Jump to TRV950 - Need advice!

kk5551 wrote on 2/14/2005, 7:04 AM

Hi all,

I am a beginner/intermediate using vegas for family movies, church videos, and an occasional wedding video for family and friends. I have been using an everyday run of the mill Sony dv camera. The zoom has stopped working and it will take about $150 to fix. I am concidering taking this time to jump up to a higher grade camera, but need a little advice:

1) Will the video quality be much improved between a Sony 1chip and 3ccd camera?

2) For someone who does not make a living at this, is it worth the extra money

3) Would you recommend a smaller camera for travel etc. rather than a somewhat "bulkier" trv950.

Just weighing the pros and cons. Any thoughts??

Comments

winrockpost wrote on 2/14/2005, 7:28 AM

Cheno wrote on 2/14/2005, 8:13 AM

I owned a TRV900 as a documentary cam. Great little 3-chipper and IMO, better image than the 950 which I have rented a couple of times.

Not sure what your $$ range is but a PD150 may give you more mileage than the 950.

TRV900 is a 7 year old camera so finding one in stellar shape may be difficult.

Mike

riredale wrote on 2/14/2005, 8:37 AM

I went from a little Sony TRV8 up to a slightly-used VX2000 (bought on eBay for $1750 9/03) and all I could say was, "Wow!" The VX2000 produced a cleaner, more colorful image, but the stunning thing was that, by comparison with my trusty ole' TRV8, the VX2000 could practically see in the dark! Since I usually build DVDs from my videos and since video noise really screws up the encoding process, the noise-free images from the VX were a great improvement.

The VX2100 is slightly more light-sensitive, but the difference is small; the 150/170 versions use different mic connections, which is nothing to me and my work--stereo miniplug works just fine.

I first considered getting the TRV900 a couple of years ago. It would certainly be a step up from a single-chip camera. Apparently, the replacement for the 950 is the 1000, and a disaster. Take a look at this article. The reviewer has some very interesting things to say about all these cameras at the end.

My own personal ranking would be:

Sony single-chip
TRV900
TRV950
Canon GL2
VX2000 family (VX2100, 150, 170).

I am very fond of Sony cameras in general. The Panasonic 3ccd cameras (200, 400) apparently are very good also, though there are some serious transport noise issues currently.

craftech wrote on 2/14/2005, 9:29 AM

John Beale is the foremost authority on this camera.

John

farss wrote on 2/14/2005, 1:32 PM

I can only add that the TRV950 is a big step down from the TRV900. For a cheaper single CCD camera the TRV 80 isn't a bad choice. In general and I do mean in general look at the size of the CCD(s), bigger is better. Then look at the number of pixels, LESS is better.
Bob.