On Wed, 14 Oct 1998 05:21:02 -0500, "me" wrote:
[I suspect the return address is not real, which
makes it kinda hard to respond directly by e-mail...]

>DCR-TRV9 (from Sony website: msrp $1799.00)
>
>I looked at their 3 and 4 grand DV camcorders, which seem great but
>extravagant for my budgeting, but I did notice the TRV9 >>> which actually
>had features I preferred. Namely, night vision, and full I/O including
>firewire, RCA, and S-video.

Sony claims to have disabled the IR function for daylight use,
which would be unfortunate, if true - with B&W, it is one of
two main reasons for owning the camera (the other is the analogue
input...).

>Im posting to see if anyone has used this camcorder, and what your
>impressions might be. If you have a webpage with examples that would be
>fabulous =)

The lens is quite sharp, short of its long end, the stabilizer is
the best I've seen, as is the AF. The size is nice. The Sony .6X
works well with it. But the picture color is rather weak and blue
(it can be corrected with an analogue video EQ (thanks to the
analogue input, but it requires a second DV-tape player...). The
(corrected) picture is good for a one-chip camcorder in bright
light (though VERY noisy in even moderate light...), but not up
to the three-chip image quality of the VX-1000 or (it appears from
excellent web stills taken with it - see http://www.best.com/~beale/trv900 )
of the TRV-900.

>And secondly, has anyone tried this for NLE editing. I know the new VAIO
>has just hit the streets so it may be a while before anyone tries the
>firewire technology they provide.

Works fine with the DPS Spark...

>To save on a video card, can I go from a VCR deck to the TRV9 and dowload
>via the IEEE (firewire)?

Yes, if you record to tape, then play it back into the computer.
(Makes a nice translator for Hi-8 to DV...). If you can stand the
loss of the night-shot IR feature (and the loss of more money...;-),
I would buy the TRV-900...