Get the Facts with DVD Camcorder Reviews

by Mark Sturge

One of the latest technological toys on the market is DVD camcorders. DVD camcorders are unique devices that allow you to record video directly to a disk that you can put in your DVD player to watch, or put in your PC to edit. While this sounds really nifty, what you will discover when you read most DVD camcorder reviews that have been written by techies, is that the DVD camcorder is far from perfect.

Although the new DVD camcorder models are close to achieving the same level of picture quality as the MiniDV, they aren't quite there yet. That being said, DVD camcorders shouldn't be overlooked if owning one truly interests you. The reason is because there are some exceptional models on the market that may be worth your while if you wish to obtain this technology.

One of the better models out there is the Sony DCR-DVD403. In fact, according to some DVD camcorder reviews, this particular model is considered to be one of the most advanced DVD camcorders to date. It is celebrated for capturing wonderful stills and impressive video. That being said, when compared to the top-of-the-line MiniDV's out there, it still can't match their superior picture quality. Furthermore, this DVD camcorder uses an MPEG2 compression, which is considered to be worse than the compression methods used by the MiniDV.

In other words, the problem with many DVD camcorders, aside from their expensive price tag, is that their heavy compression causes images to lose quality. Basically, the image that comes through the lens and on to the sensor of the DVD camcorder is exceptional, but it loses its quality as soon as it is compressed down into DVD format. This is currently the problem that DVD camcorder manufacturers need to overcome.

Something else that needs to be taken into account when considering DVD camcorders is DVD disk technology. DVD disks are endowed with a technology known as "transparency". This type of technology allows the user to record video you can instantly play, edit, and share with no strings attached. While the technology does exist it still hasn't been totally perfected.

Another aspect that you need to consider about DVD camcorders is that most of the disks you use will need to be finalized in order for your DVD player to be able to read them. DVD camcorders come with the feature to finalize the disk so you shouldn't have a problem with this procedure.

As far as DVD disks are concerned there are different ones that you can use. For instance, there are DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM disks. DVD-R and DVD+R hold approximately 30 minutes of video, as does DVD+RW. However, the major difference between DVD+RW and DVD -R and +R is that a DVD+RW is a re-writable disk, which means that it can be recorded over and used more than once. These disks do not need to be finalized. A DVD-RAM disk, on the other hand, can hold more video than the others, and produces slightly better images. However, the images on the disk need to first be transferred to a PC, as most DVD players can not play the format of this disk.

Finally, if you are really interested in getting a DVD camcorder, you should check out plenty of DVD camcorder reviews about the camcorder you are interested in buying before you make any final decisions. Find out whether or not purchasing a DVD camcorder is worth your while, or if you should just stick to the MiniDV.

About the Author

Mark Sturge is the owner of KMS Productions and webmaster at kmsvideo.com. A site where visitors can find digital camcorder reviews such as the Sony DVD range as well as useful hints and tips to better their filming techniques.

http://www.allaboutcamcorders.com