Sony DCR-DVD205 Camcorder Reviewby Matt CullerPublished on Aug 17, 2006 5:00 AM
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Compression (5.0)
The DCR-DVD205 (Review, Specs, $384.99)’s compression system produces MPEG-2 video files. This is consistent with the nearly every DVD camcorder on the current market. If you’re concerned with how this relatively heavy compression will affect your video, then you should probably be already looking at MiniDV camcorders, which offer less compression and higher quality. Like the DCR-DVD105 (Review, Specs, $399.95), the DCR-DVD205 records at three different quality modes: HQ, SP, and LP (similar to Panasonic’s XP, SP, and LP recording modes). In HQ mode, the Sony DCR-DVD105 will yield approximately 20 minutes of playback/recording time; it produces 30 minutes in SP mode and 60 in LP mode. These qualities correspond to maximum bit rates. The highest data rate that a DVD camcorder can manage is 8.5 Mbps (which most manufacturers round up to 9Mbps). Compare this to MiniDV’s 25Mbps rate. Data rate is not the sole factor in image quality, but it certainly helps.
Media (5.0)
The Sony DCR-DVD205 records on three DVD disc types: 3-inch DVD-R, 3-inch DVD-RW, and 3-inch DVD+RW. It cannot record onto 3-inch DVD-RAM, a format that this year’s Panasonic and Hitachi camcorders accommodate. DVD-RAM and DVD-RW used to be the subjects of a strange format rivalry between Panasonic and Sony. It seems DVD-RW won, and is now available on both manufacturers’ lines, though Panasonic has kept DVD-RAM as well. Sony seems to have made the correct choice: DVD-RW as it allows multiple viewings and recordings and also plays back in many conventional players.
Editing (3.0)
The editing problems associated with DVD camcorder formats have been horrible. The MPEG-2 format often leaves users dependent on crappy proprietary software designed to provide the illusion of a solution, without providing independent, dependable large editing sources like Avid or Final Cut Pro. The DCR-DVD205 doesn’t ship with any proprietary software, which could be a good thing, but it seems that Sony has said goodbye to editing and instead banked on the fact that these camcorders (expensive and not too versatile) attract people who want to put the DVD in the player and press play. Sony therefore includes Nero Express 6 software with the camcorder. While this differentiates the DCR-DVD205 from the DCR-DVD203 (Review, Specs, $587.65), it’s not anything to write home about. This seems to be a really stripped down version of Nero, the well-known burning software, which allows the user to easily convert 3-inch DVD discs to regular size, using Nero to dump and burn. The user (I imagine) they have in mind is a person with a camcorder, a 3-inch DVD-RW disc, and a big stack of regular-size DVD-Rs, just shooting, ripping, burning, and repeating until the DVD-RW wears out.
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