It's high time to ditch the video tapes

Philip Wong | Mar 13, 2007

Own up, folks! How many of you are still stuck with a VHS recorder or Hi-8 camcorder? Let alone a massive videotape collection of special moments and classic serials that are close to your heart? I do, and archiving those footages onto optical disc can be a nerve-whacking experience on PCs and conventional DVRs. It's certainly not for the faint-hearted and impatient.

In comes Sony's DVDirect VRD-MC3 recorder, a specialized DVD burner designed to address the ease-of-use shortfall of current offerings. The shoebox-sized gadget accepts most recordable formats including DVD+R Dual Layer and comes with a 2.5-inch color screen. The latter, unfortunately, does not display real-time recording but rather simple instructions to complement the onboard controls: Record, Stop, Return and four-way navigation.

The box can handle just about any camcorder in the market ranging from the 1980s' 8-millimeter shooters to the current harddrive and HD variants with its comprehensive connectivity options. For the old-timers, there are the composite and S-video sockets, while a FireWire jack handles digital models. There's even a multislot reader for popular memory cards to churn out slideshows complete with background music of your choice.

Archival on the whole is a simple play-and-record exercise with menu thumbnails, titles and chaptering automatically managed by the system. As a bonus, you can also hook up the DVDirect to your PC and use it as a regular DVD burner. The DVDirect VRD-MC3 is now available in Australia and New Zealand for A$399 and NZ$599.95, respectively. Pricing and availability for the rest of Asia were not available at press time.

More images of the Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3: