Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101

CNET Editors' Rating

3.0 stars
    Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)

Good

Average User Rating

24 reviews

As shown: $999.99

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CNET Editors' Review

CNET Editors' Rating

3.0 stars Good
    Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)
  • Design: 7.0
  • Features: 6.0
  • Performance: 6.0
  • Image quality: 4.0
  • Reviewed by: Denny Atkin
  • Released on:
  • Reviewed on:
Edited by: Lori Grunin

The good: Mini DVDs offer convenient playback; good night-shooting quality; relatively compact.

The bad: Poor video quality; media expensive compared to MiniDV tapes; very basic feature set.

The bottom line: Unless you're so wedded to the Sony brand and the idea of DVD recording that you're willing to pay a premium--but not enough to jump to the DVD201--avoid this model.

Review: The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 is more compact and offers better low-light focusing than its predecessor, but this model remains an underfeatured underachiever for a camcorder in its price range. The biggest problem: relatively poor video quality due to the low-resolution 340,000-pixel CCD the camera uses for recording.With its slick black-and-metallic-blue case, the Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 is as likely as the latest iPod to garner admiring looks. This model is about two-thirds the size of its predecessor, the DVD100, making it no larger than a typical DV camcorder. It fits comfortably in your right hand and weighs under 1. ... Expand full review
The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 is more compact and offers better low-light focusing than its predecessor, but this model remains an underfeatured underachiever for a camcorder in its price range. The biggest problem: relatively poor video quality due to the low-resolution 340,000-pixel CCD the camera uses for recording.With its slick black-and-metallic-blue case, the Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 is as likely as the latest iPod to garner admiring looks. This model is about two-thirds the size of its predecessor, the DVD100, making it no larger than a typical DV camcorder. It fits comfortably in your right hand and weighs under 1.3 pounds with disc and battery installed. The 3-inch DVD-R/DVD-RW drive sits on the right side of the unit and opens to the front so you can easily swap discs while the camera is mounted on a tripod.

DVD201, and of most competing camcorders in this price range. The DVD101's Carl Zeiss lens delivers a basic 10X optical zoom reach. Audio fares better, with support for two-channel Dolby Digital AC-3 audio recording, though there's no jack for an external microphone. This model does support 16:9 wide-screen mode, however, which the low-end Hitachi model does not.

Hitachi DZ-MV550A, the Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 lets you insert the disc directly into the drive without using a caddy. The disc snaps onto the spindle, portable-CD-player style.

The DVD101 includes manual exposure and focus options along with six auto-exposure presets. Sony often loads its camcorders with an abundance of special effects, but here they're limited to luminance keying, the ever-cheesy Old Movie mode, and the Sepia, Pastel, B&W, and Mosaic effects. The DVD101 offers Sony's trademark NightShot and Super NightShot infrared modes and a fader setting for scene transitions. It also features Sony's Intelligent accessory shoe for adding lights and other accessories.

The DVD101 records to write-once DVD-R or rewriteable DVD-RW discs. Using the latter discs, you gain some basic editing capabilities, including the ability to split, reorder, and delete scenes. When you finalize the disc, the DVD101 creates a DVD menu that you can use to navigate your clips on a set-top player. It can also create a video slideshow of any images on the disc. The camera lacks a Memory Stick slot, instead storing still images on DVD.

If your computer can read DVD-ROMs, file transfer is a snap--just drop the finalized disc in the drive. Otherwise, you can use the included USB cable to move video and stills to your PC; the camcorder mounts as a drive for easy transfer. Mac users are out of luck: Sony doesn't include any Mac software, and the DVD101 lacks a FireWire (or as Sony calls it, iLink) port.

The supplied composite/S-Video cable lets you connect to a television for playback or to another source to transfer video from analog devices to DVD. The bundled infrared remote is handy for controlling the camcorder in either application.The DVD101's biggest performance drawback--as with all DVD-recordable camcorders--is the time it takes the camcorder to spin up a disc and read its contents. We've clocked it at close to 30 seconds before the camcorder was ready to shoot.

Otherwise, the camcorder performed well. The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101's comfortably placed zoom switch offers precise control, allowing you to zoom smoothly at a languid or zippy pace. Electronic image stabilization proved effective at wide angles and at up to medium zoom, but camera shake became evident at the 10X end of the camcorder's zoom range.

Average User Rating

3.0 stars out of 24 user reviews

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star: 5
  • 4 star: 8
  • 3 star: 4
  • 2 star: 5
  • 1 star: 2

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1.5 stars

"Blahhhhh !" By pantech_slate

Pros: Not really anything. I like that you can flip the screen around so you can see what you're taking a picture of, but other then that not a lot. I used it for my horse show, and when I uploaded the pictures the quality was crappy. >:(
*Touchscreen

Cons: EVERYTHING. The battery lasts like, 2 hours maybe, but if you're using it heavily then maybe an hour & half.

0.5 stars

"Perfect for my cat's litter box!" By tabman

Pros: Pro? Great way to blow 500 bucks!

Cons: Poor, Poor video quality. Poor Craftsmanship.

Summary: I bought this while out of town for MY wedding when my Sony TVR-11 died. I didn't have time to do my homework and trusted the bib box retail salesman who said it was a great replacement for my TVR. I found out later that my TVR had TWICE ... Expand full review

Where to Buy

MSRP: $999.99
See manufacturer site for availability
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Specifications

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Quick Specs

  • Optical sensor type: CCD
  • Flash type: None
  • Weight: 1.1 lbs

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MSRP: $999.99
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