Pixela's New DVD Burner

June 12, 2007- Pixela, manufacturer of PC peripheral hardware, announced today the release of a new PC-less DVD burner to be used in conjunction with digital cameras and HDD camcorders. The new burner joins JVC’s Everio Share Station and Sony’s latest AVCHD compatible VRD-MC5, announced a few weeks ago. Although Pixela’s new DVD burner provides one-touch DVD authoring, the company site is only able to confirm support for a limited crop of camcorders from previous years. 

Pixela’s new DVD burner, sportingly named the PIX-BU010-P01, connects to a camcorder via a USB 2.0 cable. The unit is fairly light and portable, weighing in at 565g and measuring 148mm x 181mm x 32mm. Only three controls are embedded on top of the burner—DVD/data switch, burn start, and disc eject. The DVD burner’s simplified interface speaks to the most basic consumer crowd.  

Currently, the most compelling direct DVD burner is likely Sony's VRD-MC5. It can support standard definition DVD, HDD, DV, and Digital8 camcorders of any brand via RCA and firewire terminals. The VRD-MC5 does have its shortcomings, however.  The burner only supports a select grouping of Sony AVCHD camcorders. The Everio Share Stations (CU-VD20 and CU-VD40) are strictly limited to Everio camcorder models. Pixela’s new DVD burner will support newer Panasonic camcorders, certain older Everio models, and a handful of Sonys and Toshibas, according to Pixela's website. However, it is likely that newer replacement models will be compatible with the new DVD Burner, due to unchanged codecs. (See table below).

Pixela DVD Burner Compatibility*
Panasonic	SDR-S100, SDR-S150, SDR-S10, SDR-H200, SDR-H20, SDR-H18
JVC	GZ-MC100, GZ-MC200, GZ-MC500, GZ-MG40, GZ-MG50, GZ-MG70, GZ-MG67, GZ-MG30, GZ-MG21 GZ-MG31 GZ-MG39
Sony	DCR-SR100 (Review, Specs, $999), DCR-SR60
Toshiba	GSC-R60, GSC-R30, MEHV10

None of the burners mentioned here offer HDV camcorder support. Also, neither the Sony nor the Pixela burner includes a video output for use with home TVs, which would go a long way in creating a truly all-in-one device that can convert, archive, and play back footage. The Everio CU-VD40 offers composite, component, and HDMI-out.