Digital Trends

Sony came a little late to the DVD camcorder party. In its inimitable fashion when it did arrive the company decided to take over the business from early leaders Hitachi and Panasonic. Surprise! They did just that thanks to marketing muscle and now have five models ranging from $599 to $999 along with the lion's share of sales. Rather than demand the world follow its own format like Hitachi/Panasonic with DVD-RAM, Sony decided to be a bit more agnostic so more DVD players—and PlayStations--could be compatible with its discs. Instead of DVD-RAM as a rewritable  and —R as a write-once format, Sony's DVD Handycams record in —RW and +RW (dash and plus RW) as well as -R. What this means to you is that it's far more likely you can record a disc that will play in your mother's DVD player so she can see the kids romping around. And make no mistake, the vast majority of camcorders are purchased right around the time a new baby is born—or some other major event such as a graduation or the vacation of a lifetime. No matter if you're expectant parents or have the urge to create your own cinema verite classic, the Sony DCR-DVD203 with its 1.07-megapixel CCD will do a reasonable job saving your memories. Naturally there are issues to lament but that's what reviews are for.