Sony DCR-SR40 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam with 20x Optical Zoom

This camera has proven to be very convenient in size and features for the period of time it has worked. Feb 2007 - July 2008 with very little problems. I purchased it with no extended warranty, an extra battery and a good case for it. I have always taken care good of it , keeping the cover on and in the case when not in use. I also made sure to disconnect from computer through software before USB removal. I have used an average of maybe 90 minutes every two months since the purchase date. Im presuming most people would expect to use the same. All the features on the camera and convenience of size, HDD, extra zoom, 'okay' night mode, wide screen, etc. etc. is what may justify the price. Considering the extreme care and maintenance I provided, this camera is obviously not a quality made product from an electrical point of view. The power no longer turns on. Not with AC.. not with either battery... not even with the 30minutes of technical support tips. Sony says the warranty is expired and repair will cost $211.00. For an $800 camera at the time- brand new from a respectable seller, you would expect a better warranty. I should have asked, oh well. It seems I am not the only one having this problem. I guess I'll send it in for repair. The only problem is I needed the camera for the next two weeks more than the last year that Ive had it. The camera is great if you put convenience over picture quality. MAKE SURE YOU BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY-- consider yourself warned.

I've had no problems editing content transferred from the camcorder to my PC. I don't use the software that comes with the camcorder, I use professional editing software and I have heard it is best to buy seperate editing software when purchasing any hard drive camcorder.The video image quality is terrific. I've edited my scenes and put together splendid DVDs, the transitions between scenes were smooth and impressive. MPEG2 isn't as compressed as MPEG4 (Divx), however it's still a good standard. Anyone who doesn't get good results needs to upgrade their PC - there is nothing less than perfect about this camcorder.The optical zoom is good, although I wish it was 30x or 40x optical zoom. The digital zoom feature is limiting, but that is to be expected and is the case with any camcorder.The controls are easy to use, you can perform the basic functions, zoom, record start/stop without using the touchscreen. Advanced functions are configuration options are in the touchscreen which is easy to navigate.The camera is light and petite, and transports nicely. It fits in one hand well - when recording you can use your other hand to stabilize the shot.

This camcorder does capture good video. But the main drawback is that it records in MPEG2 format (DVD quality). Initially its nice and easy to capture video and watch it on your computer by downloading the files using the USB 2.0 connection. It gives you instant gratification. But after capturing 4 or 5 hours of video, you will notice that your videos aren't so great as you expect it to be. Its not the fault with your camcorder. Its because all of us shoot extra footage, unwanted scenes, shakes, etc which we want to edit. You may want to add a title or two, add transitions, add backgroud music, combine your photos with the video, etc. Basically you may want to edit your footage. Its here when you find the major drawback of this camcorder. The MPEG2 quality video is not good for editing. The video quality is so compressed that you won't have sufficient bandwidth to edit the video.MPEG2 is a LOSSY compression technique used to compress large video files into smaller files that can be fit into a 4 GB or 8 GB DVD. Since the camcorder compresses the video and then writes to the hard disk, the source file that you download to your computer is already compressed and has lost much of its data during the compression. If you edit this already compressed file, you lose more data during the process thus resulting in poorer video quality.When you edit these videos, add some transitions or special effects, increase/decrease brigthness or noise, etc, the newly edited video loses further clarity and thus makes your video look ugly and pixelated.In summary please don't buy this camcorder if you are serious about your videos and would like to edit them. But if you are not bothered about editing and want to watch your unedited footage forever, then go for it.That said, if you still think you want to go for this camcorder, please read the review on its other features:1. Super NightShot Infrared System: Not a useful feature. Its amazining to initially see how this camcorder is able to "see" using infrared light. But the moment you shoot your subject using infrared light, you never want to shoot again as they will appear like devils when shot using this infrared light. Remember infrared footage appears almost black-and-white and not color. And the subject's eyes really look like devil.2. 2.5-inch wide SwivelScreen LCD display with touch panel capabilities: Sony convenietly "forgot" to mention that this screen is NOT widescreen. Most of the camcorders now-a-days come with widescreen LCD. Its a good feature if you always want to shoot in widescreen. In fact I would suggest you to shoot in widescreen only as all future TVs and current LCD/Plasma TVs are widescreen. You can future proof your video by shooting widescreen. This camcorder DOES support widescreen video but the LCD is NOT widescreen. So when you shoot widescreen, you see black bands on the top and bottom.3. Digital still photos: Please don't rely on this feature. The best photos from this camcorder as as good as the worst photos from any popular digital camera. Technology has still not matured to the point where a camcorder can shoot as good as a digital camera and vice versa.4. 20x optical/120x digital zoom: Optical zoom is very good. You can handle upto 10X optical zoom without a tripod. Any more zoom requires the use of a tripod. I was able to zoom in and read a car tag from the top of Sears tower, Chicago. I love the zoom feature in this camcorder. Don't use the digital zoom feature. Turn it off. As mentioned above, MPEG2 compression already makes the video bad in quality. The digital zoom further makes it worst.5. Professional-quality Carl Zeiss lens: Yes its good. The image quality is truly great. No doubt about it.6. Super SteadyShot picture stabilization system: Good enough to avoid small vibrations caused when going on a ship for example. But not good enough for the shakes encountered when walking with the camcorder. Don't expect to get great footage in such conditions. For great footage, you must still rely on a steady hand or a tripod.7. On-screen zoom and record buttons: Not an useful feature. The camcorder tends to shake more when you use these zoom buttons on the LCD because the LCD is always projecting outside when shooting video. Hence you shake the camcorder more when you touch the LCD than when you touch the camcorder's body.8. USB 2.0 interface: Good interface. Fast enough to download 30 GB in 1.5 hours. Firewire interface would have been great. But USB 2.0 is also good enough9. Image Mixer Software: Very useless software. The free Picasa software from Google is far better in organizning your videos and pictures than the software that comes with this camera. Forget about this software.10. InfoLithium battery with AccuPower meter system: Great battery life. I could shoot for upto 1 hour 20 minutes with one battery. Remember we always don't shoot continously in everyday life. We turn the camcorder on and off repeatedly when shooting. This battery last for 1 hour 20 minutes during normal shooting as explained above. If you shoot continously you may get longer battery life.11. NOTE: This camcorder does NOT have an Active Interface shoe. Other Sony camcorders do have this feature. This allows you to add other Sony accessories, for example, extra flood light. If you are not planning to add any accessory, then don't worry about the absence of this feature.12. DVDDirect compatibility: This feature allows you to directly burn your video and photos to DVD. I don't think this is a very useful feature. Its always better to download to computer, and burn only the good files and photos to DVD instead of burning all of them.Overall summary. Buy this camcorder only if you are not serious about editing the videos. Its a good buy for point-and-shoot-and-view pleasure only. In my opinion, a mini-DV camcorder (DCRHC42 for example) is still a better bet than a DVD or hard drive based model. The only inconvenience in a mini-DV model is that you have to be a bit techy to download video to computer. If you are ok with that, the mini-DV still provides good value for money as its far cheaper than DVD or hard-drive models.