Sony Handycam DCR-TRV340 Digital-8 Camcorder

Pros: Lightweight, easy to use, night vision, plenty of effects and easy to use menu.
Cons: Still pictures lack clarity, battery life disappointing

After years of lugging a massive VHS unit around I grabbed one of these Sony's right before our 2001 Florida vacation. I was very pleased with all the functions available on this camera and even more pleased with the Studio 8 editing software I purchased ...

Pros: Features, picture quality, both USB and Firewire ports on camera. Easy to use.
Cons: Battery Life with Std battery.

Ok lets get one thing out in the open right off the bat. If you want to take digital still images then DON"T BUY A MOVIE CAMERA!!!. This is the one knock that I have heard over and over again and it is simply not fair to judge a video camera on the basi ...

Pros: Digital, memory stick
Cons: Too big, lens cap, poor picture quality

Recently I have been looking for digital camcorders for my new computer. Also, I was looking for a newer replacement for my older Sony camcorder. I searched around online and chose the brand Sony because I trust their products. I bought the digital...

Pros: Size; quality of video; ability to edit movies on my computer
Cons: Supplied battery life; difficult to find 1.5 hour Digital 8 tapes

My wife and I purchased the 340 primarily to record her students' dance recitals this Spring, as well as to record the early years of our child, who is still in the planning stages. It also fulfilled my need to purchase a shiny new gadget with lots of...

Pros: Still shot pics on memory stick, video is sharp and clear, USB, cheap tapes
Cons: No light, no on film date, maximum 640/80 for still photos

We began searching for a new video camera when our old one (also a Sony, but not digital) was stolen during a house robbery.

For a good solid month, we searched the internet for camcorders, weighing the pros and cons.

Then, we...

Pros: Price, features, picture quality, Memory Stick, analog inputs with pass-through, USB
Cons: The supplied battery's life is short, unless you turn the LCD off

The Sony DCR-TRV340 is a replacement for TRV330. It is a Digital 8™ camcorder with 8mm/Hi8 playback, which also has Memory Stick recording capability.

Digital Dilemma – Digital8 vs. MiniDV

This TRV340...

Pros: Good picture quality, solid, great compatibility, analog / digital conversion
Cons: Poor quality stills, bigger / heavier than newer models

Bought my trV340 in 2002 for a vacation and have used it extensively for videos of Boy Scouting events and vacations.

Video picture / audio quality is great and the camera is a tank. Have had scouts drop it, been subjected to some heat / cold, etc. with no problems.

Yes, the still picture quality is poor, so go get a 5 meg digital camera like I did.

Firewire performance is great - most video editing programs are set up to run Sony camcorders through firewire and capture (download) from the camcorder is seamless.

These days you can get the camera for less than $200 and 6 hour batteries for $20.

Camera can also covert analog to digital. Plug in your old VCR or video source to the camera, plug in the firewire from the camaera to the computer and go.

Pros: Durable, Reliable, Sony.
Cons: Out-of-date, low-quality still images.

I recieved a Sony DCR-TRV340 Digital 8 camera on my birthday, several years ago. This camera has been involved in numerous video projects, documentary creation and telivision program. Sony makes a great durable product, and after falling off shelves, and getting wet, it still runs great. The Digital 8 format is just 8mm tape, such as Hi8, with digital editing features, such as a FireWire IEEE1394 link. Hi8 cameras, most often didn't have a FireWire link. Digital 8 offers 16bit sound as well. The camera does accept Hi8 tapes though, and will function normally with them.

Pros: None!
Cons: Autofocus jiggles CONSTANTLY so the film is worthless and extremely annoying to view.

This camera ruined my daughter's Juilliard Senior Recital and two other music events (the first 2 times I thought it was a fluke). The camera has a pronounced horizontal twitch even though mounted on a tripod. It jiggles at about a jiggle a second CONSTANTLY throughout the entire filming. Please, I wish someone would've pointed this out before we bought this lemon. So now I've lost several hundred dollars because I need a new camera!

Esay to use. Great graphics. Great for editing. The ilink takes over camera (video)controls and makes for easy editing with adobe or any video editing software.It is also very durable. Great for editing. I took this camera on a trip to a ranch in the Dominican Republic. I video taped images during darkness, cloudy weather, and rain. The graphics were awesome. I couldn't believe it !! The shots that I videoed in the dark were also very sharp. Afterwards I downloaded the video on my pc and the edited film was of superior graphic quality. Previously I had owned a panasonic... no comparison. The sony 340 exceeded my expectations.

I think this camcorder is awesome. It takes extremely sharp moving pictures. The only thing that I feel could be improved would be to have a higher number of pixels for the still pictures. Overall, it's a great camera for the money and high quality.

This is my first camcorder. I thought it would have the same quality as DV. I wish I could use the memory card to edit the tape. The memory card is too small and compresses all the moving images. I'm hoping the images will play with much more clarity on my computer. Next time I will pay more and get more pixels.

I have done tons of research when buying my first camcorder. I chose the Sony trv340 for not only the 25x optical zoom (highest I could find and very sharp even at close range.) but also the pure quality. Ive owned mine for 2 week now and the picture quality is the best Ive seen yet. Even better the the dv's. Tapes are also cheaper. All in all, I give this one a 5! Awesome job Sony!

This is a very easy to use camera and for the money it's a good buy. The color resolution is very good, but you do get some smear. The only way to improve from the DCR-TRV340 is to jump to the $4,000 range. I have a cannon XL1 that gives me near beta quality, but for camping, ballgames, and web stuff I really like the my little sony. I'm 6'2" and I dropped this thing in the driveway....it bounced.....got a scar....but works like new.