Sony DCR-TRV265E

it is really freindly user,good picture quality,and a mind blowing battery life...it is with me from 2003 and till now no trouble.

I've had mine since 2004 and it is still working perfectly. I downloaded and updated driver for use with Vista - no problem. A very easy camera to use and with phenominal battery life. Put simply - I don't have a bad thing to say about it.

I think my good and bad points sum it up the Sony DCR-TRV265E. I would recommend this camera to all and can't honestly say a bad thing about it. It has been the best Sony product I have bought and the most reliable Sony product I have bought.Definitely is a excellent camera for use as a first time or as a home camera, would keep the kids happy to with a good spec for 2004. Also is very easy to use reinforcing the fact it is a great home camera.The battery life is decent. It should provide 80-90 minutes of filming, although this drops much quicker with effects such as night shot on.For me, this camera has been long lasting from 2004 all the way to 2008. I am not sure if it has developed a fault by old age but last year (2007) I did accidentally leave my camera on a tripod in the wind which resulted in it dropping to the ground. However for the past year I have only noticed dents and marks after this so it does stay strong for about a year if this fault was the case of the camera in wind method!It has good compatibility with Mac OS X as well as Windows. This camera will only work on XP through a USB port however if you have a firewire cable, this will work in Vista with updated drivers on the internet. Mac OS X compatibility just works by connecting the camera to a firewire which is a great aid if you have a Mac.Finally it has a decent picture. Everything is pretty clear and I reinforce that it's for home use, holidays and such will look great with the purpose this camera should be used for. Plus now it should be dead cheap, having come out in 2004.

I bought this product April 2004, used it a few times with no problems other than the software they give you with it is rubbish (basically doesn't work with other non Sony products like a laptop for instance). Then in mid 2006 the LCD screen and eyepiece viewer decided to die. The screen is just black records no video whatsoever just audio. Apparently in America they're repairing this for free on US models but I'm in the UK and i don't seem to count. Keep well away from this camcorder and well away from Sony, I'm never buying anything Sony ever again.

In a nutshell the Sony DCR-TRV265E camcorder is easy to use and has the relevant features to do just about anything. This unfortunately is all let down by the fact that you cannot then transfer your recording onto DVD or CD via a laptop or PC. If you decide not to install the driver(s) for this camcorder then windows XP won't recognise it. Using Roxio or some other software to transfer your recording to PC/laptop won't be detected either, leaving the camcorder useless after capturing films.

To my knowledge Sony haven't got a supported/updated driver made available via their website to solve this problem.

If you want/plan to capture many films of family etc., and want to store them onto CD/DVD, then avoid this camcorder and go for one that uses DVD as a media instead of the outdated Digital8.

SONY!! PROVIDE A FIX FOR THE DRIVER PROBLEM PLEASE!!