Sony DCR-DVD408 DVD Handycam

The PC World Test Center awarded the DCR-DVD408 a grade of Superior for video quality, and it earned high audio-quality marks as well. Even casual clips looked quite pleasing. Handheld video of kiteboarders using a 30-knot wind to skim quickly across water in blazing sunlight, images had crisp details, attractive colors, and outstanding exposure accuracy. The electronic image stabilization worked well, too, despite the stiff breeze.

The DCR-DVD408's still images were a mixed bag: Shots of flowers came out detailed and colorful, but outdoor photos taken in daylight using the camcorder's automatic white-balance setting suffered from a subtle yet off-putting blue cast. Overall, the PC World Test Center awarded the DCR-DVD408 a score of Good for its still images. One irritant is that you can't record still images directly to DVD; instead you have to save them to a Memory Stick Pro Duo card, which you must purchase separately.

Another wart on this camcorder is the LCD screen's disappointing reflective coating, which should have improved visibility in sunny conditions. Unfortunately, the screen has to be positioned at a precise angle to the sun to work at all--and even then most of the colors wash out. The coating did make the menus easer to read, however. The redeeming feature for work in bright sunlight is the DCR-DVD408's bright and sharp eye-level viewfinder, which can tilt upward to about 50 degrees, making it more comfortable to use than a model that's fixed at 0 degrees.

Recording time on a dual-layer DVD mini disc is roughly 35 minutes per side at the camera's highest video quality. Using Sony's extremely limited Picture Motion Browser software, you can download movie clips to your Windows PC before finalizing the disc--a process that prevents further recording on the disc, but makes it playable on most stand-alone DVD players.

The barebones software works only on Windows 2000- or XP-based systems, and the Mini DVD discs can't be slid properly into a Mac's slot-loading disc readers.

Its limitations notwithstanding, the DCR-DVD408 deserves a place on anyone's short list of camcorder contenders--but be prepared to purchase a good video-editing package that can handle DVD files to go with it.

Tracey Capen