This camcorder is an excellent product, as are all of the Sony range. Basically, it offers easily accessible and professional features in the guise of a consumer Digital 8 camcorder. The Picture and Digital functions are amazing and offer a discernable edge to home movie making. The Digital 8 format is fantastic, as it allows you to utilise existing Hi-8 tapes, and reduces the cost of tape purchases, given that the new Mini DV tapes are significantly more expensive. My only criticism of the product is that aside from not being the current model, it seems that the primary extra feature that this model offers over the lower models is that it has a larger sized LCD screen. Aside from that, this is an excellent product and quite possibly one of the best Digital camcorders on the market.