OK video, as good as can be expected for $570.

No camcorder drivers, cheap design.

I purchased this camera on 7/7/06 and when I got it from the UPS man it took a couple of days to figure out some of the settings and funtions. After using this camera for a week I have noted some good and bad things about this model, DCR-DVD405.
First, it does take good movies and except for low indoor camera light I give it 4 stars. Ease of use is a 4 stars.
The bad! The covers for the imput and output cables, i.e. ; usb, audio video are just plane cheap. They are connected by little plastic strips that look like a toy. I would have expected more for a $600 camcorder. Second, Sony does not make a driver for this camcorder so your computer does not see it. Meaning the cheapest web cams can produce live feed captured video and they start at $25 yet a $600 Sony cannot. What a disapointment. I don't mind capturing the video on a disc and all but, I would have been happier if I could have plugged this in my USB port and it would have been recognized by the computer as camera.
For this, I give it an 31/2 stars overall.

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Old sony camcorder.