Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder

Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder
by Sony

List Price: ~~$249.99~~
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Category: CE
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Customers in the UK, buy this product at amazon.co.uk for British Pounds

Digital Photo Product Details

Manufacturer: Sony
Release Date: 2006-10-09
Model: VRDMC3
Product features:

Makes home movie DVDs you can easily share and enjoy
Connects directly to your camcorder or VCR, no PC required
Compatible wtih i.LINK/FireWire through DV input
Records on DVD+R/+RW discs and DVD+R DL double layer discs
Can also be connected to computer via USB 2.0 connection for up to 16x DVD burning

Accessories:

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder

Customer Review: I love this thing
Summary: 5 Stars

I received the Sony VC30 model for Christmas, and enchanged it for the MC3 to get the color screen (and glad I did). I was a bit leary after reading the reviews here, but I've just finished converting our entire collection of home movies from VHS, 8mm, hi8 and miniDV tapes to DVD.

I've used only Sony brand, single-layer blanks (both +R and -R, but +R seems to yield better playback) and have had no problems. I've made close to 200 DVDs with only two "coasters" that would not finalize after recording. I've done most of my recording on the SP mode, putting two hours on a DVD. After testing different settings, I couldn't tell any difference (viewed on 55" and 32" TVs) between the HQ and SP settings for my older videos (some 25 years old), but could definitely tell on the newer recordings, especially those with a lot of motion (such as water skiing and other sports). So for those, I chose only the HQ setting.

All recording is done in real time, and there have been weekend days when the thing has been going all day and evening. I've connected it to a VCR, and 8mm and miniDV camcorders. When using the VCR, the color screen on the MC3 is very handy. Using an S-cable yields slightly better picture than standard video cables. For the miniDV camcorder, I use firewire and this has an added benefit of recording only the recorded video on the camcorder, shutting off when the recorded video ends. (When using a VCR or older camcorder, you have to watch for it to end and manually turn off the burn.)

The menus the MC3 creates are fine for my purposes. It will create a new "title," which shows up as a separate "window" on the start-up menu, every time the MC3 is stopped (if you just pause it, it won't create a new title). I set the MC3 to create chapter stops every five minutes, which is handy when skipping through video on playback. If I'm burning a DVD of, say, my daughter's birthdays, I'll create a new "title" for every birthday. On playback, each "title" shows up separately on the start-up menu, but the entire contents of the DVD will playback at once, with a new "title" starting when another ends. For misc. tapes that have a variety of short segments, I've found it easier to record it all to a DVD, then view it and note the times of the various segments. Then I re-record it to DVD, creating separate "titles" by stopping the MC3 when a segment ends. (I'm keeping the first copies as backups.) I haven't found a way to create a chapter stop manually; there are some instances where this would be handy.

Overall, the MC3 has been fantastic. I've been putting off this project for years, not wanting to have to do it via computer, and now I have it all on DVD, at reasonable cost.

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Description of Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder

The VRD-MC3 is the next generation in DVDirect DVD recorders. Easily transfer home video and digital photos to DVD without a PC. Connect virtually any camcorder, VCR or Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and record video to DVD in real time. Insert a Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Secure Digital (SD), xD Picture card or Compact Flash (CF) memory card into the MC3 recorder and record digital pictures directly to DVD as a slideshow, or for photo storage. Enhanced connectivity to the HDD Handycam family will record all video to DVD (full mode) or just whats new from your last DVD burn (incremental mode). Using a USB cable, you can connect to Windows XP/2000 PC to make DVD copies to share.

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