Sony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom
By: Sony Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 27
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 On: 2008-06-22
Sony DCR-DVD308 works beautifully and seems well put together. Its light, compact, convenient and generally well designed. Operation is very easy, though it is so light it is very difficult to keep steady on a long zoom, and the zoom is extremely rapid and difficult to make unobtrusive - both probably what you get in this kind of camera. It may be a wonderful camera if you just want to watch what you shot, conveniently immediately, on your living room DVD player. Not so much if you want to edit it for anything other than YouTube. The problem seems to be the specific MPEG-2 compression for mini-dvd storage (which is not limited to Sony). I shot one dvd and then tried to edit it, which was a bit of a nightmare. I did manage to find a converter so I could edit in Adobe Premier Elements but the result was jumpy movement and otherwise pretty inelegant. I had much happier results from my old analog 8mm tape camera and a capture card. I have seen some references to simple editing software supplied, but couldnt find it on either of the cds that came with the camera. Sonys highly rated Vegas suites were not developed by Sony and reviewers say they dont provide any proprietary advantages for editing these miniDVDs. I eventually found an obscure software that will edit in the cameras native format without conversion, and that might work better - for another $100. These are just moving snapshots for me, but if I put a lot of work into editing (and I do want to edit), I want decent results that I wont be embarrassed to share or hate to watch myself. Reviewers (I later read) say the quality of miniDV format is better though tape is less convenient. So Ive stepped back a technology, ordered a refurbed Sony DCR-HC62 miniDV, and if it proves better, this one goes on Craigs list.
 On: 2008-06-17
Very nice camera/camcorder and the price was an excellent deal. The camera arrived quicker than I had expected. I used it this weekend at my brothers wedding and the video and pictures turned out great.
Thanks so much, I am very pleased!!!!!!!!!!!
On: 2008-05-24
I am completely satisfied with the picture quality and zoom of this handy cam. I would completely recommend this handy cam.
 On: 2008-05-09
Before I bought this camera, I read the reviews of this one and others to compare and I even compared Mini-DV and Digital and thanks to the positive reviews on this camera (and it was in my price range) I bought it. I was not disappointed. I have only had it a month and I have used it many times. The mic pics up well, and the zoom works great (which I use for my kids sports). I have downloaded video to my laptop, and burned DVDs. I took the advice of other customers and bought the longer life battery. The only difficulty I had was in not understanding that formatting meant deleting what you had already recorded on the disc, so I now know. My laptop did not have DVD burning capabilities so I did purchase an external burner and everything works great. I would recommend this camera to anyone who has a budget but wants a quality camcorder.
On: 2008-05-06
The picture is clear and recording is easy, the only bad thing is that the discs are so expensive. Deleting is simple and makes recording even easier, because if you dont like it you can delete it.
On: 2008-04-29
Is anybody user of this camcorder has a problem like i do? The movie quality turn out very good but the problem I have is that when I try to view it on my computer using windows media player its mute an its very annoying. no sound and i get the messages " error downloading codec" and the movieSony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom keeps on playing with no sounds. No problem if I use the software that come with the cam but I need to edit the movie it wont work either to any movie editor software. PLEASE HELP! I am so desperate for help
Thank you
Sony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom
On: 2008-04-27
Sony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom This is an excellent mini DVD camera which has now been discontinued. The recordings on HQ setting play back on an upconversion DVD player on a HD TV with very good picture quality. It has very good low light capablities. Do not use the nightshot feature unless it is necesary because this creates a greenish hued picture. I have used both the mini DVD +RW and the DVD -R. Both work fine. Great value for the money.
On: 2008-04-06
I bought this because my Hitachi DVD camcorder failed to record my daughter birthday properly. This Sony DVD camcorder is entry level and does what it suppose to do. Dont expect the world from this unit. All I do is record my daughter and then send the copies to my distant family. They love it. I dont edit or do any special effects so an entry level unit is all I need. You get what you pay for.
On: 2008-03-20
Great bargain compared to others. Very please with shipping and delivery.
No problems.
On: 2008-02-15
This is a great, easy-to-use camcorder. Many features including 25x zoom, automatic focusing, and a "steadycam" feature that just about eliminates picture movement when walking. Typical Sony excellence.
On: 2008-02-05
There has been much talk about whether you can use this camera with a Mac. I have found that you CAN use it!! Get a -RW disc, record your video, then FINALIZE the disc in the camera, connect the USB cable to the camera and computer, turn it on and import the video into iMovie08 very easily. The key here is finalizing the disc and having iMovie08. You can later unfinalize the disc after importing the video so that it may be used further.
This took a bit of research...the manual says you cant do it. But I did it, and it was easy, so Im thinking you CAN!
On: 2008-01-22
Love the camera. Would like to see discs made that taped longer. Discs made great DVDs
On: 2008-01-22
The camera is awesome. Its exactly what I expected. Very easy to use and great quality picture.
 On: 2008-01-21
I owned the camcorder for less than 40 days when it died and wouldnt turn back on. I called the service center and they talked me through a trouble shooting attempt but they couldnt get it working. I had to send it to Texas for a repair. Ill bet it was a used camcorder that I received instead of a new one and thats why it died soooo soon.
On: 2008-01-18
Saludos desde Guatemala;
Para empezar esta camara que adquiri es la primera video camara que tengo en mi vida, solo habia utilizado camara de fotos (DSC-h2) y me intereso en conseguir una dedicada a video por la poca comodidad de la de fotos pues la de fotos si tiene buena calidad de imagen pero tambien necesitaba al menos una memory stick adicional para grabar en 1GB 20 minutos de video MPG2 en alta definición. Me decidi por esta camara por el formato de audio que graba en 5.1 lo cual no he probado pues solo me he dado cuenta que sà graba en estereo pero no he probado las grabaciones en un buen sistema 5.1 por falta de tiempo.
Que me desiluciono?
La bateria, lamentablemente Sony da con esta camara la bateria NP-FH40 la cual tarda la ridicula cantidad de 90 minutos aparte de que dejando o quitando la bateria en la camara y sin usar aunque se haya cargado completamente esta se descarga con los dias siendo frustrante que a los tres dias de haber cargado la bateria y no usarla al encender la camara da un tiempo restante de energia de 75 minutos y este tiempo de bateria es sin usar el zoom, una vez que uno utiliza el zoom el tiempo de energia se ve disminuido mas aun, mal detalle. Esto me afecta a mi mas que todo por que yo tengo una pagina de internet en donde quiero transmitir juegos de football o grabar los mismos para publicarlos en esta pagina pero con este problema de la bateria tendre que conseguir una adicional (minimo invertir US$100 mas) para poder grabar o transmitir los 90 minutos que dura un partido de football (soccer) con antesala, medio tiempo e imagenes posteriores al juego. Los DVDs al principio tambien me descepcionaron pues en alta definicion graba nada mas que 20 minutos, en media definicion graba 35 y en la baja graba 110 pero en esta ultima creo que es hasta mas fiel definicion de las camaras VHS por dar un ejemplo.
Que me gusto?
Me gusto la definicion que tiene, realmente graba en un formato que podria compararse con las camaras que utilizan para las peliculas del cine, pues no es una imagen que se diga amateur o principiante sino que para mi gusto si deja una buena impresion los videos que se graban. Tambien me gusto que si no quiero grabar el DVD o finalizarlo puedo sacar los archivos en MPG a mi computadora y luego grabarlos a VCD o DVD ya quitando escenas o editandolas con software (ajeno al que trae la camara) en la PC, agregado a esto puedo finalizar el disco y copiar los archivos .vob a mi disco duro y luego grabarlos en un DVD -r o +r para reproducirlos en aparatos de casa y reutilizar los DVD-RW que tengo y no estar con el monton de microDVD que a mi gusto me estorba el tamaño que tienen y prefiero los de tamaño convencional. Calidad de audio buena solo que para hacer los DVDs desde los MPG se necesita un decodificador adicional para poder grabar con el audio 5.1 que tiene el archivo, caso contrario solo se graba en 2.1 (stereo).
Para no tomar en cuenta; la calidad de las fotos, es horrible, saca fotos demasiado pequeñas como para ponerle una memory stick de 1 GB, aparte de que para tomar fotos en la noche no sirve mucho el night shot pues siguen saliendo oscuras, asi que si buscan una camara de video que tambien guarde fotos les recomendaria invertir en una camara de fotos aparte.
En general les puedo decir que me gusto la camara, pense en revenderla pero finalmente me quedare con ella mas que todo porque las camaras de Disco duro que han salido me han dicho que no salen con buena calidad de imagen y por ejemplo no se puede "finalizar un disco" para que quede un DVD con calidad de pelicula sino que necesariamente hasta donde se hay que pasar los archivos a la computadora y dependiendo del software se pierde esa alta calidad de imagen. Para lo que yo quiero esta camara me sirve, puedo hacer mis reportajes en la computadora o puedo salir con mis amigos y hacer grabaciones y finalizar el disco para tener un DVD si asi lo quiero.
Espero les sirva, cualquier duda dejen comentario.
On: 2008-01-14
I bought the Sony DCR-DVD308 camcorder on Dec/07 to film out my holiday season. So far Ive had a great experience with it and here you can find my detailed review of the camcoreder:
1. Audio/Video:
Both, the audio and video quality are superb. I was seriously considering buying an HD camera and paying double for it. I can honestly say Im glad I didnt, the differences between low-def and High-def camcorder movie are still too minimal to be worth paying for. (Ive seen friends HD recorded movies)
2.Zoom
The zoom is fantastic and it has 3 modes: a) No optical Zoom b) 50x digital Zoom and c) 2000 x Digital Zoom. My wife and I love surfing and with the 50x mode I captured her riding waves like never before. The reach of the zoom is outstanding and the quality of objects far away are captured in great detail.
3.LCD Display
I was concern about the touch display feature but it has turned out to be very friendly. The LCD size of the screen is big enough for that, I wouldnt recommend a smaller size (like that of the DCR-DVD 108 model for example) screen as the touch feature could be tricky.
4. Battery life
I read many reviews that the battery life was a bit dissapointing as it only lasted about 90min with the LCD on. Again, Im glad I saved $70 on a separete battery as 90 min is more t
On: 2007-11-17
Camcorder works fine, but it is not compatible with Vista as mentioned. Contacted Sony support, got the reply that it is not compatible with Vista.
Very bad on Sonys part for false information.
 On: 2007-10-24
If you really need to jump around from scene to scene on your video using the touch scren, then I guess this product might work for you. But if you want good picture quality, and smooth (not herky-jerky) slow motion, then stick with Sonys MiniDV format camcorders. I use a camcorder for my sons and daughters sporting events and with the DVD format, the slo-mo is unacceptable; with MiniDV it is smooth and clear. Caveat emptor.
On: 2007-10-23
If you really need to jump around from scene to scene on your video using the touch scren, then I guess this product might work for you. But if you want good picture quality, and smooth (not herky-jerky) slow motion, then stick with Sonys MiniDV format camcorders. I use a camcorder for my sons and daughters sporting events and with the DVD format, the slo-mo is unacceptable; with MiniDV it is smooth and clear. Caveat emptor.
On: 2007-10-12
it was delivered fast and in perfect conditions is like new....and this dvd camera for its price is way better then i expected!
On: 2007-10-05
Great camcorder with reasonable price, the only con is that at night it doesnt have extra light( it has the inlet for a light but not included in the box) so the outcome is not very clear.
On: 2007-08-17
Excellent video camera, small, handy, reliable. Somewhat slow when reading the disk but otherwise a very good choice. Good pictures
On: 2007-08-16
Excellent video camera, small, handy, reliable. Somewhat slow when reading the disk but otherwise a very good choice. Good pictures
On: 2007-06-06
This camera is really slick. The one thing that I dont like is that it does not accept SD cards (and no on-board system memory... you need a duo chip to take still pictures). However, the picture is amazing and saving to the DVD is a snap. The camera is comfortable to hold, and has a touch screen which makes viewing the videos easy, too. All in all, 5/5 stars. Excellent.
On: 2007-06-06
Tickets to Disneyland are expensive, sufficiently so that when my wife decided that I should record the memories in moving pictures rather than stills, the price of the camcorder was almost certain to be unimportant. If recording the Disney experience would cost me less than the Disney experience itself, then the camera could be relegated to the "acceptable collateral damage" column of my planned budget.
The price of this camcorder isnt bad, but Ive decided that camcorder pricing in general is a dishonest racket. The battery that comes with this camcorder is good for less than an hour of recording. When youre going to Disneyland, 45 minutes just isnt enough. You need to buy a bigger battery (I went with the biggest, 10 hours), and for that youll pay almost a third of the price of this camcorder (less on Amazon, but I didnt have the luxury of waiting the several weeks they said it would take to get the battery). You need to buy a camera case. You need to buy a battery charger. You need to buy at least six DVDs (that gives you a bit under three hours of standard recording time). By the time I bought the stuff I needed to go with the camcorder, Id spent about half the price of the camcorder itself. Plan to spend at least $200 more than the price of the camcorder on accessories if you want to take it on vacation with you. The collateral damage to your budget will always be greater than the price of the camera.
That said, this camcorder performed very well. Its very easy to use, and with a little practice I learned to record events one-handed while watching said events unfold in front of my eyes, not just on the screen. That is, once I got the camera going I could occasionally start watching my kids and stop watching the camcorder screen. Score a big one for the stabilization feature. The menus on the screen are easy to navigate, and the screen responds nicely to touch. I didnt have to push too hard, and it didnt respond to the passing of my finger over one button on its way to another.
The image quality is very nice. The zoom feature works very smoothly, and 25X optical zoom is more than enough to catch your kids expressions of horror and delight when theyre on a ride and your feet are planted on blessedly solid ground. And if you have to ride with them, well, Ive nauseated friends and family with my clip of scenery zooming by while my kids made our tea-cup spin as fast as the mechanism would allow. I filmed at standard quality, and it shows nicely on a 32" HD TV. It looks grainy on a 42" screen.
The autofocus works pretty well when the lens isnt zoomed. I used it at full zoom in a large auditorium when my sons kindergarten class sang last month. I was seated about 150 feet back and the auditorium was dark. He kept going in and out of focus. I pulled back the zoom and the focus settled down. The sound was good, but I was bothered to hear my own whispers to my wife when I played back the video. Id prefer that the microphone give more prominence to sound in front of the camera and less to sound thats in back.
If I had it to do over again, Id probably buy a hard-drive camcorder rather than a mini-DVD camcorder. The DVDs are just more stuff you have to carry around in your bag, and the odds are youll have to change the DVD at an inopportune time (e.g., right when your daugther is discovering just how long and wet a giraffes tongue is). If, like me, youre a Mac owner, youll find that Sony camcorders work pretty well with iDVD and iMovie. But my four-year old iMac doesnt support this camcorder. Newer ones do (were upgrading, so no big deal for us). The video software that comes with the camcorder is only for Windows; it will only support still photos on Mac.
On balance I like this camcorder. Id like it more if it came with a bigger battery, a battery charger (you can charge a battery in the camera, but it takes a lot longer), and Mac compatible software. And if that touch-screen had a finish that werent so easy to smudge.
On: 2007-06-05
Tickets to Disneyland are expensive, sufficiently so that when my wife decided that I should record the memories in moving pictures rather than stills, the price of the camcorder was almost certain to be unimportant. If recording the Disney experience would cost me less than the Disney experience itself, then the camera could be relegated to the "acceptable collateral damage" column of my planned budget.
The price of this camcorder isnt bad, but Ive decided that camcorder pricing in general is a dishonest racket. The battery that comes with this camcorder is good for less than an hour of recording. When youre going to Disneyland, 45 minutes just isnt enough. You need to buy a bigger battery (I went with the biggest, 10 hours), and for that youll pay almost a third of the price of this camcorder (less on Amazon, but I didnt have the luxury of waiting the several weeks they said it would take to get the battery). You need to buy a camera case. You need to buy a battery charger. You need to buy at least six DVDs (that gives you a bit under three hours of standard recording time). By the time I bought the stuff I needed to go with the camcorder, Id spent about half the price of the camcorder itself. Plan to spend at least $200 more than the price of the camcorder on accessories if you want to take it on vacation with you. The collateral damage to your budget will always be greater than the price of the camera.
That said, this camcorder performed very well. Its very easy to use, and with a little practice I learned to record events one-handed while watching said events unfold in front of my eyes, not just on the screen. That is, once I got the camera going I could occasionally start watching my kids and stop watching the camcorder screen. Score a big one for the stabilization feature. The menus on the screen are easy to navigate, and the screen responds nicely to touch. I didnt have to push too hard, and it didnt respond to the passing of my finger over one button on its way to another.
The image quality is very nice. The zoom feature works very smoothly, and 25X optical zoom is more than enough to catch your kids expressions of horror and delight when theyre on a ride and your feet are planted on blessedly solid ground. And if you have to ride with them, well, Ive nauseated friends and family with my clip of scenery zooming by while my kids made our tea-cup spin as fast as the mechanism would allow. I filmed at standard quality, and it shows nicely on a 32" HD TV. It looks grainy on a 42" screen.
The autofocus works pretty well when the lens isnt zoomed. I used it at full zoom in a large auditorium when my sons kindergarten class sang last month. I was seated about 150 feet back and the auditorium was dark. He kept going in and out of focus. I pulled back the zoom and the focus settled down. The sound was good, but I was bothered to hear my own whispers to my wife when I played back the video. Id prefer that the microphone give more prominence to sound in front of the camera and less to sound thats in back.
If I had it to do over again, Id probably buy a hard-drive camcorder rather than a mini-DVD camcorder. The DVDs are just more stuff you have to carry around in your bag, and the odds are youll have to change the DVD at an inopportune time (e.g., right when your daugther is discovering just how long and wet a giraffes tongue is). If, like me, youre a Mac owner, youll find that Sony camcorders work pretty well with iDVD and iMovie. But my four-year old iMac doesnt support this camcorder. Newer ones do (were upgrading, so no big deal for us). The video software that comes with the camcorder is only for Windows; it will only support still photos on Mac.
(An update on the above: No, new Macs do NOT support this camcorder. To download video to iMovie requires either that your camcorder have a firewire port or that it produce files in MPEG4 format. This camcorder has no firewire port and records in MPEG2. The fix that Ive found is a program (e.g., Popcorn2) that will convert MPEG2 to MPEG4. Its not elegant and is mighty annoying, but it gets the job done. If youre a Mac owner, life will be simpler with another camcorder.)
On balance I like this camcorder. Id like it more if it came with a bigger battery, a battery charger (you can charge a battery in the camera, but it takes a lot longer), and Mac compatible software. And if that touch-screen had a finish that werent so easy to smudge.
On: 2007-06-02
This is a great Camera!!! We love it and take it with us everywhere. Great quality and the memory slot comes very handy too!!
On: 2007-05-30
And more versatile. I edit my video 90% (or more) of the time, so mini DVD is perfect. I know and therefore shoot only the scenes that I want to see later. So, +/- 15 minutes of recording in one DVD disc is not a problem for me, btw, you can get more recording time if you use SP or even LP settings. For me, I use the highest quality setting, which is HQ (6 MB/sec).
I always use miniDVD-RW or miniDVD+RW, I have 3 discs of each type. The last time we went outing, I ended up only use 2 discs, and I got plenty of shots that I keep, in fact all 25 minutes of everything that I wanted to record and will see it over and over again.
I use MAC, and Sony and all other DVD camcorder out there dont supply you with any MAC compatible software. But my MacBook easily recognize the Sony! But since I use DVD-RW, I can (first) finalize the discs, and use "Popcorn" or "Toast" to copy the video to my MAC, its faster this way.
And... I can Re-Use the disc later by "Un-Finalizing" it! .. Perfect.
DVD+RW is even better, you dont need to finalize the disc, you can just pop in to compatible (any player that accept 8" disc) player to see your recorded video.
Other important spec: DCR-DVD308 uses 1.0 Megapixel Advanced HAD(tm) CCD Imager, just perfect in term of quality and my budget. the 408 uses 2.1 MP and 108 uses 1/6".
Low light and indoor performance are good, better than Canon and Panasonic and waaayyy better than JVC (all in the same price range and similar specs)
I can go on with the specs, but just go to sonystyle and compare the 108, 308 and 408 yourself.
Canons LCD I thought is sharper and brighter than Sony, but you actually can change the setting in the menu, to me, I prefer the default setting since I use it outdoors most of the time, and I can see better with the default setting.
Panasonic has a smoother zoom, in Sony, you can have the same smooth zoom by using the one in the LCD.
I dont use the photo features (still image), I have a Nikon D40 for that purpose.
My only wish list: ability to record to Memory Stick.
Anyway, this is a perfect camcorder for me.
My other choices (and worthy competitor to the Sony) beside this model are:
Canon DC230 and Panasonic VDR-D230
On: 2007-05-24
Pros
Have used Canon MiniDV and didnt like it.
Now this piece is perfect.
Cons
Battery is suck. Have to buy Sony NPFH 70.
Additional Thoughts
For 3" or 8 cm disk, buy Memorex Mini DVD+RW. Note +RW is perfect. It works perfect with the 308 even camcorder recommends Sony. Who cares! I have paid for that expensive Sony battery already.
On: 2007-05-23
Pros
Have used Canon MiniDV and didnt like it.
Now this piece is perfect.
Cons
Battery is suck. Have to buy Sony NPFH 70.
Additional Thoughts
For 3" or 8 cm disk, buy Memorex Mini DVD+RW. Note +RW is perfect. It works perfect with the 308 even camcorder recommends Sony. Who cares! I have paid for that expensive Sony battery already.
On: 2007-02-17
This seems to be a wonderful camcorder for the money. I have had it about a week and have had no problems, except that my older dvd player does not support the smaller dvds. They work fine in my new model dvd player. Sony seems to have made a good product.
On: 2007-02-16
This seems to be a wonderful camcorder for the money. I have had it about a week and have had no problems, except that my older dvd player does not support the smaller dvds. They work fine in my new model dvd player. Sony seems to have made a good product.
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