Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3 2.5 in. DVD Recorder

One piece of advice that I took to heart years ago, was to get lots of pictures of your family. That wasn't such a stretch as I have had a passion for photography as long as I can remember, which made the transition to video a seamless exercise. I remember my first video shoot was a kindergarten play, running for an hour that has been played to death and is now showing traces of degeneration.. Since then I have recorded every play, sporting event, family function, holiday and vacation which has left me with a ton of 8mm and Hi8mm media. Since the beginning, I have gone through four Sony camcorders and am looking down the barrel at another purchase. I had been threatening to convert the whole five cases of tape to DVD for years and it wasn't until I received the Sony VRD-MC3 DVD Recorder that I actually stepped up to the plate and have since made great strides towards that goal. Perhaps the best way to summarize the VRD-MC3 is simplicity; this unit is easy to operate provided you have the correct cable to handle your recording sessions.

In The Box / Logistics
 
Simplicity is the keynote to the Sony VRD-MC3 DVD Recorder. In the box the unit comes modestly equipped with:

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·        AC Power Adapter - The MPA AC1 power supply (wall wart) is cumbersome though necessary providing 7 linear feet of cable making it convenient to connect just about anywhere which is a welcome change.

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·        USB Cable - Can be utilized with Sony HDD camcorders facilitating One Touch Control. Non Sony camcorders would require S Video hookup

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·        Software Disk

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·        Manual & Warranty Card - The manual is poorly written, almost cryptic at times

In order to effectively burn DVD's you may need to purchase additional cabling. Since I have consistently recorded in 8 & Hi8 format, and didn't want to use my computer I needed to buy:


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·        iLink Cable - This cable integrated with my Sony Hi8 camera facilitating One Touch remote operation of the Sony VRD-MC3 DVD Recorder Pause, Record, Play functions on the compatible camcorder! For non HDD camcorders, in addition to signal recognition which eliminated cueing up the video to the VRD-MC3 screen. Non Sony camcorders would require S Video hookup

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·        S Video Cable - For older analog formats and non Sony camcorders you will need to record with S Video along with twin RCA audio cable.

The Unit is laid out as follows: (left to right)
 

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·        Power button - one touch control waits for syncing to complete before actually burning the disk.

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·        Emergency Eject hole

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·        Top Control Panel consisting 4way arrows and center mounted Select control, Return to menu, Stop Button, Record Button

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·        Disk Tray

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·        Eject Button

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·        DC in connector (back)
 
Connections left side mounted include:
 

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·        USB Type A for PC or printer hookups

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·        USB type B for proprietary Sony Camcorder hookups

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·        Audio In left/Right connectors (RCA)

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·        Video In Connector (RCA)

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·        S Video In (not supplied)

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·        DV In, 4 Pin Connector (iLink) not supplied but can be purchased on eBay for approx $8.00- $10.00.
 
Connections right side mounted include:
 
(Memory card LED)

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·        Memory Stick slot

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·        Multi- Memory Card slot i.e. Memory Stick, SD card, xD Picture,

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·        Compact Flash Card Slot
 
Record modes:
HQ - 30 minutes from HDD Camcorder 60 minutes from DVD camcorder
SP - 20 minutes from HDD Camcorder 40 minutes from DVD camcorder
LP - 10 minutes from HDD Camcorder 20 minutes from DVD camcorder

Writable Disks:
DV-R
DV-R DL
DVD RW
DVD+R DL
DVD + RW
 
Recording, The Process
 
Ilink can facilitate the recording process for Sony HDD and Digital format Hi8 cameras allowing easy camera recognition and one touch recording, otherwise, if you have a non Sony video source, your best bet is to use S video cabling. After determining your most viable cabling you drop your empty media into the VRD-MC3 for formatting, which takes approximately a minute. Setting the VRD-MC3 in record mode will bring up the video cue with iLink cable, however you will have to manually sync analog recording via S video cable. After the unit calls for your media it will have you choose the video source type or setup which sets values for:


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·        Record Quality - HQ, HSP, SP, LP, SLP

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·        Auto Stop Timer - 30, 60,90,2hr, 3hr, 4hr, 6hr, 8hr

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·        Auto Chaptering - Off, 5,10,15 minutes

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·        DVD Menu Template - 1 of 4

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·        Background Music - to be applied to slideshow

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·        Slideshow Creation - on/off You have the capability to create a slideshow after recording images onto your disk\

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·        PC Connect - You can elect to use the VRD-MC3 as a DVD/CD drive for your computer.

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·        Finalize Disk - Closes a disk off and prepares it for viewing on a standard CD or DVD player if you choose.

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·        Erase Disk - Wipes all data off disk media

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·        System - You can see the version of your loaded software. System requirements for PC use are P4 , 4.2 GHz or higher, 256 RAM, 10Gb free hard disk space for DVD creation, Windows200 SP$, XP Home Professional SP2, USB 2.0

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·        Demo

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·        Language

Once underway, your recorded content will record onto your DVD media as long as the VRD-MC3 receives a signal in iLink; empty spaces will record as such in analog mode. You have to manually cue up your recordings and proceed much like you would any analog recording. Digital recording, on the other hand, are facilitated with the use of the iLink cable. Record, Stop and Pausing modes are actuated as selecting the appropriate function on your digital video source. You can choose to either finalize your recordings at completion or archive your content with the capability to resume at anytime. Stopping, however will initiate the establishing of a chapter which will show up in your DVD menu which can be fashioned against four templates.  Upon completion of your recorded content you need to elect whether finalize the DVD which again, takes about a minute, or to save your work for additional editing or additions at a later time. It is worthy to note that you are given the option to continue your incremental work-in-progress in the same file you left off.

In the record process you can monitor the images or video content being recorded in real time. This facility is extraordinarily useful in that you can see if a signal is being transmitted and even make some snap editing decisions. In iLink mode you can save some time by creating chapters on the fly. Generally speaking though, the novice user can use the monitor window to confirm the unit is recording, which is a big plus. You can also use the monitor window to preview your video content for more correct recordings of desired content. Recording picture files from your PC is as simple as connecting the VRD-MC3 to your computers USB 2.0 port and wait to see it as an additional drive and dragging your photos to Nero's record folder, much like taking files to record out of any drive. I found it surprisingly effortless to transfer my pictures and video files to a DVD slide show, cleaning up these space- hungry files quickly. The Sony VRD-MC3 acknowledges that it is in PC mode with easy to follow prompts that guide you through your recording process via Nero software suite.

The Nero Software Suite allows you to burn audio, video, data, video or simply back up entire disks easily. Nero Vision Express to capture video from your video or TV tuner card allowing cut and edit with effects though frankly,  have yet to tackle this feature and really feel if I want to get involved in this type of recording, I would get a Mac, Apple iMovie and do it right.. An included Nero Media Player provides an excellent media player, though, which allows the creation of play lists along with a utility to rip and convert audio tracks. InCD4 facilitates drag and drop operations or burning directly from your applications in the absence of other video editing software. In addition, you can connect the VRD-MC3 to your home theater setup to record off DVD's or television programming.  Aspect ratios of 16.9 (widescreen) or 4:3 (full screen) handle all your video transfers in the format they were intended.

While I will delve into some of the more esoteric features of the Sony VRD-MC3 and its PC applications in short order but I feel the merits of the Sony VRD-MC3 as a standalone player herald its greatest audience who, perhaps, is not comfortable with the PC connectivity and functionality. The simplicity of the unit in concert with your video source is capable of drawing its greatest audience based on the simplicity of use alone. Given the prices for professional video transfers at around $120.00 and hour, the Sony VRD-MC3 pays for itself in sheer functionality and value in your first 60 minute transfer making it a must see for anyone who has threatened to move those home movies over to DVD before the camera or player bites the dust. There really isn't an excuse not to tackle those old videos now!