Customer Reviews
Crystal Clear Video! 
2008-06-26
I purchased this camera eight months ago. Since then, I've recorded more than 30 hours of video. The HC-96 has performed superbly in some incredibly demanding environments. The touch screen is very easy to operate (although sometimes I use the tip of a retracted pen to make sure I hit what I intend to). Additionally, the programmable "P-Menu" ensures the features/options you use most are right at your fingertips. The transition from video recording to photo taking is extremely simple and fast. I recently took the camera to a wedding and was very pleased with the speed of the transition back and forth, not to mention the fact that I didn't have to reach for a still camera every time a photo opportunity presented itself. A 3 megapixel image won't win you any awards, but it's plenty clear for an 8x10 photo.
Picture Quality- Simply amazing. When people see the detail, color, and contrast that my little Sony is able to recreate, they are always impressed that such a little device is able to produce such incredibly crisp, detailed video. As long as your lighting is right, your videos will look like they were professionally shot. Example: While on a trip to Rome last fall I shot a facade at one of the many basilicas. Initially, I was focused on the outer columns and scupltures, which were in direct sunlight. But I also wanted to shoot the mosaics that were set well back from the front of the facade and in such dark shadow that I could barely make them out with my naked eye, three stories below. I simply zoomed in on the mosaics and as the white marble walls left the field of view, the camera adjusted the white balance so quickly that the mosaics were immediately crystal clear. The description hardly does the performance justice.
Ease of Use- Fantastic. The buttons fall under your fingers, it's lightweight, it's very durable (I've dropped mine, spilled Sprite on it, and done a hundred other things the manual doesn't recommend) and it's small enough to be inconspicuous.
MiniDV Media- I wouldn't trade my tapes for a harddrive or DVDs. The ease with which I am able to view, download and edit my video is awesome. Plus, each tape holds about 9G of video, for only $2.50. The firewire interface works very well (buy a 4-4 and a 4-6 firewire cable, because not all computers take a 6). Rewinding and playback do use a fair amount of battery, but most of the time I'm viewing I can have it plugged in.
Battery Life- The included battery leaves something to be desired. Buy the bigger ActiForce extended life battery. It's definitely worth having. I can have the camera on and recording for more than three hours at a stretch.
Other Features I've used:
Smooth Interval Recording- Produces fantastic time-lapse shots. Works beautifully. Allows you to choose from 1-120 seconds per frame.
Night Shot & Super Night Shot- Great for low-light shooting within about 100 feet.
Spot Focus- Works very well when you need to manually direct the focal point. Very good for off-center shots.
Steadyshot- The HC-96's electro-optical stabilization is amazing. The camera not only steadies out the bumps, it helps smooth out your panning, as well, so the resulting video is very smooth and a pleasure to watch even when zoomed in very tight on distant objects. I've taken it to the lake to film wakeboarding and waterskiing and the picture is incredibly steady- shot from my hand without any kind of external stabilizing equipment.
Remote Control- Works very well. Must have a clear line of sight to the front of the camera.
Variable Speed Playback- Allows for frame-by-frame viewing and editting. A must-have feature. The controls for variable speed playback are extremely easy to use.
End Search- Will automatically cue the tape to the last frame of the last shot you took and seamlessly transition it to the next shot you record. It's extremely convenient.
Summary- I'm so happy I purchased this camera. It has all of the features I want and produces video that is every bit as clear as that of much larger, heavier, more expensive cameras. More to the point- it produces video that is so clear I'm amazed every time I watch it. It's hard to believe that such a little device could turn out such a professional looking product. Add to that the convenience of taking still shots to a Memory Stick Pro Duo media card with a quick USB interface and I can't really say much more. It's a great piece of gear and it's held up for eight months. I would recommend this camera to anyone.
DCR-HC96 2008-05-27
Nice sharp video much better then the Hi 8 that I had and much better then the hard drive models. Nice cam if you can find it but dont pay over 400 for it.
Beware 
2008-03-28
I've had this camera for 6 months. 4 of those months have been spent fighting with Sony to service it.
Stay far, far, far away.
great, but could be better... 2008-02-13
Overall, this maybe be the best non-professional camcorder I've personally ever seen, maybe disconsidering only the gs-500, but I was still amazed by the picture quality, and specially, by the vivid and strong colors that the camera providaded, which everybody told me I should expect the opposite... But it's not a perfect camcorder, far from that. The Handycam station, though a conceptually great idea, is incredibly irritating to use, not only because of the fact that it doesn't effectively lock at the camcorder, leaving it open for many outcoming risky situations, but also because it makes impossible to hold the camera over a tripod and connected to some source at the same time. Also is important to say that, despite the fact that the Touchscreen provides possibly many more ressources of menu in the camera, it is also very uncomfortable to be greasing the lcd screen with the finger all the time and to make contorcionism in some situations to be able to reach the menu.
Except for those facts, and an extra compleinment about the few-button remote control which makes it pratically unuseful, it's a grat piece of recording machine and I would recomend it to anyone willing to have the best movie-like experience!
Bruno S.,
Brazil.
Really enjoy the camcorder 2008-01-22
I bought this product to replace an aging JVC miniDV recorder and am absolutely thrilled. We used it to record a focus group sitting around a table in dim light (using the sony bluetooth microphone) and had excellent results both visually and audio-wise.
We also recorded our greyhounds doing their chasing after things thing and the camera had no trouble keeping up with them.
Much improvement over the old JVC.
Can't wait to use it for some upcoming seminars and some utube stuff.
good family camera 
2007-12-23
Box Contents: DCR-HC96, AC-L25 Power Adapter/In-Camera Charger, NP-FP50 InfoLithium(R) Rechargeable Battery, DCRA-C152 Handycam(R) Station, RMT-831 Remote Commander(R) remote control, Stereo A/V Cable, USB Cable, CD-ROM with USB Driver
The Sony DCR-HC96 MiniDV HandyCam Camcorder combines brilliant stills with spectacular video. Enjoy sharper photos and exceptional video, thanks to the 3.3 MegaPixel CCD imager. The wide-screen (16:9) 2.7" Touch Panel LCD lets you see more in greater detail, while the 10x optical and 120x digital zoom gives you clear, up-close shots from far away. One Touch wide angle shooting lets you switch easily between 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios, and Super SteadyShot(R) keeps your photos shake-free. Progressive Shutter Mode Focal Distance - 5.1 - 51mm; 370mm Telemacro Aperture - f1.8 - 2.9 Shutter Speeds - Auto, 1/2-1/4000 sec. (AE Mode) Filter Diameter - 30mm Full Range Auto and Manual Focus Progressive Shutter Mode Analog/Digital conversion with pass-through USB and i.LINK(R) ports S-Video output (optional) Accepts Memory Stick(R) PRO up to 2GB; does not support high-speed transfer Recording Media - MiniDV Operating Systems - Windows Me, 2000 Pro, XP Home and Pro Battery - InfoLithium(R) with AccuPower(TM) Meter System Dimensions - 2-7/8 x 3-5/8 x 4-3/4 (72 x 91 x 120 mm) Weight - 1 lb, 2 oz. (525 g) with tape & battery
An almost perfect choice 2007-12-04
Spent weeks researching which camcorder to get and decided on this one. Why? The large sensor (1/3"), the MiniDV tape format, the hot shoe for either external mic or video light...and the almost universal positive reviews. Do not regret getting it at all, but here are the things that I found lacking...most solved by some ingenuity and throwing more money at Project Camcorder.
After I got it, read reviews for the few Sony mics that would work with the hot shoe, and nobody seemed impressed. Oops. However, I bought a mic jack adaptor that fits onto the hot shoe, so I can connect an external mic of my choice. So got a used shotgun and found cabled workaround to use my Olympus stereo digital voice recorder as an external mic. Realized with iMovie that I could even record the audio track separately on the voice recorder (say for a seminar speaker) and replace the soundtrack in iMovie. That would free the hot shoe for a video lamp. Anyway, so far I've worked around all shortcomings, even to using a portable dvd player as a large video monitor.
I hope to keep working with the camera, but so far am so satisfied with the picture quality under all circumstances that I have not gone beyond the Easy Mode. I do not do large long programs, but short YouTube programs, and mostly shoot short video segments that are edited together. The still feature is nice also, to get sharper still images to work into the program. Would buy the camcorder again, and might buy another one day to for "two-camera" work.
The Best 3-Star Camcorder You'll Ever Own 
2007-11-28
The DCR-HC96 is a really good camcorder. I debated and debated whether or not to rate it 3 or 4 stars. Perhaps it lies somewhere in between. But in the end, though its grievances were minor, there were just too many to justify a 4-star rating.
But let's start with the biggest positives:
* Excellent video quality and color, even in dim light - perfect for me, and was the most important factor in purchasing this camcorder, since most of my footage involves recording my toddler stumbling around our house.
* Very lightweight and super small.
* Tons of features for the advanced user, and a great "easy" mode for novices.
Now, the cons:
* A soft motor noise is audible on playback, especially if the recording is done inside - this was the real kicker for me. The whole reason I purchased this camcorder was because of its excellent video quality inside, so I'm basically doomed to hearing the motor on most of my footage. It's not horrible, but it's definitely there.
* There's no light on the camera. And Night Shot isn't what it used to be. Not impressed with night-time recordings.
* The Handycam Station is cumbersome.
* Photo stills are good quality, but the color is really washed out.
Also, I was really wanting more than a 10x optical zoom. And I'm really not crazy about having purchased a digital-8 tape camcorder in the year 2007. I feel like this thing will be obsolete in 5 years. But, I can't technically hold these complaints against the DCR-HC96 since I knew that going in. But it's worth noting, as these were additional concessions I had to make to get the excellent low-light quality at my $500 price point. The touchscreen seems to be one of the big topics of discussion for this camcorder, many users citing they either love it or hate it. I'm sort of neutral on the whole thing. I don't love having to press on my LCD screen for easy controls, but it works well enough as long as you don't have big hands.
I can't stand having spent $500 on a Handycam (after months of research) that I don't adore. And I debated returning it for something else. But in the end, I guess I'm willing to live with all of my complaints to achieve the great "inside-recording" quality... but just barely.
Could have been a contender, but quality and support woes hold it back 2007-11-21
If you get a working one, this is a really nice camcorder. it is remarkably small, quiet, good ergonomics and is loaded with features. A relatively large 1/3" image sensor promises solid low-light performance, and this is one of the rare models that accepts analog input. It also comes with a hot shoe for a variety of accessories. If you read the reviews and other customer comments, it is clear that a lot of people are very happy with their DCR-HC96. So, why the one star review? Simply put, this is a risky purchase.
I was never able to get the Firewire/i.LINK connectivity to work with this camcorder. I tried different firewire cards, different cables, and tried it on an older Windows XP system, a new Vista system, and two different Mac OSX systems. I could connect via USB, but never through firewire, which is the only way to transfer DV files to a computer. From reading on the camcorder info website's forums, there's a number of other people who have had the same problem. Again, we're a minority, but to date, I've seen no sign that there's a fix to this problem. To make matters worse, the Sony support proved to be of little value, offering only simplistic troubleshooting advice (try a different port, turn off the PC, restart the camera). And, they only offer repair service, not replacement service, even though this product is only a few days old. Sony's solution was to have me send it in for repair and do without my new purchase for however long it takes them to fix it. For me, it just wasn't worth the effort, especially during the holidays. They had their chance to keep a customer, but decided not to. And, Sony is very invasive about gathering personal information. Before I could talk to someone or email someone, I had to provide my mailing address, email address and phone number. That is a lot of my personal data sitting in some Sony CRM database somewhere, and I'm not even a customer any more.
So, weigh these risks when deciding on Sony. While they can make some nice hardware, their support policies and reliability issues could leave you out in the cold.
That is why I'm returning mine for a different manufacturer, probably the Panasonic.
I thought I'd post an update, just in case it helps. First, I purchased a Panasonic camcorder, and it connected to my PC with no problems.
Also, I should point out that Amazon was great to deal with on this order. Not only did they ship the product quickly, but Amazon also did a great job handling the return. No one likes to get a defective product, but at least one company (Amazon) knows how to stand behind what they sell. If only Sony supported their customers to the same degree Amazon does.
Sony DCR-HC96 2007-11-14
Is more than perfect for all the family, easy to use and great image. The still pics are really bad but the rest is great.
