Buy Sony DCR-DVD408 4MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Buy Sony DCR-DVD408 4MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Sony DCR-DVD408 4MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Product Description:

• 2.1-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor
• Carl Zeiss Vario- Sonnar T* lens; 10x optical/80x digital zoom
• Dolby Digital 5.1-channel recording; built-in microphone
• 2.7-inch widescreen touch-panel Clear Photo plus LCD
• DVD-R/RW/+RW/+R DL compatible

Product Description

CL)SONY DCR-DVD408 DVD CAMCORDER

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent quality video with dolby audio recording
By S. Mahabal
I tried this camera during my recent visit to Seattle for Tulip festival. The recording quality is amazing. 5 channel recording is superb. I tried it in 16:9 and 4:3 fine mode with playback on HD Plasma TV. The quality was breathtakingly good. Yet to try photo (claimed to take 4 MP pictures) as photos can only be taken with a memory stick.Cons:-Limited Mini DVD space (20 minutes max in fine mode).-Limited support for combining mini DVDs to a regular sized DVD. Bundled software requires double the size of DVD (9GB) free on the PC to make a movie-Box contains just the camcorder without any memory stick or DVD. It has to be separately ordered.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful.
Phenomenal
By A. DARNULE
This video camera is phenomenal. I bought it for the birth of my son but unfortunately he came early, one day before the camera arrived. I should have bought it sooner. So for the delivery day excitment I used by older Panasonic miniDV tape camera and after that used the Sony 408DVD camera. What a difference. I don't know why people think the miniDVs give a better quality image. In fact I know a profession who uses it and I do believe there is some credibility to that statement, but he also has very expensive professional video equipment. But for the average home user its a hassel dealing with tapes that play only in your camera or you have to capture it via your computer and burn dvds which takes hours to do and tons of hard disk space if you don't want to loose quality. This Sony is one of the higher end DVD cameras from Sony. I believe its exceptional video quality come from the fact that the lens is T-star (sharper) and twice the size of other cameras (1/3in vs 1/6in). I am extrememly happy with it. In addition I don't always have to carry 2 cameras. This camera takes 2MP video (very nice even on HD televisions) and 4MP still images with built in flash in still camera mode. This is enough to print clear 4x6 or even larger. So overall I'm very happy with this camera. You can either use rewritable miniDVDs and then transfer to regular DVDs via computer or do what I do. I buy inexpensive miniDVD -r or +r disc and keep then as "orginals". Later if I want to combine or make a special DVD I can do that. I almost bought a Hard Drive camera but it was this fact that steered me away. For the same price as a low end HD camera I got a high end DVD camera. Also I can finalize and play in anyones DVD player without the need for cables or computers etc. I also feel that every time you trasfer video data (digital or analog) there is a chance that the quality may drop based on the software your using the computer processor and the quality of the dvd writer and media used finally. Thus I decided to record on one time use DVDs as masters and make copies as needed. In point here is that what you do is up to you. Your not forced to to use a computer or forced to copy and free up your DVD-RW if you don't want to. Flexibilty means everything in electronics. I highly recommend this camera and if you can afford it try the 508 but if not the 408 is fantastic. Hope that helps you make you decision.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
My first camcorder - Good choice
By Venkatesh Ragunathan
I had been to Portland & Oregon costal beaches. For the first time I am using a camcorder. My Sony DCR-DVD 408 captured the nature extremely good. Impeccable picture quality, 5.1 dolby stereo effect is cool. I recorded the music played by a person in the Rose test garden and it came out really well. The touch screen is another cool feature. The scene selection(Sunrise/Sunset, beaches, portrait etc) is excellent. Its worth the money.Only negative thing is the Software is not that versatile to create your own movie.

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Best Reviews of Sony DCR-SR200 2.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Buy Sony DCR-SR200 2.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Sony DCR-SR200 2.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Product Description:

• 40-gigabyte hard drive stores over 25 hours of long-play video or over 8 hours of high-quality video
• 2.1-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor for crystal-clear video and still images
• 10x optical zoom; 80x digital zoom
• 2.7-inch widescreen touch-panel Clear Photo LCD Plus display
• Handycam Station included

Product Description

2.1 Megapixel (Gross) ClearVid CMOS Sensor

10 x Optical/ 80 x Digital Zoom

Professional Quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens

2.7" Wide (16:9) Touch Panel LCD Display4 (123K Pixels)

Handycam Station

Memory Stick Duo Media Slot

One Touch Wide Angle Shooting

Smooth Slow Recording

Recording and Playback Times: HQ: 9 hours, SP: 14 hours, LP 28 hours

Super SteadyShot Picture Stabilization System

USB 2.0 Interface

DVDirect Recorder Compatibility

Easy PC Backup

One Touch Disc Burn

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Smart Protection

Active Interface Shoe

Super NightShot Plus Infrared System

Manual Focus

On Screen Zoom and Record Buttons

Scene Selection Modes

Picture Effects

Fader Effects

InfoLithium Battery with AccuPower Meter System

Battery Information

Easy Handycam Button

Tele Macro Function

Multi-Language Menu

Weight: 1 lb 2

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful.
DCR-SR200
By Y. Luong
This is my first HDD camcorder. I owned several MiniDV camcorders in the past. I have owned the camera for 2 weeks, so this review should be considered as initial impression.PROS:- Picture quality is very good in good daylight. I had some shots at night in well lit family room, and the video is not as sharp as day time shots, but still very good.- The Super Nightshot feature is fun to have to take kids video while they are sleeping. As expected, the video is very grainy.- The quality of still pictures is acceptable.- Zoom is very smooth- The touch screen is awsome. Hope the screen won't get scratched in the long run- Camera is easy to use without having to read too much into the manual- The menu is sort confusing in some areas, but not too bad- LightweightCONS:- Pricy, compared to MiniDV models of similar quality- Battery sticks out too much off the back of the camera making it look sort of ugly- Allows only 3 still shots during video. I wish I can snapshot still photos from video like most of Panasonic models.- All connectivities are on charging base. This means one more thing to carry with on vacation- No separate battery charger. Battery is charged on the charging base or on camera- Only 10x zoomOverall, pretty happy with the purchase, and will be a lot of funs making family videos. I did not make a single DVD from my previous MiniDV's. This is a 4.5 stars rating.

124 of 137 people found the following review helpful.
This Camcorder is not so great because...
By david m callaghan
The sirens song of a HD based Camcorder was too much to resist. Based upon hours of research I too finally settled on the DCR-SR200. Not quite as high resolution photos as the SR300 but sported longer battery life and CLEARLY a step above the previous models and other vendors. How could I go wrong - look at all these 4 and 5 star reviews. I can't speak for their experiences but I'm going to tell you mine. So pull up a chair and get comfortable b/c the ride is going to get bumpy...I've spent the last 6 months using this device and feel compelled to return to where I purchased it and share the good the bad and the ugly news.The Good News: I'm not going to drill on the obvious benefits of HD based camcorder. If you like not having to replace tapes/DVD in your Walkman; you are surely going to enjoy not having to do this with a camcorder - FINALLY.Videos: The video it takes is good in full daylight. (Warning see below!)Photos: Takes nice 2 or 3 MP plain photos in full daylight. (Warning see below!)Camera Controls: I personally don't mind the touch screen controls. Occasionally I just use the tip of a small finder to invoke the functions more accurately.Software: Wow! It works with Vista. The software that comes with it does a fantastic job of simplifying copying images and movies from the camcorder to the PC in a organized fashion. Its not saying much - click - copy to new folder with today's date. But its brain dead simple.The Bad News: I'm not trying to SLAM this camera out of any kind of mean spirited vengeance; my goal here is to level set buyers expectations based upon my 6 months experience actually using this device. I do feel a bit of buyer's remorse b/c this camera is NO WAY a 4 or 5 star device like I was lead to believe by all the other reviews. Not in million years would I say that I got my $700 dollars worth. Had I known this I surely would have gone to a higher priced model to get the quality I was expecting.Zoom and Lens - No disrespect to Carl Zeiss - This camera has a really crappy lens configuration. I'm no f'stop expert - but what I do know is even when I zoom all the way out - I have to stand really far back to get a group shot b/c the field of view is quite limited. Translate that into lens mm/mm speak if you want; but that's what you get. The optical zoom is so lame. Its like really really lame. My old Minolta SLR, Sharp VL-A10U and Cannon S30 set the benchmark for what I expect in field of view and basic effect of hitting the optical zoom in/out. This thing stinks in comparison. Sure you can turn on digital zoom with about 10 clicks on the touch pad and go like 80x more...but that's the point - I was sold a Carl Zeiss lens. Nothing in software makes up for the fact the field of view is so limited. I think someone slipped a decimal point during the design calculations b/c this is a total total let down. Maybe the Sony engineers took a crumpled up design paper out of Carl's trashcan and unfolded it and used it.Videos: The video camera ONLY takes "good movies" in broad daylight. The video stabilization feature causes a sort of "heat wave" ripple effect when you pan across scenes. Its kind of annoying b/c the camera apparently can't figure out that its not canceling a "vibration/shake" and its panning and the image should stream horizontally across the viewfinder. Get ready - The minute you are not in full lit daylight - Oh I don't know, say taking a movie of a birthday party indoors of a cake with less than 70 candles on it. You will find the video is, how shall we say, horrible. Absolutely snowy and all faded out as this device completely fails to realistically capture the moment. What a LET DOWN! My 7 yr old $308 tape camera SOARED at moments like this! You do have an option - turn on night mode! OOOH-Yea! Now your guests eyes appear as large black circles effectively you are now filming zombie vampires under a pale green light; effectively recreating a Night Stalker episode. $700 bucks - no indoor birthday parties?How about taking a few minutes of video of the first few weeks of a newborn child sleeping to send to distant relatives? Well just be sure to turn on all the halogen lights so you can get this shot too. Or you can choose the night shot mode mentioned above. Depending on how soon you do or don't want them to visit...maybe so.Photos: OK at first you think - Cool! I don't have to bring 2 cameras any more! A camcorder and still photo camera all in one! Mostly WRONG! The still camera has absolutely NO FEAURES - NONE! Did you want sepia mode for a "old time effect" while posing at a national landmark? Did you want landscape mode to capture a vast panoramic scene or portrait mode for close up? Forgetaboutit! None. Not one. It stinks! From the company who makes a decent SLR'esque still cameras couldn't we get 1-2 features accessible from the software touch screen as an upgrade? PLEASE? I don't' count selecting flash/no flash and 3MB or less as camera configuration choices. I'm talking real features here and this thing has ZIP - Cero! Oh yea - and while in movie mode - you can snap pictures too. Of course you don't get flash anymore; and you can only take 3 shots while filming. Not 4 mind you, all scenarios under all conditions only need 3 according to Sony. When you stop the move; it takes a few moments to stream the 3 photos to disk/memory stick. I have both flash stick and HD; you would think we could do both in parallel; they almost accomplish it; but some engineering limit I'm sure made 3 the count. Why is this an issue? Assume you are taping your kids' ballet. And you take 2-3 photos during the movie of child #1. Then you keep the tape rolling to have a full video of the event. Child #2 comes on and you only have 1 photo left in the chamber; and you click it off when they weren't looking just this way...Hmm...where is my $130 7 MB still photo camera again??Camera Controls: Hello FOCUS FOR *%&$ SAKE FOCUS! I only film in the high resolution mode (i.e. SP mode for VCR aficionados). And nothing annoys me more than 15-30 seconds of out of focus video while the stupid camera tries to figure out that the group of people about 15-20 ft in front of me are actually of interested to me and I would like the camera to somehow find a way to focus if is not too much of an inconvenience right now. This doesn't always happen but it sure does enough to say FIX IT SONY!Software: I'm running Vista these days and you get free super generic movie making software. So you really don't need much here. Also just b/c the moves are *.mpg format doesn't mean you can just plop on a DVD and go. You still have to go through an "overnight" rendering phase to create a DVD w/ menus etc on any personal computer short of something NASA owns. And the videos don't play on an XBox360 media extender right now!So there it is, in all its glory - the true story about this Camcorder based upon my past 6 months of real world use and the reasons why I only can be so generous and give it a weak 3 stars.So there it is, in all its glory - the true story about this Camcorder based upon my past 6 months of real world use and the reasons why I only can be so generous and give it a weak 3 stars. Once again I felt compelled to write this manifesto b/c so many were so gaga over this barely acceptable device.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Great Camcorder.. I have been waiting for this ...
By Naanu Yaaru
Strengths: Excellent Video & Audio Quality. Great Still Pictures. Cool Touchscreen LCD. Night shot video is amazing. In Built Flash is very powerful.Weaknesses: Battery protruded outside kinda gives a odd look. User Manual supplied is not very informative... u got to explore all the menus urself. u need docking stn to connect to PC.Summary: Hey , no more additional softwares to convert all other video formats, Directly recorded as Mpeg format, connect to PC and rip your DVD.. its that easy.Picture Motion Browser supplied with Handycam is cool and very handy, you can trim out unwanted portion of your videos.I have been waiting for this since long. I purchased this just bcos its predecessor SR-100 was a big hit, and this one has all the features of SR-100 and some extra features.

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Discounted Sony DCR-SR300 6.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Buy Sony DCR-SR300 6.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Sony DCR-SR300 6.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Product Description:

• 40 GB HDD stores up to 28 hours of video
• 3.0-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor for crystal-clear video and still images
• 10x optical zoom; Dolby Digital 5.1-channel audio recording
• 2.7-inch widescreen touch-panel Clear Photo LCD Plus display
• Handycam Station included

Product Description

Take the next step in home video recording with the DCR-SR300 Handycam(R) camcorder. The internal 40GB hard disk drive stores up to 28 hours of video (LP) and easily transfers it to your PC, giving you the freedom to capture more video, easier than ever before. And, you can take amazing 6.1 megapixel still images when you`re not shooting video. The 3 megapixel ClearVid(TM) CMOS Sensor and Carl Zeiss(R) Vario-Sonnar(R) T* Lens with 10x optical/20x digital zoom provide outstanding image quality. And Super SteadyShot(R) optical stabilization reduces blur, giving you crisper pictures. Connect the camcorder to a Handycam(R) Station and you`ll be impressed by a new level of multimedia sharing that allows you to download and share video with a TV or PC via a number of interface ports. Or just hit one button and the one touch disc burning transfers your footage to DVD. The DCR-SR300 is more than a camcorder-it`s the future of home video recording.

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Great Camcorder
By Gregory R. Daro
Pros: Excellent picture quality! Ease of use, convenient 4 mega pixel still while in video mode, easy connect base, and mpg video format right from the camera!Cons: Easy connect base (good and bad news), flash disabled with filters or lens, and a little slow to connect to the PC.I wanted ease of use, high quality picture, and good still performance - I got it all.I did the tech research on picture quality and the SR300 seemed to be rated the best by most of the experts. The CMOS capture device is what is used in very high end cameras, so I was expecting a decent picture.Here is the non-tech evaluation of the picture: on my Hi Def TV the picture quality from this camcorder is much better than normal TV picture and not quite as good as a high quality progressive scan DVD. It is better than I expected and I am VERY happy with the picture quality.The SR300 is easy to use and that is what I wanted. Point it and shoot. In video mode, it does 4 mega pixel pictures. While recording, you can capture 3 stills only. If you are in video mode and not recording, you can capture as many as you like up to the limit of the hard drive and/or memory stick. In straight still mode, it is a 6 mega pixel camera. If you are looking for super high quality still camera, this is not it. I went from a 2 mega pixel camera to this, so I am pleased with the quality and I don't have to always carry two cameras around. I am using this to capture kids and this is just what I need.The camera will record stills to the hard drive, so you do not need to have a memory stick. I purchased a 2 gig ultra II, kind of a waste since the camcorder can't write to the stick as fast as the stick operates, I could have saved some $$ with a less expensive stick, or no stick at all. A 2 gig stick gives you 600 pictures at 4 mega pixel.I like the base, it makes it easy to have the camera ready to use. The thing I don't like is that you must use it to transfer video and stills to your computer from the hard drive (cable included). This can be a pain. You can connect the camera directly to the TV to watch video (cable included).When you attach a filter or an auxiliary lens, I bought a wide angle lens, the flash is disabled. This I do not like.Video from this camera is in mpg format, the same used for DVDs, so your DVD software does not have to convert the files. Also, this camera will write directly to a DVD recorder. I created a DVD with my , directly from the camera using the Disc Burn button and it included both video and pictures.I am able to quickly make DVDs using Nero without converting the files. This cam also connects directly to a printer using Pict Bridge feature.This is an expensive camera that had everything I wanted: easy to use; good quality video; compact size; and good still pictures. Sometimes you need to spend the extra to get what you want.I also bought the Sony ACC-FH60 accessory kit that includes a camera case and a second battery, check it out.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent first impressions
By Mohamed I. Talaat
I've been using it for a couple of days, and I love it. The harddisk is a gift, once you get used to it, you'll never want to use tape again. The USB 2.0 transfer to your computer works like a charm and it's pretty quick even for very large files, also because the video file types are mpeg, dvd authoring software doesn't take forever to compile a dvd, it's very quick.There are a couple of simple, yet powerful editing features using the camcorder itself. The interface is pretty intuitive, and the touch screen is very accessible even for my thick thumbs. The video picture quality is excellent in medium light, but weak in low light still 'far better than my previous Canon ZR70 though'. The stand still camera is not that good, compared to my current Sony P8.I love the slow motion feature, unfortunately it can only capture 6 seconds, also taking photos while you're video taping is an excellent feature, but you can only take 3 photos during shooting videos. All in all, I'm very happy with all it's features, also the surround sound works pretty well.I didn't give it 5 stars because the camera doesn't come with a USB port, or video output options on the camera itself, I have to dock it in the docking station and then connect it to my PC, which leaves me with a choice to either put the docking station beside my PC to move the files, or beside my HD TV to watch the movies on the Camera, not sure why Sony at least didn't put a USB port on the camera directly, pretty annoying! Also, there is no way to capture video using this camera, although that was kind of a standard feature in any cheap mini DV cameras, now I have to think of getting a video capture card for my computer if I need to copy any of my recorder programs from my DVRs or previous tapes to DVD!

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Worth every penny
By Adoom
I'm not a professional, so this camcorder is the best thing since sliced bread.I'd rather write a review that someone can actually read and get some value from, so if you're one of those people that insists on comparing everything to an extremely expensive pro camcorder, just stop reading now and go away.If you want something that will shoot crisp clear video footage of your family and life experiences, this is the camcorder for you. No, it's not HD but I honestly don't feel that it's worth paying 2x as much for the marginal (if even noticeable since this camcorder shoots video at 3.1 megapixels) difference in video quality. 6.1 megapixel stills are the icing on the cake, and I have yet to deplete the battery (if you're planning on shooting hours and hours of video, just get an adapter or the optional battery that will give you up to 6 hours of life).

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