Sony DCR-TRV70 MiniDV Camcorder Review

by Robin Liss
Published on Jul 15, 2004 12:00 AM



The $1,300 MiniDV Sony DCR-TRV70 (Review, Specs, $744.99) camcorder is a solid piece of equipment. The camcorder produces vividly sharp pictures however the low light performance is disappointing for a camcorder in this price range. The 2 Megapixel CCD on the DCR-TRV70 produces extremely high resolution and great looking stills, which is the highlight of the camcorder. The camcorder has a lot of frills but it does a great job of shooting video. The DCR-TRV70's unique body make it very easy to handle for long periods of time. The DCR-TRV70 is certainly a camcorder I would recommend, the only problem is that their is stiff competition in it's price range.

Video Performance (8)
The 1/3.6 in. Advanced HAD™ CCD with a Carl Zeiss™ lens. The DCR-TRV70 does very well in well lit conditions. The CCD includes 2.1 Million pixels with 1.08 Million effective pixels for video - a very high number. This results in an extremely sharp and beautiful picture with great color depth and no major color representation problems. The picture was beautiful overall and I was very impressed. I can't mention any major complaints about the picture, except that I've seen better color representation with richer colors out of three chip camcorders something that would be expected.

The Front (9)
The front of the DCR-TRV70 is pretty barebones. The front of the camcorder includes the lens surrounded by a zoom ring. The camcorder lens is extended outward a little less than two inches, making it very gripable. Located on the underside of the lens is the night shot on / off toggle button. To the left of the lens, also extended out on the lens is a rectangular side piece. On the front of the rectangular side piece is the IR receiver. The front is nicely clutter free, the only thing I could ask for is a zoom control in the front, or a switchable focus / zoom control like was on the DCR-IP220.

Below the lens is the microphone with the AC in jack to the right of the mic. I really don't like the placement of the AC jack. It gets ion the way of your hand when you are attempting to cradle the camcorder, it's probably the only major downside of the front of the DCR-TRV70.

The Right Side (9.5)
The right side of the DCR-TRV70 contains the handle strap. On the handle strap is a semi soft plastic piece which acts a a stylus holder. The stylus is used in conjunction with the touch screen LCD. At the back of the left side of the camcorder is the power dial which allows you to change from VCR, Camera and Network / Memory mode.

Moving towards the lens, half way towards the front of the camcorder is a small piece of hard plastic at the top of the DCR-TRV70 which covers up the USB and Firewire ports. As you move towards the end of the 'tape component' of the camcorder, there is a Control-L / Lanc and Microphone in port covered by another hard piece of plastic. Below it is the Memory Stick access indicator light and the charge light (to tell you when the camcorder is charging). Rotated 90 degrees to the side of these lights is the Memory Stick slot.

Moving even closer to the lens is you hit the lens barrel, covered in a shiny metallic looking plastic. The right side of the lens barrel contains the S-Video, Mini RCA AV in / out port and the headphone out jack, all covered by a piece of hard plastic. I really like how the camcorder handles, and how the right side is laid out, except for the placement of those ports on the barrel. Sony would have been much smarter to have placed the USB and the Firewire ports there. Those are ports which you are less likely to access while you are shooting, where as you are very likely to want to access the headphone port and somewhat likely to want to access the RCA and S-Video port while shooting. However the microphone in port was placed very well, where it doesn't interfere with your hand. This is the post vital port (second only of course to the AC adapter port) when you are shooting.

The Back (9)
The back of the DCR-TRV70 is also pretty blank. At the top of the back of the camcorder is the viewfinder, to the right of that is the battery eject button. Below that is the battery slot, which takes up most of the back side of the camcorder. To the right of the battery slot and about half way down is the record button and one side of the power dial. Slightly above the record button is the mode lock button which locks the camcorder into one of the power modes.

The Left Side (7)
Towards the lens on the left side of the DCR-TRV70 is the focus and back light buttons. To the right of those, moving onto the tape recorder portion of the camcorder is the 2.5 in. LCD screen. The LCD screen opens up to reveal just a microphone and the display / battery info buttons. There really isn't much to the left side of the DCR-TRV70.

The Top (7)
On the top of the DCR-TRV70, located towards the lens of the camcorder is the pop-up flash. To the right of that is the flash button which toggles between using the flash or not, or putting the flash in auto or manual mode. The flash can only be used for still shots. Still in the front on the lens barrel, to the right of the flash button are the edit search buttons. It would be great if these buttons could double as a zoom control during shooting.

Moving towards the back of the camcorder is the smart shoe on the right, and behind that the tiny zoom control with the photo button located to it's right. The zoom control is really small - a major drawback of the DCR-TRV70. I wish Sony had put some VCR controls or even some manual pictures controls on the top of the camcorder, or even on the left side. Instead of tucking everything away in the touch screen menu.

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (9)
I'm thinking I'm going to start calling the new Sony camcorders automatic super star. The addition of the touch screen LCD brings with it the great Spot Focus and Spot Metering automatic control options. The DCR-TV70 also includes six automatic exposure modes. The only reason I didn't give the DCR-TRV70 a full ten points for automatic control is because the automatic focus seems to be a little slow in responding.

Overall Manual Control (4)
There's no buttons! Everything with the exception of the focus is controlled through the touch screen LCD. This means that you have to open up the LCD screen and shake the camcorder to adjust a picture element - a big mistake. The camcorder also should have manual gain and shutter speed for the price it costs. I'm pretty disappointed with the manual control on the DCR-TRV70.

Zoom (6.5)
Sony put the ultra small zoom control on the DCR-TRV70 (the same zoom control which is on the DCR-TRV19 (Review, Specs, $372), DCR-TRV22 (Specs, $999) and DCR-TRV33), certainly one of it's biggest weaknesses. For being a camcorder that handles so well, includes a good fair of manual control, and has a manual focus ring, I wish Sony had put a little more thought into the zoom control on the DCR-TRV70. The camcorder includes a 10x optical zoom which is controlled by a tiny zoom rocker. Why they didn't make the focus ring do double duty as a zoom ring (it would just require a small software hack) I don't know. They also could have included the larger zoom rocker control on this camcorder like the one the DCR-TRV80 includes). Both were really bad decisions. The tiny zoom control makes it really hard to get a variable zoom speed and hold it. You pretty much can go really fast or really slow, anything in-between is a pain to get and will take multiple tries. You might as well forget doing nice, smooth, slow zooms while recording a long format project.

Focus (8)
The DCR-TRV70 includes a nice, wide manual focus ring. Here's a quick explanation: in the old days (say 15 years ago) all the 'picture elements' of a camcorder, were controlled by rings around the lens. This wasn't because it was convenient, but because turning them manually adjusted the lens and the respective picture element. Fast forward to 2003, where servomotors and software controlled picture functions reign supreme. Yes, they are adjusting the same lenses, but someone in the design chain decided that pressing a button on an LCD screen was easier than turning a dial (which I totally disagree with by the way). Another thing is that in this so-called evolution of camcorders where servo motors reign supreme, the professionals decided to stick with the original way of controlling their camcorder, through rings around the lens and nice, big, plastic buttons - mainly because it's just easier.

Well only one of those original manual control options has survived - and it's a dying breed - the focus ring. For a while, Sony was putting them on all their camcorders but that changed. However, the DCR-TRV70 includes a focus ring. True purists will notice that it is servo controlled but it's better than nothing. Besides a pretty good automatic control, Sony also includes the Spot Focus feature on the DCR-TRV70. The Spot Focus feature pops a box onto the LCD touch screen, to adjust the camcorder's focus, all you have to do is touch on the area of the screen that you want in focus. I'm a big fan - I feel that it provides a great medium between full automatic and full manual control.

Exposure (Aperture) (4.5)
The DCR-TRV70 is certainly not an exposure super star. It's all controlled by the touch screen LCD. Now if you've read any other of my Sony 2003 MiniDV camcorder reviews you'll learn how much I really hate the touch screen. You have to swing open your LCD, and in the process shake your camcorder. Press the FN button, press the exposure button, press the MANU- AL (yes, I know it's manual split up into two lines) button, and then finally a button with a plus sign, and a button with a minus sign with a dial in the center pops up on the screen. You adjust the exposure by touching either the plus or minus button. The only good thing about it is that you can make minute adjustments, though if your going for a quick settings change, it's going to take a while. The bottom line is that the touch screen is a terrible way of control exposure.

The consolation prize is the Spot Metering function, though you manual control heads like myself out there won't really care. Like the Spot Focus function, Spot Metering allows you to adjust the exposure by simply touching on a region of the screen. It's nice, but I wish they had included a dial for adjusting the exposure control.

Shutter Speed (0)
The DCR-TRV70 offers no manual control over shutter speed.

White Balance (7)
The white balance on the DCR-TRV70 is pretty good, and standard for Sony camcorders and most consumer camcorders. The DCR-TRV70 offers four white balance modes, automatic, indoor, outdoor, and set it yourself. The only downside to the white balance system is that it is controlled through the menu.

Gain (0)
The DCR-TRV70 offers no manual control over picture gain.

Still (7.5)
The DCR-TRV70's headline feature is it's 2 Meagpixel CCD which produces 1,600 x 1,200 pixel resolution stills. The stills are pretty good quality. They suffer from being slightly too grainy and being a little unclear - but in general I would rate their quality as very good. If you do a side by side comparison to any 2 Megapixel digital still camera you're going to get better quality with the camera - however I was generally impressed with the still performance of the DCR-TRV70. Stills are recorded to Memory Sticks which are available in up to a 1 GB file size, though the camcorder includes an 8 MB Memory Stick to begin with.

Stills can be transferred from the camcorder to the computer via the USB port, it's an easy way to transfer stills. The DCR-TRV70 includes a pop-up flash. You can set the flash level as well as set the flash to forced, auto, or off. It really helps for low light pictures. The DCR-TRV70 also includes Sony's neat hologram AF low light laser focusing system - something I think is really neat and helpful. In low light situations, when the automatic focus is on, the camcorder projects a red grid which is visible to the human eye but invisible to the camcorder onto the subject you are taking a picture of. Using this project, the camcorder is able to get a more accurate focus in low light situations. The DCR-TRV70 can also record MPEG videos to the Memory Stick using the MPEG-EX feature.

VCR Mode (6)
All the VCR functions of the DCR-TRV70 are controlled through the touch screen LCD, with the exception of the frame by frame shuttle / edit search which is recorded through buttons towards the front of the camcorder. You can do all the needed functions of a camcorder's VCR mode using the touch screen, and I don't mind it too much though I would certainly prefer real buttons.

Low Light Performance (5.5)
Considering the amazing video quality under good lighting conditions, the low light performance of the DCR-TRV70 is slightly disappointing. Overall the low light performance of the DCR-TRV70 is acceptable, however there is a lot of color distortion and a very fine grain. In medium lighting conditions the color distortion and grain is not a problem, however when you get down to low light lighting conditions, say a candle in a 12 x 12 room, the grain becomes a noticeable problem. The low light performance of the DCR-TRV70 is actually slightly worse than the DCR-TRV19, which costs half the price. In fact, Sony even verifies this by rating the minimum LUX of the DCR-TRV70 as 7 and 5 for the DCR-TRV19. I should note however, that even under low light conditions the DCR-TRV70 picture is much sharper than the DCR-TRV19 and the differences are subtle, but I would pick the DCR-TRV19 low light performance over the DCR-TRV70's.

LCD / Viewfinder (9)
The DCR-TRV70 includes a 2.5 in. 211K pixel LCD touch screen - a vital component of the camcorder considering how much of the DCR-TRV70 is controlled through it. Sony assures us that the touch screen LCDs are built to withstand constant touching and use. The camcorder also, sadly contains a color viewfinder. I prefer black and white viewfinders because they are sharper. Both screens perform well though and do a good job of previewing the image.

Audio (7)
The on-camera microphone on the DCR-TRV70 offers nothing special. It does a pretty good job of recording audio though I would recommend using an external microphone - as I would with every other consumer camcorder. Where the DCR-TRV70 does well is that it offers you audio input and audio output options. The camcorder includes a mini-plug microphone in and headphone out jacks - as well as a hot shoe for holding and powering an external microphone. The only audio weakness of the DCR-TRV70 is that you can't adjust recording levels and the camcorder does not offer audio dubbing.

Handling (9)
The DCR-TRV70 handles beautifully, probably better than any one chip camcorder out there, and possibly the best for any one handed camcorder on the market today. The combination of a small size factor horizontal camcorder with an extended lens barrel is a great feature. It allows you to easily grip the camcorder and adjust the focus on the fly. I was able to hold the DCR-TRV70 stable with two hands very easily. The camcorder is also very light and well balanced making one handed operation simple as well - now it's not a feather weight camcorder so you won't be able to shoot for huge amounts of time one handed - but it's light enough that you can hold the camcorder with one hand and not get extremely tired.

Jacks and Ports (9.5)
The DCR-TRV70 offers all the jacks and ports that you should need for a consumer camcorder. The DCR-TRV70 includes Mini AV In / Out, S-Video In / Out, Firewire In / Out, USB In / Out, Microphone in jack, headphone out jack, AC Adapter plug, Control-L / Lanc port, as well as a hot shoe. My only complaint is that it contains a Mini AV In / Out instead of normal sized ones.

Other Features (8)
Battery Info The battery info is Sony's latest gimmick feature. By pressing one button the camcorder will display on the LCD screen the remaining battery time. I really don't think it's useful. They say it's so you can check the remaining battery time with out powering up the camcorder, though it takes power to use the battery info feature. It's a nice feature - but I don't see using it and the button could be put to better use.

Bottom Loading Tape Mechanism This isn't really a feature, more of a downside. You have to load the tapes on the DCR-TRV70 from the bottom of the camcorder, and not the top. Considering how much extra space there is on the top of the camcorder - you would think that Sony could make it top loading. It's really terrible because a bottom loading tape mechanism means that you have to take the camcorder off the tripod to change the tape.

Analog to Digital Pass Through Analog to Digital Pass Through allows you to plug an analog source into the S-Video or RCA in ports on the camcorder, and the DCR-TRV70 will convert the video to Firewire digital video on the fly for recording to tape or transfer to a computer. It's nice for converting your old video sources.

USB Streaming The USB streaming feature of the DCR-TRV70 allows you to use the camcorder as a web cam, or for streaming video live over the web. It's a neat little add on that is pretty much standard on all consumer camcorders now.

Network Memory Mode Sony's crazy little invention is slowly evolving. The Network Memory Mode allows you to surf the web, send emails and maintain an online picture album all through your camcorder. I have to admit I though it was crazy when they first came out with it - and I still partially believe it's crazy. The touch screen LCD does make the Network Memory mode much more usable however the biggest upgrade in the 2003 version is support for AOL. You used to have to sign up for a proprietary Sony Internet service provider, however now you can check your AOL email and surf the web using your AOL account. The camcorder access the web through an adapter which plugs into the USB port and then plugs into a phone jack. There is also an ethernet version available. I can't really see any practical uses for the feature but it doesn't detract from the camcorder.

Widescreen The best added on feature of the DCR-TRV70 is improved resolution widescreen mode. Older camcorders would do a widescreen (16:9 ratio) picture by just putting a black bar on the top and the bottom of the screen. With the DCR-TRV70 and the DCR-TRV80 the camcorder uses the wider CCD to record more pixels to tape than a normal cutoff would. The camcorder still records the video in NTSC pixel resolution however it squeeze more pixels in by squishing the picture. It results in a sharper picture. In a really cool move, the camcorder displays the picture as letter boxed on the LCD screen although it is recording the video using the full resolution. There is a good description of the feature on our story about the Sony DCR-PC105, which also includes the feature.

Comparisons (no score provided)
DCR-TRV38 / 39 The DCR-TRV70 costs $300 more than the DCR-TRV39, and $400 more than the DCR-TRV38. That's a big jump in price. The DCR-TRV70 offers the better widescreen capability, better still performance, network capability and higher still resolution. I can confidently say that the video performance of the DCR-TRV70 is slightly better than that of the DCR-TRV38 and DCR-TRV39 under normal lighting conditions, however I wouldn't say that it's a difference worth $300. I wouldn't recommend upgrading from the DCR-TRV38 or DCR-TRV39 to the DCR-TRV70 because there isn't that large of an increase in video quality and the DCR-TRV38 offers some features, such as a larger zoom button, which I actually pick over the DCR-TRV70.

DCR-TRV80 The major upgrades of the DCR-TRV80 over the DCR-TRV70 are a larger zoom control and a larger LCD screen and Bluetooth, the downside is you loose the extended lens. If you are set on buying the DCR-TRV70 or DCR-TRV80, I would go for the DCR-TRV80 because I think the extra inch on the LCD and larger zoom rocker is certainly worth the $200

PV-DV953 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $899.88) The major competitor to the DCR-TRV70 is the Panasonic three chip PV-DV953. For video quality under normal lighting conditions the PV-DV953 wins. In a low light situation, the DCR-TRV70 is the in winner though. The PV-DV953 also offers better handling and more manual control. Where the DCR-TRV70 and the DCR-TRV80 win is the still performance. The difference in low light capability is very close, so. The video quality of the two is also close, though if you are very interested in a camcorder / still camera hybrid, I could recommend the DCR-TRV70.

Who's it For
Try to figure out which section you fit into, and the corresponding comments should help you decide whether or not this is the camcorder for you.

Point and Shooter's (9)
The DCR-TRV70 is a great point and shoot camcorder. The touch screen LCD makes it incredibly easy to use, and the camcorder produces a great looking picture with out much tweaking.

Budget Consumers (3)
I wouldn't recommend this camcorder as the budget consumer choice. If you're a budget consumer who is looking for both a digital camera and a camcorder, go with one of the cheaper DCR-TRV19, DCR-TRV22 or DCR-TRV33 camcorders and buy a separate digital still camera.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid (8)
The DCR-TRV70 is a winner, possibly the top camcorder in this price category. The camcorder produces great looking stills at a super high resolution, plus produces a very good video picture.

Gadget Freaks (9)
Sony camcorders are a must for gadget freaks - because of all the 'less-than-useful' features, like Network capability which they have. This is a great camcorder if you love a lot of bells and whistles on your cam.

Manual Control Freaks (5)
For this price range, the DCR-TRV70 should offer better manual control. The PV-DV953 blows away the DCR-TRV70 on manual control.

Pro's / Serious Hobbyists (6)
The DCR-TRV70 is a pretty good camcorder for the pro or serious hobbyist, though the lack of 3CCDs and having a ton of manual control keeps it from being a great buy in this price category.

Conclusion
The final score chart for the DCR-TRV70 is as follows:

Area Weight Raw Adj. Poss.
Video Performance
2.00
8.0
16.00
20.0
The Front
0.20
9.0
1.80
2.0
The Right Side
0.30
9.5
2.85
3.0
The Back
0.25
9.0
2.25
2.5
The Left Side
0.20
7.0
1.40
2.0
The Top
0.15
7.0
1.05
1.5
Automatic Control
0.50
9.0
4.5
5.0
Overall Manual Control
0.60
4.0
2.4
6.0
Zoom
0.75
6.5
4.88
7.5
Focus
0.70
8.0
5.6
7.0
Exposure
0.65
4.5
2.93
6.5
Shutter Speed
0.60
0.0
0.00
6.0
White Balance
0.55
7.0
3.85
5.5
Gain
0.50
0.0
0.00
5.0
Still Performance
1.20
7.5
9.00
12.0
VCR Mode
0.30
6.0
1.8
3.0
Low Light Performance
2.00
5.5
11.00
20.0
LCD / Viewfinder
.60
9.0
5.40
6.0
Audio
1.00
7.0
7.00
10.0
Handling
1.25
9.0
11.25
12.5
Jacks / Ports / Plugs
.80
9.5
7.60
8.0
Other Features
0.70
8.0
5.60
7.0
Value
1.25
4.0
5.00
12.5
Total (weighted)
113.16
170.5

The DCR-TRV70 is certainly a camcorder I would recommend. The CCD produces wonderful looking video under good lighting conditions and the low light performance, although not as good as it could be - is certainly acceptable. The 2 Megapixel CCD produces really great looking stills, and if you are shopping for a still camera camcorder hybrid, the DCR-TRV70 is a great choice. However, if you're on a budget, I would recommend saving money and going with the DCR-TRV38 or the DCR-TRV39 - both of which are much better buys. The DCR-TRV70 offers really solid performance, however it's disappointing manual control and it's one CCD can't compete with the Panasonic PV-DV953, the clear leader in this price category. Although I would recommend the PV-DV953 over the DCR-TRV70 as an overall better camcorder, the DCR-TRV70 is still a good choice - especially if you are really into still photography in your camcorder.