I'm asking for a friend. Does anyone know if the 16:9 mode on the sony trv19 is true 16:9?

Here is a link to it....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=getItemDetail&Q=&sku=272603&is=REG&si=spec#goto_itemInfo

If you scroll down to where it says "specialties" it lists 16:9.

Dunno, but I shot in 16:9 with my 19, as a fill cam with my PDX's, and have yet to watch any of it, much less compare or anything like that. Will let you know.

I note that the B&H site says this is out of stock. On Sony's website they don't seem to list it anymore. Only TRV's are the 22, 33, 38, 70, 80 and 950. Perhaps this model has been discontinued? However the specs at B&H say it has 380,000 effective pixels. As a a point of reference, the PDX-10 which does "real" 16:9 has 690,000 effective pixels. Draw your own conclusions....

The TRV19 does have an anamoprhic 16:9 mode like PDX10 (opposed to letterbox) but as Boyd has pointed out it lacks the extra pixels for a quality 16:9 mode. The differences are in both resolution and angle of view. The PDX10 widens the angle of view in 16:9 by utilizing the megapixel CCD and loses no horizontal or vertical resolution in the process. The TRV19 loses about 25% vertical resolution and keeps the same width of the 4:3 mode. The TRV33 is in the same family as the TRV19 but with its extra pixels does widen the angle of view in its 16:9 mode. Oddly the manual states (for the TRV33) that the widening of the angle is only at full wide zoom. It seems that at full telephoto you lose extended viewing area and return to the width of the 4:3 mode.

You can download the TRV19/22/33 manual from this link.

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/sosdocs/default.asp

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Thanks.

I noticed that the TRV33 looked pretty good when it came out, almost like a little brother to the PDX10.

Same size and type of chip, gross pixels is: 1070, a 16:9 mode....
(http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=164803&navigationPath=32080n32081)

It would make a great backup camera for shoots, don't you think? I have always wondered how seamless it would be to mix TRV33 footage with PDX10 footage in a professional presentation....

Are there any existing, or new consumer cameras by Sony that have the same or better specs as the TRV33?

It looks like the DCR-HC40 has replaced the TRV33 but it doesn't have the exact same specs. Not that it would make much of a difference but Sony says that the HC40 has a 1/5" CCD opposed to the TRV33's 1/4.7" CCD. They could be identical CCDs and Sony just had a change of heart on the oddball fractional decimal.

Of course the TRV33 is on clearance and I think its the better buy over the HC40.