It seems the creation of a DVD camcorder is the product of today's society: Sony's market research apparently suggested the current crop of gadget hungry 30 somthings desire their video footage served immediately. Forget editing, they want instant DVD creation. It would appear Sony's previous attempt at wowing this market failed dramatically with its MicroMV format. Small was good, but not perfect. And so was born the DVD camcorder: a device that records footage directly onto a DVD in MPEG2, playable in (just about) and DVD player (including Sony Playstion 2s).It all sounds good on paper, but how does it fair in the hands of end users?

Lets get the simple facts covered first:

DVD Camcorder Media
DVD camcorders record video to a particular form of recordable DVD. To keep the size of a DVD camcorder small, 3" Mini DVD-R & RW discs (or DVD-RAM in the case of some Panasonic and Hitachi models) are used to record video. An obvious disadvantage straight off the cuff is therefore the relatively small amount of video recorded per disc - only 30 mins for a single sided disc. That said, the budget conscious should know that the cost per minute of video footage is less than miniDV tapes. Morever, as the discs are fully DVD compliant, they're suitable as both a medium for recording and method of final presentation - give a miniDV tape to a bloke down the pub and chances are he won't know what do with it!

DVD Camcorder Recording Format
DV footage is often praised many a casual user for its image quality and ease of editing. In some ways, the advent of the DVD camcorder could be seen as a step back. Indeed, most of the DVD camcorders currently on the market are hampered by the manufacturers choice of technology in the camera: the current crop of DVD camcorders are far less advanced in terms of image technology than a comparably priced miniDV camcorder. Moreover, recording straight to MPEG2 leaves little scope for precise editing or indeed maximising the quality of your final DVD; even those with little or no experience of editing have available the tools to create polished results. To some extent, this is taken away from the user.

Editing and Playback
As indicated previously, DVD camcorders record straight to disc meaning the recorder footage can be displayed on a TV via a DVD player or PC with DVD playback software. This is the unique selling point of DVD camcorders and one that is entirely lost on this video enthusiast. If I ever want to playback unedited scenes to friends and family, I simply plug my camcorder into the TV via the supplied analogue cables. Not only is this simple, you also get the added advantage of not worrying that the DVD is compatible with your friend's particular brand of DVD player.

What if you decide to edit your footage? Well this is where the fun begins! Although some packages now offer direct editing of DVD discs (and DVD ripping/conversion has long been the hobby of anyone with a PC and DVD collection), it's nowhere near as easy as miniDV capture. First the whole disc must be copied to your hard drive (there's no DV connection here), then the VOB files must be converted to be used in an editing application. Although certain suites natively support editing DVD files, they're generally the less well received and/or lower end products on the market.

DV is ideal for PC based editing (hence the Digital Video (DV) bit) - no need to worry about whether a particular editing application supports the format!

Final thoughts
DVD camcorders are ideal for the Playstation generation wanting to record video only. If you're thinking of editing your recorded video in any way whatsoever, steer well clear of them. If you've already bought a DVD camcorder and want to edit your footage, I'll soon be adding a guide to converting VOB files to DV using freeware tools (most probably using FlaskMPEG). Your quality obviously won't be as good as a DV camcorder, but it's a step in the right direction!