Sony Handycam DCR-DVD108 DVD Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom Review

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This review is of the Sony Handy Cam model number DCR-DVD108. I personally prefer using the DVD minus RWs because you can use them over and over again it is also compatible with DVD minus Rs DVD plus RWs DVD minus RWs and the newer DVD plus double layers. Buying the bunch of many disc can get quite expensive so normally I do is buy the rewritables and then finalize it with the finalize feature and repeat using Nero or DVD encryptor something like that and then burning the image from this onto this and it's a whole lot cheaper because this DVD minus R the regular 4.7 gigabyte disc are whole lot cheaper you can pick up at ____ for under 10 dollars so you can about 50 of these for under 10 bucks but if you have to buy 50 of these it costs over a 100 dollars. So always buy the rewritables finalize it and copy it to regular size disc and it will save a bunch of money so in reality you only need one rewritable and just buy the regular ones and you can save a bunch of money. Turning the camera on is very easy you just push this button on at the top of this dial and locate the ___ and __ goes into video recording mode. If you wanna take pictures you just spin this dial again and it goes to the picture mode and if you have a memory stick for duo you stick that right into the slot right there and it will record pictures to that handy photo button it's right on top the dial right there and you use that to take photos. I was hoping it will also take SD cards but it doesn't so that's not that great and one of the other handy cam I've had before records the pictures to the disc but this one you have to have the memory stick which is quite a bit of disappointment. Recording is really easy you just use your thumb and push that one and it's on a great location because your hand is right there anyway or if you want you can use the start and stop right here. When the LCD screen is close you can pull out the viewfinder it's a little difficult to pull out and unlike most cameras you can actually see and color to the viewfinder it's a little difficult to see while it's recording but it isn't color it is actually pretty descent display and unlike most cameras it's not in black and white. So that will save the battery but I prefer looking to the LCD screen because it's bigger and you can see more clearly. The LCD screen has 123000 pixels and is capable of rotating up to 2 or 7 degrees so if you wanna record yourself and you wanna see the preview you just flip it over and then can see yourself right side up just as if you are looking to the viewfinder regular way and it was never flip over. To zoom in and out you just use this little light slot right here and you can zoom in and out or you can use the one on viewfinder there's the W and the T. Another great feature this camera has is that you can record and finalize the disc and you can pop it right into the DVD player straight from out of the camera to do that you just press the home and then you go to the DVD options and you can finalize the disc you can format which completely erases everything and on the second page you can unfinalize it and then it has a disc information but if you wanna be able to pop this right into your DVD player just go to finalize and then you can slot your styles and we're just gonna use the style one that's the depo one and it takes about 15 seconds I just have one really short clip. So once that's done you can pop this right into your DVD player and it's gonna play just like any other DVD. you wanna wipe the disc completely clean you just got format and then you can slot 16 and 9 wide which is the wide screen that can do 43 which is a full screen and we're gonna do the full screen then go okay yes and it's gonna wipe the disc completely clean and then you can reuse it once you either copy that to your computer or copy that to another DVD or if don't wanna do that you can just get another disc. And that's a really quick process the camera also comes with a feature that allows you to only use the necessary functions of the camera and that's the easy feature. You just push that and you're only gonna see the functions that are essential to use in the camera. And all the complicated ones simply aren't there. The battery very easy to take out you just pull this little switch right here and the battery comes out very easily and it's also very easy to put in. The battery normally lasts for about 2 hours I believe but you can buy the optional battery at Sony s web site or other places that sell it and that battery will last you about 9 hours but I believe that battery is very expensive so I'm never gonna buy that one. One of the neatest features this camera has is called the night shots plus and when the night shot plus is on you can record in the dark similar to night vision without the green shades all over the video. Here's a video I recorded of my cat on the couch and I had the ceiling light on but it was dark outside so the lighting is not that great but with the night shot plus on you can see the cat just fine. This clip was recorded in pitch black darkness and then I turn on the night shot plus and you can see the cat just fine. That's capable of going up to 20 feet away according to the manual but I found that anymore than 8 feet away and the capability of recording in the dark is pretty much useless and as you can see here I'm backing up about 8 feet it's really hard to see what you are trying to record. So this is the Sony handy cam model number DCR-DVD108 retails for under 400 dollars and I will recommend this to anyone who is in the market for a digital camera camcorder thank you.