Sony DVDirect Recorder

Often when I am out away from home shooting with my digital camera or camcorder I will get asked for a copy of the images or video I am shooting. Or sometimes I run out of disk space on my media cards. I hate breaking out the computer downloading and then burning a DVD or CD. When I saw this product today a light when on and I think this just might help solve some of my problems. The Sony DVDirect recorder allows me to take digital files digital stills or video and without the use of a computer burn the data directly on a DVD. It seems to have all the connections CF, Firewire, S-Video and Composite Video inputs and much more. It also has a small (maybe too small for me) 2” display to view the video or digital images. It looks like the data is transferred directly with no adjustment to the original files. However it also allows you to burn the video or pictures in a format that you can display directly in most DVD players. This seems like a cool little tool and for $300 I might just pick it up after I pay off my holiday credit cards.

More details below.

Sony's latest DVDirect recorder burns digital photos and home videos onto DVD discs without a computer

Sony Electronics Inc., San Diego, Calif., USA, introduced a new DVDirect recorder that allows both digital photos and home videos to be recorded onto discs without the need for a computer. The new VRD-MC1 recorder can transfer home video footage in real-time from a camcorder or VCR tape to a DVD without a computer, and also enables "computer free" recording of digital still images directly from memory cards to DVD as a slide show for playback on most home DVD players and PC DVD-ROM drives.

For home video transfers, the VRD-MC1 includes a digital video (DV) input (i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394) that allows for quick and easy high-quality video transfers from a digital camcorder, including full camcorder control from the DVDirect recorder in synchronized recording mode, says the company. It also has analog S-Video and Composite Video inputs.

The new model can record digital still images directly from a Memory Stick and Memory Stick Duo storage media, Compact Flash, Secure Digital, and xD cards to a DVD, creating a slide show that can be played back on a DVD player, or used as a backup DVD of the images for storage or printing. When recording digital images, the DVDirect recorder keeps the JPEG files in their original high-resolution format, and is capable of printing them directly from a photo DVD to a PictBridge-enabled printer.

The VRD-MC1 features a two-inch color LCD screen for previewing video and images when used in stand-alone mode. It can burn up to 12 hours of high-quality hardware encoded MPEG-2 video on DVD+R DL Double Layer discs, or up to six hours of video or up to 2,000 photos onto supported standard single layer discs. These discs can then be played back and enjoyed on most home DVD players or computer DVD-ROM drives. The VRD-MC1 recorder also comes with the Nero software suite to use when it is attached to a PC via Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0), giving users the ability to jazz up their home movies and digital pictures.

The new DVDirect recorder (model VRD-MC1) will be available early next month for $299. Pre-orders are now being accepted on SonyStyle.com. Sony will continue to offer the existing video-only VRD-VC20 model for about $230. Sony DVD/CD rewritable drives are sold through SonyStyle.com, at Sony Style retail stores nationwide, and at authorized resellers and retailers nationwide, through certain mail order catalogs, and select online shopping sites.