Sony DCR-DVD650 – An Entry Level Camcorder
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
User friendly touch screen interface, options to record on disc or internal memory.
Thumbs Down:
Video quality is not that good.
Inside the Trunk:
Sony Picture Motion Browser, utilities and drivers.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony DCR-DVD650 has 2000x digital zoom, optical sensor size is 1/8”, advanced HAD CCD, minimum illumination is 6 lux. Analog video format is NTSC, Digital Video Format is MPEG-2 for storing videos.
Minimum shutter speed is ¼ sec and maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 seconds. Camcorder effective still resolution is 0.34 mega pixels, Camcorder interpolated still resolution is 0.68 mega pixels. Photographs are stored in JPEG format. There is 16 GB for integrated flash memory for storing videos and photos.
Media Type include Flash card, DVD+RW (8cm), DVD-R (8cm), DVD+R DL (8cm), DVD-RW (8 cm)
Lens type is Zoom lens – 1.8 mm – 108 mm – F/1.8-6.0, has focal length of 1.8 mm – 108 mm and lens aperture F/1.8-6.0, has 60x optical zoom. It has minimum focal length of 1.8mm, maximum focal length of 108 mm and the lens is manufactured by Carl Zeiss.
Shooting programs are Beach, Snow, Sunset, Candle, Fireworks, Sunrise, Landscape, Sports mode, Spotlight, Twilight mode and Portrait mode. Additional features include touch screen control, built in speaker, Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel), USB 2.0 compatibility.
LCD display is TFT active matrix of 2.7 inches. Connection ports include S-Video output, Composite video/audio output, USB and expansion slot is Memory Stick PRO Duo card slot
For PC connectivity, OS supported is MS Windows Vista, MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000. The camcorder comes with 1 year warranty.
Razzle Dazzle:
Sony DCR-DVD650 is available in options of two colors – black and silver and the physical button controls on the device are pretty much like regular camcorders that we are used to seeing. This is a typical camcorder and the controls on the body are also pretty much like other camcorders but this doesn’t mean it is ugly or boring. Holding the camcorder was easy with the hand strap given.
Inside Dope:
We were always uncomfortable with recording video directly on to the DVD discs within the player and one of the reasons for this was the moving parts reduce the life of the battery. But then, there came in the concept of internal memory flash drives and the memory capacity has got bigger and hence it has made way in to the camcorders.
There is a 60x zoom feature on the camcorder and it is user friendly, there are two reasons behind this, firstly because the camcorder has a touch screen interface so you are not overwhelmed with too many buttons and secondly, there is shortage of options for shooting. You can also record and store video on Sony cards of Memory Stick but video quality is mediocre and you will see the inferiority vividly when you watch it on an HDTV.
If you have a larger wallet or if you are a camcorder enthusiast, you can get DVD850 which will set you back by $429.99. You can store videos on the memory card and then burn them to the three inch DVD disc directly on the camcorder. There is also internal memory of 16 GB. For audio you won’t complain much with the Dolby Digital 5.1 feature.
The battery peeps out from the lower end of the unit and for the electronic viewfinder there is an extendable eyepiece which will turn on when you larger LCD is closed. There is a compartment below the lens which houses the AV output. There is a button for turn on and of the information of display, mini USB port and the card slot behind the touch screen display.
A touch screen interface is always welcome because there is not much clutter on the surface as there are no physical buttons. The touch screen feature has become a big hit and even printers or MFDs are started flaunting one. The touch screen of this camcorder is pretty good but a newbie may get confused with the home and menu buttons which are a bit unfamiliar. You press the Menu button to access shooting option and for everything else there is Home button. We feel that the controls will be a bit challenging initially but you will get used to it when you use the camcorder often. Menu system was perplexing and we thank Sony for giving us the menu in the reference manual.
The camcorder was made in such a way that it will not confuse newbies but though it has done a poor job with the menu system, it has given up complex features to make it user friendly. The settings of scene selection, focus and white balance perform quite well.
Sony DCR-DVD650 is a low end camcorder and lives up to the rating. The autofocus is good but in low light conditions it struggles a bit. You get 80 minutes of battery pack when you record directly to the three inch disc and you get 90 minutes for recording on the memory card. We would have liked more battery life in the memory recording mode because it doesn’t have any moving parts. Remember that if you view clips on the camcorder it will also eat in to the battery juice.
Video quality is not that great considering this an entry level device but quality gets better when in Tele Macro mode. You get better video quality when you scale it down to smaller dimensions like the YouTube size. This device is good if you are not so much of video enthusiast, the picture quality is low resolution and we think this device is made for people who want to shoot and share on video websites like YouTube. White balance and color is good, exposure is above average. When you are clicking pictures you will find the quality is much better than a camera phone but the picture are stored only on internal memory so if you are shooting video on a disc, clicking a photo will automatically switch to the memory mode. We would advice you to shoot a video and then get a still from the video.
Nitty Gritty:
We expect such entry level, DVD recordable and standard definition camcorders will go in to the oblivion within a few years. We recommend you to go for this only if you need a camcorder which can transfer videos to DVD on the fly. We would advice you to first shoot the videos on internal memory and then burn them on the discs. But we must warn you the video quality is seriously outdated considering the technology that we have right now.
