Customer Reviews
From a long-time camcorder owner -- Outstanding!
I bought my first camcorder (a Sharp) in 1986, back in the days of the old shoulder-mounted units that were as big as a small car, and have owned about a half-dozen since then. I'm also a big-time photo buff (at one time I subsidized my income as a photographer).
This is, quite simply, the best camcorder I've ever owned, on many levels.
First of all, I really love recording directly to a DVD. It eliminates the middle step of using a tape that then has to be transferred to disc. That eliminates one group of media storage, and also eliminates the loss of quality involved in dubbing from tape to disc. Further, the DVD format records in digital mode, so the quality of the picture and sound is virtually High Def; orders of magnitude better than the analogue mode of VHS of whatever format (my last two camcorders were VHS-C). On top of that, every copy of the original disc is of the same superb quality, as the original is in digital format. It just doesn't get any better. Better yet, as soon as you've finished taping you can finalize the disc in-camera and just slap it into virtually any DVD player and watch it immediately, eliminating the need of some formats for connecting your camcorder to the TV.
If you're recording irreplaceable material, like home movies, the archival quality of discs far surpasses that of tape in test results on longevity.
The Zeiss lens gives you an amazing picture, virtually pro level, and the 5.1 surround sound matches the quality of the picture.
The picture stabilization system eliminates the "jittery" look of most home movies.
Its touch-screen operation is very intuitive, and a joy to use.
Its Night Shot infra red capability is simply amazing (though the one drawback to that mode is the greenish cast of the picture -- it's like I'm shooting an episode of "Cops"). However, you can still mount an external light source to the hot shoe if you wish to retain natural colors (and squints from your subjects). LOL
You can even record in wide-screen mode, to capture that movie-theater experience if you play your movies on newer TVs with that format capability.
It is very small and light, extraordinarily easy to carry and manipulate. The controls are all logically placed, and very easy to use.
I can't recommend this camera highly enough. The best non-pro videocam I've ever seen. I love it!
Great camera, Terrible DVD Authoring software
I echo many other reviewer's sentiments about the high quality Sony DCR-DVD403 camera - its great! I am quite concerned about the terrible things I have heard about Sony's support -- I hope I don't ever have to turn in my camera. Fortunately, so far my camera is working flawlessly. Some of the bundled software is a different story though -- what a disgrace! (details below)
Camera Strengths:
* fast startup -- just a second or so from 'off' to 'record'
* remarkably good color, brightness and contrast, even under low light and other marginal viewing conditions -- its magic!
* even when moving the camera or when shooting in a moving car I never noticed any 'skips' or 'drop-outs' -- very reliable
* good battery life ... can record several full DVDs w/LCD viewer using one NP-FP71 (hi-capacity battery)
* remarkably easy to use and effective optical zoom -- once you get the hang of it, zooming is both smooth and silent
* i am a DCR novice but there's few shots I can't shoot well in the camer's "EASY" (full auto) mode -- again, magic!
* if what you have shot is 'good enough' As-Is, then the camera's built-in 'Finalize' function creates a DVD that can be played in any DVD player & the auto-menu feature works fine.
* the camera itself w/the 'RCA' cable is an effective DVD player (small DVDs only), or plays un-'finalized' video ... the included remote is small and convenient
* the included PC software to download the video clips (as MPG files) to your PC seems is pretty easy to use and works fine
* the included PC software to edit your video clips -- to remove undesired portions of your video clips -- has a slick GUI and seems to work fine. It outputs new (smaller) MPG files
Camera Challenges:
* nit: the disk cover occaisionally 'snags' on the velcro strap handle -- when the cover is open the camera does not sit well on even flat surfaces and puts a stress on the LCD monitor
* nit: the unnecessary multi-second "SONY disc recommended" message each time you boot the camera is ANNOYING. *sigh*
* MAJOR: their bundled ImageMixer EasyStep DVD software is -- simply stated -- terrible! Problems include:
1) when the software encounters errors it often exits! you get NO error message and it simply shuts the window. what's up with _that_? I submit that in today's technology that's criminally negligent software behavior
2) the software sometimes pukes on large clips (>100MB each) ... what's up with that? (100MB is NOT large for video)
3) sometimes -- for no reason I could discover -- the software pukes while building the DVD image. *whatever*
4) even when it works, the software does NOT allow you to define the order your clips appear on the DVD, and it has a severely limited menu building capability. *sigh*
5) the software ONLY allows you to create DVDs using the camera itself, which means are stuck creating little DVDs that are only about 30 minutes long. In other words, even if you have your own DVD burner you can't write to that. *sigh*
Unless you are creating only short, simple DVDs don't waste your time trying to use ImageMixer EasyStep DVD. I whole-heartedly thank N. Bennett -- see review #10 for this camera -- who suggested using the included Sony software to download and edit the MPG clips (which I do), then use TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6 to author a DVD image using the MPG files as input. That software gives you full control over the order of the clips and how the DVD menu is structured. That was all I was looking for (i.e., it doesn't do video editing, a whole other story). As the final step I use Nero Express to burn the DVD (works great), but likely any DVD burning tool can be used to write your file system-based DVD 'image' onto blank (full-size) DVDs.
Bottom Line: The Sony DCR-DVD403 is a terrific camera -- I highly recommend it. But plan on using alternative software to author and burn your DVD's. I would have given Sony 5 stars overall but held one star back because of their simply terrible bundled DVD authoring software.
Impressive!
This camera is smaller than it looks online. I tried it out at Circuit City first to ensure the 8mm DVD's would be compatable with my older player. The software that comes with this camera is quirky and no upgrades from Sony have been issued yet. I'm still looking for easy to use editing software for this camera. But the video looks great on my tv and makes me look like a pro. It makes it's own chapters & thumbnails. Your family will be impressed when you send them your vacation photos shot with this camera.
