BESTFORLESS

DVD CAMCORDERS UNDER $500
Capture your memoriesand share them easilywithout blowing your budget.
by Anthony Losanno In case you havent noticed, the camcorder shelf at your local Best Buy is overrun with DVD camcorders. And for good reason. The format now accounts for more than 25 percent of the camcorder market. Thats because people want to be able to record something to disc, pop it out, and put it in the nearest DVD player or PC to share their footage. DVD cams are also a lot more compact than rst-generation models, as all three units we tested weigh around one pound. Yes, the nalizing process is a little annoyingand we havent yet reached the point where you can customize menu screens right on camera. But based on our tests of the latest budget models, video quality has improved to the point where you might think twice about picking up a MiniDV camcorder. Heres how they fared.

Canon DC100

$499 www.canonusa.com
The palm-sized Canon DC100 is the lightest in this roundup at only 14.5 ounces. What it lacks in weight it makes up in features, with a 2.7-inch LCD, a 25X optical zoom (the highest of the three models), and a Night Mode setting. Stills are poor and burned to disc; there isnt a card slot on the DC100. Video quality was mediocre, with excessive noise in low-light shots, dull colors in most settings, and some distortion when the zoom was pushed to the max. We like that the DC100 has a built-in lens cover (unlike the others easy-to-lose caps), and its image stabilization helped to steady our shots. Unfortunately, the record button is located very close to the hand strap; we accidentally pressed it several times during testing. Although the DC100 supports DVD-R and DVD-RW discs, the device is very nicky when it comes to nalizing footage, as the process didnt work on the rst few tries. Dual-layer discs do not work with the DC100.

Hitachi DZ-GX3100A

$499 www.hitachi.com
With specs nearly identical to Hitachis higher-end DZ-GX3300A (the only difference being a lowermegapixel CCD sensor), the DZ-GX3100A packs a lot of features into a 14.8-ounce camcorder. Features include a 2.7-inch LCD, a 15X optical zoom, and several preprogrammed auto-exposure and white balance settings. The DZ-GX3100A captures 1-MP stills (about what you can get from a basic camera phone) and records them to SD Cards. Footage captured with the DZ-GX3100A was sharp with few artifacts. Even low-light videos offered surprisingly decent colors and brightness (thanks to a lowlight mode). Burning discs was painless, thanks to a separate Finalize button found behind the LCD. The DZ-GX3100A records to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVDRAM discs.
Sony Handycam Camcorder DCR-DVD105

$499 www.sonystyle.com

Sonys DCR-DVD105 offers an impressive mix of performance and features. This camcorder sports a 2.5-inch touch panel display, a 20X optical zoom, Sonys SteadyShot image stabilization system, and the ability to record to DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW discs. The DCR-DVD105 is the heftiest in this group, weighing in at 16.5 ounces. Stills are recorded to discs and unfortunately are fairly poor. Burning discs was effortless, and our test footage was ready in a few minutes. Video shot with the DCR-DVD105 looked good with balanced colors, which were only slightly muted in low-light situations. Some footage looked oversaturated but overall the DCR-DVD105 is the best low-cost DVD cam you can buy.

See for yourself which DVD cam shoots the sharpest video.
Go to www.laptopmag.com/nov.

LAPTOP | November 2006

299 Best for Less.indd 64

9/15/06 1:49:47 PM