DVD-R/DVD-RAM Test

Reviews on DVD-R/DVD-RAM

"The Labs: Pocket digital camcorders"

Issue: 9/2008

On test: Sanyo VPC-CG9, Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD700, Canon HF10, Sony HDR-TG3

With pocket digital cameras now recording in HD and becoming ever more affordable, now could be the ideal time to pick one up. PC Pro reviews a selection of ten to help you decide. → More

"Samsung VP-HMX10 Review"

Published on: 4/2008

On test: Samsung VP-HMX10

High definition seems to be the it word of 2007-2008 in the technological world. Although it started out as in high end products it is becoming more and more common in less expensive smaller camcorders. So can a manufacturer like Samsung bring HD shooting to the masses with its VP-HMX10. → More

"Canon DC201 DVD Camcorder"

Published on: 2/2008

On test: Canon DC201

The DVD camcorder used to command a premium. But now you can pick them up for a similarly low cost to DV models. The Canon DC201 is one of the most economical we've seen yet. Coming in at under £200, it's virtually pocket money by camcorder standards. Only a few models from Samsung and Hitachi are currently cheaper. So what is the DC201 missing to allow its keen price? → More

"Panasonic HDC-SX5 'hybrid' camcorder"

Published on: 8/2007

On test: Panasonic HDC-SX5

The first high-definition camcorders to reach the consumer used the tape-based HDV format, which records on the same tape form factor as DV. However, although HDV uses MPEG-2 compression, it still requires quite a high data rate, so HDV hasn’t made the transition to hard disk and DVD-based camcorders – with the notable exception of JVC’s Everio GZ-HD7E. Instead, a new MPEG-4-based compression format was developed by Sony and Panasonic called AVCHD. Sony was the first to release AVCHD products, but now Panasonic is rapidly catching up. Latest to join its line-up is the HDC-SX5. However, Panasonic has gone one better and created what it calls a Hybrid camcorder. This refers to the fact the SX5 has two video recording options. You can either record to 8cm DVD disc, or plug in a stick of SDHC memory and capture your video to that. With the latter now up to 8GB for well under £100, where a single-layer 8cm DVD only offers 2.8GB, it’s starting to look like the preferable choice. → More

DVD-R/DVD-RAM

DVD camcorders have been available for a while now, but have never really caught on or been able to depose DV as the standard consumer digital film format. Is contrast to DV, which retained magnetic tape as the transport medium, DVD camcorders use a small 8cm DVD disc and record in MPEG-2 to make the discs instantly playable in consumer DVD players and PCs. Many recorders will only work with one DVD format, either plus or minus, but some, notable Sony, support both. DVDram and DVDrw are rewritable media and can be written and rewritten many times over. An 8cm DVD can be used to record 30 minutes of DVD quality video or 60 minutes in long play. This compares to miniDV's 60 and 90 minutes. Digital recording offers the user many advantages when it comes to editing, DVD video however uses interframe compression, so every frame relies on the surrounding group of frames to determine compression. This has the result that edits can sometimes not be make frame by frame and when cuts are made the quality at the cut point will suffer as the whole set of frames must be re-edited. The benefit of DVD is that is faster to transfer to a PC or editor. With DV video, video is transferred in real time, so for a 60 minute video, it will take 60 minutes to transfer. DV also takes up a lot of space – 14GB for an hour of film. Aside from the compression problems, DVD cameras are also far more expensive than DV based models, prices start at over three hundred pounds for a basic model.