Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed User
Review: I waited for this 2nd generation model to hit the market but I was nothing but disappointed. I purchased the DVD 201 through a retail chain 2 week ago and I see many yellow dots on the screen and it actually records to the DVD. The coloring looks distorted. It does not seem to happen outside and at first I thought it was low lighting so I bought a light which does not seem to help with the spots. With the shades open (in the house)the dots disappear, but once the shades are closed you see tons of dots again. I have a realitively well lite house in addition to using the 3 watt light on the hotshoe. I exchanged once already ( 2 weeks prior) because I thought it was a mfg defect but I am still having the same problem with the replacement. I have a work order number for repair from Sony that is the best they can do to resolve the issue. What a shame a brand new camcorder has to be serviced 2 weeks old and on top of it I have to pay shipping expenses. I returned it to the store again and am going to read reviews to find a better quality camera. I previously had a JVC which was great and currently they seem to have the better reviews than Sony and Canon. I don't think the DVD world is up to speed yet. Save your money until it is perfected.
Rating: 
Summary: Great deal thru Amazon
Review: If you compare the prices between buying directly thru Circuit City or on their website and Amazon (Circuit City), Amazon offers a better deal for your money. If you choose to go thru Amazon to pickup the product at Circuit City you can expect to be notified when to pick it up in 24hrs. If you track your order it will say that you'll get confirmation in 1 hour so that you can go down to Circuit City and pick it up - not correct. I got worried when the day passed and still no notice, but the next morning I got the email to pickup the product. It was worth waiting 24hrs because of the money I saved. The camcorder fits in the palm of your hand and I'm impressed with it.
Rating: 
Summary: sony DCR-DVD201 Handycam
Review: It does an excellant job shooting movies, but still camera has a lot to be desired. I bought the video flash light, it helps some, but I was expecting more for the still pictures
Rating:
Summary: Camera has problems with blank DVD-R discs
Review: The camera won't work with CompUSA DVD-R's (I tried a bunch of them). I don't know if it is the camera's fault or CompUSA's, but I recommend trying out the blank DVD-R's in the store before taking them home.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great camcorder-
Review: The DCRDVD201 camcorder is a pleasure to use because it is not difficult to operate, has many great features, and probably its best feature- it is very small and lightweight.
It does not take hours of user manual reading and fidgeting around with the camera to begin using it, and ocassionally referring to the manual to use its more complicated features is all you need to do.
The steady shot is always on and makes recording and viewing easy. The super night shot works well also, but unless your nocturnal, it doesn't get used too much.
The image mixer software that comes with the camera is not as self explanatory as the camera is, but with a little extra effort and time, the program is versatile and capable of handling all your editing needs.
The hype over the DVD camcorders is over done. Unless you buy and use the expensive little DVD-+R's to record onto, and have nothing to edit, there is little benefit to recording directly to a DVD. But if you use the DVD-RW's so you can edit, erase, and re-record, you are going through the motions of putting the video on your computer anyway; which you can do with miniDV or another recording format. In short, the DVD's that you record to is just temporary storage, if you, like most people will edit your recording before putting the video on a final DVD-+R.
I say all that to say- suprisingly, the picture quality is argueably not as good as miniDV and if you are going to have to transfer your recorded material to a computer to edit and finalize anyway- you may want to save yourself the extra $500 and buy a camcorder that doesn't record onto DVD-+R's.
Rating:
Summary: Glad I waited for this model to be released!!!!
Review: This is a nice camcorder it stacks up well against the competition regardless of recording medium. Feels solid, lcd doesn't wash out in the sunlight, small form factor and great image quality. The main reason I bought this because I wanted I wanted to go with DVD though. The main reason to choose DVD is for the convenience of being able to pop it in a home DVD player. The way it splits scenes into DVD chapters is a nice feature. It's obviously a trade off with being able to edit your footage easily as you can with DV tape, but I never got around to most of the editing I wanted to do. For me it is better to concentrate on shooting good quality video that doesn't need editing, similar to my preference for shooting well framed and exposed still images that don't need post processing.Now you can record directly onto 3-inch DVD-R and DVD-RW at resolutions comparable to MiniDV.
Best of all, the DVD media can easily be viewed on most current DVD players and PCs, making playback a snap. You can even capture still JPEG images up to a maximum resolution of 1152 x 864 thanks to its 1-megapixel CCD imager. It's like having both a camcorder and digital camera in one. The DCR-DVD201 also includes all of the options you'd want from a Sony camcorder, such as a Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® lens, 10X optical zoom, Super NightShot Plus night recording system and Super SteadyShot picture stabilization. Best of all, everything comes in a package that is 29% smaller and 23% lighter than the DCR-DVD200, making it easy to carry wherever you go. I throughly enjoy this recorder. I have not bought a camcorder for many years and was holding out for one that would record on a DVD, and this one was worth the weight! Here are some spelled out specs... hope the help you out! DCR-DVD201 Specifications 1. Imaging Device: 1/5", 1070K Gross Pixels Advanced HAD™ CCD
2. Video Actual: 690K Pixels
3. Still Actual: 1000K Pixels
4. F: 1.8 - 2.3
5. Focal Distance: 3.2 - 32mm
6. 35mm Conversion: 46 - 460mm (Camera Mode); 38 - 380mm (Memory Mode)
7. Filter Diameter: 25mm
8. Optical Zoom: 10X
9. Digital Zoom: 120X
10. Focusing: Full Range Auto/Manual (Multi-Selector)
11. Minimum Illumination: 7 Lux (0 Lux with Super NightShot Plus Infrared System)
12. NightShot® Infrared System: Super NightShot Plus
13. Shutter Speed: Auto, 1/4-1/4000 sec (Program AE, Slow Shutter)
14. Memory Mode: 1152 x 864, 640 x 480
15. Viewfinder: Color, 123K Pixels
16. LCD: 2.5" (123K) Hybrid Color
17. Accessory Shoe: Intelligent
18. Video Input/Output: Multi A/V, Special
19. Audio Input/Output: Stereo, Special
20. USB: 2.0
21. Mic. Input: Stereo
22. White Balance: Auto/Outdoor/Indoor/Hold (Multi-Selector)
23. Exposure: Multi-Selector (24 Steps)
24. Power Consumption (VF/LCD/VF+LCD): 4.1W/4.4W/4.6W
25. Software OS Compatibility: Microsoft® Windows® Me, 2000 Professional, XP Home, XP Professional
26. Dimensions: 2" W x 3.5" H x 5.3" D 27. Weight: 1 lb. 1 oz. without disc and battery DCR-DVD201 Supplied Accessories 1. AC-L15A Power Adaptor/In Camera Charger
2. NP-FM50 InfoLithium® Rechargeable Battery
3. Wireless Remote Commander®
4. CR2025 Battery
5. Special Stereo A/V+S Cable
6. Lens Cap
7. Cleaning Cloth
8. Shoulder Strap
9. Blank DVD-R Media
10. USB Cable
11. CD-ROM with USB Driver (Pixela ImageMixer™ Ver. 1.5 for Sony)
Rating:
Summary: No need for a computer!
Review: This is our first camcorder. Admittedly we were intimidated by all of the choices and formats on the market. This DVD camcorder is a wonderful option because you do not need to use a computer or any additional equipment to watch your movies. If you do desire to do editing with your PC, you can do it with a usb port and unlike many other camcorder formats you do not need a firewire. We have a DVD player (not even a new or fancy one) and we are able to pop the DVD right from the camcorder into the DVD player and watch it right away - no extra steps. There is no need to plug the camcorder into a vcr or tv to play it if you have a dvd player. To us that made it worth the extra cost beyond that of a minidv camcorder. In addition, the DVD media is a lot more permanent than most tape formats as a DVD will last a much longer time - no need to transfer it into another form for archiving. The DVDs can even be played on the sony playstation game players.
If you don't want to buy a lot of extra equipment for a computer and you want instant gratification where you can view your movies quickly and archive them without hassle, this is the camcorder for you!
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING...DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA
Review: TO START OFF, SONY LIED IN THE PROMOTION OF THIS CAMERA...IT HAS NO COMPATIBLE MICROPHONES TO MOUNT ON THE INTELLISHUE...IT HAS NO SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE FORMAT OF THIS CAMERA...THE PICTURE QUALITY IS NOT AS GOOD AS MINI DV..I THINK MY 8MM MIGHT HAVE BETTER QUALITY...SONY MAKES ALL THESE CLAIMS AND THEY ARE NOT TRUE...THE SONY TECH TEAM THAT I HAVE TALKED TO FOR DAYS NOW DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE ABOUT THIS CAMERA..THEY ARE UNEDUCATED AND COULD NOT HELP ME IN THE LEAST WAY WHEN I CALLED TO GET HELP SOLVING THESE PROBLEMS ..NOW THAT I BROUGHT ALL THESE PROBLEMS TO THEIR ATTENTION..THEY SAY "TOUGH LUCK-THANKS FOR BUYING THIS CAMERA"...THIS IS FRAUD AND NOT TO MENTION THE HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT I GOT WHEN I TRIED TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS...I WOULD HAVE NEVER BOUGHT THIS CAMERA IF I WAS NOT TRICKED INTO BUYING IT FROM SONY...THE SOFTWARE SONY PROVIDES CRASHES CONSTANTLY AND IS LIMITED AND UNPREDICTIBLE WITH FLAWS IN YOUR FINAL PRODUCT...IF YOU PLAN TO DO EDITING OR WANT ACCESSORIES TO GO WITH YOUR CAMERA...THIS IS NOT THE CAMERA TO BUY...I AM VERY DISAPOINTED IN SONY WITH THIS PRODUCT...I LIKE DVD FORMAT...BUT SONY HAS NOT FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO IT RIGHT AND I AM STUCK WITH A VERY EXPENSIVE EXPERIMENTAL CAMERA THAT DOES NOT DO THE JOB THAT SONY CLAIMS IT WOULD..SAVE HALF YOUR MONEY AND GET A MINI DV CAMERA...SONY GOT ME ON THIS ONE...I WILL NOT BUY SONY ANYMORE DUE TO THE LYING AND UNWILLINGNESS TO MAKE GOOD ON THIS PIECE OF JUNK THEY SOLD ME...I SAY BOYCOTT SONY UNTIL THEY WAKE UP AND REALIZE THE CUSTOMERS ARE NOT GOING TO KEEP PAYING HIGH PRICES FOR POOR PRODUCTS...
Rating:
Summary: I would give it 5 Stars but...
Review: Unfortunatly only getting 1 Megapixel with still photography just doesn't cut it. Since I also own a Sony Digital Still Camera (MVC-CD300), which is a 3.3 Megapixel camera, I guess I was expecting better from this camera for still photography. After all, this one uses a DVD whereas the other uses a CD. Over all, though I agree that moving the videos and pictures you take onto your computer is a breeze. The video is easily edited and making a home movie for DVD is a breeze. The quality of watching the video played either from the camera itself or a DVD player on TV is great. Again, it's a GREAT video camera and if you don't own a digital still camera, you get both options from this device (just don't expect to get postcard-quality pictures out of it). This is the best personal DVD recorder that I have seen on the market to date.
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