Sony's VRD-MC3 DVDirect recorder lets you burn video and photos to DVD from a whole lot of sources without needing a PC. Among the supported sources are camcorders (tape, DVD, hard disk), digital stills cameras, memory cards, VCRs and HDD recorders including, it seems, PVRs such as those for Sky, Telewest and Freeview.
To us, that makes it one of those "Why-didn't-I-think-of-that?" products that's certain to sell in big numbers – if the price is right - leaving us wondering why Sony is only now planning to launch in Europe when previous-generation DVDirect recorders have been sold in the USA, Japan and elsewhere?
Two models will be arriving in the UK in October - the all-singing-dancing VRD-MC3, at around £239 inc VAT, and a cheaper, video-only variant, the £189 VRD-VC30. Site visitors from Euroland and Dollarsville might care to know the likely damage in their currencies - VRD-VC30, 249 Euro (inc VAT) and US$200; VRD-MC3, 299 Euro and US$250.
Will people go for DVDirect at these price-points? We're not sure - though the US-dollar prices do look rather more attractive - but neither machine is pitched so high, even in Sterling or Euros, that it would be disregarded off hand.
Each has a built-in LCD for previewing and control (2.5in colour for the MC3 and 2in mono on the VC30), records to DVD in real-time and is, Sony claims, "extremely easy to use".
Commenting on the forthcoming launches, Christoph Cyrol, Sony Europe's product marketing manager said, "There is no other product on the market which makes it so easy to burn a DVD from your recordings, both for safekeeping and making them accessible with any DVD player or computer."
VRD-MC3 in action (click for
larger image)Sony claims that DVDirect recorders work with virtually any make and model of camera or playback device, thanks to its range of analogue and digital inputs.
The list takes in USB 2.0, four-pin FireWire/i.Link (IEEE 1394a/FireWire 400), S-video, composite video (phono) and L/R audio (phono).
Both Sony recorders can take in stills from digital cameras via USB but the VRD-MC3 also has built in slots to read five types of memory card - SD (Secure Digital), Compact Flash, xD-Picture Card and Sony's own Memory Stick and Memory Stick Duo.
Another appealing feature with the VRD-MC3 is its ability interact with PictBridge-compatible photo printers so that stills can also be printed without needing a PC.
Although the strongest selling point for the DVDirect recorders is that anyone can use them – not just PC owners – the gadgets can be connected to Windows PCs via USB to act as external DVD burners.
And they come bundled with software - the Nero Essentials suite – providing tools for DVD authoring, editing and burning, slideshow-creation, video DVD playback and label-creation. Nero also adds CD-R/RW options that are absent when using the recorders in standalone mode.
VRD-VC30 video-only modelBoth models support Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and 4:3 and 16:9 video aspect ratios. They can also write to DVD+R double-layer discs and that's reckoned to allow up to eight hours of high-quality hardware-encoded MPEG-2 video on one disc – or 4,000 stills in the case of the range-leading VRD-MC3. Sony says, though that DL support is only provided through analogue and FireWire and in PC mode.
Even without using expensive double-layer discs, though, users can by Sony reckoning easily consolidate the contents of three 8cm camcorder DVDs onto a cheapie single-layer 12cm DVD.
The DVDirect recorders have one other trick up their sleeves – the ability to synchronise with the DCR-SR90E and other future members of Sony's hard-disk-based Handycam camcorder family. In the USA, compatible models are the DCR-SR80, DCR-SR60 and DCR-SR40. DVDirect recorders are said to be able to automatically detect the newest content and copy it across to DVD at the push of the DVD-burn button on the Handycam's own base-station.
In computer-attached mode, the VRD-MC3 and VRD-VC30 are reckoned to burn DVD+R and DVD-R discs at up to 16x max. Both also support 8x DVD-R, DL/DVD+R, DL/+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 40x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.
If these DVDirect recorders work as Sony says, we do reckon that the company's has to be onto a big winner. But what do you think; have we missed some obvious flaws? Tell us your thoughts over in this thread in the HEXUS.community.
Update - July 19, 14:05
One way or another, Sony has now provided answers to all our outstanding queries, so the article has been updated in various place to incorporate this new information.
We've also made multiple changes to reflect the fact that, although DVDirect is new to Europe, these are third-generation models. They follow two previous series of products that were sold in the USA, Japan and elsewhere - something that was in no way apparent in the information we'd originally received from Sony Europe. D'oh!
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: Discussion thread about this article
Sony - DVDirect home page (not a lot there right now, mind)
Sony - DCR-SR90E home page
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