Sony Dcr Trv280 Camcorder By Beth Kayhart on Oct 05, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

I needed a great, inexpensive, easy to operate camcorder for our family. I had never owned one before and didn't know where to start. I turned to the internet and started reading review after review. I decided to stick to a name brand. It also helped that m cousin had a very similar model and was happy with it. I shopped around and decided on the exact model I wanted. I called around to all the major stores, and Best Buy had one left. I paid just under $300 for mine. We used it a little bit around the house, but the test was our trip to Florida and Disney World. We used it every day. I had purchased an extra battery, so I would be sure not to have a dead camcorder at a very Disney moment. I taped hours and hours of fun over that two weeks. I was able to download the video to my computer, even though the salesman said I would have to purchase a separate, very expensive special cable to do so. I just used the one that came with it.

The camcorder is very easy to use. I am sure there are a bunch of special features on it that I'm not even using, but I don't need anything fancy. I want to point and shoot. I just want good picture and sound quality at an affordable price. I love the Easy HandyCam button. It gives you that point and shoot ability. This camcorder uses Digital8 recording format, but I honestly don't know what that means or how that compares to other formats. I just know what kind of tapes to buy (Hi8) and I can record my precious memories.