is not configurable for different types of TVs (I guess the other Sony HDD camcorders do allow you to configure this). The video never looked to be the correct proportions on my TV regardless if I shot in 4:3 or 16:9.
br /
br /In summary...basically this camcorder takes great video during the day only. For me, the only way to really enjoy the video I recorded was to watch on the LCD. I couldn't edit the video and the proportions where all out of whack on my TV. Perhaps with a little bit of effort, I could have solved some of the problems I was having. But you only get so long to return an item...didn't want to get stuck with it.
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br /I'm not trying to bash Sony, I love their products and will probably try a different model to see if there is any improvment.

The camera is good. Had it 1 week now. Low light it works and produces fair results. Bright light is much better. Small and light weight. You must use the supplied docking station to transfer as ther is no USB port on camera . There is the DC in and TV out on camera (as well as the docking station...just no usb...why? ) 30GB hard drive is plenty...maybe too much. If you fill this up you are looking at 8 DVD's and hours of transfer. The software is weak and conflicts with Roxio 7.5. Roxio became unusable. Roxio stinks anyway. Found a simple program to burn after this...ASHAMPOO. Plan on getting Adobe Premier Elements, too. Amazon had the best deal...89 less 30 mail in rebate from Adobe. Much better then the software in box. My first cam as we now have a cute baby. Easy to keep it rolling and have gigs to save.

Great handycam. Fast and easy to use. We received it at 5pm and used it at 7pm to record a concert.

There is one imporant detail with this camera, every time that there is a scene transition the image freezes for about half a second, as when your are watching a satellite image and the broadcasat gets momentarily interrupted.
br /This will not be shown if you replay on the camera, but it will after you transfer your video to your PC or burn a DVD.
br /This is mentioned in the manual as normal, I even contacted Sony customer support, and they told me the same thing.
br /I believe you will not like it.
br /I returned mine, as I was dissapointed.

I bought this camera not expecting much because it is the lowest camera in sony's hard drive camera line. I love the zoom and the picture quality outside. Inside the quality of the picture is really grainy in low light conditions. The camera is really compact and light which makes it easy to handle and cary. I bought this camera for my wife after looking at cameras for 2 months and trying to decide weather we really needed a high end camera. She wanted the camera for taping our son who is just learning how to walk. She loves it.

I've had no problems editing content transferred from the camcorder to my PC. I don't use the software that comes with the camcorder, I use professional editing software and I have heard it is best to buy seperate editing software when purchasing any hard drive camcorder.
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br /The video image quality is terrific. I've edited my scenes and put together splendid DVDs, the transitions between scenes were smooth and impressive. MPEG2 isn't as compressed as MPEG4 (Divx), however it's still a good standard. Anyone who doesn't get good results needs to upgrade their PC - there is nothing less than perfect about this camcorder.
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br /The optical zoom is good, although I wish it was 30x or 40x optical zoom. The digital zoom feature is limiting, but that is to be expected and is the case with any camcorder.
br /
br /The controls are easy to use, you can perform the basic functions, zoom, record start/stop without using the touchscreen. Advanced functions are configuration options are in the touchscreen which is easy to navigate.
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br /The camera is light and petite, and transports nicely. It fits in one hand well - when recording you can use your other hand to stabilize the shot.

The cam is good. Solves the purposee of easily making movies and buring DVD's. This is my first cam and like it. Love the touch screen menus, Dolby sound and zoom. Very compact and comes with a 'ok' software for editing.
br /I have used the cam for three trips till now and haven't faced any problem. Good cam for beginners.

Just a note: Sony is now using proprietary batteries in this and other models. I bought an aftermarket backup battery, and the camera displayed "USE SONY INFO LITHIUM'. Sony batteries are twice the price of aftermarket, and I'm told they are only available through sony. Still photos are dissappointing-I'll check the manual to see if still resolution is adjustable, but I don't think it is.
br /EDIT:9/07-I have sold this CC due to the bad video and worse still quality (less than .5 MP actual resolution). It looks like it will be a while before HDD catches up to HDV tape units in quality and software. Arter watching DVDs from this POS on my 37" LCD, I'd give it 0 stars if I could.

Great camera for the price. Have found no problems at all! I have the extended battery and it works great. I am a novice at best when it comes to cameras but have a strong technical background. So importing the videos to the hard drive is very simple. Directly burning to DVD is extremely simple.
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br /The night vision is pretty cool. but does not replace an actual light. but for the price it's awesome.

We had one of those big bulky ugly Sony camcorders, but for Xmas, I told my husband I wanted a camcorder small enough to fit into my pocket book since I have two kids and I wanted to record all the cutesy things they do and say (one is 3 and the other is 8 months).
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br /I was happy with the size of it, the weight, the quality and the ease of use. I too think that the docking station is a bit of a hassle, but overall, I love the convenience of throwing it into my pocket book without it weighing it down and causing too much strain on my shoulder. It's easy and handy whenever I need it and I can pretty much leave it anywhere around the house for quick use instead of lugging the other big one around the house or wherever I go.

A superb piece of equipment. A delight to use. No problems at all.

This camera has proven to be very convenient in size and features for the period of time it has worked. Feb 2007 - July 2008 with very little problems. I purchased it with no extended warranty, an extra battery and a good case for it. I have always taken care good of it , keeping the cover on and in the case when not in use. I also made sure to disconnect from computer through software before USB removal. I have used an average of maybe 90 minutes every two months since the purchase date. Im presuming most people would expect to use the same. All the features on the camera and convenience of size, HDD, extra zoom, 'okay' night mode, wide screen, etc. etc. is what may justify the price. Considering the extreme care and maintenance I provided, this camera is obviously not a quality made product from an electrical point of view. The power no longer turns on. Not with AC.. not with either battery... not even with the 30minutes of technical support tips. Sony says the warranty is expired and repair will cost $211.00. For an $800 camera at the time- brand new from a respectable seller, you would expect a better warranty. I should have asked, oh well. It seems I am not the only one having this problem. I guess I'll send it in for repair. The only problem is I needed the camera for the next two weeks more than the last year that Ive had it. The camera is great if you put convenience over picture quality. MAKE SURE YOU BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY-- consider yourself warned.

I've been using the Sony Handycam for work and so far it's been working out pretty well. I'm not a manual reader and like things to work right out of the box. With a working knowledge of these new gadgets today, it was relatively easy to get it started. I'm able to export directly to my computer or create a dvd with only one touch of a button (although I haven't done this yet). I like it, it's easy to use, light weight and has a 30 gb hard drive so it never runs out of space.
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br /The only drawback is that I'm often trying to figure out where the connectors are on the camera. I'm figuring it out though.

Very easy camera to use. Make sure you have a DVD burner before you start trying to burn to disc, not all computers have them. Software is very easy
br /to maneuver. You will not be disappointed!

I bought this product shortly after my daughter's birth to capture her precious moments. It is lightweight, and easy to use. The handycam has some cool features and the online user guide is certainly user-friendly. I was able to easily burn a dvd and even create a dvd menu.
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br /The camera feature is useless. The photos come out terrible, and also very blurry, especially if the object is moving.
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br /The quality of the picture is very good during the day, but at night the backlight feature does look a bit artificial.
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br /Overall, a good camera for the price.

I was excited to get a new camcorder, but this truly exceeded my expectations! SO easy to use, you really don't have to read the manual. The still pictures aren't the greatest, but the video quality is excellent. The best thing about this camcorder is that there are no tapes/discs to deal with, it all goes on the hard drive. Then you can burn your video directly to DVD (if you have a DVD burner). Highly recommend.

Out of the box this is a simple to use camera. The convenience of having the video or picture right on a hard drive is great.
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br /I did a lot of searching and this one was the most bang for the buck.
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br /Just starting to use it so can't say much for now. My wife loved it for its size and weight.

Really like the camera. Just a little hard to download. My brother-in-law bought one after using mine. But he got the download kit from Sony for recording the videos(about $200). That was money well spent. Does Ok on pictures, great on video recording. BEST PART, it is a 2 in 1 that fits in a regular digital camera case! The Zoom is awesome on this camera! And the 30GB hard drive records forever!

I bought this camera to tape my daughters games. the quality on replay
br /has been awesome. easy direction to set up and easy handling.
br / Only issue I have had was with the program for quick dvd maker. When I have taped several things and want them on different dvd's I have not been able to figure out the program it comes with. Redownloaded it twice thinking I did it wrong, and still had problems. Tried the directions and followed to a T and still have problems completing.
br / So, camera is great I am not fond of download program. wish I had , had someone show me first hand how it worked .
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br /But I havent given up hope.
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I am very pleased with the SONY Handycam DCR-SR40. Its performance at low light is good for the price. Easy to use, easy to transfer to hard drive and therefore easy to transfer to other media. Sound pickup is good for no external mic.

I bought this for a company video recently. The good part is it's light, touch screen, easy to use, video are clips viewable on PC with the codec installed, no need to capture it. The Bad things are: It's a bit too small to fit my hand. I was using a tripod so it wasn't terribly bad. The software to make the DVD doesn't seem to work, everything went thru, started processing and said there's a file being used, rebooted, reinstall, update to the latest version still doesn't solve it.

As much as intriging a hard disk may be, you should be awre that this are pretty much first generation cameras and thus they do have some problems. Should you overcome these, you should be happy with this camcorder.
br /More specific:
br /-if you are an exclusive mac user then you should not buy this as it is not really compatible with apple.
br /-it is pc compatible but you may need specific software (or settings) in some instances
br /-if you have a new sony pc life is easier for you
br /-you do not have to deal with tapes anymore and thus downlowding is much much faster
br /-easy to use and good lens.
br /-small and handy
br /All in all a decent camera but I expected more from Sony as they have proven that they can do better.

This was a gift from my husband to record and photograph our trip to Disney. I am horrified at the video and especially the picture quality. I cannot believe this thing is on the market. Shame on Sony.

I owned this Sony for a single day before I returned it to Amazon. First off, it records in MPEG2 format which is fairly compressed, and looks it once you upload to your computer. It is also not natively supported on the Mac without a 20$ additional Quicktime MPEG2 plugin. Which has to be converted before editing. Which makes it a slow, tedious affair. Also, the included software is, surprise, PC only.
br / Other problems, not computer related - the Chroma shift in "night mode" is intense, making the healthiest of complexions appear sickly. I'm not expectant of miracles in night modes, but it seems like a simple solution on the production side(Sony). The auto white balance could also use the same attention.
br /
br / Like the previous reviewer pointed out, not a bad camera for the money if you're not serious about editing and you're using a PC. The LCD touch screen is a nice addition and easy to use. All in all, I would go for a Canon.

Yes, the new generation of Sony HDD camcorders do not support Firewire; instead they only have USB 2.0 ports. But that information is published in the camera's specs, so buyers should be well aware of what they're getting (and what they're not). It's hardly fair to buy the camera and then give it only one star because you didn't do your homework.

There's no nice way to say it - this camcorder sucks.
br / The entire point of switching from analog to digital recording is to get higher quality, less noisy home video. Ergonomically, this camera has an excellent design, and the touch screen is surprisingly user friendly and intuitive. The image quality is absolutely abysmal. I get better video and stills on my $80 Olympus digital camera. I was shocked at how terrible the footage was, especially in low light. It looks ok on the LCD screen, but once you convert the cruddy MPEG2 format over to a PC, or play it on even a mid-size TV, it looks horrible. Don't even ask about the still pictures - you'd be better off with a sketch artist.
br /
br / The bundled software is horrible as well and wouldn't work on my WinXP PC. After 30 minutes on the phone with a 'tech' (for whom English seemed to be her 3rd language) she asked me (and I quote), "Do you have any friends or family members who are technically proficient and could check the settings on your computer?" I thought I was on the wrong end of a prank call. When I inquired which settings I should check, she had no idea, and couldn't transfer me to any other tech support. Shame on Sony for blowing off the importance of decent editing software with good support.
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br / Avoid at all costs - particularly if you are looking to achieve at least the same quality you get with an analog camcorder. What a mess!

I don't write many reviews for products I've purchased, but the Sony DCR-SR40 warrants some (more) bad publicity. The following words need to be plastered on the side of the box: Sony does not provide Mac-compatible software. The lack of Mac support is quite sad. For those unknowing, all HDD (hard disk drive) camcorders record their video on a hard drive in MPEG-2. MPEG-2 is not a file type that a PC or a Mac can understand or playback; therefore, some sort of software has to translate the MPEG-2 file into a file the computer can understand (like MPEG-4 or Quicktime movie). Why Sony did not make the camcorder to record in MPEG-4 directly I'll never understand. The software included in the box is not compatible with the Mac. I called Sony and talked with 5 different people, one of which was a tech support person. As it turns out, Sony forces the camcorder to record in a format that is unreadable by computers (MPEG-2), and then does not provide software to make the format readable to a Mac user. I HAVE TO PAY EXTRA TO GET MY VIDEO OFF THE CAMCORDER AND ONTO MY MAC. Granted, I can buy software (Sony recommends software that costs an extra $60!), but why should I have to pay a ransom of 60 bucks to get my videos off my camcorder and be able to use them. The beauty of the Mac is that I have iMovie to edit my videos. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that any Mac users out there (and I'm sure there are many of us) quickly pass this camcorder by. Wait until a Mac friendly company like Canon comes out with a HDD camcorder. Oh, and never, ever, ever buy a Sony product. Their tech support is terrible, and they try to give you the runaround. The video on the camcorder looks to be pretty good (hence, the 2 stars), but I can't really tell yet since it's stuck like a prisoner on the camcorder.

This camera is very easy to use but it has no firewire cable. The software it brings is only compatible with Windows and this is not stated anywhere in the product description. You do not know this until you spend close to $600 buying the camera and reading the actual manual. If you happen to have a Mac then you need to purchase additional software. The manual doesn't even say anything about purchasing it, it only says to go to a website and "get" the specific software for a Mac.

I would do some research before buying this camera. If you own a Mac, look for something else. It doesn't work. I wrote an email to Sony technical support. They wrote back a very long e-mail with really no solution. Basically you are on your own.

Are they nuts??? I can't believe this camera has no Firewire. Don't bother!

For what it's worth, the DCR-SR40 works with my MacBook Pro. After connecting the camera with USB 2, it shows up as a mass storage device with mpeg2 files. There's a nice shareware app called ffmpegX that can import into a number of formats, including regular dv with audio. Quicktime can't play mpeg2 by default, but you can buy the codec from Apple (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/). It seems to have a problem with muxed, audio, though, so it isn't really a complete solution.