Sony DCR-SR290 Hard Disc Drive Camcorder With 2.7” LCD Screen

October 31, 2007 | By Doug In Digital Camcorder |

Sony DCR-SR290 Hard Disc Drive Camcorder With 2.7” LCD Screen
HDD HANDYCAM 40GB H/DR 1/3 CLEARVID 6.1 M/PXL STL REC NS

Customer Review: Excellent camera but only in daylight
When I read the review by Phil Latham below I couldn’t believe the coincidence, I am also replacing an old Sony TRV65 which has served me well for 10 years.

I bought the Sony DCR-SR290 camcorder based on the specifications and the other reviews here but I am sorry to say that after owning it for less than 24 hours I have sent it back, due to absolutely dreadful performance in artificial light e.g. in the house with all the lights on, I am not referring just to low light. The only way to get a focussed picture is to leave the camcorder completely still pointing at something that isn’t moving. If you point at a moving target e.g. a person walking across the frame, or pan the camcorder horizontally or vertically at anything more than a snail’s pace there is just so much jitter and picture instability I could not believe my eyes.

The problem isn’t noticeable on the LCD screen, it’s only when you plug the camcorder into a TV to monitor the shots live or to play-back a recording that it becomes obvious (my Grundig CRT TV is not at fault - I plugged-in my old Hi-8 TRV65 and the images from this in the same room and light levels are perfect - it’s no contest).

Outside in natural light the SR290 is truly outstanding and the auto focus is very quick indeed. Thinking that there must be some sort of fault with it I got a demo of another identical unit in a Sony Centre shop, only to discover that this had the same problem. The salesman was also very surprised.

In addition to the picture problem there is an issue with connecting to the PC via USB2. With the enclosed software installed, my PC will recognise the camcorder as a USB mass storage device, and I can browse the SR290’s internal drive and copy short video files across or use the Sony application software to do the same. But the camcorder does not recognise that it has successfully connected to the PC and will time-out and disconnect after a few minutes, meaning that it would not be possible to copy larger video files across which take more time. My PC is not at fault here, I experienced the same when trying it with my laptop.

You must also not touch (or even breathe near) the camcorder when it is on the docking station as the gravity-reliant connection between the two items is very ’slight’. If you touch the camcorder even lightly this will interrupt the connection, this could possibly corrupt the drive if a file is transferring at the time.

I am so disappointed as there is no other camcorder on the market with similar specifications at this price. If you only intend to use it in daylight then I would recommend it for it’s picture quality, image stabiliser, comfortable weight, handling and ease of use, though the docking station and USB issues could prove very frustrating.

Try again Sony….

Customer Review: Sony have produced another brilliant product!
Last month I decided to buy a camcorder and in order to make my life easier I went for an HDD model to avoid the need of using tapes/discs. I do have to admit here that I am a big Sony fan! Hence, I didn’t have to spend too much time before I narrowed down my choices to 3-4 models. Important criteria for me included: 1) disk space, 2) good image quality and stabilisation and 3) functionality.

Finally, it was down to the DCR-SR190 and DCR-SR290 models. One major difference between them was the type of image stabiliser (digital for the 190 and optical for the 290). And because the optical image stabiliser is better than the digital one (according to the experts!) meant that in the end I opted to invest a bit more money and go for the DCR-SR290.

What a great decision I made! All the previous reviews on this camera posted on the site are spot-on when it comes to the positive points. Personally, I cannot see anything wrong with the camcorder at all! So easy to use, small, light, fantastic LCD screen with great touch-screen menus, plenty of intuitive menus and choices of formats and shooting modes etc. The videos are of excellent clarity and quality, even indoors and under low light conditions, and the night shot is really good, too. The image stabilisation is great and that is so useful when you zoom in a lot.

As for the sound… now that is as amazing as the image quality! Surround sound you’re promised, surround sound you get! The microphone is really good and sensitive. When you play your videos with your home cinema speakers on you can appreciate how good it is! The battery seems to last for a good length of time - as promised by the manufacturer. I also bought a case, my suggestions is don’t go for the recommended case, it looks too big and my guess is one would end up carrying a big case for a small camera! I bought the LSC-VAC Compact Camcorder Soft Carrying Case and it fits nicely, I would definitely recommend it.

Finally, the only fear I had before I bought the camera was whether the software that came with it would be good or not, one of the (few admittedly!) Sony weaknesses sometimes. The software is actually quite good, easy to edit videos and burn them to DVD (you can create menus, thumbnails etc and make some nice compilations…). The camera connected to my laptop (Windows XP) very easily, down-loading the videos is straight forward - I didn’t bother spending too much time reading the manual on this, it’s really easy to do. And speaking of the manual, the full pdf version is 132 pages, but don’t let that scare you! You really don’t need to read much of it, you get the hang of using the camera really quickly.

Overall impression, just three words: well done Sony!!!

Panasonic NV-GS17B MiniDV Digital Camcorder [24x Optical, 2.5" LCD, DV out]
Used Price: ?244.99
Customer Review: GREAT LITTLE CAMCORDER
very impressed with the picture & sound quality of this entry level camcorder from panasonic.Not always brilliant indoors,but just use your common sense and make sure there is as much light as possible.Also quite impressed with the standard battery supplied,even using the viewfinder,i was supprised how much filming you can do.All in all,brilliant value for money.
Customer Review: Such a shame
I agree that this little camera is great. it’s so easy to use, nice and small to carry about with you and the picture quality is all you could want it to be. But I can’t understand why Panasonic don’t supply any software with this little gem. Frankly it’s stupid. If like me your PC doesnt have firewire then you’re stuck. Yes i can go and buy a firewire card; but when you’re buying a good product from a well established brand you dont expect to have to go and add bits to your PC to make it work. Dissapointing.

JVC GZ-MG36EK Everio Digital Media Camcorder
Customer Review: Ignore this at your peril!
You may be seduced, as I was, at low prices being offered for this item. DO NOT BUY IT!!! As other reviewers have pointed out, the low light image quality is very poor. The bundled software supplied (Cyberlink) is truly appalling. I have had the machine for over a month, tried it out and it worked OK - very small and light and easy to use. In fact the thing is a joy to use. But there it ends. I took mine on honeymoon, took 2 hours of video, only to find when I got it home that one of the files had corrupted (through no fault of mine) and messed up the hard disk. Took hours (literally) to eventually coax the thing to send the video files via USB, then when it finally decided to play ball the crappy Cyberlink software couldn’t write to disk. Nor could I use another programme, as the .mod files produced by the camera are not recognisable to most normal video editing software (and I tried renaming the files to mpeg, but that didn’t work). My advice would be to pay a litle more and buy Sony. JVC are not up to the mark, despite their clever advertising, and the supplied software is rubbish. You will end up tearing your hair out. Bottom line is that I regret not following my instincts to buy Sony. I will never buy another JVC product - ever. DO NOT BUY THIS CAMCORDER - IT IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY. Mine is going straight back to JVC.
Customer Review: Good points,bad points
Size is excellent with easy touch/press controls Yes its not the greatest for indoor videoing when dark however still works pretty good with reasonable lighting so this isn’t to be over emphasised. I’m not too impressed so far with the still shots and quality produced afterwards.I don’t know if this early days as I haven’t played around with it but the photo’s that I have taken and played back on my tv are of a poor standard. Definitely needs longer battery! Overall an excellent price for what you get.