Sony DCR-DVD101

The Sony DCR-DVD101 Handycam is smaller and lighter than last year's DCR-DVD100. It's slick-looking, and we love the convenience of recording directly to DVD, but the geek in us is compelled to note that though watching the video on TV may hide the limitations inherent in DVD video, these limitations become readily apparent when you view or edit the DVD101's video on a PC. If you must have the convenience of a DVD camcorder, the Sony DCR-DVD201 Handycam is by far a better choice, even at $100 more.

The DVD101 incorporates a Carl Zeiss 10X optical zoom lens and a 1/6-inch CCD (340,000 effective pixels). We like that the Record Start/Stop button is conveniently located on the 2.5-inch LCD, which rotates 270 degrees. Flipping the LCD open reveals buttons for playback, menu/setup, focus, exposure, and fader. Instead of a touch screen, the DCR-DVD101 has a four-way menu navigation pad. Users with large fingers, who may have trouble navigating via touch-screen, should appreciate this. The microphone is well positioned, preventing accidental finger masking, but we wish the zoom control protruded just a bit more. The unit has a USB 2.0 port as well as AV, mic, and remote jacks.

After you've finished recording video and photos, you have to "finalize" the DVD (which cannot thereafter be reused) before you can play it in a standalone DVD player. This may take a few minutes, depending on how much data has been stored; during this phase, you have to keep the camcorder plugged in and not bump or move it. One advantage the DCR-DVD101 has over tape-based camcorders is the ability to preview video thumbnails and still photos as slide shows before disc finalization. We also like that it stores still photos in JPEG on DVD along with video, letting you capture thousands of stills and display them on a TV via your DVD player.

The DVD101's video quality, viewed on a PC monitor, was poor. We attribute this at least partly to the DVD-based camcorder method of capturing to highly compressed MPEG-2 files using a constant bit rate. Compare this with DV tape camcorders, which can use a variable bit rate to allow for less compression when needed, such as in action shots. The DVD101's audio is just about on a par with that of other camcorders.

In our "talking head" scene, the subject's edges appeared saw-toothed, and there was an overall loss of detail due to MPEG compression and the low-resolution CCD. Dynamic range seemed balanced, with decent contrast, though subtle details were hard to distinguish, especially in the darkest areas. Colors seemed realistic, though it was hard to confirm colors on smaller objects because of sharpness issues. We did see artifacts and jagged edges in this shot. This camcorder had trouble shooting in low light using auto settings (we perform all tests using auto settings), producing a very dark, noisy picture. The DVD101 does, however, offer a night-shooting mode.

In our action test scene, autofocus lagged badly both with faster movements and when the frame was empty (the camcorder had trouble focusing on our gray backdrop). Motion artifacts were evident, but less distracting than the focus issues. Shooting our Gretag-Macbeth color chart revealed accurate colors for the most part; the grayscale was a bit warm, while the reds appeared a bit too orange.

To be fair, we also viewed the video through a set-top DVD player on a TV, which is what most consumers will do. TVs, having lower-resolution screens than PC monitors, are much more forgiving, and many of our objections to the DVD101's video quality were hidden. This is the case with video from most camcorders, however. Additionally, even when viewed in this manner, the DVD101's video's sharpness and color detail were clearly not as good as that of the DVD201.

This unit's still-capture capabilities are about what we'd expect, considering its low 640-by-480 resolution. The DVD101's pixel-transition ratio averaged a completely unacceptable 10.7 percent. ISO resolution results averaged a dismal 262.5 lines. The simulated-daylight shot's focus was soft and somewhat grainy, but with adequate exposure—if a bit on the warm side. The camcorder has no built-in flash, though it does have a hot shoe for an external one.

The convenience of the DVD format just can't make up for the inferior video quality of this camcorder. If you want a DVD camcorder, we'd recommend paying the extra hundred dollars for our Editors' Choice, the DCR-DVD201.

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