Sony Handycam DCR-DVD300 DVD Digital Camcorder

Sony DCR-DVD300 DVD Handycam

Handycam DCR-DVD300 DVD Digital Camcorder Review, by Bryan Hastings April 30, 2004

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• Reviewed by: afghani_rice

  Strengths: It has a nice 3.5" LCD. I like the idea of recording and popping the dvd in you dvd player. Battery lifetime is good if you dont use the lcd.

  Weaknesses: Lost 20 minutes of video also. It will not read one of the dvds but i can play it on my dvd player. I have doubts when i record, Will i lose this video? Should i continure recording? thats what i ask.

  Overall: Bought it for a vacation we had planned. Lost 20+ minutes of video. It does not read one of the mini dvds but i can play it on my dvd player. I would not buy this product again. I should have bought the min digital tapes. At least you dont have the worrys of losing data on disc. Discs are more fragile than the tapes. You can scratch a tape and it will work but it wont on a cd.

• Reviewed by: rvrey17

  Strengths: Quality is top shelf, it's easy to use and can be played back on most any DVD

  Weaknesses: Disks are about $10.00 and it loves eating up batteries (really no worse than some other models) Just get the BIG BATTERY and u won't have an issue

  Overall: Easy to learn and use, pic's are @ your finger tips everyone around u looks and keeps looking when they realize your recording on disk. Keep in mind their like audio disks treat them with respect and u will have them forever. Jusy Buy it.

• Reviewed by: fishreed

  Strengths: No rewinding tape to find a scene while filming. Fast, Simple and QUICK. This is the camcorder I have waited for 10 years to own. GOOD digital PIC camera too.

  Weaknesses: Power consumption is huge. BIG QM91 battery is a MUST. Battery supplied is only good for an hour using the LCD screen. Due to high demand, discs in local stores are scarce...GO TO INTERNET. Plentiful.

  Overall: This camera is a sweetheart and I have waited WAY too long for it. As with OBSOLETE ALL tape drive camcorder products, recordable DVD is the way of the future. Rewinding tape is NOT cool and will go away like this VHS tapes did. I use ONLY the Sony double sided DVD-RW 2.8gig ( Yes, double sided) which gives you 1 full hour of SP quality recording time. These double sided discs are availble for 19.00. In my case, I don't have a need for Sony's DVD-R 30 minute discs because once recorded and full they are NOT Erasable. I bought 4 of Sony's 2.8gig discs and that is 4 hours of recording time in the SP mode with HG and LP being available. This camera has a HUGE 3.5 flip-out color LCD screen AND a COLOR viewfinder for bright days. Add a 10x optical zoom, NightSHOT, Steadyshot, and a TON of other high end features and you have the camcorder that wont be obsolete in 5 years. After filling up my Sony DVD 300's 8cm DVD-RW disc I hook it to my computer's DVD writer and copy it off to a full size 4.7gb DVD-RW for later editing and moviemaking. I then reformat the cameras's 8cm DVD disc and start shooting all over again. In this way there is no "finalizing" the cameras disc since I will do that on my computer. If I want to see what I got, I just hook the camera up to my TV or computer and with the 300's remote control, I use the camera as the playback tool.This isn't rocket science.If you have a home computer with a DVD writer and 2.0 USB speed Sony's ImageMixer software makes it easy.

• Reviewed by: luvcedarpoint04

  Strengths: Ease of use

  Weaknesses: Cost of Discs. But i bought the RW's so i can reuse them. 6 discs are plenty for me. When i am done with each disc i take them home and copy them on my computer, to a CD.

  Overall: I have the Sony DVD 300. It replaces a sony Hi8. This camera is very user friendly. The picture quality is excellent. I used it on vacation in gatlinburg, and when i got home i popped it in my cd player. It was really awesome to be able to see the pics. The camera is really an excellent buy. I bought it at a price match at sears for 845.00 dollars. I would never pay the 1100 dollars that it stickers for.

• Reviewed by: Kensultant

  Strengths: It is a Sony, and that says a lot for the quality.The small DVD disk is easy to play back on a DVD player or DVD compatable computer.The camera works well in low light.

  Weaknesses: "Finalizing" the disk is required in order to be used in other equipment.The camera must remain still during "finalizing", and this can only be done while in the camera.

  Overall: This is a very nice camera and I would have rated it higher, but "Satisfactory" is the highest rating you can select if you would not purchase it again. We thought the disks would be easier to work with and less trouble. The disks are hard to find, and if you are in a tourist area with no camera shops around, they are impossible to find. The disks are fragile and easily damaged, a lot of time is lost handling the disk and preparing them for use in your DVD equipment. I lost about 20 minutes of filming due to a faulty disk that appeared to work fine at first. (I followed all instructions). I hope I am wrong, but this camera reminds me of the old SONY BETA equipment that was proprietary, and very hard to find media for. This is the first time I have ever written a review of a product, but I thought everyone should know the downside of this camera. I think you would be better served with one of the new Sony digital tape models.