Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sony VRDMC3 DVDirect DVD Recorder
Sony's new DVDirect VRD-MC3 allows both video and digital photos to be recorded to DVD without requiring a PC. The MC3 sports video inputs on one side for direct connection of a camcorder/VCR/DVR for easy direct recording of video to DVD. The MC3 also incorporates memory card slots for the 5 popular camera memory cards and will directly record images from the memory card to DVD as a slideshow or just for photo storage. The 2.5" color LCD screen makes it easy to preview video or view up to 4 digital pictures at a time. Enhanced connection to Sony HDD Handycam camcorders allows all the video on the Handycam to be recorded to DVD (full mode), or only new video shot since the last DVD burn (incremental mode) at up to 6X speed. . Support for 16:9 Wide Aspect and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound take full advantage of today's advanced camcorders. Connect the MC3 to your Windows XP or 2000 PC and make copies of your home video DVDs to enjoy and share with friends and family.
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