Sony TRV900

DV camera has a handy analog input

Product: TRV900
From: Sony
Price: about C$1750
Pros: optical stabilizer, 3 CCD, DV IN/OUT, Analog IN/OUT (the only DV camera we've seen with analog IN!) small, Carl Zeiss lens, uses Lithium-Ion batteries with no memory effect.
Cons: Some owners report quality control problems. TRV900 does not work with Pinnacle's miroVIDEO DV300 card drivers prior to 1.6. Upgrade to the 1.6 driver at Pinnacle's website.

The Sony TRV900 includes a separate floppy disk station with which you can capture stills and transfer them to a computer in JPEG format. The TRV900 also includes a capability you might not expect from a digital video camera, but in many ways, it's this unit's killer feature: analog IN (S-Video and composite and audio). With it, you can copy stuff from other formats to DV using the TRV900 as a recorder, and then transfer video or stills to the computer via FireWire. Or, you can transfer directly from VHS/Video8, etc. to a FireWire-equipped computer via the TRV900.

For Further Reading:

• Opinion: Seven defects in one purchase!
• http://www.videoguys.com/
• http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/dv/vcomp.html - suggested components for a PC suitable for video editing