Customer Reviews

Sony DCRDVD100 MiniDVD Handycam Camcorder with 2.5" LCD and Digital Still Capability

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

the DCR-DVD100 is the "value" entry of the recently released line of miniDVD camcorders from sony. other models in this line are the DCR-DVD300 and DCR-DVD200. the main difference the three camcorders in this line are LCD size and CCD resolution:
- DCR-DVD300: 3.5" LCD, 1MP CCD
- DCR-DVD200: 2.5" LCD, 1MP CCD
- DCR-DVD100: 2.5" LCD, 640K CCD

pros:
- records dolby digital stereo.
- carl zeiss lens.
- 10x optical zoom.
- video quality almost at par with miniDV camcorders (at slower recording modes).
- Super SteadyShot image stabilization system - and sony's system really helps.
- three low light shooting modes: Nightshot, Super Nightshot, and Color Slow Shutter.
- great connectivity options: firewire, USB 2.0, S-video, headphone, mic input, etc.
- USB 2.0 support for fast downloads.
- the convenience of DVD navigation - simply select the scene and you're there!
- supports analog-to-digital conversion.
- hot accessory shoe with lots of optional accessories.

cons:
- inferior CCD resolution vs the DVD200 and DVD300.
- expensive - as with most sony products, you pay a premium, plus you pay for DVD convergence.
- average low light performance.
- no memory stick support; if you want to take a still picture, it is saved on the DVD.
- mic picks up DVD spinning noise in quiet environments.
- finalizing a DVD takes upwards of 10 minutes, and it can be a confusing process.
- don't expect much from the still images recorded.
- no pop-up flash for taking stills and no built in video light but you can get a flash/video combo light for less than a hundred bucks.
- smaller LCD (2.5") vs the DVD300 (3.5").
- no manual focus ring.
- getting video into editing software (e.g. Final Cut Pro) is harder than it should be.
- not Mac friendly.
- poor battery life with included battery so add $$ to your budget to buy a higher capacity spare.
- compared to current release camcorders, this is a pretty big one at 3.1 x 3.8 x 5.6" weighing 1 lb 6 oz.

this is a nice, solid effort by sony and i give them points for dvd convergence. however, in my opinion, the DCR-DVD100 is too big, not easy to use, and does not use the 1MP CCD that the DVD200 and DVD300 have. it's expensive for the feature set but the alternative to this dvd camcorder (a miniDV tape camcorder and DVD recorder combo) is even more expensive. i already have a dvd recorder so for me, a smaller and easier to use miniDV camcorder makes more sense. if this is your situation as well, i would recommend a panasonic gs-70 or sony's pc-105, both miniDV camcorders. otherwise, if you want a finalized DVD straight out of your camcorder, consider the DCR-DVD100.

a final note. if you have decided you want to record directly to a DVD, which camcorder should you buy? DCR-DVD100 or DCR-DVD200 or DCR-DVD300? i highly recommend spending the extra ... bucks (street price) to get the higher resolution CCD of the DVD200/DVD300. if you want a bigger 3.5" LCD, it'll cost you an extra ... bucks to go to the DVD300. i think this is a fair price for the upgrade too.

i hope this helps you with your buying decision. peace.

I recently purchased this camcorder, and am very happy with it--happy enough that I wanted to address some of the perceived negatives in other reviews.

From jemaer_rf's helpful review:

cons:
- average low light performance

I disagree - I find the low light performance to be excellent. This is also borne out by comparative tests published in _Consumer Reports_' camcorder evaluation issue.

- no memory stick support; if you want to take a still picture, it is saved on the DVD.

This is true--but hardly a disadvantage: surely more people have DVD-ROM drives than memory stick readers.

- mic picks up DVD spinning noise in quiet environments.

This is true: you will have to live with this or choose another camcorder. I'd be curious to know if this is the case with other DVD camcorders.

- finalizing a DVD takes upwards of 10 minutes, and it can be a confusing process.

It takes about 3 minutes, assuming the disc is full. The less full a disc is, the longer finalizing takes. Since this process is only necessary for playing the disc on other DVD players, I fail to see how it's a disadvantage when compared to, say, a tape-based camcorder (where you can't play the tape in anything but the camcorder).

It isn't confusing either. I'd like to just digress here and say that the product manual is very good--certainly the best manual for a piece of consumer electronics I've ever used--and describes very clearly how to exercise every feature and function.

- don't expect much from the still images recorded.

No- they are 640x480 images: okay for the web and email but not much else. I wouldn't even bother, really--just take a short video shot instead.

- getting video into editing software (e.g. Final Cut Pro) is harder than it should be.

I don't know about the specific software mentioned here, but since the video is recorded in a standard format on a standard DVD-R (assuming you use a DVD-R) it's very universal. As I use Linux and Macintosh systems exclusively (Linux rarely supporting a particular camcorder) this universality was a big selling point of a DVD camcorder for me--and thus getting the video into any particular piece of software has been very easy so far.

- not Mac friendly.

In the sense that the bundled software doesn't come for Macintosh. But you don't want that anyway--you want to use iMovie, right? I hear (have not done this myself) that this is easily done by using Quicktime Pro to convert the .vob files from the DVD into .dv files, which can then be used in iMovie. Secondly, I will bet iMovie will soon support these camcorders.

From an anonymous review:

- There is a significant delay between when you push the record button and when recording actually starts, in the neighborhood of a few seconds.

This is true. I have gotten in the habit of recording extra footage before and after what I want to capture, and editing it later on the computer, so this doesn't bother me.

- Also, there is no editing as-you-go with DVD. If you are used being able review the last part of what you taped and record over it if you don't like what you see, you will be frustrated with DVD recording. There is no editing unless you transfer it to your computer and then of course you need to record it again on a DVD burner or video CD.

This is only true if you are recording to a DVD-R (write-once media). You are free to record to a DVD-RW and erase/edit as you like.

These reviews do not mention two other potential drawbacks: namely (and this applies to any DVD camcorder) the media is low-capacity and somewhat costlier (I found DVD-Rs for $3 ea; they record 30 min in standard quality and 60 min is extended play mode) so you may be paying more per minute, and changing media more frequently, than with a tape camcorder.

The second is that the camcorder doesn't support Firewire, only USB 2.0, which you may not have if you don't have a fairly new computer. Again, this wasn't much of a disadvantage for me since I always planned on reading the DVDs directly rather than transferring the video using the camcorder (popping the disc into the DVD-ROM drive *has* to be faster than transferring the files by wire.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. I decided not to spend an extra, about, three hundred bucks, for the DVD300; and I'm so happy with the image quality: excellent low-light, image stabilization, nightshot (and aren't these what you're buying a camcorder for?); that I'm convinced it was the right call.

My wife wanted the convenience to record video and immediately play it on the DVD player (much like the old days of VHS), but I wanted the ability to edit and make copies on the computer. This camcorder serves both purposes well. Build quality seems good, and more importantly it works as advertised- great picture quality, excellent sound recording, and our first DVD-R played fine in our 2 yr old DVD player. The unit is easy to use- much like any other camcorder other than loading the DVD discs instead of tapes. IMO all camcorders don't produce very good stills so I don't expect much in that area which is also the reason I didn't spend the extra $ on the DVD200 model (put the savings toward a digital camera instead).

Our first recording event was a Christmas program in dim lit auditorium several rows away shooting many zoom shots on a lit stage. To my surprise, the white balance was good (not yellow), exellent sound of chorus, and very little camera shake considering it was hand held during the program, and pleasing picture quality on the DVD player. It only took about 3 minutes to finalize the DVD in the camcorder once we got home, but this can vary depending on how may scenes you have on the disk.

Bottom line- we are happy so far with this camcorder. We also opted to get the Handycam DVD starter kit which includes a nice carrying case, which is just the right size for the camera, spare battery, and a few disks. The kit also includes a DVD-RW disk and an extra battery. In addition, I have ordered a 30mm UV protective filter for the lens.

While this camera has drawbacks, and it does have them, on balance, it's a good buy.

I am replacing a TRV-340 (Digital 8). I had no problems with that camera, but my wife, who is technologically illiterate, could not understand the process of finding the cables and hooking the camcorder to the TV and playing the tapes, or hooking it to the computer (or standalone DVD recorder) and burning the tape to DVD to watch.

So she saw this camera and liked the idea. So we spent the money, brought it home, and lo and behold, used our first DVD-RW (8 cm) disk. We recorded a few clips over a few minutes. We popped it out and put it in the small portable DVD player that we have, and sure enough it played (without finalizing). She was happy, and as a consequence, I was happy.

Drawbacks: It sucks down a lot more juice than my tape camcorder. I get barely 60 minutes per 50-sized battery, according to the screen. But worse yet, 30 minutes per disk on the SP setting (around 4000 kb/s bit rate, or so...mid-DVD range, which is roughly 8000 to 2000, more or less, I haven't had time to calculate 1.4 GB over 30 minutes, yet.).

Still picture capability is on disk-only, and it's only 640x480, but I prefer a still camera for special still shots, and use 5+ Megapixel for those.

Disks are still expensive, but as I've seen three different companies (at least) in the store with DVD camcorders, the generics should freely flow soon. Until then, I'll use DVD-RW, burn to DVD-R by computer, and erase.

We are extremely pleased with this new Sony product!! We went with the 100 series only because of price. We found the mini DVD-R and DVD-RW discs very difficult to find during the Christmas shopping season, but I did find some discs and used our camcorder for the first time at Christmas with our family. It was very simple to operate, made an exceptional quality recording which, after 1 minute of finalizing (quite simple actually), played in our DVD player perfectly! How much more convenient can it get? No a/v wires, no special connections to hook up to your tv to play your 8mm, etc., just plain simplicity -- go right from the camcorder to your DVD! I am very excited to use the movie editing software included with the camcorder to edit, print stills, etc. What more could you ask for than a movie/still digital camcorder that records on, above all, DVD discs? It can't get much simpler than that! The instruction manual that comes with the camcorder is very easy to follow -- I sat down for a little over an hour reading the entire manual and was able to operate this camcorder quite proficiently. All the necessary operations are right where they need to be on the camcorder -- in other words, it is user friendly and functionally intelligently designed. If you want an easy to use camcorder with the versatility and quality of a DVD, this series of camcorders is for you!!

I recently bought the DCR DVD 100 and had my first chance to use it at a family gathering. At the end of the night, we were all enjoying the video without having to use any AV cords or other hookups! I really enjoy using this product. Although it is larger than some of Sony's smallest MiniDV and MicroMV camcorders, I don't think it is by any means bulky or uncomfortable to use. Although I was afraid that the discs would not play in our 3.5 year old DVD player, there was no problem at all. And it's becoming pretty well known that most camcorders should not be depended on for high-quality stills. Therefore, I would suggest going for the DVD100 and using the money saved from buying a 300 towards a good 3.2-4 MP still camera.

This is a good product, but I wish I had known the following:

There is a significant delay between when you push the record button and when recording actually starts, in the neighborhood of a few seconds.

Also, there is no editing as-you-go with DVD. If you are used being able review the last part of what you taped and record over it if you don't like what you see, you will be frustrated with DVD recording. There is no editing unless you transfer it to your computer and then of course you need to record it again on a DVD burner or video CD.

I ended up exchanging my DVD100 for a miniDV format TRV22, which has the same resolution & basic features, is smaller, cheaper, and doesn't suffer from the problems mentioned above.

Sony DVD Handycam has great picture quality, if all you want is to film and playback on your DVD player. I wanted to make a compilation DVD but The "ImageMixer Ver.1.5 for Sony DVD Handycam" sucks. I bought another Movie editor but it cannot read the MPG created by the Sony software. So you have to convert the file to MPG2 format.

It takes six minutues or more to finalize a dvd, It's faster to download using USB2 to finalize, Unfortunatly the Sony Software does not reconize the dvd it not finalize.

I can't belive how hard it is to find, Sony minDVD media. I tried other brand names, but I lost some of the DVD because it did not finalize correctly.

(...).

We bought this camcorder just before Christmas. We did not plan on buying it so i didnt have time to research it before we purchased.

The reason we went with the DVD100 is that my hubby,who is electronics illiterate, loved the idea of instant playback on our DVD players. My inlaws are from out of state; so this has been a great way to share videos of the children with them. Even my husband can do it. LOL

The still images are poor; even a little worse than i expected which is a bit disappointing. Like most people, i have a separate 4MP digi-cam for stills so this wasn't a huge set back; although it would have been handy to be able to snap a few stills without missing a beat.

The ease of use is very good. It took about 5 minutes to learn basic recording. I do recommend that you use the manual...there are a few things to learn for optimized use.

I'm not sure where the folks are who cannot find media. I have had no problem with this at all. Of course,i purchased a few 3 packs of the DVD-Rs with the cam. I was at a large chain electronics store just yesterday 3-4-04 and saw plenty of media on the shelves.

In true Sony Style if you use non Sony media the cam will prompt you to use genuine Sony DVDs. Mildly annoying.

Video quality is good; i am waiting to test it this summer at a few horse shows to see how it handles in high action settings.

I dont have anything to compare the battery life to; since my last camcorder was ancient. I like the fact that it constantly estimates remaining battery life so you can manage shots accordingly. Purchase an extra battery just to be safe.

I like the size of the DVD100. Not to big not to small. I also liked the "button" style of the 100 over the touch screen on the 300. Thats just personal preference.

I would recommend this camera to anyone who wants the convenience of the DVD format. We have been happy with it. Good Luck!

I've purchased DVD200 from Sony in Nov'03. This is how I feel so far.

Pros..
1) The clarity and resolution are really good.
2) It is very easy to play back on TV

Cons..
1) Mic picks up noise from spinning disc
2) 1M digital camera is simpy useless (only if you never saw a dig camera, then you may appreciate this)
3) DVD R/W media (DMW30)is not available in market, even at sony.com