I purchased the TRV33 camcorder for its features and ease of use - regardless of the price (which is more than others).

Now, after 14 months of use, I too have lost the ability to record and Sony wants $290.26 as a minimum to tell me what is wrong with my camara.

It sounds like from other reviews that by now, they should know what is wrong and should be recalling the camara and standing behind them.

I will not be purchasing another Sony product with their poor customer service. It is just inexcusable that they have had this reoccuring problem and are not taking care of their customers.

It's a nice camcorder. Took plenty of pictures of my young daughter. However after 13 months of usage, the camcorder stopped recording; all I see is a fuzzy image on the screen. I can playback my recorded cassettes, but otherwise it has become useless.

Called up Sony, and Cust service is asking for $270 + shipping + tax to fix it. Ironically, they mention that nobody has faced a similar problem, but a quick search on Google will yield plenty of consumers complaining the same problem.

It has good price (expensive than similar camcorders by other manufacturers), but I would strongly recommend buying an extended warranty plan. I am looking out for another camcorder, if there's any good camcorder, please suggest it to me.

Thanks
Jignesh

I am facing the same problem as Raviraj.It has been little over a year and my camcorder is corrupted. When I try to record, there is nothing but few scrambled lines.Tried head cleaning. Did not work. I could have bought a more affordable camcorder( other friends using Panasonic are quiet satisfied) if I was to replace it after merely using it for a year. I chose Sony thinking it might last long because of good name brand.

I bought this camcorder from JR.com last year for 600 bucks. I was very impressed by the performance of this piece. I have a hobby for video shooting and have my own 'mini studio' setup at home to edit the video (which means, i haven't given the camcorder to anyone till now!). I have captured dozens of events with this camcorder and have recommended this camcorder to many people also. That's all good things about it..

Now coming to the troubled part of it. Recently, I opened the camcorder to capture some event and found that it won't record!! There was no reason for it to 'die'. I had used it just 15 days before it collapsed. All I can do now is, I can play the recorded cassettes in the camcorder. But when I try to record, there is nothing but few scrambled lines! Since it is just over an year since i have bought this piece, I doubt Sony will support this under warranty (I didn't buy an additional warranty on this). Can someone tell me if there is any way to get it repaired?

I would have given 5 stars for this camcoder, but after I faced the problem I'm forced to deduct 2 stars :(

Bought this camera thinking I would be replacing my digital still with a double-duty camera. 1 megapixel photos are sufficient for my purposes (1000-1500 photos per event ftp'd to a server), as long as lens and processor are quality. Don't think you're getting that here. I take close-up shots for auctions and the lack of a macro mode for these shots makes the images very grainy and dark. I can't comment on the video capabilities, but I'm taking this camera back to Circuit City and going back to a digital still :-( In my opinion, if the still image capability is going to be a feature on a digital video camera, the quality should at least be comparable to a digital still camera of the same megapixel rating.

I had mine for 2 years and it did most of the things I needed very well (low light filming is acceptable but not good). I could also use it to capture VHS tapes and get them into DVD format through my PC.
Anyway, now after 2 years and probably 15 MiniDV tapes of filming (~20 hours of usage!) and the thing stopped working from one day to the next. Doesn't focus, has yellow tint, etc. I would expect more from a Sony and this was one of the better camcorders out there when I bought for $800+ bucks. Can't recommend it.

very very bad experience with this camera. i bought it looking at sony's big brand name. but i realized the mistake now. this product ran okay during the 1 year which was warranty period. one day for no reason (i have a coushon bag to keep this camera, any jerk is out of question), there was no display on camera. when i got it checked, the CCD was gone and cost to get it replaced was half the price of camera.

I am going to throw it off in dumpster. will think thousand times buying sony products... they are just costly, but not worth to work just one year.

After 18 months of very light use, the camera died, showing only a black screen. Sony wants $270 to fix it. Apparently this problem is common across many different Sony camcorder models. My advice to anyone thinking of buying a camcorder is to avoid Sony.

8 months after I bought this camera it lost the ability record video. In fact the screen is black. I can still use the menus and watch old videos but somehow I am looking for a camera than can take pictures. Most camera should be expected to break the 8 month mark with out breaking especially with out outside help.

I purchased the sony trv33 less than 2 years ago, i used it gently & took VERY good care of it.
In July 2005 the camera died for no reason. It will not record video, the LCD and viewfinder are "black".
Sony wants to charge $270 plus shipping to fix.
I've been doing research and found many, MANY other people with the same problem, and not just with the TRV33 model, other sony models are doing the exact same thing.
I used to love SONY products and was very faithful to the brand until now.

My TRV33 lasted 18 months. While it worked the camera was absolutely excellent.

However, I went to use it this morning and the record screen was totally blank.

I haven't contact Sony myself, but by the sounds of this forum, I think I would be wasting my time if I did. If the reports in this forum are correct, Sony don't seem to care that this is happening.

I won't buy a Sony again.

I have had the same problem with my DCR TRV33. I've called Sony previously and they said send it to the repair center but I had to pay for S&H and repair. I thought I was SOL. I keep on checking though, hoping that Sony would see the error in their ways. And maybe from all the unhappy consumers or class action lawsuit, they responded FINALLY! I'm sending it in tomorrow. Wish me luck.

[...]

I got EXACTLY the same problem as many of other victims had experienced. All of sudden, after very scarce and gentle use, the camera only showed verticle lines and went completely blind.

What is the good of a camcord if it can't even last more than 1.5 years with less than 10 hours of recording?

I would say that SONY is KNOWINGLY selling defective products to consumers and all of us who had problems should file class-action law suit against SONY for damages.

Any lawyers who are reading this should seriously consider this. You may reap big dollars while helping us to vent some anger.

After 25 months, my camcorder literally stopped recording in the same manner as was described by many others. It plays back fine, but when switched to recording mode all I see is a garbled black and white image on the lcd, and if record is pressed, that is actually what is recorded. This is truly disappointing, because I did like all of the features that it offered.

On 10/03/2005 Sony posted the following on it's eSupport pages:
(see http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=DCRTRV33&news_id=95)

It has recently come to our attention that a limited number of products, manufactured prior to March 2004, that incorporate a certain type of image sensor device (CCD) may exhibit the following:

* When the product is used in camera mode, the LCD panel and/or electronic viewfinder exhibits either a distorted image or no image at all.

We have determined that this only occurs in a limited number of devices, but may be accelerated if they are exposed to hot and humid environments.

From October 3, 2005 through October 2, 2007, Sony will repair, free of charge, affected products exhibiting the above-mentioned problem where it is caused by the image sensor device. Sony will also cover the cost of shipping and handling to service to correct this issue.

Please contact the Sony Customer Information Services Center for further assistance at 1-866-703-7669.

I'm not sure that this is the exact same problem everyone else is experiencing, but it is worth investigating.

In the meantime, I'll reconsider whether or not I'll replace with Sony products.