Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 12 x 14 inches ; 5.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000HTF7DE
• Item model number: VRDMC3
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,689 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #29 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > DVD Players & Recorders > DVD Recorders
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

The VRD-MC3 is the next generation in DVDirect DVD recorders. Easily transfer home video and digital photos to DVD without a PC. Connect virtually any camcorder, VCR or Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and record video to DVD in real time. Insert a Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Secure Digital (SD), xD Picture card or Compact Flash (CF) memory card into the MC3 recorder and record digital pictures directly to DVD as a slideshow, or for photo storage. Enhanced connectivity to the HDD Handycam family will record all video to DVD (full mode) or just whats new from your last DVD burn (incremental mode). Using a USB cable, you can connect to Windows XP/2000 PC to make DVD copies to share.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this thing, February 15, 2007

By 

R. Jenkins "RJenx" (Hillsboro, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder (Personal Computers)

I received the Sony VC30 model for Christmas, and enchanged it for the MC3 to get the color screen (and glad I did). I was a bit leary after reading the reviews here, but I've just finished converting our entire collection of home movies from VHS, 8mm, hi8 and miniDV tapes to DVD.

I've used only Sony brand, single-layer blanks (both +R and -R, but +R seems to yield better playback) and have had no problems. I've made close to 200 DVDs with only two "coasters" that would not finalize after recording. I've done most of my recording on the SP mode, putting two hours on a DVD. After testing different settings, I couldn't tell any difference (viewed on 55" and 32" TVs) between the HQ and SP settings for my older videos (some 25 years old), but could definitely tell on the newer recordings, especially those with a lot of motion (such as water skiing and other sports). So for those, I chose only the HQ setting.

All recording is done in real time, and there have been weekend days when the thing has been going all day and evening. I've connected it to a VCR, and 8mm and miniDV camcorders. When using the VCR, the color screen on the MC3 is very handy. Using an S-cable yields slightly better picture than standard video cables. For the miniDV camcorder, I use firewire and this has an added benefit of recording only the recorded video on the camcorder, shutting off when the recorded video ends. (When using a VCR or older camcorder, you have to watch for it to end and manually turn off the burn.)

The menus the MC3 creates are fine for my purposes. It will create a new "title," which shows up as a separate "window" on the start-up menu, every time the MC3 is stopped (if you just pause it, it won't create a new title). I set the MC3 to create chapter stops every five minutes, which is handy when skipping through video on playback. If I'm burning a DVD of, say, my daughter's birthdays, I'll create a new "title" for every birthday. On playback, each "title" shows up separately on the start-up menu, but the entire contents of the DVD will playback at once, with a new "title" starting when another ends. For misc. tapes that have a variety of short segments, I've found it easier to record it all to a DVD, then view it and note the times of the various segments. Then I re-record it to DVD, creating separate "titles" by stopping the MC3 when a segment ends. (I'm keeping the first copies as backups.) I haven't found a way to create a chapter stop manually; there are some instances where this would be handy.

Overall, the MC3 has been fantastic. I've been putting off this project for years, not wanting to have to do it via computer, and now I have it all on DVD, at reasonable cost.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sony VRDMC3 Review, February 3, 2007

By 

Eric Radman (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder (Personal Computers)

I bought this item at Costco since I wanted to transfer my old 8mm Video camcorder tapes into a digital format using DVD. I didn't want to load any new software on my PC and was intrigued by the ability of this device to be used without a PC.

The best feature on this device is that it's easy to use. I had no problem formatting and recording to my 4.6gig R+ DVD's. I also
liked the fact that it can record from many different devices (memory sticks, Hard disk drive Camcorders, etc...)

I found the recording time to be slow-- taking 1 hour to record an entire 4.6gig DVD. But I believe this is a function of my 8mm Video camcorder and not the VRDMC3 recorder (I can't figure out how any marketing person can name a device "VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder")

I found the viewing screen on the VRDMC3 to be small. I would prefer to see a larger image. The devices touts that you can create could "Titles" and "Chapters" on your DVDs. Titles and Chapters allow you to skip to these regions on the DVD after recording-- much like the "Add-ons" and "Extras" you see with rented movie DVDs. I could not get this feature to work without stopping the VRDMC3 in mid-recording mode and re-starting.

I didn't like the fact that the counter on the VRDMC3 records how much time elapsed-- versus how much time is left to record on the DVD. If you stop the VRDMC3 in mid-play, the counter resets, so you never know exactly how much time is left until the DVD is full.

I also had problems with playing back the DVD's (made by TDK) on my TV. The DVD would freeze and the playback was jittery at times. Even though the TDK +R DVDs are approved by Sony, I switched to Memorex DVDs and the problem went away.

If you want a simple, easy to use way to make copies of your older format 8mm video tapes, this device works. It can also be used as a DVD recorder on your PC. There aren't many bells and whistles, but it works fine and gets the job done.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cross-over dvd writer / recorder, October 31, 2006

By 

gupta (Springfield, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder (Personal Computers)

This is really a nice multi-function unit. Very versatile.
- Standalone backup of your memory cards.
- DVD reader/ writer for your computer.
- DVD recorder from TV/DVD's/VCR tapes/Camcorders.

Nero 'essentials' DVD editing software is cumbersome to use and lacking many functions compared to the full version of Nero. Need to invest in the full suite of editing software. I picked up the first unit i could find. Seems to be a little glitchy (random freezing) when copying from camcorders using i.link. Preview screen is decent although audio and video outputs for playback and recording monitoring would have been a great feature. More choices for DVD menus would also be nice.

I bought this unit instead of a seperate DVD burner for my computer and a DVD recorder for my home AV system. The bonus is the stand-alone copying of memory cards. I recommend it but it could be better.