Customer Reviews
Camera Died after light use under 2 years 
2006-09-23
We had a sony handycam 8 and was very pleased with it's 10 year+ longevity. This Digital 8 camera has turned out to fail rather quickly with much less use in a much shorter period of time.
After vacation it said the heads were dirty and to run a tape cleaner. So got the tape head cleaner and ran it several times but and no improvement. Apparently the heads have died on the unit. Piece of junk!
cassette will not eject 2006-07-14
Recording was jumpy. I inserted a cleaning tape. The cassette did not operate and now the door will not open and the tape will not eject.
Does anyone know how to manually open the cassette door - short of breaking it.
great while it lasted (14 months) 
2006-04-16
Great images for 14 months. Then I got a dialog box that said the video heads were dirty and I need to run a cleaning tape - which I bought and ran per instructions. Didn't clear up. Went to Sony online help, was told to run it again. Didn't clear up. Tried a few more times, didn't clear up. Told it needs repair - $211. Guess maybe I should drop it in the water like the last guy whose TRV460 is indestructable. Sony should be ashamed for not backing these things up longer than a year.
Invincible Camera!! 
2006-02-19
i dont know what the heck you all are talking about, i am the camera distructor, i break on avrage two cameras a year, and i have now had this camera for a year and a half, i have Dropped it a million times, IT FELL INTO THE RIVER ONE TIME, i brought it to a mosh pit and fell on it several times, i have dropped it out of a moving Golf Cart, and i go snowboarding with it in my backpack and crash all the time with it in the back, infact i resently broke my digital camera that was in the same case as my Video Camera,, and the digital camera broke, but my sony is still working great, except it is beat up a little, i cracked some of the plastic on it, but it still works great, and not only is it invncible, it has GREAT video, and the touch screen makes things SO MUCH EASIER! and also the S-Video is a really nice feature, it makes getting video onto your computer a Snap!, i love this camera and i have owned lots of cameras before, and i can honestly say, that sony makes THE BEST cameras out there, they got GREAT quility, Built Good, and have alot of features other cameras dont! so the bottom line is, if you are looking for a "Jack Ass" camera, that you just want to do crazy stuff and dont want it to break down,this is the camera, it is easy to use, and it is just awesome!
PS: i have owned these brands of video cameras: Samsung, Panisonic, RCA, Cannon, and some others, and sony, is the BEST of the Best!
Extremely prone to breakdown 2006-01-19
I've owned this vidio camera since July '04. When camera works it is a fine machine. BUT, just after warrantee expired tapes would not eject--repair bill $230. Now in 1/06 playback is horribly distorted--head cleaning tapes do not work so video head needs replacing--repair bill $211.00 I will start searching for a replacement unit (NOT SONY) that is not so prone to breakedown within 18 months of purchase. If you like paying for a camera over and over again, this is the unit for you--otherwise work hard to find a more dependable brand/model.
Good Camera but you need lots of extras to actually use it 
2007-08-06
I bought mine in late 2005, but didn't use it when I was overseas because the supplied software was TERRIBLE and I never could get it to work. I ended up using the video capture on my separate Digital camera. So, a year later, I fired it up this week and spent an entire day trying to play a video I recorded yesterday on my PC... being a digital video novice, here are the caveats you need to know after I spent all day on it, plus read all 43 review before this one:
- I like the features of the camera, the zoom and fold out screen, but the pain is usability and working with the videos or pictures once you take them. If you just want to take taped videos, and watch them on a TV using the provided AV cable, it is ok, but NOT if you want to see or use the video on a PC and edit it. So read on...
- You really need a second battery, which I ordered automatically, which added to the price. Some of the reviews here say you can use 3rd party batteries, but others say an embedded chip prevents using them. Mine was an expensive Sony battery.
- There are no tapes in the box, so you have to buy some.
- READ the simple manual first for each task you do... for instance if you try to plug in the USB cable to a pc first it screws up the drivers, and you have to go to troubleshooting sections to manual delete the drivers, then reload.
- Sony uses a 4 wire firewire cable called "iWire" (they don't say firewire anywhere).. BUT THEY DON'T PROVIDE THE iWire CABLE. So the user wastes time trying to get provided USB cables to work and after two hours trying to install, reinstall and use the TERRIBLE Sony provided "Picture Package" software, or keep flipping through all the touchscreen menus to turn on "Burn DVD" which uses a CD-R (not DVD) and never find a way to transfer the video to the PC. I finally got the low budget USB Streaming player to work so I could see my video in a small screen on the PC, but there was no option to capture it to a file (stupid). Sony also provides an "AV" cable that has three composite rca jacks to plug into your vcr so you could play the video through that method, but I don't have a VCR anymore - I use a Comcast DVR which has the physical jacks, but they are disabled (a whole separate story about Comcast DVRs).
- Using firewire - finally, I fired up my previously purchased Pinnacle Studio version nine, which apparently can't recognize the Sony USB connection, as it kept saying it was looking for a connection on ieee 1394 input, which is firewire (Sony refuses to say that common name). I finally figured out I needed firewire for best transfer to the PC (and so do some of the reviews), and ordered the 4 wire to 6wire Sony iWire cable by part number (read the Accessories catalog) because my PC does have the standard 6 wire Firewire jack on the back. Just after I ordered it, I found that Belkin had much lower priced cables of the same type on Amazon, or you can order used ones or generic ones. ALSO, I happen to have a Sony laptop, and it has a Sony design 4-wire firewire jack on it (not the standard 6-wire jack), so I ordered a Belkin 4-wire to 4-wire cable to connect my camcorder to the Sony laptop.
- Sony doesn't provide any memory stick card at all so you can't use that storage feature until you buy one. Other reviews here say 64-128mb are fine for storing the 1mpx pictures it takes. 1-2 reviews say that you can't store movies on the memory stick, but I would confirm that - I haven't tried it.
- Conclusion:
- Get a second battery
- Don't rely on the USB connection for anything except a streaming video to the Sony viewer, but you can't capture it. Go for firewire, which means you need the cable (see below) and a standard firewire port or Firewire card on your pc.
- Get a 128mb memory stick to start (which means you also need a memory stick reader on the PC or laptop). The HandyCam pictures are only 1 megapixel, so I will rarely use it, but the memory stick is how you transfer the pictures to a PC (There might be a way with the USB line, but I don't want to waste anymore time on their software)
- Order the 4 wire to 6 wire iWire or Firewire cable for playback and transfer, and if your computer doesn't have firewire, add a card with it. The Sony part number is VMC-IL4615 - but get the Belkin alternate or another supplier - Sony's price is $39.95 when Belkin's is 1/4 of that. (I ordered it, but haven't gotten it yet).
- Expect to not be able to do ANY work on the PC editing your video with the USB cable or Sony's poor software. Instead, try using firewire and the free Microsoft Movie Maker that comes with XP. OR, expect to pay $100 or more for Pinnacle Studio, or ULead's Movie product, or Adobe's video maker products. Pinnacle has special high end audio visual cards with firewire you might look at. Or just make sure you have a good AV card with firewire and the right hardware specs to use the video editing software (i.e. ATI Radeon, etc.) . MY HP has the right specs, so I didn't need an additional card.
- To process video files on the computer, you might need to add more memory - if the editing is slow, determine if more RAM will help.
- The camera doesn't come with a bag, so you will need one.
- The battery is charged by plugging the power brick into the camera and charging the battery in the camera. It is slow, and means you can't use the camera while charging, but I always have two batteries charged, so that is what you have to live with, or buy an external charger.
- Misc - I bought an infrared filter and tripod also for the camera.
- Cost - So even though you budgeted $400 or so for the camera, the true price with all the above is more like $600-700 to actually be usable.
And now, my budding You Tube production might actually happen, once I get those cables...
VJ
Good Product 2007-05-13
Works well. Has fire wire and is Digital Quality. Would recommend this product.
Mine's still working after 26 months 
2006-12-10
I've read some poor reviews on what's happened over time with other people's Handycams, but I must say that mine still works after 2 years, a few typhoons and several 'dropping' accidents. I'm just now beginning to find some of the neat features of this camcorder, too!
The reason I purchased this camcorder was because of the colored infrared nightshot, which works great! You can take pictures in pitch darkness. Although I must say recently I've noticed problems with the handycam's playback feature. It keeps switching to Hi8 mode when the video isn't taken with the Hi8 feature (this makes the LCD screen turn blue so you can't see the playback). I'll most likely buy another Sony with the color enhanced nightshot, but I think I'll switch to the DVD or harddrive version.
2 years old and same problem 2006-12-02
I bought this camera in winter of 2004. It was a good camera for about a year and a half. This past summer I started getting the same "Video Heads are Dirty" message that everyone is getting. I've tried cleaning, but am still getting the message. Now it won't even recognize that there's a video cassette in it.
Looks like I need to take it to be serviced, but I fear what the cost will be.
Long time owner 2006-10-26
I have had this camcorder for at least 3 years. I received it as a gift. I love it. It's easy to use, takes great still photos as well as awesome video. I make many little home movies with this camera along with my computer. It's zooms in and out nicely, had night shot and the battery charges quickly and lasts a long time. I did require a special cable that didn't come with the camera though. But as a long time user of this camera I must say its worth the money. I know it was under $400.00.
