Sony DCR-DVD405 3MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I went through a lot of camcorders before settling on a Sony. I bought a Hitachi DVD camcorder 1st because it was under $400 and you get what you pay for, the picture was not very clear, it had no light for dark rooms and the zoom wasn't that great. I returned it and decided if I wanted a good picture I need to be willing to pay more so I bought a $600 canon DVD camcorder and again I just was not happen with the picture quality. We have a 52" TV and when I saw that the sony handycam shot in 16:9 --Which it the setting for wide screen tv which we have--I bought it and have been Very pleased with this camera.Best features are the zoom unbelievable how close I can zoom in on my son face when he is in the outfield at baseball. And the picture quality is just fabulous crystal clear even on our wide screen tv. And my most favorite feature is that it uses mini DVD I know other complain about only getting 30 min to a disc but I can take the disc out of my camera put it in my DVD player and watch it!! I don't have to hook up an cords, I don't have to make sure the camera has enough battier power to watch it on my TV, I just take the disc out of the camera and pop it right into my DVD player and watch it. I don't know about anyone else but I really don't care to watch hours and hours of my children playing 30 minutes is just about right.And the Sony was very easy to use right out of the box, didn't even look at the manual and I suggest using DVD+RW they are the only ones that you can take right of the camera and pop into your dvd player and have no problems. Trust me don't waste your time buying other camera to just have to take them back this is the one and for $600 worth every pennies

I did a lot of research on camcorders before making this purchase. This was my first purchase, after using a hand-me-down Mini-DV Sony camcorder for the past 8 years.The main thing that drew me to this camcorder (besides the Sony name), was the Low-Light quality. I have 5 young children, and I knew it would be used for a lot of recitals and inside programs. I was not disappointed!! The quality is fabulous. I love the lense, too. The picture is very clear. I love not having to worry about a lense cap.The sound is amazing. My husband is even very impressed with how clearly it picks up voices, even when the person is not close to the camera. I have not noticed a lot of noise from me as I use the camera, either.I am very pleased with the photo quality. I was previously using a Cannon PowerShot camera (5 years old) that was only 2 megapixels, so I am now using this camera as my only camera.If I had to say one negative thing about this camera, it would be that you can't just take out the DVD and pop it into the computer right after taking some video. I thought that was possible, until I read that you have to finalize the disc first. I was hoping to be able to send quick video clips to family immediately after taking the shots. I am still figuring it all out, so maybe it is possible by just hooking it up to the computer.I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone!

I could not use the software that came with the handicam and I tried five other programs and none of them could access the cams video or controls - It may be possible to link PC and handicam but I don't have a degree in science fiction. If you're going to edit and make movies on your PC keep looking. This one is only for propeller heads.

I bought this camcorder in hopes to free myself from digital8 tapes and upgrade to better video quality. I did free myself from tapes but after reviewing the footage captured by the DVD405 I was very disappointed to find out how bad the picture quality was..I would compare the video quality to a vhs-c camcorder..I think maybe I had too much expectation from the DVD405 but I felt I took a step backward when I bought this camcorder. My previous camcorder (Sony digital8 TRV120)which I've had for 6 years, captures way better(sharper) video than the DVD405 in my opinion. I felt like I was getting a headache when I was watching the footage of my sons baseball award ceremony which was shot in the afternoon sunlight with minimal movement..The edges of the subjects in the footage was somewhat pixelated.. mpeg2 compression needs to improve a little bit more for me to come back to dvd camcorders so I decided to return the DVD405 back to amazon(smooth process) and stick with my digital 8 for now.. Sony is suppose to come out with a Hi-Def dvd camcorder in the near future (Sony HDR-UX1) so I might wait for that to come out. I have been looking at Sony's 30GB HDD camcorder which is supposed to have higher resolution than the DVD405 but I would still have to transfer footage to dvd.....-right now I've just been trying to be patient and shop around and do my research...All in all, the only reason I would have kept this DVD405 is for convenience of recording straight to dvd.. Buy this camcorder if you want this convenience and if you dont mind mediocre video footage..Maybe the newer DVD505 is better than this model. Good luck!!

I wasn't paying attention to the zoom (10x) when I ordered this product because I was blind sided by all of the great reviews. I'm not sure if I got a bad camcorder, but I was not satisfied with this purchase. The pictures were horrible and the video recordings were mediocre to say the least. I ended up selling this for almost half of the price that I paid for it, just to get it off my hands.

Yes, DCR-DVD405 is very easy to use and it produces clear image. Great product.

After an untold amount of research for my first camcorder, I visited Best Buy, Walmart, and Circuit City. The cheapest I could find this camcorder was for $799 (just the camcorder!!!). In-step Amazon...for $692 I got:* 1 Sony DCR-DVD 405 camcorder for a $200 savings* 1 FREE blue-tooth wireless microphone for a $130 savings!!!* 1 travel package--3 DVD-Rs, 1 DVD carry case, and 1 battery charger for a $40 savings* 1 tri-podI love you Amazon!!!

I am really impressed with this camera. Great quality! I was researching these for a while and although this is a relatively older camera (over 2 yo) it has higher quality (3 mp) than the current ones unless you spend $$$$ for the high def ones.