Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DCR-DVD610 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom

The camera works very well, but as one who switched from mini-VHS tape to mini-DVD, it does take some figuring out. It's hard to understand why Sony doesn't include an instructional CD-ROM with the camera to help buyers. The written instructions are not easily understood and a CD-ROM about how to take better videos is included, but this doesn't help with basic instruction on how to operate the camera.

Have had this camera for two weeks now and it has surpassed my own expectations, which were fairly high. Picture quality and ease of use are superb, but I can't overestimate the hybrid feature. Being able to record to memory stick and then dub copies to mini-DVD all within the camera when you're on the road is fantastic. This allows you to make copies for people on the fly. The memory stick makes editing a cinch too. Just pop it in your memory card reader and load the converted mpg files into Vista Movie Maker, then have some fun!

This is my second Sony camcorder. The first bought back in 2000 was a HI-8 digital tape camcorder. That was a good camera, quality pictures, decent battery life, lots of features...etc., etc. But I digress, I recently began seeing these small pocket size cameras at school functions and was really jealous because mine was big and heavy. After much research I decided to go with this DVD Hybrid camera. I wanted this camera for ease of playback (DVD's) and ease of uploading video to laptop for sending video to relatives out of state. For those reasons the camera was good however the picture quality was horrible unless it was high noon with full sun. Indoors with regular room light images were dark and out of focus, really? Strike one. Then (I guess I didn't research enough) the DVD's for this are only 30 minutes at standard quality, and 20 minutes for high quality, really? 20 or 30 mins. and I have to get a new disc and then carry around extras? Strike two. The flash card is nice to record to but even that with no memory issues that still has poor video quality. You can read all reviews and research but sometimes you really can't tell until you get it out of the box. The touchscreen was nice but having it open and using it sucked the battery dry. The memory card is an extra [...] bucks at Walmart for the 4 GB. Oh, I forgot to mention the steady shot is horrible, the images were very shaky, and that was with minimal movement. I also saw they just released a newer version of this camera the 650, don't know about that but this 610 is only 1 year old but that's electronics.

I purchased this camcorder for a vacation I just returned from. This is a GREAT camcorder. The learning curve is quick, very simple to use. Two options of recording video, either on a memory card, or via mini-DVD. The option of being able to pop out the mini-dvd and putting it into any DVD player is awesome. No computer necessary.

I had purchased 20 Memorex miniDVD+RW hoping/thinking they would work (via some other reviews on here), but they didn't--after formatting, "unsupported format" and no go. If there is a way to make them work, I'd love for someone to tell me how. So I ran out to Target and bought 5 of the Sony mini's which worked, of course flawlessly--but at 3 times the cost.

We just watched some playback of video and are floored by the absolutely perfect color of the outdoor shots. I'm really quite stunned at the quality.

In any case, if you are like me a month ago and searching for a camcorder to buy, I say buy this one. I would have been pleased at twice the price I paid.

I bought this camera for my niece for Christmas. She constantly tells me how much she is enjoying the video camera and is always telling me something else she has learned about it. She recently said that she has started using this as her only means of pictures as well. She loves the convenience of being able to only carry this for both pictures and video. The only thing (which was in other reviews and I told her about when I gave it to her) was that the best DVDs that worked in this camera were from the ones from Sony which I gave her some at the time; they are hard to find locally. So for her birthday I ordered her 9 more! Great choice!