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5.2 out of 10

Sony DCR-DVD101

First seen: 23 june 2004

Information found in: from 18 sources in 6 countries.

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  • User Score (22)
    6.1 6.1 from 22 reviewers
  • Expert Score (11)
    8.7 8.7 from 11 reviewers
  • Value for money (5)
    6.1 6.1 from 5 reviewers
  • Features (2)
    3.7 3.7 from 2 reviewers
  • Ease of use (5)
    5.4 5.4 from 5 reviewers
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Pros & Cons

  • neat purple color, good night shooting quality, good controls, flip over viewfinder, easy to use
  • noise in low light, low light performance, lack of still media, bad zoom, poor digital stills

The Sony DCR-DVD 101 has great utility and other features. Usually it is available in silver which adds to its beauty and elegance. Media playable recording is possible. It has a small 1/6-inch CCD and tiny body but that helps in making it portable. On the price front, the Sony DCR-DVD 101 is pretty expensive. The CCD has 340K pixels which lie behind a Carl Zeiss 25mm lens that has 10x optical zoom. The Sony DCR-DVD 101 works quite well at 3000 lux. Even with daylight settings the colours do not fade awa…

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The Sony DCR-DVD 101 has great utility and other features. Usually it is available in silver which adds to its beauty and elegance. Media playable recording is possible. It has a small 1/6-inch CCD and tiny body but that helps in making it portable. On the price front, the Sony DCR-DVD 101 is pretty expensive. The CCD has 340K pixels which lie behind a Carl Zeiss 25mm lens that has 10x optical zoom. The Sony DCR-DVD 101 works quite well at 3000 lux. Even with daylight settings the colours do not fade away much except for the green. The rest of the colours work very well. The Sony DCR-DVD 101 has batteries, which lasts 5 hours and 9 hours. When you look at the Sony DCR-DVD 101 from the front, it looks a lot like the Sony DCR-DVD201. The front can be divided into two sections.

It has the lens on the right side. The port cover lies under the IR receiver. The display name is given on it. When you remove the port cover you will find the microphone input and audio/video input. The battery slot is behind the Sony DCR-DVD 101. This product does not have a LCD touch screen but it has great settings for shutter speed, white balance and speed. JPEG stills can be captured at 640 x 480. You can connect the Sony DCR-DVD 101 to a computer by using the USB port. This system is ideal for those who do not insist on manual control. Its simple point-and-shoot ability is a great advantage for those who do not need the complications of a higher end camcorder. However, if you are planning to use the Sony DCR-DVD 101 ensure that the room is well lit as has very poor low light performance. Overall it is a convenient camcorder to use.

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  • Reviews of Sony DCR-DVD101

  1. Reviewer: Easy Camcorder
    19 November 2004

    Sony’s DCR-DVD101 is the manufacturer's lower-tier offering to the DVD camcorder market this year. It ships with a 1/6-inch CCD with 680K gross pixels and a 10x optical zoom. While the DCR-DVD101 shares much with its fellows in the DVD camcorder racket as far as manual control and portage is concerned, what really separates the DCR-DVD101 from the competition is its terrible low light performance. Read more

  2. Sony DCR-DVD101E

    Reviewer: Review Stop
    7 November 2008
    Overall 8
    8.0
    Value for money 8
    8.0
     

    Excellent camera with niggles Read more

  3. Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101

    Reviewer: CNET
    23 June 2004
    Overall 6
    6.0
    Design 7
    7.0
    Features 6
    6.0
    Performance 6
    6.0
     

    The bottom line: Unless you're so wedded to the Sony brand and the idea of DVD recording that you're willing to pay a premium--but not enough to jump to the DVD201--avoid this model. Read more

  4. Sony Handycam DCR-DVD101 Camcorder Review

    Reviewer: Digitaltrends
    4 February 2010

    DVD, NTSC, 1 x CCD, Up to 0.31 Megapixels Still Shots, 10x Optical Zoom, 1 lb., Battery life: Up to 2.25 Hours Read more

  5. Sony DCR-DVD101E

    Reviewer: CNET
    1 January 2004

    Unless you're so wedded to the Sony brand and the idea of DVD recording that you're willing to pay a premium -- but not enough to jump to the DVD201 -- avoid this model. Read more

  1. "Perfect for my cat's litter box!"

    Reviewer: CNET
    13 October 2005
    Overall 1
    1.0
     

    I bought this while out of town for MY wedding when my Sony TVR-11 died. I didn't have time to do my homework and trusted the bib box retail salesman who said it was a great replacement for my TVR. I found out later that my TVR had TWICE the video quality and didnt break until after four years. This piece of garbage DVD-101 broke after 6 hours and right before my wedding! (We didn't buy the out rageously priced extended warranty.) The store swapped it out with another... Read more

  2. bad like a joke gone wrong

    Reviewer: Epinions
    29 December 2005
    Overall 4
    4.0
    Ease of use 8
    8.0
     

    Being a sony and all, of course it is going to be insanely expensive, but also, being a sony, you'd expect it to have good performance to back up all those benjamins you lost. Not so here. The 120x digital zoom is unusually small for a camcorder, not to mention at 120x the picture is so distorted and graney you can barely see what you're videoing. Also being a sony, the video is written in the oh-so-hard-to-convert sony format! it doesnt work with anything but sony... Read more

  3. Reviewer: Review Centre
    19 July 2004
    Overall 6
    6.0
    Value for money 5
    5.0
    Features 4
    4.0
    Ease of use 5
    5.0
     

    I am delighted with the Sony DCR DVD 101E camera. It is very easy so set up and use. So far I have recorded video and watched it on TV. The results are excellent. However, why oh why, do Sony only include a DVD/R in the box. This is an uneditable permanent recording. Who wants that for their first attempt? Then to discover that DVD RWs are unobtainable (all the stores are fed up). I have now ordered one from Sony on line but the delivery charge is grotesque (£7.88... Read more

  4. bad like a joke gone wrong

    Reviewer: DealTime UK
    29 December 2005

    Being a sony and all, of course it is going to be insanely expensive, but also, being a sony, you'd expect it to have good performance to back up all those benjamins you lost. Not so here. The 120x digital zoom is unusually small for a camcorder, not to mention at 120x the picture is so distorted and graney you can barely see what you're videoing. Also being a sony, the video is written in the oh-so-hard-to-convert sony format! it doesnt work with anything but sony... Read more

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