230 of 236 people found this review helpful. 
Camera is good, software is useless S. Barnes I bought my Sony DCR-TRV480 a week ago to replace a 9 year old Sony Hi8 model. My primary requirements were a model would make it easier to capture aging 8mm tapes to DVD, and provide 5-10 years of using more family videos. My first reaction is that the camera do the work, but if the DVD / VCD software is useless. I have not really tested it functions, however, beyond the generation of digital tape a few minutes to play with quality comparisons. So I limit my thoughts on the software and interface the camera to my PC. [See my update below.]
My first goal was to capture a few minutes of pre-existing material on my PC to learn the process and explore the software. After diligently reading the manual, I found that to burn DVDs with Sony software, you must have a Sony VIAO computer. Otherwise you're stuck with the direct burning of VCD, and without any real editing capabilities. In addition, the Sony software only captures MPEG-2 format using a FireWire / I Link / IEEE 1394 (not included), and does not work with USB 2. The VCD is direct (I) MPEG-1.
That said, after an hour of reading and experimentation, I was able to burn a VCD from an existing tape making use of the USB2 cable. The process required to initiate the application on the PC, then start recording the camera. (Be patient, it may take 20-40 seconds for the camera and the software out and get to it.) Recording starts at the current location on the tape, puts in chapter marks at fixed time intervals (but configurable), and closes when you see a gap in the tape. The camera seems to be in control of the process. The manual does not say that the camera refuses to initiate the process if not inserted an entirely new CDR on the recorder. It also terminates automatically when the tape drive is blank, so you can not add more segments of an entire disk and a half. This will waste a lot of space on the CD, if you have more than a few gaps in the original tapes (something I'm very guilty of ;-)). After losing 5-6 CDRs, I was very frustrated. The deciding factor was a series of computer crashes, apparently some of the programs will not close when prompted. (My OS is Win2K Pro on a new 2.8Ghz P4).
At this point, I was thinking back to the camera. Luckily, my burner (TDK) comes with the Roxio software DVDMax and decided to see if I could do better. It did. I spent 5 minutes with the tutorial DVDMax, then set DVDMax to capture the inflow USB2, and just beat the game in the chamber. Video worked on the first attempt, with the audio that comes along when I realized I was pointing the wrong source software. It was easy to capture segments, although the two devices are connected to the control level, which means you have to start playback from the camera and click the Record button on the PC separately to the old way. Quality as a result of a series of old tapes (8 mm standard, Hi8, digital new) is suitable for movies at home, when adjusted to 640x480 (do not think professional quality results, as much as I would like for them , especially with my older analog tapes). Sony's software limits me to a lower resolution when using the USP cable, although it should be noted that the manual suggests that the increase in quality is possible with a FireWire connection. I have the intention to test this next week, once to buy the cable. I think DVDMax was able to get the higher resolution of 640x480 via the USB cable, but have not confirmed that at this writing.
After building a test film with DVDMax, and check that the system in the living room, I removed all software from Sony, but the database driver, and will happily live without. If you buy Sony, you have to do the same, and use DVDMax or other third-party tool to capture, manage and burn your movies on a PC.
UPDATE: I bought the Firewire cable (6 pin to 4 pin) and tested the new capture system with Roxio DVD Creator. The camera and related software instantly with the PC control the camera, as needed. The camera delivers images 720x480 without problems, and gives me a sample tape 15 years old standard 8 mm tape latest Hi8, Digital 8 and some images taken with the new camera. Both analog recordings were much better than the previous test with the USB 2 connection. The Digital 8 recording was excellent quality, although not yet commercial. I hope I can get an improvement in all my materials if I have software with representative functions better, which is the next purchase on my list. The Digital 8 recording segments also automatically separates each record editing / expected transition in the film, which is a nice feature for the future. The camera can not do this, either in analog format.
I have also test the camera with modesty. The zoom is better than my old camera, capable of making a large bird to 150 feet (optical, not digital). Like all small video cameras, stability when the zoom is a problem, but no worse than our old camera. I do not like the zoom control: it is small and very sensitive. You use your right index finger to push / pull control a small protruding. With my large hands, I found it on the edge of awkward. A two-button design would have been much better. For the rest, only time will tell.
3:52 PM
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