Reviews for Sony DVDirect 48/16x CD/DVD Recorder

Need a Little Patience

Strengths: Simple functions...can't get lost in the controls

Weakness: Hangs when receiving intermittent analog signals through AV cables

Worked like a dream first time when recording from VHS tape onto DVD+R discs. Problems came when recording from my Sony Hi8mm camcorder. Started off ok. When for a cup of tea and when returned it had hung I had a coaster. Tried again...stayed for a while ...seemed ok.. went for another cuppa and when returned..another coaster. Decided to stick around for the 3rd attempt. What happens is that when there is a break on the Hi8mm tape the signal stops. This is not a problem by itself as the machine just suspends. The problem comes when the camcorder gets over the break and resumes sending the signal. This results in a message saying incompatible format and then disk full. 3 coasters now. Patience..what you have to do is manually stop just at the signal break and manually resume just after. I then used my DVD-RW just in case I missed the signal to avoid another coaster. How do you know when the break is coming? This is when you need the real patience. You have to play the camcorder from start to finish and make a note of counter settings at each break. You then have to time your tea breaks to split second accuracy. It works.. I have nearly converted my relative small (thank goodness) collection. Works like a dream as an external DVD drive and is good for quick backups. I am using VideoStudeo 9 for editing and this software is magical. Need a fast computer though and LOTS of storage capacity...Forget MB start taking GB. Hope this helps!!

82% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Pretty, but is it art?

Strengths: Looks good, easy operation, portable. Video, DV, or computer use.

Weakness: Coaster maker! Also, doesn't have the 2:30 SP+ recording mode necessary for many movies.

I got this unit over a home stereo deck because I thought it would be good for using with the computer(s) in a pinch. (My main D/L DVD writer drive is out for service). Its form factor is such that my wife could set it up on the dining room table and copy DV camcorder sequences to DVDs with it.

Well, I started using it to record old shows off the TiVo through regular video connections. Recorded first on good Verbatim DVD-Rs. It made a few coasters, but then I discovered that all the disks I made with it (about 8 at this point) would read fitfully on my Sony DVD player (had to do a lot of re-seeks, sometimes the video stuttered but kept on playing). What clued me in is that NONE of the DVD-R's would play on my Polaroid portable LCD DVD player.

I then recorded a bunch of generic DVD+R disks. Out of about 20 disks burned, 5 were flawless -- played the whole way through with no stutters on both the Polaroid portable and my Sony home deck. However 15 of them were TOTAL COASTERS with the same failure mode: the unit would inexplicably stop right in the first few seconds of recording as if someone had pressed the "Stop" button. After that, it would not record anything on that disk. It seems to correlate to certain movies on the TiVo -- but I could be wrong.

People say that these only work with one type/brand of disk, but I can't find anything solid on this. It's going back to Fry's tomorrow.

80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Analog tape to DVD conversion

Strengths: On the HQ setting it records the image perfectly, good job Sony. I've made my only rcording so far from the S-Video port and I have yet to record from the iLink port but I am axious to do that.

Weakness: DO NOT USE DVD-RW discs! There is no 3 hour recording setting for dual layered discs?! Why?!

DO NOT USE DVD-RW discs!!!! I was dumb, I bought Memorex's Dual Layered RW (re-writable) discs, and the video on the first recording would intermittantly block up. I'm hesitant to call fowl on Sony for that though, because Memorex claims that RW's are NOT ideal for recording video on to be played back in DVD Players. So, if you're going to buy Sony's VRD-VC20 then also buy DVD+R discs or DVD-R discs, but NOT DVD-RW discs!

Secondly, I'm dissappointed that at the highest quality setting Sony only gives you 119 minutes of recording time, that is dissappointing, it should be at least 2 full hours (120 minutes) or more, but this is more of a pet peave of mine.

Thirdly, there is no 3 hour recording setting for dual layered discs?! Why?! A three hour record algorithm is already a consideration by other manufacturers. There OUGHT to be one for this unit, I'm hoping Sony has made it's firmware upgradable so as to fix this, and I don't just mean adding an extra bit every so often to the SP setting, just to fill up the disc at 3 hours, what I mean is Sony needs to design a 3 hour recording algorithm for writing to dual layered discs! Sony, if you are reading this, please tell me my VRD-VC20 can be flashed to having a new algorithm between HQ and SP.... PLEASE!

With all this considered, I am hopeful that as soon as I get some blank DVD+R dual layered discs and NOT DVD-RW discs, I'll be very happy with this unit, although I admit I've only made one recording so far and that was with the RW discs and I'm just assuming that the problem is that RW discs aren't ideal for this unit.

79% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Recording in 16:9 format

Strengths: Looks simple (and hence deceiving)

Weakness: Can not record in widescreen

This much advertised DVD recorder lacks the basic functionality of recording DVDs from miniDVs taped in 16:9 widescreen format!

While most SONY camcorders have been able to record miniDVs in widescreen format for many years (ex: DCR-TRV10, which is 7+ years old), this latest DVD recorder can only support the antiquated 4:3 format. Don't buy this unit!!

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

WORKS FOR ME!

Strengths: Easy to set up and use recorder.

I bought this unit to record my vhs and camcorder tapes to dvds. I had no problems at all using the instructions to set up and record from my camcorder onto dvd-r media. 16 hours of camcorder conversion and no coasters! I read the other reviews to set my camcorder to turn off after playing out the tape and shut off the dvd sync recording. It worked perfectly and would highly recommend the Sony DVD Writer.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Poorly Conceived and Unsupported Product

Strengths: Can be used to backup data.

Weakness: Complete lack of support from Sony. Can only create a viable DVD about 50% of the time. The included Nero SW is almost unuseable.

This product was obviouly released long before they had the bugs worked out. The product can create a viewable DVD about half the time. The other half of the time the recording just stops for no apparent reason, the DVD produced just hangs, or the DVD has unrecoverable loops in the video. Support from Sony is non-existent.

The video capture features do not work right out of the box. The included Nero software was apparently never tested with the Sony VRD-VC20. It crashes and hangs with almost every use. Even after downloading the many, many, fixes required to get the video capture software to even recognize the Sony VRD-VC20, the Nero SW just hangs or crashes without warning. Even if you can get it to work for a couple minutes, it complains that the video you are attempting to record is "copy-protected". It seems to do this regardless of the video source. It tells me my wedding video and home movies are "copy-protected". It tells me that my TV signal is "copy-protected."

Support for the Nero software is as bad as the non-existent support from Sony. The latest e-mail from Nero tells me that I should only be using their software with a "supported video capture card." Apparently Sony is shipping their VRD-VC20 with Nero even though Nero does not support their product! It shows.

I've wasted an enormous amount of time trying to get this faulty product and its buggy SW to work. I've also produced about 15 "coasters", DVDs that are simply unuseable.

It seems the only thing that the Sony VRD-VC20 can do correctly and consistently is to be a DVD burner for data. If you want a DVD burner for backing up data, this will work, but there are a whole lot of other much less expensive DVD burners that will do that too.

I would not recommend this product or the Nero software to anyone. If you are foolish enough to get one of these, please make sure you have a way to return it and get something that actually works.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

na

Strengths: this dvd writer is a good choose to record dvd media from minidv camcorder or other video machine

Weakness: the autorecord is so sensive that any break from minidv can result the stop for recording the media

I buy this dvd writer because I feel it is a very boring time to record data from minidv camcorder. At before, every time I record a dvd movie from minidv, it will last 10-15 hours to finish the whole things. This writer has firewire port that can link with the minidv and the speed to record is very fast, so I buy it to record the dvd movie, but when I take it back to home, I find I have to buy a firewire cord to link the minidv camcorder becauce it only supply a usb 2.0 cord excluding the firewire cord. When I am ready for anything and start to record, I find it ofter pause recording when the minidv tape records different title. This is a very big problem I meet because I often take a look to reclick the button so as to restart the recording working.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Awesome product

Strengths: It was very simple to connect and use.

Weakness: Haven't found any

I have copied about 25 old VHS tapes and they have all been awesome. It was very easy to connect and directions were very clear. Would recommend this to anyone.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Sony DVDirect 48/16x CD/DVD Recorder

Strengths: good look

Weakness: won't stop when video tape ended

I recently used this product for about 2 months; It's really nedded in life, I would purchase another one for my friend. I'd like to recommended to anyone who interest in converting movies

65% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Sony VRD-VC20 DVDirect

As you're reading this, the video tapes stored in your hall closet are slowly deteriorating. Sooner or later they'll be unplayable. Realizing this, several companies now offer interface boxes that copy the contents of those tapes onto your computer's hard drive. Once there, that footage can be burned onto optical discs, which are considerably sturdier than tapes. <p> <p>All of this requires that...

Read Full Review