Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Sony TRV-38 has great value!
This is my first digital video camera. I've used many Sony camcorders ranging from the VX1000 to my old Hi-8 CCD TR930. Although Sony seems to be compromising some features, they are also adding great new ones. This camera, when used in fully automatic mode, does an "AWFUL" job indoors with low light--your videos will turn grey and color-less! However, with some practice using the camera's other exposure modes this problem can be avoided. Otherwise, just give it decent light. Seems that Sony's CCD and/or lens quality is getting worse. I still love the camera though. The 3.5" LCD screen also serves as the primary menu system. Yes, you are actually fingering the screen. At first this is weird. Then I began to realize, like always, how smart Sony's menu system is--very logically laid out. Get this: the screen can flip completely and rest fully back into the camera LCD-side-out making the LCD literally into a button-like control panel. With practice you can keep your eye in the viewfinder while accessing LCD buttons almost blindly. It's cool, and the 3.5" LCD is bright and rich: simply awesome. This unit has a hot-shoe and does wonders with audio when used with an Audio Technica AT-822 field mic (the built in stereo mic isn't bad either). Thank you Sony, we like hot shoes. The manual focus ring is obviously a welcome feature. The tape mechanism is on the bottom which is a major inconvenience when using this camera on a tripod. Truly insane. The tape system is however quite speedy and responsive. One of my favorite features is "END-SEARCH" which seeks out the end of your tape automatically. Firewire works like a charm (using WinXP Professional), and it has loads of USB features, none of which I will probably ever try. The zoom slider is touch sensitive and works very well. The jacks are mostly all together on the front right of the camera which I find very convenient. Outdoors, or anywhere with enough light, the brilliance and depth of the colors will amaze you. The camera is so feature rich that its price is quite nice. If you are afraid of using manual features and/or are someone who likes to take home videos inside under low-light, don't buy this camera; its color performance in fully-automatic mode is dissapointing. One last thing, this camera is near-useless for still photos unless lo-res is all you need. YUCK! Get a nice digital still camera for that (such as the Sony DSC-F707). At one megapixel, why do they waste our time? I can just hear the salesman now, "This camera serves as both a video and still camera, so you only need one unit!" Yeah right! Soooo.... Get a big battery, perhaps a light or three, a Sony TRV38, and have fun!
Rating:  - Beautiful Quality in Every Sense
I have been video taping since 1982, so here are my observations after a week with the TRV38.LOW LIGHT: much better than expected after reading negative reviews on it everywhere.
STILL PICTURE QUALITY: better than expected for a quick and easy shot.
MPEG VIDEO QUALITY: mediocre as expected
DIGITAL ZOOM: worse than expected after reading very positive comments on it.
SOUND QUALITY: better than expected; virtually zero motor noise
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION: excellent as expected; a bit heavier than expected
LCD: excellent as expected; 3.5" is wonderful, and this one is beautiful
LCD TOUCH SCREEN: excellent and a great idea; works beautifully even with a protective plastic sheet on it.
BATTERY LIFE: too brief, as expected
EASE OF USE: complex but well designed as expected; easy if you just want to shoot video without fussing with settings; much for advanced photographer.
ZOOM CONTROL: very sensitive as expected, takes getting used to
PICTURE QUALITY: excellent, but not amazingly better than 3 year-old cheap Sharp hi-8. I was expecting it to be worlds better.
SIZE: smaller than expected which is good; excellent even for big hands like mine.
INPUTS/OUTPUTS: All work great and allow for virtually every
comgination of input and output.
CONTROLS: control for off, VCR, camera is much too small and awkward to use. Others are great, except for zoom sensitivity as noted above.
REMOTE CONTROL: better control than expected.
OWNERS BOOK: well done for the most part, but with omissions and errors; obviously written by non-native speaker.
Reviews do not mention that this is an excellent TV, digital VCR, video editing studio, still camera (no competition to good 2 mp still digital camera), and advanced camcorder. The bottom tape loading is horrible but it is really the only big negative.
Comparing the footage to a friend's 3 chip Sony shows little difference on a TV or LCD monitor. Colors are very true and the tiny speaker sound quality is surprisingly good. This is a well-designed camcorder that does a great job at everything it is supposed to do. The LP setting is a great feature for recording TV shows from the satellite, and movies directly from DVD or VCR. The software is worthless; Sony should have included Pinnacle software, considering the price of the camcorder. I would not hesitate to recommend this camcorder, TV, VCR, digital camera.
Rating: - A video camera ahead of the competition
The video quality is great! Plus the steady shot, night shot and VCR features are cool indeed! Still picture quality (at 1-MEGA pixel) is also acceptable.
You need to purchase a higher capacity battery because the supplied one may not be sufficient (depends on how you use this camera). I also recommend to purchase a memory stick of at least 32MB because the supplied one (8MB) may not be enough (again, depends in your application).The main drawbacks are: the tape opening located at the bottom and you need to purchase a separate video light.
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