Quick Review Camcorders : Sony DCR-DVD101

Sony’s design for the bodies of their DVD camcorders differs from that shared by Hitachi and Panasonic. Sony DVD camcorders do not include card media ports; all stills are taken to DVD-R/RW discs. Aside from low light performance, the main difference between Hitachi and Panasonic DVD camcorders and Sony DVD camcorders is the recording format. The DVD-RW/R format offers more convenience, as the DVD-RW disc can be reused and played directly on a conventional DVD player, while DVD-RAM/R offers better ease of use on the camcorder during recording, better menu systems, and a more convenient method of converting footage from the 3.5” DVD discs that the camcorder records upon to the full-sized DVDs most people have in their collections. That said, it’s a choice between the convenience offered by the Sony camcorders (to play, after on-camcorder finalization, directly on conventional DVD players) or the transfer options (both on computer and on DVD recorder) and ease of use of the Panasonic or Hitachi camcorders.

The convenience that Sony DVD camcorders, including the DCR-DVD101, offer is only undermined by Sony DVD camcorders’ horrific low-light showing. While this is not desirable, it may be understandable on the DCR-DVD100, but not the DCR-DVD201 which has the highest number of effective pixels of any DVD camcorder this year, besides the DCR-DVD301, which is just a DCR-DVD201 with a 3.5-inch LCD (as opposed to 2.5-inch).

The DCR-DVD101 has horrible low light performance. Grainy, noisy, colorless, bad. Sorry, this camcorder is meant for convenience in a well lit room.

Ports include: A/V in/out, S-Video in/out, and USB. There is a hot accessory shoe, which is a positive mark over the lower-tier Hitachi and Panasonic DVD camcorders.

This camcorder is probably best utilized by those who don't need a lot of manual control, as many of the options are buried under the LCD screen. It is probably also best used by those looking for the point-and-shoot portability and ease of use found in many of Sony's lower-end MiniDV camcorders, but are willing to pay the price for a more conveniently home-viewed product. Those who don't have the time to plug a MiniDV camcorder into a TV or a computer should come here.