SONY VRD-VC10 DVDirect External DVD Recorder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I didn't purchase this product at Amazon, but commonly rely on others' recommendations at this site, so here's my take. THIS PRODUCT IS A GREAT INVESTMENT. The primary reason that I didn't give it a 5 star rating, is because the packaging doesn't clearly state which brands of blank DVD's are compatible. I bought a 100 pack of memorex DVD+R & the disks wouldn't finalize. I contacted sony support & learned that there's a list of approved brands.
DVD+R DL (Double Layer)
Verbatim/Mitsubishi 2.4x speed
DVD+R
Sony 4x & 8x
Ricoh 8x
Verbatim/Mitsubishi 4x & 8x
Taiyo Yuden Co. 4x & 8x
Hitachi Maxell 8x
DVD+RW
Sony 4x
Ricoh 4x
(The support person also said TDK works - but it wasn't on the list)"The list" goes on for other types of Media (ie. DVD-R etc.) Visit sony.storagesupport.com for more info.
I have used only Sony disks without difficulty.
Note: the Double Layer disks are priced about 10 times the single layer disks, so you'd better have a good reason to use that feature.
Also, if you have an older DVD player, be aware that some will not read/play burned DVDs. I've lived this problem. It's frustrating, but I found a new, very inexpensive DVD player that works well.
One drawback... using the stand-alone option with a Digital Video Camera requires the signal to be converted to analog, then back to digital & there's certain to be loss of picture resolution - whether it's noticable may be a matter of opinion. Fortunately, you can hook up your Digital Video Camera to your computer via firewire and utilize the Video Capture software by Nero, that I found to be very straightforward. I recommend using the DVD+VR software feature that allows you to insert your latest video footage into a previously burned DVD+RW disk that works in most all newer DVD players.
I didn't commit to converting my old VHS to digital until I found an older VHS tape whose image quality had detiorated so much as to be useless. What a loss! I had been intimidated by peers who'd told me to plan on spending upwards of 10 hours to edit a single hour of finished tape. The standalone operation & the quality Nero software bundled with the software make this Sony product a less-intimidating, worthwhile investment.

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Includes: NeroVision Express, Nero Burning ROM SE, Ahead InCD, Nero Showtime, Nero BackitUp, AC adapter, & USB cable. SonyVRD-VC10 DVDirect External DVD Recorder - DVDirect is an all-in-one solution for burning video, and other data, to DVD media. When usedwith a computer, it operates as a dual layer DVD burner that can write any kind of data to DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, & CD-R/RW media. Withouta computer, it can capture video footage directly from a VCR or camcorder, encode it, and then burn it to DVD media.3 Recording Qualities - SLP (single layer (SL) 6 hours/double layer (DL) 12 hours), SP (SL 2 hours/DL 4 hours), HQ (SL 1 hour/DL 2 hours) Easy Start/Stop/Pause Recording Supports Dolby Digital (AC3) Automatic Chaptering - 5, 10, or 15 minutes Connects to a PC via USB 2.0 Supports Microsoft windows 2000 / XP

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