Good basic consumer camcorder
Written: Dec 02 '03
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Pros: Price, ease of use, large swivel screen, ready-to-play DVDs, random scene access
Cons: Bulky unit, low still image quality, poor DVD reliability, awkward zoom, NOT for video editing
The Bottom Line: For home users and those who need convenience of use, easy play of the video on (almost) any DVD player, and don't plan to do any video editing
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| maxpat0's Full Review: Sony Handycam DCR-DVD300 DVD Camcorder |
I got this camcorder for my wife about a month ago. The price was good, compared to a similar Sony midi-DV camcorder, for a quality almost as good. We used to have a PC10 miniDV for 5 years before that one, but due to extensive use while traveling, the tape recorder/player was starting to show some dropouts and mechanical problems. Also, we had accumulated a bunch of tapes that we never got to edit and finalize into movies as we initially expected, so this camcorder seemed like a good choice to get DVDs ready to play, and not to worry about tapes losing data due to long term storage and exposure to magnetic fields.
This unit (300 model) has a large 3.5" screen bright enough for sunny outdoors (adjustable), and the 180 degrees swivel is great to watch yourself while recording. We also used it with our 7-month old baby, while monitoring the shots with the viewfinder.
The camcorder is a little bulky, definitely not a pocket-size camcorder. If you want one, get a miniDV model instead!
The sound quality is ok, but you can hear a humming noise in the background if you are recording in a quiet environment, probably due to the DVD spinning. Might be worth it to use an external microphone, but then you are losing convenience of use.
The DVD-R disks allow for easy access to any previous scene, which is nice when you come from a tape model and you had to rewind to review previous scenes and fast forward again to start recording, sometimes recording over the last part of the video.
However, DVDs are subject to smearing, and must be handled very carefully. Also, there are some problems reading on recent computer DVD players. So far, we burnt 4 disks, and I got CRC errors on all four on two DVD players (a DVD+/-RW and a x6 DVD player), and couldn't rip any video, BUT I managed to read 3 of them using an old DVD-RAM drive without any error. The last one kept getting CRC errors, and playing it on a regular DVD player or on the camcorder gave indeed a little pause before continuing.
One drawback mentioned by most reviewers is the low quality of still images in low light, and this is clearly a problem here. You can buy for about $150 either a flash light (for still pictures) or a regular light (for movies) that fits on the top of the unit and uses its own battery.
As with our previous Sony camcorder, the zoom button is a little inconvenient to handle, especially with big hands. I guess it's a brand issue, and since it's made in Japan, it's probably designed more for little hands...
The 3.5" screen resolution is kinda low, and you can see the big pixels with naked eye
Note that the MPEG-2 format is not intended for video editing. You basically view what you shot, besides the scenes you can delete, unless you are ready to spend lots of time doing video file conversion.
8cm DVD-R disks are easy to find online for about $7 for DVD-R, and $10 for DVD-RW, but surprisingly, I was able to find cheap DVD-Rs locally for about $3 each (Melody brand), that work as well as the Sony's (the reading problems affected equally the Sony's and the Melody's).
We also got the NP-QM71D battery, which is definitely recommended if you use the screen a lot, and do a lot of starts and stops whlie recording.
Overall, it's a nice camcorder, but beware of the DVD problems.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 980
Recommended for: Home and Families - Keep Memories of Family Vacations
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Epinions.com ID:
maxpat0
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Reviews written: 1
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