Its been a year and a half since I bought the Sony HandyCAM. DV Cameras were much more expensive at that time, so I settled with the D8. Its working absolutely fine since day 1.
Till now I haven’t got any problems with it. I am a frequent traveller and I take my handycam wherever I go. I teach Special Effects software, and so I also use my camera to shoot students at studios with a blue screen at the back. I use a capture card to transfer the video footage to the computer using the Firewire (or the ilink) port.
The software bundled with the camera is so easy to use and it takes care of everything from Transfering of footage to the computer and back to a VCD or tape. The best thing about the Sony HandyCAM is the quality of the videos.
I have other colleagues and friends who use other brands like Samsung etc. But the quality of the video shots taken from my Sony HandyCAM are far better than those of the other brands. It is very easy to use and even a layman can learn how to use it in matter of minutes. there is a self demo facility which displays all the possible things we can do with the camera. Like using effects of sephia, Blur etc.
Some features are so good that it really makes me wonder about how much the Sony Team must have thought about making the Customer’s life so easy. Its like, I can’t think of using a Camera without the END Search Function, without the Remote which is provided etc. They have thought deeply to the tiniest detail on how a user will find it easy to use and made a Camcorder which is truly Appreciable. After all Its a Sony!!!