Comments on: Sony DCRHC51E Mini DV Handycam With X40 Zoom

By: Prunella

Prunella — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:15:18 +0000

1.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn’t do what it says on the tin
Amazon say it has USB connection. (Still, now, 3 months after I bought mine)
It does not, the 53 and 54 do.

By: Emilie

Emilie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:59:14 +0000

5.0 out of 5 stars
Sony Handycam DCR-HC51E
I got this product in the box new complete with AV cables,charger etc.
This product is amazing and its for a low price!!

By: Idella

Idella — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:03:03 +0000

2.0 out of 5 stars
picture not good
The camera is cheap, the zoom is impressive but the picture quality is not. Good to give to your six year old kid so 2 stars.

By: Fanny

Fanny — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:46:44 +0000

5.0 out of 5 stars
Good camera, Good price!
the picture and sound is very good, also if you want to audio dub you can, connects to a pc easily if you have firewire.

By: Gioia

Gioia — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:28:37 +0000

5.0 out of 5 stars
sony handy cam
I scoured all the shops and internet when buy ing this for my daughter for christmas, I wanted sometyhing cheap but reliable and good quality.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:56:22 +0000

4.0 out of 5 stars
Good overall
Very good little camera overall, easy to use and long battery life. Value for money. The only problem is I haven’t been able to work out how to transfer the footage from the tapes…

By: Orane

Orane — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:27:50 +0000

1.0 out of 5 stars
What a letdown
If you want to download via Firewire to your computer do not buy this camcorder as there appears to be a common fault on DV out.

By: Yamin

Yamin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:40:27 +0000

1.0 out of 5 stars
DO NOT BUY THIS CHEAP AND RUBBISH CAMCORDER
It will NOT work on any computer connected via ieee 1394 port with firewire i-link cable.

By: Osric

Osric — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:34:54 +0000

Due to my JVC dx 57 finally giving up the ghost and on the basis of reviews here I ordered the unit 05/08. Taking some test footage of foreground panning to landscape outside in bright summer sunshine. I then transfered via firewire to my PC and was very disappointed with the results. Specifically the unit really struggled focusing (an issue I could perhaps understand in low light) and footage looked like it was shot in soft focus. Note this is not apparent when replaying footage on the unit itself (which I assume is the reason why this has not been raised in other reviews or perhaps this is the first camcorder the other reviewers have experienced). You can manually focus the unit but try doing that when your toddler subject is running about and its definitely not recommended. I suppose I was asking for trouble with a unit boasting 40X zoom, sounds great until you try it and find you’re reaching for a tripod. Sony would have done better concerntrating on the basics. Top marks to Amazon in their returns policy as I was dreading this but turned out the best part of the purchase (the reason why this review got a star). I then joined Which (I only wish I’d done so before) and my experiences tallied with their review. I’ve subsequently up’ed my budget and bought a Panasonic nv gs330eb (again from Amazon) and I’m delighted with the quality of the footage taken. The main lesson I’ve drawn from this it don’t solely trust these reviews.

By: Pagan

Pagan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:18:21 +0000

An excellent camera at an excellent price. For the semi-casual user such as myself this is a great product. Dead simple to use when you want to just get something down on film, but you can also use the provided software to get a little more clever. Not only that, but it’s compact. Really very compact. I couldn’t quite believe it when I opened the box and it came out. Things have moved on so much even in the last couple of years. For the money, this is a great little video camera, and well worth it.

By: Yukiko

Yukiko — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:43:52 +0000

5.0 out of 5 stars
b.smith
I studied spec of the camcorder and the features were even better than the current Panasonic I own.I found no problem with 1394 DV when using on computer editing with firewire…

By: Zahar

Zahar — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:19:32 +0000

Positives - Excellent nightvision mode - Great colours - One of the best optical zooms I have seen on a home camcorder - Long battery life Negatives - Motor noise (a constant humming sound from the motor makes filming in quiet locations impossible. I was going to put up with it, but was just too loud which has forced me to return it).

By: Deon

Deon — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:29:28 +0000

3.0 out of 5 stars There's a market for 4:3 video?
Good product for what it does, but I bought this as a gap filler while waiting for the right HDV camcorder to present itself to me, it does the job but doesn't cope well with...