Sony DCR-TRV22 DV Camcorder

Overall it's picture qaulity that matters the most

By Jeff  Dec 22, 2003 | 12 out of 12 found this Sony DCR-TRV22 review helpful

Pros: Does the best low light recording for a camcorder in it's price range

Cons: Less than 1hr battery performance

I had purchased the JVC GR-D90US, Canon ZR70MC, and Panasonic PV-GS50S all before finally going with the Sony TRV22. The problem with all the others was that in normal indoor light, their performance was either very grainy or just all together poor.... The PV-GS50S did pretty well indoors but not good enough if this is where you will be doing allot of your recordings. Indoor and out the Sony TRV22 maintained the best picture quality overall in every lighting condition I could throw at it. The 10x optical and 120x digital zoom of the Sony TRV22 I thought was not the best at first, but after using it awhile I realized they made the digital zoom to only stay within a clean usable range, unlike the others that had a 700x digital zoom which was useless unless it was mounted to a tripod on a windless day. The two hour battery that comes with the Sony TRV22 is very poor, It doesn't even last an hour using the LCD, which you have to use allot just for the touch screen control of the unit. Sony should have taken this into consideration and supplied the four-hour battery with the touch screen LCD models. The touch screen control is nice and clean, but it is a bit of a challenge to navigate through while recording. A stylus pen is a must. I found taking digital stills with the Sony TRV22 as well with all the others to be almost pointless function and it should not be a factor in your selection of a MiniDV anyways. The Canon ZR70MC did produce the best stills of them all, but the quality is not even close to the quality of an on the budget digital camera.The JVC GR-D90US had breath taking picture quality outdoors, but the worst of them all in low light. I found that the Sony TRV22 camcorder can't be beat for the money; simply due to the most important factor of them all that it's picture quality is best overall the others in a wide range of lighting conditions Read more Less