Sony Announces DCR-PD120BT: Replacement to Popular PC110

by Robin Liss
Published on Nov 11, 2001 12:00 AM



After releasing it in Japan, Europe and Canada Sony has finally announced the new MiniDV DCR-PC120BT in the U.S. The camcorder is the replacement for the popular PC110, which replaced the very popular PC110. The camcorder is now equipped with wireless networking capabilities, in addition to more CCD pixels, these are the only major upgrades.

The camcorder packs a 1.5 Mega Pixel CCD like it's horizontal sister, the DCR-TRV30. These extra 500,000 pixels aren't really going to effect the video picture quality, they will only effect the still image capabilities of the camcorder. Although the video horizontal resolution is rated at 530 lines. The PC120BT can now take 1360 x 1020 still images whereas the PC110 could only take 1152 x 864, not really a huge improvement. The pictures are saved to a Memory Stick.

The other major upgrade is the addition of Bluetooth wireless networking technology. This is why Sony called it a network Handycam. The camcorder includes a component which you can hook up to a normal analog cell phone. The camcorder communicates wirelessly to the "modem" which can be placed up to 30 ft away. The addition of Bluetooth allows the user also to connect to the internet with the camcorder and a cell phone. Once connected, users can upload images to Sony's picture sharing web site and create an online picture album. Users can also e-mail the pictures to friends and family. The camcorder can also send and achieve small e-mails. Along with all the communication abilities the camcorder can surf the web and save web pages to a Memory Stick. Sony wasn't quite clear on what the accessibility options are with the internet connection. They said that they will be offering an online service but they did not clarify if people could use the camcorder with their existing internet service providers or AOL.

Like the TRV30 and other Sony camcorders the PC120BT can record MPEG video onto the memory stick. Here is a bit about the MPEG video from our TRV30 review, which applies to the PC120BT. "You can also save 60 seconds of pretty poor quality, 160 x 112 resolution MPEG video to the Memory Stick or you can store up to 15 seconds of 320 x 240 resolution MPEG video. Sony makes up to 128 MB memory sticks currently so you could save in my estimation up to 32 minutes of 160 x 112 resolution or 8 minutes of 320 x 240 resolution MPEG video on one stick. That's really not that bad, but the 128 MB memory stick costs around $150. You can transfer the movies and the stills to your computer using a supplied USB cable, but IT DOES NOT allow you to transfer video from your tape to your computer."

The camcorder packs a Carl Zeiss lens with a 10x optical, 120x digital zoom. The camcorder also has the standard steady shot and night shot features that come with all Sony camcorders. The camcorder is expected to have a MSRP around $2,000, although I would be surprised if they tried to sell it for anything over $1400. The camcorder weighs 1-pound, 4-ounces.