This is a very nice small handycam which is just the right size; not too small not too big. I would have given this little beauty 5 stars but didnt only because of the following which I didnt like :

1. Very short battery life. Sony should supply at least a mid level battery with the camera instead of the lowest one.
2. You have to use the touch screen factility to play back, rewind, end search, etc. There is no other way.
3. Sony should have included record from video input on this model too. (you cant use it like a VCR to record stuff off other players and TV)

There is no memory stick in this option but is available in the next model. But thats OK since you get what you pay for and this is a video camera and moreover if you want to shoot stills the resolution will be too low and if you want to shoot stills why would you buy a video cam?

Otherwise the camera is very useful to tuck in with your usual holiday packing. Excellent entry level Mini DV cam.

The camera is very nice. It is small, clean, and easy to use. It has clear, steady images and works great in virtually any light.

But like a significant number of people have already reported on the web, my camera was missing the driver/program CD. Unfortunately I didn't notice that in the first 30 days, so Sony expects me to shell out over $70 to cover their mistake.

I spent over 3 1/2 hours trying to get this problem resolved to no avail. Their support site is virtually useless -- even more so when compared with other support sites on the web. The phone support wasn't much better. I was routed to invalid extensions twice and dropped into an auto-attendant loop another time. The final time they escalated my call to a hangup.

You pay a lot of extra money to get the Sony name. Frankly, I expected MUCH better customer support.

I bought along this camcorder on a recent vacation and chose it over several others because of the Carl Zeiss lens. It performed well and I liked the compact size. Some of the shots I used the zoom with turned out blurry but it was probably because we were in a low lit tree forest or I was panning too fast. I should have practiced with it before I left. Sometimes still photos don't do a place justice and in my case I'm glad I recorded the experience in this mode. The price is right and I'm sticking with Sony. I given it 4 stars because of the ergonomics.

We bought a DCR-21 a few weeks ago and have very mixed feelings about it. Unless the major problems can be taken care of, it's going back. Pluses: 1. it's small and easy to use. 2. The zoom allowed us to get detailed video of sea turtles swimming in the ocean from the 8th floor balcony of a resort. 3. The videos we've downloaded to our Macs are clear. 4. The "easy" button on the camera will allow the non-tecchies in the families to use it without (or with less) fear. 5. It connects to our Mac with Firewire (not included with the camera, but we already had a cable that came with the computer) or with USB. 6. It works great as a webcam with Firewire - no special software or installation needed. (Kind of expensive for a webcam, though!)

OK, now for the minuses. 1. The battery charges IN the camera. If we get an extra battery so we can swap them on the fly, we can't recharge the dead one while using the other one, unless we buy an external recharger, for more money of course. 2. Also, a longer life battery is thick and will stick out into the user's hand. 3. The zoom goes so quickly that it's hard to control. 4. The touch-screen is cute, but how long will it last? 5. The lens cover is opened/closed with a manual switch - easy enough to do, but if you forget to close it you really won't know unless you happen to look at the switch's position. 6. The videos we downloaded have AWFUL audio - a constant and loud ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. Either there's something wrong with the camera or we downloaded wrong - not sure yet. 7. One of the features we liked was "Nightshot" that allowed low-light taping without shining a light on the subject. It doesn't work - things we could clearly see with the naked eye weren't even remotely visible on the viewfinder, LCD, or tape. 8. Customer support is terrible. We had trouble installing the supplied software and called Sony, they said sorry, it's not Mac compatible - but the software and manual clearly say that it is. When we called the software provider's non-toll-free number, they said to call Apple. Of course Apple can't support third-party software. (We haven't gotten their software to work, but we could download and play with iMovie.)

Bottom line - we can get used to everything except the audio problem. Assuming that we're either doing something wrong OR there's a fixable problem, I'll give the camera three stars - the size (5) and picture quality (5) balanced against the drawbacks.

I recently bought a DCR-HC21 and lost the driver CD that came with it. I called Sony and you wanna know what they told me? Pay another 69+7 dollars and we will send you the CD.
I was like, what the hell? I told them that I paid the price of this CD, the only thing that they were going to do is just send me the CD at the expense of shipping and handling or give me a web site that I could download it from. I told them, I paid the price of the program and there is no cost of copying the software once its licence price is paid, right?

However after couple of days of struggle I still could not pursuade them that once a program is purchased, it means that it is purchased, the rest is just a matter of copying.

So , the bottomline is I am not buying a Sony product anymore, and if you don't want to experience the same thing, you do what I am doing: Stay away from Sony.

Tamer Uz

I bought this camera for my husband for his 30th birthsday and it was a great choice!! Its very easy to use and have all the features amateurs like us need. If I were to make the choice again its the camera I would have bought!!

There is currently a known issue with many of the Sony Camcorders. This is being called the "black screen of death".

What happens is that the camera works great for 1-2 years then the CCD goes out like a light. The camera will not take video again.

Sony is evasive if not downright deceitful about this issue when you call tech support. The fact is Sony does not stand behind their product. If this happens to you, Sony will not own the defect and you will be out hundreds of dollars.

There is a lengthy thread on CNET on this issue. Search for Sony black screen.

Wishing you luck in the purchase of your (not Sony) video camera,
Scott

It is not a review, but a question to experts. I was given this camcorder and it works quite well. As I'am going for a long time to Italy, I would like to know wether this camcorder can work with the TV Italian system. I mean, can it be plugged to a local Tv set?
Hope for an answer

Andrea Ghetti

Well, before purchasing this camera, I took the precaution of reading the previous comments about it, and decided the Cons of the camera were worth the price saving.
Now that I own it, I can say that it has the next list of cons and pros:

PROs
- Very light
- Compact design
- "Easy mode" of operation, so anyone can use it
- Very good 20x optical Zoom
- Optional Lamp
- All the Sony features (nightshot, viewfinder, steadyshot, etc)

CONs
- The touchscreen gets dirty from using it
- DVD recording only from firewire.

One of the other cons I read before, the noise, didn't bother me at all.

Strongly reccomend to get the LCS-VA30 Camera Case, Everything fits in and there's still space for my Cybershot P32, spare batteries, and a couple of MiniDV's.

I bought this camcorder less than a month ago. While it was working (more on that below!) it was only average in picture quality. Its supposed to have a decent CCD but the outdoor quality was good, yet indoors it is dreadful! If you intend to use this for outdoors, like sports its OK (just OK not superior), but forget about using it indoors - bad in indoor light, awful in low light.

Now for the best part......the touch screen stopped working in just a few weeks after purchase. I am careful and gentle with my electronics. Its in the shop for repair and Sony service appears to be bad also.

Well, about 2 months ago, I also got the "black Screen" an earlier commenter on this camera got. However, before buying this camera, I was told that this would happen when the camera knew it needed to be cleaned! Ya, it may seem odd, but the camera is doing the only thing it can to protect itself. By turning itself off like this, it lets you know it must be cleaned, and saves you money in the long run by not hurting the camera. Unfortunately, it seems if you don't know, you think the camera is just busted. Anywho, just a heads up for y'all so you can fix the problem before it happens to you.

PS - the longest I've heard of one of these cameras going before cleaning is about 2 years.

According to ConsumerReports.com, the "Black Screen of Death" is causing product recalls for many camcorder companies, but the scope of the affliction is too limitied to avoid purchasing n affected model or maker. The article can be found HERE.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/chip-problem-with-some-digital-cameras-and-camcorders-1105.htm

I have had my mini DV now for about 4 months and love it. The portablity, picture quality, ease of use, and options are well worth the money and the price tag, you definately get a great camcorder for your dollar. I do a lot of film editing and compositing and have to say, even for a family camera this gets great results and picture and can withstand the heavy usage. It is not a complicated camera to figure out, I was shooting film within minutes after purchase, and even my mother can figure it out (someone who's not of the digital age). I do have a comment on Chris's review, yeah it is a pain to not be supplied with a cable for film importing from DV to computer (besides the incredibly slow USB) however, they are extreemly cheap and easy to find. You don't even need the iLink that Sony reccommends, you can just get a Firewire cable and plug it in that way. I can film, import, and have a dvd burned within hours with this hook up!

We bought the Canon ZR100 on Consumer Reports "best buy" list but chose to return it after reading many reviews about the loud motor/fan noise during recordings. We next went with the Sony HC21,also a recomended model. It was used in a room with two lamps and a window. The picture appeared dull with the colors and the greys were grainy. Maybe it would have been fine outside, but our house faces North and we can only do so much with lighting. This was not the camera for us even though Consumer Reports, and Best Buy workers recomended it. We returned it and exchanged it for the Panasonic pv-gs150 (about $300 more) but avoided paying the restocking fee and are very happy with the indoor picture on that one.

Sure is small and very easy for my wife to use. The AUTO switch makes it very quick to just pickup and shoot a whatever!
I am using battery.com for power as SONY is a bit high on their prices for a battery.
The product does what they say and more. It is FUN to use and works well with my computer.
Remember, you will need a good size hard drive just to put the movies on if you want to edit them at all!!

Yes, I would buy it again as even with my 60 year old hands I can make good videos. Get an extra battery and the external charger and a camera bag. Do not pay > $30 for the bag as the smaller ones work just fine!

Have fun and good luck with yours also.....

Merry Christmas from New Hampshire, John

This is a great little camcorder. I really enjoyed using it for the holidays! What I did find out is that the transfer software from camera to pc wasn't the easiest to figure out. I am very computer proficient and I had some small issues. I was able to transfer the movies with USB. It was real time video so slow going. All in all I think that this does exactly what they say it does and well.

This is an excellent Handycam with a very low price. I bought this one 3 weeks back to retire my DCR-TRV520. It is light, easy operable with less complicated features which we do not use but pay for. Battery life is between 80min - 115min depending on how much time you keep it idle. If you are a bit cautious and switch it off after each shoot it is ok for one trip to Zoo/ Universal Studio / football Game. Some of the controls are thru touchscreen but they are easy to use.

It is one of the best choice for outdoor, vacation, party with a much lesser price.

This camera has worked great for me, especially for the price. The image quality is very good (except in very low-light situations), and the sound is much better than I expected. I recorded music playing through my speakers, then played the recording back through those speakers, and it still sounded very good.

Just to counter those complaining that the only way to get the video onto your computer is with a FireWire (Also known as IEEE 1394 or iLink) cable:

This is the industry standard way for all camcorders (of all brands) to transfer DV to computers. A cable is not incuded because some computers have a 4-pin FireWire port, and some a 6-pin.

I was also suprised to see someone complain that the software does not work on Macs. I do not see this as a problem, since iMovie, which is included with all Macs sold in the past several years, is vastly superior software. If you have a Mac (purchased in the last 3 years or so), don't even bother putting the CD in your computer. Just plug the camera into the computer via FireWire, turn it on to playback mode, rewind the tape, launch iMovie, and click import! If you want to do a lot of editing with iMovie, and/or DVD creation with iDVD, I strongly recommend iMovie HD and iDVD 5: The Missing Manual by David Pouge. This camera plays very well with Macs, and it can even be used as a web camera for video chats using iChat!

Finally, a note on reliability: Consumer Reports has ranked Sony MiniDV camcorders as the most reliable of any MiniDV camcorders on the market, based on actual consumer data. Please ingore the fanatical claims by other reviewers of poor reliability: You will find such reviews for every consumer camcorder on the market.

I bought this minidv because Consumer Reports rated it a best buy. Well, it's not that good of a camera in my opinion. The first day I got the camera home I shot basic footage indoors in what I thought was a well lit room and the video turned out very flushed and grainy. Outside it looked a little better, but it was far from what I would even call a good picture. After taking this camera back I plan on cancelling my subscription to CR as well.

As an owner of the Sony DCR-HC30 model DV Handicam, I want to warn everyone about my horrible experience with this product line. Design and feature-wise, these Handicams are great. The problem is, they are built like junk.

From the day I opened my box, I got a message that told me that the heads were dirty and needed to be cleaned. In retrospect, I should have returned it for a replacement then and there. But being a basically optimistic guy, I decided it just got dirty in transit, and I got a head cleaner and cleaned the heads. It worked fine for about 30 days - just about the amount of time in Sony's crappy labor warranty. And from that point forward, I have gotten dirty head messages constantly, which at first could be `cleaned away,' but now, even when the message is gone, problems persist.

I often get bars across the screen during playback, and I have already determined that I have lost many a precious memory of my infant children. Sony's solution to this situation is their standard "flat rate" repair program, truly a bargain for $250 or so - more than half what I paid for the camera in the first place.

Any Sony wonders why their brand value has all but disappeared? They are just another electronics brand now, and one with sub-par quality and service at that. Guess I'll be buying Samsungs or Canons next time around.

Are you listening, Sony?

Positives: Everything about the camera is great per techinal descriptions and specifications.
Negative: No wide angle lens to capture birthday parties or Christmas events. The zoom is so good, you can't stand back far enough to capture the event without panning.

We ordered several of these camcorders to use in our warehouse facility. We needed something compact, durable, and that would provide clear resolution even when recording product moving at a high speed. We have been pleasantly surprised with how well these camcorders have worked. These recorders have been running up to 16 hours a day, five days a week. If it can withstand the kind of abuse it is getting in a warehouse, it can withstand any home use. A great value.

I have not owned a video camera for a while, so in getting the Sony DCR-HC21 I thought that everything would be an improvement over what I had previously. Unfortunately the picture quality is not as good as my old VHS monster. A disappointment. The size is excellent, however. Just so you know there is a tradeoff.

I was disappointed that the software which comes with the camera is woefully inadequate for transferring digital movies from the camera to your computer where you can edit them. [Don't even contemplate using the USB transfer as this will give very poor results.] This seems like such a basic thing that people would want to do with digital media, I find it amazing that the software just doesn't do it. [Easy Media Creator does not do it either.] However there is very simple freeware program which you can download at: http://windv.mourek.cz/ which makes digital transfer easy.

Happy with the overall performace of this device. Easy to use and the touch screen features allow for a much more compact device. I am using it in a business environment so it is hard to say how it would work in the personal world but would by one for myself.

With myself being a broadcasting and production technology major, I was a little skeptical in getting the HC21. But I must say, after messing around with it for about an hour after getting it, it's certainly worth those wanting to use it for home AND professional use.

First off, I've noticed some reviews complaining about video quality. Yes, you WILL need a FireWire cable, the USB cable isn't worth the time of day. Before you just go running out to shoot things, you'll have to manually adjust the White Balance. Sony doesn't seem to do a good job with the AUTO, INDOOR, or OUTDOOR presets. Setting the White Balance is very simple. Use the "ONE PUSH" feature, and zoom in on a white sheet of paper (obviously in the lighting of where you will be shooting), hit the ONE PUSH button, and viola! I will admit, the defaults aren't something to go crazy over. But when I set the White Balance myself, I was absolutely amazed. The two major nacks with Sony's miniDV line of cameras is that they do not come with a mic jack or a headphone jack...two crucial things in fields such as mine. There are very simple work-arounds though, it's all about how you want to put good use to the camera. Please, don't be fooled by some of these reviews. I can almost guarantee you that they took it out of the box and started filming. Taking the time to customize your settings will definitely get the max results out of your HC21. It's definitely worth the money!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON THIS JUNK. I bought this camera because I am travelling to Argentina very soon. I wanted something compact and modern (my 12 year old Sony 8mm seemed inapropriate for such an important event).

How wrong I was!

The only reason I gave this camera 1 star is because it IS compact, and stylish and very cool to look at.
However; the quality of the movies I took SUCKS compared to my old Sony 8mm. Indoor videos come out dark and grainy even with all lights on. When you use the indoor setting, it's even worse because the color fades (almost like B/W).

Also, as another guy said; I also get bars across my screen every so often (seems like some tape glitch)...AFTER 2 DAYS OF USE? If this is due to humidity or a dirty recording head, then I don't even want to imagine what other problems will come up after a few months!

The night shot is a cool feature, let's you film in complete darkness...but then again; who needs to film in pitch dark conditions? I don't work for the FBI!!!

The touch panel control on the LCD screen is very cool indeed, but as others have mentioned, the screen looks like crap after 2 days of use, and I doubt if the thing will function more than 1 year.

Sony is so cheap, they don't even include a battery charger or one measly mini DV tape. I had to shell out $18.00 bucks for a 3 pack and now when I return this peace of junk on Monday I'm sure they will not refund my miniDV tapes.

what did I learn from this?

I don't care about style or size anymore.
Until digital camcorders at an affordable price aren't perfected, I'm gonna stick with my old reliable Sony 8mm with its crappy little viewfinder and its bulky tapes.

I used to think you could buy Sony with your eyes closed...WOW!!! DID THIS CAMERA OPEN MY EYES.

On recieving this product for my birthday, Excitement was satiating my body, as my sole was lifted up out of my brand new addidas shoes, with custom lettering. It is not only a great product, but it satisfies my need to digitally record any video's. The only downside it would have, is the fact that it doesnt have a memory card, so taking pictures is difficult, with the tape. Also, it doesnt have a flash like the cannon, but the Night vision is perfect for those "late night" recordings! :)

This camera is takes quality video, pictures, and even a webcam.

The effects available on it are amazing. I went on ebay and bought mine and got a full kit. (Wide angle lense, 3 camera filters, tripod, mini tripod...etc..)

Not hard to figure out. very easy to use, very compact, and great overall

Highly recommended for those who want a great camera for less price.

I do realize that this product is very cheap money wise but the quality is even cheaper. I wouldn't waste $[...]on this piece of crap. The video quality is that of a bottom of the line webcam and even getting the product to work is something like pulling teeth. We baught 14 of these worthless cameras and every single one of them was riddled with problems and very poor quality video. You would think that a brand name such as Sony would have a little respect for themselves and actually pass their products through quality assurance but I guess even big names such as sony don't even care what they are putting out anymore. I am litterally scared to buy another sony product no matter what it is just on the remote chance that it would be even a fraction of the worthlessness of this camera. I would list the pros and cons but that would be a lop sided listing because there is not one single pro! Buyers beware! You would be better off buying a $[...]webcam. It's actually an insult that Sony would just pretty much screw their customers in such a way to produce such a lousy product. I'm even disapointed that I had to even give it 1 star. If it were up to me, it would get negative 5 stars. Please don't let Sony steal your money and laugh at you as they did me.

I'm terribly disappointed in Sony for creating such a horrible product. It is virtually impossible to transfer what has been taped to a computer or CDR, and you must own a Sony computer to burn a DVD. So, now I have many tapes but cannot play them anywhere but on the camcorder, where they cannot be heard, because...unless you are standing within two feet of what you are filming, you cannot hear what you have taped when playing it from the camcorder, and there is no jack for earphones/headphones.

Not only is the software user-unfriendly, it runs on my computer even when it is not in use. At times,the computer cannot recognize the camcorder, though it did the day before. If the software is recognized, it takes almost three times the length of the recording to transfer it, and a half-hour tape is split into four or five separate "films."

Don't buy this camcorder unless you can afford a resentment.

This was my first digital camcorder. I'm not a videophile, just wanted to take some simple video of the family. The camera seems to be perfect for me. Unfortunately, the software is unusable which makes the camera almost worthless. Sony, get it together. Your hardware is good...but I need the software too. Google "Handycam Software Problems" before buying any Sony Handycam product.

A couple things about Chris's review are innacurate, so I thought I'd post a correction lest the uninformed be swayed by his experiences.

The firewire (aka i.Link, aka IEEE1394) connection is the industry standard for MiniDV->computer connections. The tiny version of the connector is commonly used because there's so little space available for a connector.

Also, the B&W viewfinder is actually a *plus*, because it allows for a clearer, higher resolution image to be displayed.

That's it, just wanted to clear up the impression that this camera uses a Sony proprietary connection. I'm in the market for a camera currently, and if I hadn't already found out otherwise I might have been mislead here.

This was my first video camera so I wanted something easy to use, lightweight, uncomplicated. That it was. It was a Consumer Reports Best Buy and that influenced my buying decision. In daylight the pictures it took were OK. In low light they were terrible, even with Nightshot. When I tried to use it with a tripod I found I had to unscrew the camera from the tripod to change the tape-- an unnecessary hassle created by bad placement of the tape compartment. The software was worthless--unusable. I am a Mac user but did not even get to try out my computer DVD software because the camera broke before I got around to it.
After six months of most moderate use, the tape compartment refused to open and it had to be sent for repair. Sony asked for more than half the price of the camera for the repair. Fortunately I had a Mack extended warranty so I did not have pay Sony. It only cost me another $30 for processing. I would not recommend this video camera even for a beginner. And it taught me not to have implicit trust in Consumer Reports. There must be better choices .

The Sony "Picture Package" software is horrible. I agree with the other reviews. Sony needs to get their act together. Without the software the camera is useless.

Don't do it. Don't buy this camcorder. You WILL be sorry. There.... I've warned you. The camera itself seems to work ok, but the software that came with it is aweful, aweful, aweful. It just doesnt work.

I bought this camera a year ago for general family use. For that purpose, this camera is fine (a wider angle lens would have been nice). It's color capture is great, it's ergonomic, light weight, everything a camcorder should be--with one major exception.

No EXTERNAL MICROPHONE PORT!!!

Big deal. So what? The built in mike is mediocre at best. If you need to isolate a set of sounds (say, recording a small group conversation, or interviewing someone in public), you're screwed--because this camcorder lacks the one feature included on most camcorders since the invention of camcorders--an external microphone port. Instead, they include a LANC port (not for microphones) that you can use to sync together multiple Sony camcorders. Most people I've talked to (including the store that sold me the camcorder) have no idea what a LANC port is nor what it does.

Dirty pool, Sony. Dirty pool indeed.

This is the first Sony product I've ever bought - paid $400 and a year later paid $310 to fix dead firewire port that only successfully completed one video transfer from camera to computer. It took them 3 months to fix it. How can I possibly buy another Sony?

I used this camera a handful of times, I noticed that the lcd and viewfinder was black. I was able to hear audio but no video. I did some research and found out Sony had a lawsuit against them regarding the CCD on some of their cameras. Well they refused to fix the DCR HC21 because it was not on their list but the problem was exactly the same. I will never buy another Sony product again.

I have owned this camera for two years now and it has work flawlessly. It is my first video camera of any kind and it is better and easier to use than I expected. The picture quality is great and the size makes it easy to take anywhere. I did not expect it to be the best camera on the market but I am satisfied with what I got for the price and when I'm ready, I'll upgrade to a more expensive, better camera (after two years I'm still happy with this one).

As for some of the bad points brought up in other reviews:

>"The software that comes with it is junk" - this is true, use the software that came on your computer or spend a little money and buy video editing software. You'll be happy you did, even the cheap ones work fairly well and the more expensive ones just get better.

>"There is no microphone/headphone jack" - No, there isn't, but many comparable cameras have the same problem, this is usually something you find on a camera that's a bit more expensive.

>"Customer Service is Poor" - I don't know as I have had no reason to deal with them.