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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 48 reviews
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Product summary
The good: Very good video quality; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound recording; responsive; convenient storage media; decent stills.
The bad: Slightly soft video; DVD format isn't as well supported as MiniDV for editing; no video light; won't work with the Macintosh; can't autodetect aspect ratio during playback.
The bottom line: The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403 is the first DVD camcorder we've seen that doesn't force you to compromise on features or quality--much.
Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder ; Optical sensor type: Advanced HAD CCD ; Optical zoom: 10 x ; See full specs
Price range: $524.99 check prices
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 07/15/2005
- Released on: 04/15/2005
The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403 leaves its underachieving predecessors in the dust, offering superior video quality, improved performance, above-average photos, and a no-compromise feature set. With its 1/3-inch 3-megapixel CCD (2 megapixels used for video) and Dolby 5.1 surround recording, the DVD403 is a healthy competitor to MiniDV cameras in its price range, and it tosses in straight-to-player convenience to boot.
At a casual glance, the Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403 looks like a typical midrange camcorder. Its silver, black, and gray plastic shell lacks the flashiness of some of Sony's earlier DVD camcorders, which sported colors such as metallic blue. The only indications that this isn't just another MiniDV camcorder are the rounded right side (to make room for the 3-inch DVD+RW/-R disc) and the hefty 1-pound, 5-ounce weight. It's a very solid-feeling design--all that weight is crammed into a package that's the same size as a typical horizontal-format MiniDV camcorder. At least the somewhat generic looks don't call out to those who might be enamored enough of this camcorder to borrow it permanently.
Additional buttons next to the LCD let you start and stop recording, as well as adjust the zoom; there's also a traditional zoom rocker on top of the camera. While these touch-sensitive buttons are convenient, they require such a firm press that they're difficult to use without shaking the camera.
As is typical for Sony camcorders, most functions are accessed via menus on the LCD touch screen. This configuration is less intimidating than the button-festooned designs of competing camcorders, but it can take longer to page through onscreen menus to find the setting you want to adjust. The menu is programmable, so you can put your most-used functions on the first screen. For casual shooters, a press of the Easy button puts the camera in fully automatic mode.
The DVD drive sits on the right side of the unit and opens to the top, and the battery clips onto the rear, so you can easily swap discs and batteries while the camera is mounted on a tripod.
Earlier generations of Sony DVD camcorders, such as the DCR-DVD101, often lacked features found in MiniDV models of the same price class. Sony has definitely closed the gap here; the DCR-DVD403 is very full featured, with a high-resolution CCD, surround-sound recording, and excellent still-photo capabilities. In fact, the only feature that fails to impress is the mere 10X zoom reach of the Carl Zeiss lens.
The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403 records to 3-inch write-once DVD-R/+R or rewriteable DVD-RW/+RW discs. With the latter, you gain some basic editing capabilities, including the ability to split, reorder, and delete scenes. When you finalize the disc, the DVD403 creates a DVD menu, complete with thumbnails that you can use to navigate your clips on a standalone player. It can also create a video slide show of any images on the disc. The camera lacks a Memory Stick slot, instead storing still photos on the disc. Unique to Sony, the DVD403 supports Dolby Digital 5.1 audio recording using its built-in directional microphone. You can also connect an external surround microphone.
The DVD403 supports both normal (4:3) and wide-screen (16:9) aspect ratios. In fact, the wide-screen LCD makes it easier to see what you're shooting in 16:9 mode, since there are no black letterboxing bars using valuable screen space. On the downside, during playback, neither TVs nor PCs seem to be able to autodetect which aspect ratio you used.
The camcorder includes manual exposure and focus options along with six autoexposure 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 Sepia, Pastel, Black And White, and Mosaic effects. There's also a fader setting for scene transitions. The DVD403 offers Sony's trademark NightShot and Super NightShot infrared modes for low-light shooting as well as a color slow-shutter mode for when you want to maintain the original colors and avoid the greenish cast found in infrared shots. There's no video light, but there is a flash for shooting stills. The DVD403 features Sony's Active Interface Shoe for adding lights and other accessories.
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 bundled USB cable to move video and stills to your PC; the camcorder mounts as a drive for easy transfer. Some Mac users are out of luck: Sony doesn't include any Mac software, and the DVD403 lacks a FireWire port. Also, keep in mind that some video-editing packages don't support the compressed MPEG-2 format used on DVDs; you'll have fewer editing choices than with a MiniDV camcorder.
The supplied composite/S-Video cable lets you connect to a television for playback or for passing through an analog source to burn a DVD. The bundled infrared remote is handy for controlling the camcorder in either application.
With the DCR-DVD403, Sony addresses most of the performance complaints we had about DVD camcorders. Start-up, for instance, takes only a few seconds--much better than the shot-missing 30 seconds on older devices. Waiting for the drive became frustrating only when shooting stills; the camcorder delays a few seconds between shots while writing photos to the disc. Battery life is good, lasting about two hours with the LCD in use. That's longer than you can record on the 3-inch DVDs, which hold only about 20 minutes of best-quality video.
Whether you're zooming quickly or gradually, the comfortably placed zoom switch offers precise control. The secondary controls on the LCD bezel zoom at a fixed, slightly sluggish rate. Sony's Super SteadyShot image stabilization proved effective at wide angles and through most of the zoom range; camera shake became evident only near the 10X end of the zoom range.
The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403's automatic focus performed quickly and accurately in both bright and dim light. The 2.7-inch wide-screen LCD is viewable even in direct sunlight, though its smallish size makes it difficult to use for manual focus. The color viewfinder provides very good resolution, but its 4:3 aspect ratio makes for a tiny image when you're shooting in wide-screen mode.
The surround-sound microphone did a great job picking up narration, dialog, and ambient sound. Despite its sensitivity, we didn't notice it recording any camcorder noises. Though it lacks a wind-filter feature, its placement on top of the camera means it's not as susceptible to wind noise as front-mounted microphones.
The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403's video quality is very good, with no graininess evident in well-lit indoor and outdoor shooting. Low-light performance is above average, with good color and a fairly low amount of noise in more dimly lit rooms. The camcorder's automatic-exposure feature works well, even when quickly panning from bright to dark subjects. Dynamic range is reasonable, though the camcorder tends to blow out highlights too frequently.
Color depiction is very good; colors are saturated without being overblown. The high-resolution CCD makes for fairly sharp video, but the camcorder's compression algorithms cause a very slight fuzziness. Overall, the video looked very good but was slightly softer than comparable MiniDV footage.
The DVD403's still-image quality is among the best we've seen from a single-CCD, single-lens camcorder. Color is excellent in the 3-megapixel stills, and exposure was right on in our test shots. Upon close examination, images are a bit noisier than with dedicated still cameras, and they suffer from severe JPEG compression artifacts, but the quality is definitely good enough for casual shots that you want to view or print relatively small.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 48 reviews
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Showing 3 of 48 user reviewsSee all 48 user reviews
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69 out of 70 people found this review helpful
"The perfect family video camera. Easy to use, high quality video and stills."
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29 out of 29 people found this review helpful
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17 out of 17 people found this review helpful
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Where to buy
Sony Handycam DCR-DVD403:
$524.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$524.99 | Yes |
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