I thought that I had used camcorders before, but this camera makes all the old ones look like (inferior) toys. The quality of the recordings and sound is so good that it's probably a waste for someone like me to own one. But I'm up for the challenge and will try to be worthy of this camera.

The first surprise is that with all it's capability and quality, this camera is still very small and lightweight. I suspect that it's use of a mini-DVD for recording helps, as they are very small, thin, and light-weight. Use of a mini-DVD in the camera, makes the right side of the camera look a little rounder than the other side. But this is where you put your right hand when using the camera. So no one will notice.

The mini-DVD records about 30 minutes of video, although this can be adjusted to 60 minutes (for long play), or to 20 minutes (for higher quality). This is enough for the average camcorder user, during an average day. If you need more, buy more of the mini-DVDs. The DVD-RWs are not expensive and can be reused. They are very convenient for transferring recordings to your PC. So, get a few extra mini-DVD-Rs and a few extra mini-DVD-RWs or +RWs.

The battery that comes with the camera is an FP-60 variety and it probably lasts for about 30 minutes of recording. The battery can be recharged using the camera. If you are going to be using the camcorder more heavily, an extra battery (FP-71 variety, or even better, the larger and much longer-lasting FP-90 variety might be better to have along with you.) There are two separate chargers available including a very convenient and very cool-looking fast charger. The extra battery or two might also be useful if you are going to add a light and/or flash attachment. (There is a small built-in flash, but not a built-in light.) So get at least one extra battery and maybe a charger if you are going to be more than a casual user of this camcorder. And perhaps get the extra light or light/flash attachments.

The large (2.7 inch) and very useful LCD view-screen was also a surprise. This is the first camcorder I've used where there were so few buttons on the camcorder, and most of the function was available instead by touching "buttons" (and using menus) on the viewscreen. This takes less than 5 minutes to get used to. Then you realize how nice it is to have so few buttons on the camera body, where you might push them by mistake. You can hold this camera easily without pushing buttons. Also, it is nice to look at what the camera is seeing, while you are making changes via "buttons" on the viewscreen. This is a very nice feature. And if the viewscreen needs to be wiped clean after all that touching, and mine hasn't yet, then just carefully wipe it clean. The viewscreen also is a very sharp display, showing lots of detail.

Of course, the camera's recorded picture quality is excellent. The quality of the sound recording is also very good, another surprise. And the camera takes nice, sharp 3-Mbyte still photos. All on the same mini-DVD. You can review all the little movies, and all your still photos on the touch viewscreen. Wonderful!

Still photos can be stored instead on memory sticks, rather than the mini-DVD, for people who prefer them. And of course, the camera can talk to the computer via cables, etc. But the mini-DVD is the easiest way to move your items over to the PC.

I haven't tried the remote control for the camera yet, too much too soon. But I'm imagining all the uses I'll have for it later, when I (like Hitchcock) feel the need to be in my own movies.

Ah, and lastly, the "Easy button". What a great idea for someone like me. Make using the camcorder easy! And with great results too, even for someone with lots of experience using other camcorders.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to check out how to get into a film school, so that I can do something useful and appropriate with all the capabilities of this camera. Look out Mr. Spielberg, here I come.

This sounds like bragging, but I really like my DVD405, purchased yesterday. I have done research on DVD camcorders for a while and initially planned to buy DVD403, but as soon as I heared about 405, I held off my purchase and waited until 405 came out yesterday.

Comparing with my old Hi 8 Canon camcorder, DVD405 is so much better: resolution, color, sound, ease of use. Ease of use deserves 6 star. I quickly filmed a bunch of indoor scences using a DVD-RW disk, and I was able to copy it to a regular sized 4.7 GB DVD-R, reformat and reuse my DVD-RW, all in half and hour. Nothing tricky about it.

As you can tell, I am not a video expert and don't demand a lot. But this is precisely what DVD405 is for: people who want to have quality video but don't want to bother with all those technicality or to invest tons of time editing clips.

Sony does it again...........
As an owner of many video cameras, I have experienced many cameras and have come back to the Sony DCR-DVD405. My first digital DV camera was the Sony DCR-PC100. Great camera, but a little dated. Bought the Panasonic DVD200 and it was terrible...
Then purchased the Sony DCR-DVD403 and was very impressed. So decided to go bigger and buy the Sony HD HC1. Disappointing to say the least especially since I spent $1700.00 dollars. So have now went back to the DVD405 and am done shopping. Great video, excellent Dolby sound, and pretty good battery life. Media is not so expensive when you buy in bulk ($0.48) or buy a few DVD-RW ($5.00/Sony). All my finalized DVD-R movies have played in all DVD players. I always use the High Quality (HQ) to record and yes 20min does go fast, but worth the other positives. Durability of the DVD403 was good so expect the DVD405 to be the same. I like the look and the jack set-ups on the DVD405 better. Also the power button feels more secure. So take it from my experience and check out the Sony DCR-DVD405. Well worth the money, but I still suggest the extended warranty to off-set the unknown longevity of the operating system. Any questions...feel free to email me.

This camcorder does capture good shots. But the main drawback is that it records to DVD. Initially its nice and easy to capture video and watch it on DVD instantly. 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 DVD that you used to capture is non-editable. Therefore you need to download it to your computer and use a program like Pinnacle 9.0 to edit it. But the original picture quality is so bad that you won't have sufficient bandwidth to edit the video. As you know, DVD videos are compressed in MPEG2 format. This is a lossy compression that is good enough to watch the video on TV but not good enough to edit. 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.
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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 "RAW" unedited footage forever, then go for it.
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br /That said, if you still think you want to go for this camcorder, please read the review on its other features:
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 wife or kid 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 in black-and-white and not color. And the subject's eyes really look like devil.
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br /2. 2.7-inch wide SwivelScreen LCD display with touch panel capabilities: 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
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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.
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br /4. 10x optical/120x digital zoom: Optical zoom is good enough. Any more zoom requires the use of a tripod. You can manage without a tripod upto 10X only. Hence its good enough. 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.
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br /5. Progressive shutter system: Sony tries to mislead you into thinking that the camcorder is progressive. Not its not. Video is still interlaced only. Only digital photos are progressive which obviously they must be. Its no big deal. Forget about this feature.
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br /6. Professional-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens: Yes its good. The image quality is truly great till it gets compressed into MPEG2 format for storing onto DVD.
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br /7. 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.
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br /8. Dolby Digital 5.1-channel recording: Not a big deal. If you have a 5.1 home theatre, you may get some good results. But if you are watching your video on ordinary TV, you will actually lose some audio as your DVD player downsizes the 5.1 audio into 2 channel audio. All professional Hollywood DVDs actually have at least two seperate audio information. One for 5.1 systems and one for ordinary stereo. The DVD produced by this camcorder has only one track for 5.1. So if you watch on an ordinary Tv, you may lose some audio information. I would suggest not to rely on this feature and instead shoot in stereo only as its more than enough for everyday regular home videos.
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br /9. 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.
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br /10. USB 2.0 interface: NOt a useful feature. Its easier to remove the DVD and place it on your DVD ROM drive on your computer, than to connect the camcorder using USB cables. The USB interface is useful if you want to burn DVDs using the camcorder's DVD burning feature. But remember, this camcorder can burn only miniature sized DVDs and not the regular DVDs. Moreover its cheaper and more convenient to use the computer's internal DVD writer or external DVD writer than to use this camcorder as a DVD burner. You don't want to decrease the life of the camcorder's DVD writer as the camcorder is far expensive than an ordinary DVD burner.
br /
br /11. One-touch wide-angle shooting: Useless feature. You tend to always shoot in wideangle or letterbox. Who would want to switch constantly between these modes? Also as suggested earlier, better to shoot in wideangle only and future proof your videos.
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br /12. Picture Package 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 /13. DVD-R/RW and +RW Compatible: The camcorder is somewhat slow and non-responsive when you use DVDRW. This may be because DVDRW always have slower burn speeds compared to DVDR. So this is not a very useful feature unless you are planning to shoot still photos only. The slow speed problem occurs when shooting video only.
br /
br /14. Active interface shoe: You can use this to connect external flash or mic. Not a very useful feature as any external device spoils the compactness of this camera.
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br /15. 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.
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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 viewing pleasure.

Just got this camcorder last week after researching for about 2 weeks. Our MiniDV camcorder was on this blink and we decided it was time to jump to the MiniDVD format. The thing I like about this format is the ability to quickly view footage both on the camcorder and on TV after finalizing the disc. Our main use will be in recording our children, so I don't currently have a need performing time-consuming conversions and editing that the minDV format requires to produce a DVD. Picture quality is equal to, if not better that my Sony TRV-18 miniDV camcorder. Low light shots are very good as advertised.

I like the idea that I can easily copy the miniDVD to a 12cm DVD using the software that came with the camcorder. By utilizing miniDVD-RWs, I can copy the completed disc to the 12cm format and reuse the miniDVD-RW. That will be a big cost savings since the miniDVD-Rs run about $2-3 each versus 50 cents for the 12cm DVD-R.

If you think you are ready for the miniDVD format, I highly recommend this camcorder.

I bought this camera two weeks ago. Got a chance to record and review its performance indoor and out doors. So far I am very much pleased with the performance. Crisp HD like Video and good 5.1 surround audio. I did some research before buying this camera, I even tried a Panasonic PV GS 250 before buying this one. Eventhough Video quality was close at day light, I did not like its low light performance. From my experience most of the home videos are made at home ( no surprise!) under normal indoor lighting conditions. PV-GS 250 has a lot of options to improve performance by manually adjusting the setting. I still prefer the sony way of leaving the user to get the best shot without worrying about the settings. DVD405 has sharp video ( I saw some reviews saying DVD405 not being sharp enough!!, They are absolutely wrong.) Better skin tones and overall very good video and audio. I am glad I bought this one.
Pros: Better Video and Audio, Cheaper in its class
Cons: Audio 5.1 may not raise to your expectations ( May need a supplementary microphone for its full capability).

Trying to settle on a camcorder to purchase among the hundreds available is, to say the least, a frustrating experience. Does this sound familiar: You read a rave review in a respected publication on a particular camcorder, think to yourself: "this looks like the one to get," only to find disappointing reviews from real people who have actually tried the camcorder out. Or the reverse: Lukewarm reviews by the pros, but a slew of seemingly satisfied buyers. Well, I ended up purchasing the Sony DCR-DVD405 because it seemed to be one of the few camcorders that was, for the most part,universally praised by critics and buyers alike. I've had it for just over a month, and am very happy with it. I was looking for a camcorder that was easy to use and produced an exceptional picture. This camcorder fits the bill. It has a ton of features I will probably never use, and I don't plan on editing the footage (since when did everyone become film editors?; I just want to take great footage of family/friends). In closing, I'm very pleased with this intelligently thought out, great-picture producing machine.

I shopped and shopped around looking for the Best Mini DVD Camcorder. After much searching, I came across the Sony 405. This is a terrific camcorder for the money. It is very easy to use and offers many great features. The camera is very small and great for travel. I haven't had this camera for a long time but for the time I have had it, I am very pleased. I originally wasn't planning on spending the money but when I checked Amazon's prices it was worth it. This camera was far more expensive on other store's websites. Especially when you compare the features of this camera to all of the other ones on the market. I originally planned on buying the canon DC-100, and it just didn't compare to that of Sony's. The quality is fantastic and overall it performs wonderful. The only thing I wasn't too keen on was the fact that you could only record 20 minutes of video on the dvd's (using high quality mode) but when I discovered that this camcorder could use the dual-sided discs it worked out great. Especially when I bought this camera to use on a family vaction. I really didn't want to have to use multiple discs but using the dual-sided one all I had to do was flip it over and continue recording. The zoom on this camera is very sufficient. I also like the fact that it let's you take pictures as well (especially if you do not feel like taking your camera around with you). If your in the market for a camcorder I highly recommend looking into this one. One important tip to note as with this camcorder and all othere mini-dvd camcorders in order to play back the mini-dvd on your TV you must "finalize" the disc. This must be done before you place the dvd in your player to playback on your tv. This can only be done within the camcorder itself and it must be plugged in (you can't do this on battery mode). It usually takes a few minutes for it to finalize. For me, I found this to be a hassle when I wasn't using the camera at home and if I wanted to immediately playback what I recorded. But there is a way around this!!! If you use +RW mini-dvd's for recording you DO NOT have to finalize. These dvd's allow you to just record and then put the dvd into your dvd player for immeditae playback and viewing. These dvd's cost a few dollars more but are DEFINETLY WORTH IT !!! It allows you to just record and then be able to pop the dvd right into your dvd player for immediate playback. A good little tip if you do not feel like finalizing!!! Overall this is a great camcorder, and in comparison to the other models on the market you get a lot for the money!!!

I went through a lot of camcorders before settling on a Sony. I bought a Hitachi DVD camcorder 1st because it was under $400 and you get what you pay for, the picture was not very clear, it had no light for dark rooms and the zoom wasn't that great. I returned it and decided if I wanted a good picture I need to be willing to pay more so I bought a $600 canon DVD camcorder and again I just was not happen with the picture quality. We have a 52" TV and when I saw that the sony handycam shot in 16:9 --Which it the setting for wide screen tv which we have--I bought it and have been Very pleased with this camera.

Best features are the zoom unbelievable how close I can zoom in on my son face when he is in the outfield at baseball. And the picture quality is just fabulous crystal clear even on our wide screen tv. And my most favorite feature is that it uses mini DVD I know other complain about only getting 30 min to a disc but I can take the disc out of my camera put it in my DVD player and watch it!! I don't have to hook up an cords, I don't have to make sure the camera has enough battier power to watch it on my TV, I just take the disc out of the camera and pop it right into my DVD player and watch it. I don't know about anyone else but I really don't care to watch hours and hours of my children playing 30 minutes is just about right.

And the Sony was very easy to use right out of the box, didn't even look at the manual and I suggest using DVD+RW they are the only ones that you can take right of the camera and pop into your dvd player and have no problems. Trust me don't waste your time buying other camera to just have to take them back this is the one and for $600 worth every pennies

I have had this camera since August and I wanted to use it enough before I reviewed it. First of all it was about $300 cheaper here on Amazon then anywhere else. I took this camera to Knobles, football games, hayrides, etc. This camera has been great. The picture quality that it produces is fantastic, especially considering my last camera is 6 years old. I just buy dcd-rw discs so that I can burn them right to a dvd and re-format each disc. I haven't baught new software yet so I can't review anything like that. I can just say that the picture is crystal clear and the touch screen function is so much easier to use than anything else. I have gone through about 4 discs so far during pee-wee football season, I am just so glad I decided to splurge on an investment like this, that will keep my kids childhood alive for years. If you have already been looking into this camera, you won't be sorry!

I purchased this camcorder over a month ago and I've been extremely impressed with it's performance. The picture quality for both video and still pictures is top notch (I recommend using the HQ setting). The second performance mark that is exceptional is the sound quality, it's crystal clear and picks up sounds from 360 degrees.

I have only two complaints for this camcorder:

1. The menu on the touch screen is not very intuitive. Although you'll master it after a few days of practicing, it's very frustrating at first.

2. If you want to download and edit you movies on your computer, you have to purchase Sony's Vegas Movie Studio+DVD ($65-$100, depending on where you purchase it) video editing program. This program does a great job, but it would have been nice to know prior to purchasing the camera.

Overall, I highly recommend this camcorder.

normally, i'd want the most manual controls, software for editing, etc. but, i just don't have the time for it any more. if i were going to get into moviemaking as a profession, yes. however, i wanted a easy-to-use cam that could take great INDOOR video. i finally moved up the chain to this DCR-DVD405 and am as pleased as i can be.

I didn't want to invest the time to upload video from a miniDV cam then have to spend time editing and burning to DVD so i decided on a miniDVD cam. I initially bought the Canon DC100...if i were 13 and received the Canon as a gift I'd have been excited, but, as it were, the camera made poor-quality video both indoors (low-light) and outdoors.

I then moved up to the Panasonic VDR-D250 with 3CCDs (all the rage, ya know??). awesome video outdoors in bright light although the colors were slightly drab and the grass (and weeds) in my yard looked a shade of radioactive green.

Soooo...i did my research and learned that the small CCDs that panasonic used on that model ARE great for bright-light video, but hinder its low-light performance. The videos it made indoors under the light of 2x100W lamps in a 150 sq. ft. room were dim and fairly noisy (grainy). I did increase the gain to 18dB (a nice option to have by the way), but it still produced less-than-$700-camcorder results in my opinion. plus, annoyingly, you had to remove the battery to attach the AC adapter to finalize a disk before playing in your DVD player.

Enter the Sony DCR-DVD405...yes! indoors, as good as I can expect from a consumer-grade camera. outdoors, 95% as good as the panasonic 3CCD whizbangthang. plus, the audio on the sony is much better with true surround sound. (I tested this and I could actually localize the direction the sound was coming from according to where it was in my shot.) nice feature to have is the nightshot allowing shots in complete darkness. the sony can finalize a disc under just battery power, the battery is charged in the camera and it has a built-in flash for taking 3 megapixel still photos!

I must say that the touch screen LCD seems a bit counter-intuitive. I mean, placing your oily fingers on the very thing you're then going to frame your shot on isn't the "brightest" thing I've heard of, but it does function well and I don't have a complaint with it as of yet.

Is it perfect? No. But, is it perfect amongst its similarly-priced peers for what I need it to do? Yes! Thus, 5 stars!

Neither Sony nor Pixela, the makers of the Picture Package software that comes with some Sony camcorders with mini-disks tells you that the software IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS XP, SERVICE PACK 2! It will crash your computer or not work properly. DO NOT install the Picture Package software if you have run Windows XP. If you have a DVD player on your computer, you can download the photos from the mini-disk without this dangerous software. Shame on Sony and Pixela for selling it to Windows XP users.

I spent a lot of time researching the various options available for a new camcorder, finally decided to choose this one, and haven't been disappointed. Two things in particular that concerned me were comments in review I read on other web sites, specifically:

- At least one person complained that the LCD screen menus are difficult to use because some of the "buttons" are too small and I'll agree that the buttons aren't large. The camcorder was obviously designed to be light and compact (something most people consider a plus) and this necessarily means the LCD screen must be small. I personally haven't had any trouble pushing the buttons, but perhaps I would if my fingers were quite a bit fatter. Then again, if I were that heavy ("gravitationally challenged" if you prefer) I suspect that camcorder usability issues would be the least of my worries.

- Someone else complained that they pick up the sound of the DVD drive spinning when filming. Again, I personally haven't experienced a problem with this, but I'm not in the habit of filming performances by mimes either. Even when playing back tapes that were recorded without any noticeable background noise I haven't encountered a problem. Then again, I'm also not in the habit of playing back my records at gangsta rap volumes, so maybe I just haven't noticed it.

About the only complaint I have with this camcorder is the annoying "Sony disk recommended" message that pops up every time I turn on the camcorder (which presumably would go away if I used Sony-brand mini-DVDs). This 5-second "commercial" would be annoying enough, but the box it's displayed in blocks out the majority of the viewing area so that you can't see what's being taped until it goes away. Five seconds may not sound like very much but when you're trying to capture a scene that won't last long it can seem like an eternity. Sony, my response to your "commercial" is to remind you that disks are a commodity and should be priced accordingly; or to put it another way, "Reasonable prices recommended."

That one minor gripe aside, I'm very pleased with my purchase. As others have pointed out, the camcorder is easy to use, provides very good picture quality, and when used with DVD+RW makes for convenient recording, playback, and editing.

I almost did not buy this camcorder due to a review here claiming it was difficult to use with a mac. Not so. A quick search at apple.com revealed several 3rd party programs that import video from dvd. I have been using one called DVDXDV and it works great, with no loss in video quality. It is very simple to use - I never even looked at the instructions. It does take a fair amount of computing time to import video, maybe 30 minutes for a 30 minute dvd. I have a 5 year-old mac so it may be much faster on newer macs.

The camcorder itself is great - easy to use, good performance indoors, small size with well designed controls. I love the dvd format and the ability to just pop the disc into a dvd player. No more hooking up the camera to the tv.

This is simply an outstanding camcorder. After spending much time researching different camcorder formats and products I decided to purchase the Sony (mini-DVD) DCR-DVD405. I have no regrets whatsoever. The camcorder is impressively designed, easy to use, and produces top-quality video. The accompanying software makes burning full-sized DVD's quite easy. I'm also happy I purchased the camcorder through AMAZON. Their price and service were terrific. You will not be disappointed with this camcorder!

My sister had ordered this camcorder last week from an online retailer (Abe's of Maine) at a great price $580. She understands technology but she is not extremely savy about editing and handling manual controls in the camera. She planned to buy a harddisk based model but was convinced otherwise on this DVD based model because of it ease of use during post-production process. Once you finalize the DVD disk, you could just copy all the video with a click of a button. Unlike the mini-DV based camcorder, you don't have to play back the video at normal speed to capture the entire video footage. Its a great plus for people who don't want to spend hours sitting infront of the PC copying the footage and editing the same.
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br /Finally received the camcorder last week and shot few video clips over the week. Each time you start recording, it creates a new clip which is extremley useful because you can select which clips you like to watch later. Also you don't run the risk of overwriting the clip, unlike the mini-DV tapes where you constantly have to worry about overwriting existing footage. Finally we shot about 29mins worth of video in 16:9 res on a single mini-DVD-R, finalized the disc and popped it into the PC. The sony software allows you to copy to PC hard-disk in less than 5 mins. That's it you are done !!! Your selected folder has all your video clips ready to be played back and reviewd. Talk about instant gratification !!! The kids loved it.
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br /The footage turned out great even those that were shot in not so bright areas. The color/sharpness was just fantastic. The ease of use and quality again trumps over anything else.
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br /My only gripe is that this is useful only for a PC user and not a Mac user like me because there's no firewire port. The iMovie only recognizes video from a firewire port. I am not sure why it is such a big deal add a firewire port in the camcorder. This is the reason I give 4 stars as opposed to 5. I might have to settle for a mini-DV based camcorder for my purposes. I wish mini-DV was so easy to use.

Not only is this camera the best video camera I've ever used or owned, it is also better than any still camera I own! The photos are virtually perfect, bright and sharp! This camera replaces several generations of SONY and HP and Kodak Digitals I've had, and is the best by far.
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br /The videos are fantastic; this camera replaces my SONY Handycam High 8. The mini discs I've used are Maxell and TDK and are fine. (The only annoyance is that the camera gives you a constant reminder to use SONY discs). Maxell and TDK are better buys, right through Amazon. The transfer from the mini's to the full sized DVD is very easy to do on your PC. This is a great camera, but buy it from Amazon is my recommendation; it is a better buy than anywhere else I looked and shopped. I highly recommend this camera.

I ordered this from amazon. Got it quick. Had problems from the begining. Turns out there was a issue with the cd drive and it destroyed several mini-dvd-r's. Sony support was horrible, non english speaking people, went thru there troubleshooting steps with them on the phone and ate a few more dvd-r's to conclude the camera was broke which I already new. Sony would not replace it or the damaged dvd's, only offered to repair it at a warranty place and for brand new that was unacceptable. Luckily amazon returned the camera and dvd's with full refund. I reordered the camera from another place and the replacement works well. The software is a bit lacking but ok. Camera is nice. End result, Sony support is worthless...

It does not support FireWire connection and you can't edit images captured with the 405 directly in your Mac, using iMovie or FinalCut. This information was not clear in the pre-sales available materials from Sony by the time this review was written.

You can't use the USB connection to import your raw images to iMovie. You will need a lot of effort to do so: 1) finalize the disc; 2) copy the .VOB files to your Mac desktop; 3) search geek's web forum until you find tips on how to convert .VOB files to iMovie-editable formats like .MOV and .MPG. And of course you will lose movie quality doing so.

Terrible user experience.

I've e-mailed Sony Customer Service and the first reply I got was from an automated machine completely ignoring the fact that I use a Mac (I had indeed selected 'Mac OS' in the web site e-mail form, and also made it very explicit while writing).

I seriously do not recommend this camera if you plan to edit your movies using a Mac.

All of the reviews that degrade the video quality of this unit, must be visually challenged. The only problem that I had was audio noise. The on board microphone captured wind noise at a high degree. Simple solution, I bought an auxiliary microphone with wind screen. The video quality from my unit is exceptional. I am not a novice.

After an untold amount of research for my first camcorder, I visited Best Buy, Walmart, and Circuit City. The cheapest I could find this camcorder was for $799 (just the camcorder!!!). In-step Amazon...for $692 I got:
br /* 1 Sony DCR-DVD 405 camcorder for a $200 savings
br /* 1 FREE blue-tooth wireless microphone for a $130 savings!!!
br /* 1 travel package--3 DVD-Rs, 1 DVD carry case, and 1 battery charger for a $40 savings
br /* 1 tri-pod
br /I love you Amazon!!!

I bought this piece a month ago. So far I have created three DVDs with this. I tried indoor, outdoor and night shots also. In all the cases, the quality is really amazing. I didn't tried taking photos with that. But, the video quality is really wonderful. I had a Panasonic DV camera earlier. This camera really outperforms the old one. Crystal clear image and voice.

Nero is a nice addition to the pack, which makes it easy to burn DVDs. I am using DVD RW and so, it is easy for me to reuse the same disk. I reused it twice by now.

I give it 5*s for its performance, look and feel.

I have had this camcorder for a few weeks now. I am a professional photographer (still pictures), but I am new to video. While the video is reasonably good, I wish the camera would focus faster. My biggest complaint is the software, or lack thereof. It is limited, hard to use, and looks like it was written as a college project. I expect more from Sony, and for $800.

I had this for about a month now, and I love it. Touch screen is very cool. I affixed a screen protector on it and don't have to worry about getting the screen dirty. The only draw back is that when I install a protector lens, the flash for the camera became disable, and I have to buy an accesory light/flash so I can take pictures indoor. The picture is unbelievable. The spec. is the same as SR100 and cost $300 less. Good deal.

While the price of this camera has declined about $100 dollars since I purchased 6 weeks ago I still feel like I got a great deal. I bought the camera for an Alaskan cruise and it performed beautifully. The Zoom is fantastic and the sound on this camera is superb. I do reccommend buying an additional battery as you cannot charge and take pictures at the same time so you need to be able to switch the battery.

One review I read reccommended the larger camera case to carry all of the accessories you will have such as the charger cord, battery charger, extra battery and discs. However It would have been nice to also have a smaller case which only houses the camera itself when you have no need for all of the accessories. I plan to purchase one.

All in all a great purchase. Now I need to learn all the details of using and editing!!!

My wife and I did a research for almost 3 months before deciding to buy Sony DCR DVD 405. We went through comparing Mini DV Camcorders with Mini DVD ones and then in Mini DVDs brands and finally in brands the model. My requirement was an easy to shoot quality videos and download on to computer without much hassle and sony 405 proved to be better than my expectations and need.
br /I would strongly recommend this for guys who do not want to spend too much time in getting their special moments downloaded on to computer and then convert into DVDs. Sure gives quality picture and downloading and editing is easy and fun.
br /Still pictures captured are also of good quality, which gives the flexbility of using this as a digital camera too. One more advantage is that the pictures can be stored either in DVD or in Memory Stick Duo.
br /I have used this for our LA Trip and the results of both Video and Still pictures are satisfactory. For a long trip, you might well have an additional battery. I used Memorex Mini DVD +RW and video quality captured was good.

Easy to use, pretty much just point and shoot. Glad I had read reviews from other consumers regarding the lack of a complimentary disk. That's the least Sony could have done, considering the cost of the camera!

This is a good camera. The touch screen makes flipping throught menus very easy; instead of fumbling with button combinations, a button will come up telling you what action it will perform if you push it. I use it more for pictures than video, and the fact you can fit so many more pictures on the disc than on a card is very nice. One problem, you can't delete them unless it's on a DVD-RW. It takes pretty good pictures, with quite a few options for customization. The video is good. I compared this camera to it's younger brothers and the better lens does make a difference in video quality. The biggest problem for me, start up time and disc formatting takes too long, if it was faster, it'd be a five star product. There were a couple good whale shots I missed because the camera was starting up. If I had to buy again, I would.

This camcorder may seem like a decent deal... but by the time you add one battery (which is pretty much a minimum, since the battery life is so short), and a charger (no... the camcorder really doesn't come with a charger) you add 25% to the price. Make that two batteries and a charger (the ideal kit) and you almost double the price. Without buying the charger, you are forced to use the camcorder as the charger. This is very inconvenient.
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br /Now, this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't have proprietary batteries or the camcorder didn't detect any attempts to use non-Sony batteries. You can get generic batteries on Amazon and elsewhere that say they will work for this model, but they will not. They've recently updated the camcorder to detect more (or all?) non-Sony batteries and give an error message, shutting down. Generic batteries that worked with the DVD403 do not work with the DVD405.
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br /By the way, if you are considering some of their lighting accessories, beware that these also take their proprietary batteries, and probably a different model than you need for the camcorder... leaving a whole 'nother set of overpriced batteries you have to buy.
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br /I bought this camcorder but I'm not going to be buying any hundred dollar batteries any time soon so I sent it back. Sony isn't getting another dime from me.

This camcorder works exactly as specified by sony. We had no problem getting it started within a few minutes of opening the box. Touch screen controls work very well.

We also love the camera on it. It still has a 2 second delay after pushing the button to snap the picture that our last digital camera had but it is very easy to operate and switch back and forth from camera to camcorder.

The discs are a little bit short on time at around 23- 28 minutes maximum depending on how many times you stop and restart recording. But they are so easy to fill up and take straight to the dvd player or computer that it makes up for this shortcoming.

We love this camcorder and highly recommend the purchase. Amazon shipped it out quickly and we had a great experience buying this item.

This thing is pretty neat, touch screen is easy to use and you don't get lost in the menus. The small size is great ,your arm won't get tired holding it up. Overall a good camera with good features.

We purchased this camera to use for our wedding and honeymoon. We love the fact that it takes both pictures and video. The pictures are clear and the video looks great. We would definitely recommend this camera to others. Also, the price was awesome!

Excellent camera, with lots of great features. Its the best deal on the market today. The quality is super. Great price as well 200 dollars cheaper than Best Buy and Circuit City on Amazon.

The Sony DCR-DVD405 Handycam is one of the easiest piece of technology I have ever used. This is my first camcorder and I wanted to get one because my twin boys are turning one and I don't want to miss a thing. The problem was all of the camcorders that are on the market today vs. cost, value and not out growing something to soon. Upon researching, this was my best choice. If you can swing it this by far is going to be a purchase you will not regret. I starting using it before I even looked at the book. The touchscreen at your fingertips is a lovely feature and allows you to feel like a pro in no time.The sleek, compact design is an added luxury. All though the Sony media is a little costly for such a small amount of time per mini disc, going from camcorder to playing device is priceless.

This is the best camcorder I have ever had, i did a tremendous amount of research on this one and it paid off....buy this do not hesitate.

This Camcorder is a Wonderfull piece of Tecnology. Easy to use, the image is clear, the soun 5.1 is espectacular. Very well for Sony.

I did a lot of research on camcorders before making this purchase. This was my first purchase, after using a hand-me-down Mini-DV Sony camcorder for the past 8 years.
br /The main thing that drew me to this camcorder (besides the Sony name), was the Low-Light quality. I have 5 young children, and I knew it would be used for a lot of recitals and inside programs. I was not disappointed!! The quality is fabulous. I love the lense, too. The picture is very clear. I love not having to worry about a lense cap.
br /The sound is amazing. My husband is even very impressed with how clearly it picks up voices, even when the person is not close to the camera. I have not noticed a lot of noise from me as I use the camera, either.
br /I am very pleased with the photo quality. I was previously using a Cannon PowerShot camera (5 years old) that was only 2 megapixels, so I am now using this camera as my only camera.
br /If I had to say one negative thing about this camera, it would be that you can't just take out the DVD and pop it into the computer right after taking some video. I thought that was possible, until I read that you have to finalize the disc first. I was hoping to be able to send quick video clips to family immediately after taking the shots. I am still figuring it all out, so maybe it is possible by just hooking it up to the computer.
br /I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone!

DVD405/505 or Panasonic DP300 are the best family camcorder today - hard disk one would be better but too expensive. I used to try to buy from Internet stores and allmost drop in their traps. So I use Amazon for safety, and secure for the free mic (on the way) that is closed several days ago.
The free shipping (shipping is $6+ only) comes very faster. The box includes CD, charger, NP60 battery. I also bought $17 bag from Amazon, original SONY, best deal. I bought tripot, DVD disc, 0.45X lens, etc. from 3rd party.
DVD405 is nicely designed and easy to use, and the best at low light. It linearity is slightly worse then DP300. Some interface seems too fine and must be carefully use, especially AC plug in.
I'm a s/w engineer, and feel the worst thing of SONY product is its s/w. I used to buy two SONY Notebook PCs, its driver support is below average and hard to find. This time, the s/w allows you to copy 8CM DVD using the camcorder, and play/copy to PC, but doesn't show you the file like normal DVD. SONY's policy to protect user from seeing disc structure is odd, as a hacker can write a DVD read s/w to recover it, I can't see any benifit to SONY, but really trouble to me.
After CD auto installation, the Nero is not installed. The s/w is then able to copy to PC the DVD movie or card photo, but cannot find photoes I save on DVD+RW when I insert it in PC.
Then I found NERO is on the CD and tried to install it on Dell/XP 2PC, it hangs the PC half way. Current I can't send movie/photo as file on Internet.
Be careful, when you go other Internet shop of very low price, they may sell you non US product, charge you hundreds for charger, batter, etc.

The DVD405 is a very easy to use camcorder. Unfortunately I may have to return it because the included software is not compatible with my Windows XP computer. I get error messages telling me that Windows had to shut down to prevent damage to my computer. I ended up having to do a system restore to correct the problem because even after I uninstalled the software I continued to get this error message. I tried re-installing the software several times and had to do the system restore each time. I even updated my computers drivers thinking that maybe it was something with my video card, no luck. I called Sony twice and emailed them once. They were absolutely no help. On the included disk there are programs from 2 different software companies. Sony gave me a phone number for both. The first one I called wanted to charge me something like $1.50 per minute for tech support. I decided to email them with my problem and they never got back to me. When I called Sony back they gave me the number for the second company. I have yet to call them. I was surprised that Sony tech support has no idea how the software they bundle with their product works. They connected me to a "level 2" tech support person. She was kind of rude to me and claimed that she never even heard of one of the software companies. I have already spent many hours trying to get this to work properly and I may just return it to avoid what probably will be many more hours of frustration before it does (if ever). It's too bad because I really like the camcorder.

This is my first camcorder which I purchased based on the reviews here at Amazon. A few of the reviews complained that the small touch screen would smear after touching it with fingers. Not an issue. Just a light touch with the fingernail does the trick and - no smear. The free software that ships with the camcorder is good to get started, but just barely. I've since purchased Abobe Premeire Elements 3.0 after trying their trial version which seems robust enough for a novice. Because I'm a novice, editing software is a must to rid the final DVD of all the shakes and gaffs.

I just bough the camera, is very easy to use, friendly, and the best of all is that i have the still camera with 3 mega pixel. I did my research for several cameras, my original idea was to spend $400.00, but with all the extras i really jump for this one. I recomend this camera.

I just purchased the 405 yesterday. It is fun and easy to use.
Still trying to figure out some of the instructions, but if you try something that doesn't work, the camera tells you why. The manual could be a little clearer, explaining about format etc. Of course I am impatient and usually reread the instructions after not getting it right the first time, so I will give it 5 stars. I ended up spending more money than expected, extra battery, another charger etc. I also purchased the extended service plan, but I figured the large investment was worth it. Hopefully this will bring our family years of enjoyment. I still need to see how it works in the dvd player, I want to get a full disc first. I would buy it again. Enjoy!

This camcorder is small lightweight and very easy to use. I only have one complaint and that is that the disc only records for a half hour, and sometimes I push the off button whan I want to zoom! These are both things I can live with. The price is steep but worth it because it has the latest tecnology. When you watch the dvd it is like you were there!! Great camcorder!!

This handycam it's a perfect companion for your digital camera. It fits on your hand very well and the quality of the movies is outrageous !
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THis is a light weight easy to use camera. On screen touch display makes it easy to change and fast forward. I use it with an underwater camera for viewing top level swimmers. To be able to stop and slow motion on the fly is great. WIth the easy you can switch to Camera mode and take pictures as well. THen flip right back to video. Well worth the money.
br /Summit Swimming

The video is better than most I have seen and perfect for family/home videos. The sound is good quality, not great. There is some slight mechanical noise in the background- you have to listen for it. The camera is very easy to use and the touch screen posed no difficulty for me. I would highly recommend this camera for it's value at this price point.

Yes, DCR-DVD405 is very easy to use and it produces clear image. Great product.

I love this camcorder. How convenient to be able to just pop it into a dvd player and watch. So much fun.

Better-than-average video quality; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound recording; decent still photos. The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD405 is a solid DVD camcorder, as long as you don't mind fiddling with a touch-screen interface on a too-small display.

I purchased this camcorder as a gift for my daughter and son-in-law as they were expecting their first baby. They have been using the camcorder for 3 months now and have been loving it. It is easy to use and produces quality images. They couldn't be happier.

We love our new camera. It works great with our family videos.

This is our first camcorder. We bought this for our twins who were born recentely. The long story short, this is a good deal. I spent about a week researching and decided to buy this for its user friendliness, DVD, price and qulaty. I made a good choice. HOWEVER, if you don't like the touch screen, which I like, do not buy this.
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Used my Sony DCR-DVD405 the first time at Christmas, daytime, indoors with no artificial lights. I was extremely happy with the brightness and color of the video and surprised at the quality and clarity of the sound. I chose the 405 over the 505 because of a little apprehension I got from tech reviews of the CMOS sensor the 505 uses, and the feature differences between the two models did not warrent the additional cost of the 505 for the way I use the camcorder.

Found this camera about $150 less than anywhere else. GreAT picture quality, very easy to use. Used the dvd+rw shot a bunch of stuff. Finalized right in the camera... it set up scenes, for every time you stopped recording. Making finding what you want to watch simple. Great BUY ! !

This camcorder works great. Easy to use picture quality is good. It has lots of functions that we are still figuring out. The screen is big enough to see what you are filming and you can also take pictures if you don't have a camera handy. We bought this to film the birth of our 1st child so it will be put to the test in a few weeks.

At first I was a little skeptical ordering this product off-line being it was so much money. But compared to Circuit city, Best buy and other stores around here I was saving over $150 so I decided to order it. I received the product on time and it was brand new and everything seems to be working fine. It is a easy camcorder to use.

I bought this for myself. But my son has four kids and I ended up giving the camera to him. I have no little kids no more but when I did I was always taking video. I used this cam a bit and it was great.

I take my camcorder everywhere and enjoy it. I received it for Christmas 2 years ago and love it. Best purchase/present I think we ever made. It takes the best pictures. The colors are so beautifull and vivid. More so than in real life. It makes my yard look so beautiful when I take pictures outside (and it is not)!! Very easy to use. I like that I can have 2 cameras in one. Very highly recommended.

I am really impressed with this camera. Great quality! I was researching these for a while and although this is a relatively older camera (over 2 yo) it has higher quality (3 mp) than the current ones unless you spend $$$$ for the high def ones.

I purchased the camcorder on April 5; took about a week to get it. Used it three times using the battery that came with it. I then purchased two SONY NP-FP90 battery packs, charged them and installed one on the camcorder. The camcorder booted up and I got the message..."use InfoLITHIUM battery packs" and the unit shut down. I tried several times with the same result. I then installed the second NP-FP90 battery pack with the same result. I emailed Sony support and they said I would have to send the unit in. I shipped the camcorder on April 24, the service center received it on April 27. I followed the servicing of the camcorder on line which indicated that the camcorder was being serviced on April 28. On about May 3, it said that service was delayed as a part is on order.

It is my understanding that fixing the unit could take up to 10 days with an extra 2 weeks to get the part. I called and was told that the part ordered is a battery. I inquired as to the part number of the battery but the girl couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me. I wanted to find out if the part was another NP-FP90 which would be a waste of time since I already tried two. That was indicated on the paperwork I sent to them with the camcorder.

I ordered the unit to take videos of my grandchildren and so far I have missed out on several soccer games, a youth olympics day, a school recognition night, etc. with more upcoming events that I won't be able to video.

I have been talking with customer service at Sony asking that, because the camcorder was virtually new, could they see that the part is overnighted to the service center; could they send me a NEW camcorder; and on and on. So far I have been without my camcorder for longer than I had it. Customer service says they will call me back in 24 hours; they didn't. They take notes and say they will pass them on to ??someone?? I can't imagine a Sony service center that doesn't have necessary parts on hand.

The Sony is a good camcorder, but god forbid you ever need service. Be prepared to be without it for an extended period. We're going to Europe this fall and I am scared to death that the camcorder will need service and I won't have it to take along.

I bougth this camcorder for my wedding. It workes very well and easy to operate.

But the customer support was very good. My money was returned as promised, but it did cost me a week of my time.

I bought this camcorder in hopes to free myself from digital8 tapes and upgrade to better video quality. I did free myself from tapes but after reviewing the footage captured by the DVD405 I was very disappointed to find out how bad the picture quality was..I would compare the video quality to a vhs-c camcorder..I think maybe I had too much expectation from the DVD405 but I felt I took a step backward when I bought this camcorder. My previous camcorder (Sony digital8 TRV120)which I've had for 6 years, captures way better(sharper) video than the DVD405 in my opinion. I felt like I was getting a headache when I was watching the footage of my sons baseball award ceremony which was shot in the afternoon sunlight with minimal movement..The edges of the subjects in the footage was somewhat pixelated.. mpeg2 compression needs to improve a little bit more for me to come back to dvd camcorders so I decided to return the DVD405 back to amazon(smooth process) and stick with my digital 8 for now.. Sony is suppose to come out with a Hi-Def dvd camcorder in the near future (Sony HDR-UX1) so I might wait for that to come out. I have been looking at Sony's 30GB HDD camcorder which is supposed to have higher resolution than the DVD405 but I would still have to transfer footage to dvd.....-right now I've just been trying to be patient and shop around and do my research...All in all, the only reason I would have kept this DVD405 is for convenience of recording straight to dvd.. Buy this camcorder if you want this convenience and if you dont mind mediocre video footage..Maybe the newer DVD505 is better than this model. Good luck!!

I only tried Easy, the image is not so good. And the battery lasts only about half hour. The sound is realy good. The shipping is very quick, I received the product 4 days after I made the purchase.

I could not use the software that came with the handicam and I tried five other programs and none of them could access the cams video or controls - It may be possible to link PC and handicam but I don't have a degree in science fiction. If you're going to edit and make movies on your PC keep looking. This one is only for propeller heads.

We were very, very, very disappointed and frustrated with this camera. Yes, it takes a fabulous, high quality picture -- the bells and whistles are great. The problem we had was that this camera does not seem to be readily compatible with the video editing software that most people like to use... it makes pretty pictures that you can record onto the diskettes Sony provides, but it is very difficult to edit before you do that, and it is practically impossible to import the footage into any other format.

My wife, who is a big technical whiz (and onetime professional filmmaker) wrestled with this camera for nearly a week, downloading various programs, patches and fix-its that the Sony tech support recommended. Nothing worked. The editing program they provided was crude and unwieldy at best. Sony's tech support were amazingly unhelpful and uninformed, and seemed generally baffled as to why anyone would want to import the data outside of their proprietary software to begin with.

Hello? Sony? Are you listening? THIS IS THE YEAR 2006. People want to edit their own video footage and they want it to be EASY and FUN. They don't want to spend gazillions of dollars on a camera only to be thwarted and micromanaged by your company and have it be so difficult to work with the data they create. Some of us even (gasp!) use Macs and would love it if your high-end cameras were easily compatible with the iMovie software, so that we could make decent movies using your otherwise glorious technology.

Reluctantly, we took this camera back and got a refund. If all you want to do is shoot home movies, then I suppose it's a great device. But if you want anything more, you may find this camera really frustrating. Thumbs down from our team.

I bought the Sony DCR-DVD405 because the specifications said it can achieve a shutter speed of 1/4000 (in the AE modee). I strongly suspect that this is not true.
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br /1. When I take video of fast moving objects under very bright conditions (I have even increased the exposure to where the video is overexposed), the video is always blured.
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br /2. When I called Sony (technical support, advertising), they refuse to send me the specs which include shutter speed to me. Also, in their conversations with me they have given me conflicting information (you can get 1/4000 shutter speed in the auto mode, you can't get 1/4000 shutter speed in the auto mode, you can't get 1/4000 shutter speed in any mode including the AE mode). They can't give me shutter speed specs because it is in the manual (it isn't), it on the web (it is not), it's copywrited (really?), there are no specs on shutter speed (you don't know the specs of your own product?). When I got to this point, the Sony person passes me off to someone else where I have to wxplain the problem all over again or as one technical support guy did, he hung up on me.
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br /I really think Amazon should revise the specs for shutter speed on their web page until they find out what the story is with Sony. Their dealimgswith me have been very odd.
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Wish I had bought the panasonic model instead. There is nothing to write good about the picture other than it is about the same as a vhs video camera. Go with panasonic.

This item was stolen by security personnel at Miami airport before I had adequate timt to become familar with all the features and to review the video I had taken.

I'm so happpy with my new handicam, I thing it has good resolution and it is easy to handle.
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This handycam is very easy to use and takes great video's and still pictures.
I would have loved a little more zoom, but this works just fine. It is a bit pricy though !