Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DCR-TRV19 Mini-DV Camcorder

I did a bit of research before buying my first camcorder, and narrowed it down to either a Sony, Panasonic or JVC camcorder. I looked at the current models in my local Comet and decided the JVC was a bit too 'plasticky', so it was between the Panasonic NVGS-50 and either a Sony TRV19, or Sony TRV22. I read plenty of reviews, and looked at reliability charts, and there still was'nt much between them. The thing that swung it to the Sony TRV19 was the fact that it didn't have a memory stick/card. I decided that with the low quality of stills from a camcorder compared to that of a basic digital camera, I would end up not using it; so why pay extra for something that wouldn't be used? The Panasonic also felt too small in my hand, and so uncomfortable to use; and the Sony seemed to have better low light shots, so I went for the TRV19.

I have used this now for a month, over Christmas, and have been very impressed by the results. The infa red night shot works well at close range (up to about 4 metres), even in total darkness. The anti-shake works very well. It has an easy to use touchscreen, which makes the adjustment of setings easy to do, even when recording.
The picture quality is excelent, although the auto white balance is not always very acurate under tungsten lights, but that can be sorted in a reasonable PC editing software (not the one included). It picks up sound very well, but is not a directional mic, so in a crowded room can be just a lot of noise.
These are just minor points though, which are no different from any other camcorder, and there is usually a way to overcome the problem.
In summary, a very good camcorder, well built, at a good price. Ideal for the beginner or low user.

Having done a lot of research on the various digital camcorders available on the market,I decided to buy this one. The key features I was looking for were (a) good picture quality (b) good build quality (c) the ability to interface well to a PC. This camera meets all of these criteria, the main difference between this model and the more expensive ones (DCRTRV22,33) is the addition of a memory stick (useful for photos, not much else) and a couple of extra digital effects. On the whole I reckon neither of these features are particularly useful, if you want to be taking digital photos a digital camera is a far product superior in terms of picture quality. With regard to digital effects, these are standard features on pretty much all digital video editing software.

My sister-in-law and I both bought a camcorder at the same time. We did our research independently, and when it was time to hand over our hard-earned cash we compared notes.

We'd both started with simple criteria: a compact Mini-DV camcorder with good battery life, firewire and ideally a nice set of features such as a good Steady-Shot and 0-lux (night filming). My sister-in-law also wanted some kind of camera capabilities, although that was not important to me as I already had a Canon Digital IXUS which does the job.

Over our couple of weeks independent research, I looked and almost finalised on various camcorders of various makes (JVC, Panasonic, Canon) but all of them had that one 'issue' which kept my wallet safely in my back pocket. After asking around friends and reading reviews in camcorder magazines and on the internet, one brand name seemed to stand out for being consistently high quality - Sony. Fair enough, I thought... but do they have a model for me?

They did - the Sony TRV19. Compact, feature-packed, and well finished. It even has the nice-to-have features I wanted... and more. Now I've had it a few weeks and I'm impressed and happy to recommend it. Tip though: don't bother with the USB... spend a few quid on a firewire card.

btw... remember I mentioned my sister-in-law who wanted photo capabilities and did all her own research?

Sony TRV22.

:)

This camera is perfect for anyone new to digital camcorders. Why pay more for higher spec makes when you can do all your editing on your PC with a fairly basic editing software... take the plunge and buy one!

When I bought the TRV19 I was astonished with the number of features it had considering the amount I had payed for it.

Video Quality:

The video quality is absolutely fantastic for an entry level camcorder. The image is very crisp and colour depth is not bad. Images appear a lot more vibrant on the LCD display though than they actually are. This isn't too bad as most editing software you get on PCs allow to configer saturation and various other values when you save it.

Sound Quality:

Yet again, for an entry level camcorder it isn't bad at all. It can record in 16bit stereo which is fantastic quality although the standard on the tape is 12bit which yet again isn't bad. Most camcorders only offer mono recording or 8bit audio so this is a major step up from those. Voices are very clear and you don't get any whistling from strong winds. Also, I happen to record very amusing footage with friends and accidentally laugh quite a bit when recording. However, the camcorder doesn't normally pick it up which is a plus.
If you want to be more professional I would recommend buying one of the many microphones that fit in it's Intelligent shoe located on the top of the camcorder.

Effects:

Now personally, I don't use these much at all as I can edit the tape on my PC. I have used some of them though and they are incredibly easy to use. Just navigate through the touch screen menu and select the effect you want and you're done within 20 seconds.

Battery Life:

One of the TRV-19s very few downfalls is the battery life with the supplied battery. You get about an hour and a half recording time if you really conserve that energy and use the LCD display as little as possible. I bought a QM91 which is the high capacity battery for the model and it lasts up to 852 minutes without the LCD display and 631 minutes with. That's over 14 hours without the LCD display and almost 11 hours with it! That is more than most people will EVER need seeing as how the standard tape holds 60 mins in SP and 90 mins in LP. It's useful though if you are repeatedly watching the tape and showing your friends clips off the camera.
The camcorder displays the amount of battery you have left in minutes so you know exactly how long you have left with that battery. Very useful.

Night Vision:

There are good and bad points to this. It's a very fun feature and I use it a lot. The image quality is not bad and allows you to shoot in perfect darkness which is very nice. However, the range is only 3m/10ft so you can only shoot up close in nightmode. You can increase the range with the infrared lamp you can get for the intelligent shoe. It's quite large though and makes the camcorder a bit harder to use as it becomes quite bulky. However, it increases the range of nightmode to 100ft making it much more useful and close-up images brighter and clearer.

S-Vid out:

The camcorder has composite video outputs on it for those of you who don't have S-video on their VCR. However, if you do and want to send your recordings straight to tape instead of to your PC then S-video allows you to do this at very high quality. It is also very nicely positioned on the front of the camcorder making it easily accessible.

USB:

USB isn't fast enough to transfer very high quality video so is not used to transfer your tape media normally. However, you can use it for transferring pictures from the camcorder and to use the camcorder as an amazingly high quality webcam! I am normally in complete darkness in my room (Classic teenager) and frequently use the night-mode when have a webcamming session with friends late at night. Due to it's excellent image quality and frame rate you get a very smooth result over broadband. Also, it has a built in microphone which you can use as well over MSN so you can use it as a video phone!

Firewire:

If your PC doesn't have firewire I recommend buying a PCI firewire card as soon as possible. It is invaluable. Do not buy a camcorder with USB2 instead of firewire. The results normally aren't as good as USB2 is faster than firewire but doesn't have as much bandwidth so firewire can transfer larger amounts of data at a time.
It allows you to transfer the video digitally to your computer without any loss of quality and it looks outstanding when uploaded to your PC via firewire. Keep in mind you need the software to do this. You can use Windows movie maker but I am not a big fan of it.

Long Term Issues:

Here is another apparent con to buying a Sony product. Sony are well known for supplying products that work amazingly well for like 6 months but break down soon after. The Playstation 2 is so unreliable it's unbelievable. All my friends have had issues where their PS2 can't play DVDs or stop working entirely. I have friends with Sony phones that don't work correctly any more. I am hoping this is not the case with this camcorder.
One of the issues I've heard is that the heads that read the tape can become damaged rather quickly if you use it a lot. They can be replaced but I have no idea how much this costs. I am guessing rather a large amount as Sony are well known for charging ridiculous amounts for repairs.
I have also heard of the firewire port on the device failing on multiple camcorders. It is rather worrying as I do a lot of filming and really hope that this camcorder lives as long as possible as they are not cheap to replace!

Ben Stretton