What to Expect from Sony at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, Including: Rumors of A New Digital8 Camcorder

by Robin Liss
Published on Jan 3, 2002 12:00 AM



The 2002 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starts on Tuesday, January 4th. Every year almost all the camcorder manufacturers release new camcorders at CES. We should also expect some nice accesories and digital video tools to accompany the new camcorders. Camcorderinfo.com will be covering CES heavily and we will report to you all the updates. The companies are keeping the wraps on any product announcements for obvious reasons but we do have some hints and rumors about who is going to be showing and what products are going to be released.

Don't expect any upgrades for the TRV900 from Sony, they haven't done it for years and it doesn't look like they're going to do it anytime soon. I'm not going to promise but I think we can expect a new line of Digital8 Camcorders, the 40's. Listed on Sony Style, Sony's web site is some hints at whats comming up. Sony has a link (if you do a search) for a warranty for the Sony DCR-TRV240, and a link for a FAQ on the Sony DCR-TRV240. It is also impossible to purchase the Sony DCR-TRV240 on the SonyStyle web site. With other Sony products, you have been unable to purchase the product a few days before the new model is released. How the camcorder will be improved over the older TRV230 we don't know. Also, whether or not this means the entire line is going to be upgraded, or just the 230 is unknown. Sony has never came out with a single Digital8, they have upgraded all the models at the same time. The clues point only to an upgrade of the 230 however, I think it is unlikely they would only upgrade the 230. It would be bad to have a 240, and a bunch of models that end with *30. It would make the others look old. I'm not sure that the camcorder will be released at CES but I think it will be considering that it seems they have phased out the 230 on their site and CES would be the natural time to release a new model. I guess we'll have to wait until next week to get the full scope on this.

We also have a rumor that Sony is going to be upgrading their Digital8 VCR, the GV-DV800 to a GV-DV900, however we have no information on what the upgrade will be or if it will actually be at CES. Sony will be having a large display at CES as they have in years past. They will have a display dedicated to Memory Sticks. This might mean that they are going to release some new Memory Stick modules, either larger sizes or a bluetooth model. Rumor has it that SD and MMC will be releasing new products so Sony will not want to be outdone.

Check back to Camcorderinfo.com in the following days and during all of CES for the latest news and rumors about camorders, digital video, video and everything related.