electronics Sony DCR-DVD203 DVD Camcorder opinions and reviews

Sony DCR-DVD203 DVD Camcorder

Sony DCR-DVD203 is an extremely compact dvd camcorder handycam embracing many of the features present in DCR-DVD403. And weighing just over a pound, it is lighter as compared to the DVD403.

Controls on the DVD203 are simple and unfussy. You will only be able to locate buttons for all the standard features. Having touch-sensitive buttons is not a bad idea but you need to press them so tightly that invariably you end up tilting the camera.

Feature wise, DCR-DVD203 utilizes a 1/5.5-inch CCD, with a 690,000-pixel resolution for video and 1 megapixel for stills. You can make use of the 12X optical zoom. Like most of Sony’s latest camcorders, this one is also capable of performing in both normal (4:3) and wide-screen (16:9) mode.

DVD203 encompasses manual exposure and focus options as well as six auto exposure presets. Sony's Super NightShot Plus infrared mode can be exploited in low-light conditions.

The handycam includes a stereo audio microphone. In addition, it also supports Sony's optional ECM-HQP1 surround-sound microphone.

DVD203 comes with disc writing and rewriting capabilities. In the rewriting discs, you have the facility to split, reorganize, and remove scenes. The camera doesn’t have a Memory Stick slot and so stores stills on DVD.

You are provided with a USB cable for video transfer. There is no FireWire port and even the editing software is compliant only with Windows PCs.

Start up time of DVD203 is very prompt and the only noticeable lag is observed when images are being written to the disc.

Auto focus and exposure is precise in most lighting environments. The 2.7-inch wide-screen LCD is clear in bright sunshine too. The small size doesn’t aid in manual focussing though.

Sound features aren’t exceptional. The built-in microphone performs decently but using the optional external surround microphone is recommended.

Battery life is average at 85 minutes when the LCD is constantly used.

Image quality is good in most conditions though some drop in performance is observable in dim lighting. Having only 1-megapixel capability, the lack of accuracy and improper colour rendition is seen in some images. Video shooting is also acceptable but the unnatural colour capturing can put you off. And like the stills, it also falters in low-light.

DVD203 may not shoot good videos in low-light conditions and even still photographs do not look all that great. Still, it’s not a bad, economical substitute for ones who cannot afford the DVD403.