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Camcorders: Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by RebeccaH - 4/6/04 9:02 PMSince i am not interested in burning to DVD's, i think maybe this is my best option. I cant find any on line reviews ANYwhere on it.,
Thanks!
Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by go2hale - 4/21/04 9:40 AM In reply to: Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by RebeccaHwhat do you need to know------Had one & for the most part it was good except for low light-
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by skpy - 6/7/04 7:14 PM In reply to: Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by go2haleI am considering upgrading to a Sony DVD201 and have some questions reguarding the logistics of recorfing onto DVD medium (rather than the familiar tape). Perhaps someone who has one of these camcorders can relieve some anxieties for those of us considering the switch.
1) I understand that a DVD must be 'finished' by the camcorder, before it can be viewed on a DVD-Drive or DVD-Player. Can the camera itself view material previously recorded on the disk without having to 'finish' it? I can certainly rewind my tape, preview everything I've recorded, and continue recording at the end of the tape....
2) Can I remove an un-'finished' disk, set it aside, and come back to it later and continue recording? For example, I currently keep a running tape of my new baby. I can remove it, say to tape a piano recital on another tape. Then I can put the old tape back in and continue recording. Can I do this with the DVD?
3) I see that this camcorder does NOT come with a memory stick. If I decide to take stills and video footage of the same event, how do I get the stills onto my PC. In other words, when I put this finished DVD in my drive and pull up windows explorer, what do I see? On my Cybershot, the memory stick comes up with two folders, one with MP3 clips and one with stills. Will I see the same on the finished DVD with both stills and video on it?
Thanks in advance for your help. I know people can't find this kind of info on the Sony site, and I think this kind of insight can help a lot of people.
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by lindaw143 - 9/2/04 2:20 PM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by skpyI have many of the same questions. I would also like to know how easy it is to import the footage from any of the DVD camcorders into say Pinnacle or Ulead for editing & then back to the camera to burn a disc
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by R. Proffitt
- 9/2/04 3:30 PM
In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by lindaw143
I never have found it a good idea to use the camera to burn the disc. Look into what it will take to make the DVD on your PC or Mac.
Bob
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by piaso - 9/6/04 11:32 AM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by skpyI am not an authority on this but I have recently purchased one and have been reading on this camcorder.
1. You can view in your camcorder at anytime without any problems.
2. When you "finish" a disk you can copy it to another disk or download it to your computer. You can only copy over CD-RW disks. CR-R disks when you finish them it is done.
3. You can take both on the same CD stills or movies, Just turn the knob on the side to sill or movies.
Hope this helps. Most of this is listed in your owners manual. If your like me you have to read it a couple of times.
Good Luck
Tom
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by dave3141 - 9/8/04 1:39 PM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by skpySkpy-
I’ve had a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 for about 2 months with some really good results. My use is to document wilderness hikes and to provide clips to the local television program I produce. The Sony DVDcam does a very nice job as long as I only use what I shoot in raw form. More on this later.
1. DVD recordings do not have to be finished as long as you do not intend to play them on another device. You can remove and reload an unfinished DVD as often as you like. If you record in the VR mode rather than the Video mode, you must only use the DVDcam to play and record or use it on the computer with ImageMixer software. But, in the VR mode you can edit a lot of stuff right on the camera. Both Video and VR mode can be downloaded to a computer for final editing with the Sony provided ImageMixer software. You can read about this software online. You only need to finish a DVD if you want to play it on a DVD player or computer. You can play unfinished stuff directly to a TV using the standard cable provided with the DVDcam. The DVDs have worked well on several DVD players and computers in my circle of experience including a PAL machine in England even though the literature says this will not work.
2. You can remove a DVD and continue recording on it later. You can remove the last scene if you use the edit function before you turn off the camera. You cannot remove previously recorded stuff from a DVD-R, but you can erase and re-use a DVD-RW and the two sided DVD-RWs seem to work well if you select the correct brand. Optodisk did not work for me. I always record in HQ mode where I get about 20 minutes per side. The standard resolution mode will give 30 minutes per side. I thought this was a limitation at first, but it turns out that I rarely shoot a scene longer than 10 minutes. Also, it only takes about a minute to switch DVDs.
3. Stills and video can be mixed together as you go. In playback, the stills are shown with about a 15 second display time right in the middle of video. This works well, except I prefer to edit on the computer, add sound to the stills and adjust the display time to match the sound. ImageMixer does this well. When you download files from the DVDcam, the video and images are both saved to your hard drive. Thjis process is slow, but once complete you edit and make a production with titles, fades, etc. It is a great editor for just this application. The stills are saved ad JPEG files that can be used directly. I think you can learn a bunch by viewing the ImageMixer site…Pixela is it?
UNFORTUNATELY, the ImageMixer software provided by Sony is billed as permitting full editing and saving of movies, with mixed stills, onto a 3" DVD recorded back onto the DCR-DVD201 Handycam directly. This feature was very attractive as I don’t have DVD burner. I was fooled. The ImageMixer software prints a stamp, the file name, in the upper left of the frame and a date/time stamp in the lower right (the date/time of EDITING, not the shooting date) that appears when the resulting movie is viewed on a DVD player. These stamps seem to not show when the resulting DVD is played on a computer. In my book, Sony should withdraw their DVD cams until they can get this software problem solved. The resulting movies are not useful unless you are some kind of scientist as the intrusive stamps ruin any sense of movie aesthetics.
Hope this helps,
Dave3141
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by dave3141 - 9/8/04 2:15 PM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by skpySkpy-
I’ve had a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 for about 2 months with some really good results. My use is to document wilderness hikes and to provide clips to the local television program I produce. The Sony DVDcam does a very nice job as long as I only use what I shoot in raw form. More on this later.
1. DVD recordings do not have to be finished as long as you do not intend to play them on another device. You can remove and reload an unfinished DVD as often as you like. If you record in the VR mode rather than the Video mode, you must only use the DVDcam to play and record or use it on the computer with ImageMixer software. But, in the VR mode you can edit a lot of stuff right on the camera. Both Video and VR mode can be downloaded to a computer for final editing with the Sony provided ImageMixer software. You can read about this software online. You only need to finish a DVD if you want to play it on a DVD player or computer. You can play unfinished stuff directly to a TV using the standard cable provided with the DVDcam. The DVDs have worked well on several DVD players and computers in my circle of experience including a PAL machine in England even though the literature says this will not work.
2. You can remove a DVD and continue recording on it later. You can remove the last scene if you use the edit function before you turn off the camera. You cannot remove previously recorded stuff from a DVD-R, but you can erase and re-use a DVD-RW and the two sided DVD-RWs seem to work well if you select the correct brand. Optodisk did not work for me. I always record in HQ mode where I get about 20 minutes per side. The standard resolution mode will give 30 minutes per side. I thought this was a limitation at first, but it turns out that I rarely shoot a scene longer than 10 minutes. Also, it only takes about a minute to switch DVDs.
3. Stills and video can be mixed together as you go. In playback, the stills are shown with about a 15 second display time right in the middle of video. This works well, except I prefer to edit on the computer, add sound to the stills and adjust the display time to match the sound. ImageMixer does this well. When you download files from the DVDcam, the video and images are both saved to your hard drive. Thjis process is slow, but once complete you edit and make a production with titles, fades, etc. It is a great editor for just this application. The stills are saved ad JPEG files that can be used directly. I think you can learn a bunch by viewing the ImageMixer site…Pixela is it?
UNFORTUNATELY, the ImageMixer software provided by Sony is billed as permitting full editing and saving of movies, with mixed stills, onto a 3" DVD recorded back onto the DCR-DVD201 Handycam directly. This feature was very attractive as I don’t have DVD burner. I was fooled. The ImageMixer software prints a stamp, the file name, in the upper left of the frame and a date/time stamp in the lower right (the date/time of EDITING, not the shooting date) that appears when the resulting movie is viewed on a DVD player. These stamps seem to not show when the resulting DVD is played on a computer. In my book, Sony should withdraw their DVD cams until they can get this software problem solved. The resulting movies are not useful unless you are some kind of scientist as the intrusive stamps ruin any sense of movie aesthetics.
Hope this helps,
Dave3141
Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar?
by hanky - 11/12/04 9:18 PM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by skpyI have owned the Sony DCR DVD201E camcorder for 3 months now. This is my first camcorder. And I have done some research before deciding on this model.
3 major issues helped me decide on this model.
1st: Ease of transferring of recorded movies to a computer for editing.
2nd: Ease of playability with other devices like DVD player and PC.
3rd: DVD disc are more lasting than MiniDV tapes.
To elaboarate on the first 2 points above;
It is faster to transfer your recorded movie via a DVD+RW, compared to a MiniDV tape, to your PC.
A 30min DVD+RW = 5-7min
A 30min MiniDV = 30min.
In order to transfer your recorded movie to a PC for editing, you need to "finalise", as Sony calls it, your DVD+RW on your camcorder. This takes less than 3min for a standard 30min 8cm DVD+RW.
After it is "finalised" you simply remove the DVD+RW from your camcorder, drop it into any DVD player or PC, and you can view your movie right away. No need to connect any cables from your camcorder to your TV or PC. It's so much more convenient compared to MiniDV camcorders.
----------------------------------------------------
To transfer your recording to a PC:
Finalise your DVD+RW, drop it into your PC's DVD drive, use Window Explorer to drag and drop into your Hard Disk Drive. It takes 5-7min for a 30min DVD+RW.
Again there is no need to connect any cables (ie Firewire nor USB2 etc) to your PC for the transfer.
Talk about going wireless 
On the 3rd point: DVD disc last longer, they do not stretch with repeated re-recording, do not grow fungus, and the DVD+RW can be re-recorded more than 100,000 times!!!
Look out for my other post comparing Sony with Hitachi and Panasonic.
Cheers
Hanky
Re:How to put the files generate by Sony DVD camcorder .....
by bill718 - 11/14/04 4:25 PM In reply to: Re:Re:Sony Handycam DCR-DVD201 ? Anyone familiar? by hankyAnyone knows how to put together the files generate by Sont miniDVD (1.4G) camcorder and burn them into a standard size DVD disc (4.7G)
burning to standard 4.7G DVD from Imagemixer
by leemacpherson - 1/3/05 9:21 PM In reply to: Re:How to put the files generate by Sony DVD camcorder ..... by bill718Not yet. I hoped to be able to take multiple recordings from two or more small discs and edit them and finally burn the result onto a full-size DVD. I have had no luck, yet. Everything looks good up until the end, when i get a "Error IM06046. Failed to write DVD" message. This happens even when i just try a few clips off of one DVD, too. No problem making .mpg movies, though.
IM06046
by ihp - 1/21/05 1:57 AM In reply to: burning to standard 4.7G DVD from Imagemixer by leemacphersonHi,
I have the same problem. Did you manage to fix yours? How?
Thanks and best regads,
Rik
I had the same problem
by bubbalouie - 2/10/05 11:14 AM In reply to: Error IM06046 by wfsamsonI had this problem too but fixed it by uninstalling image mixer and deleting the 'pixella' folder in 'program files'
What could've happened is you changed the path of the files that you're trying to record/burn.
By the way, if you delete the pixella folder, make sure you move and save any pictures/movies you had saved in the 'capture' portion of the folder. Otherwise, you will delete these too!
Creating a DVD Video in ImageMixer.
by CameronDonW - 1/22/05 10:01 AM In reply to: burning to standard 4.7G DVD from Imagemixer by leemacphersonI get all the way through creating a movie in ImageMixer, then when I try to create a DVD Video disk all I get is an Error Message IM06046 and a spoiled disk. What am I doing wrong!! Help
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