Sony's latest DVDirect camcorder-to-DVD recorder creates AVCHD DVDs with 5.1 sound

It's some 60 percent smaller in size, but other than that Sony's new VRD-MC6 DVDirect looks and acts an awful lot like the previous VRD-MC10 and VRD-MC5: it can take 1080i video with 5.1 audio off your Handycam's drive or Memory Stick and shoot out an AVCHD DVD that plays back on compatible Blu-ray drives like the PS3. If you're not into the all-Sony seamless end-to-end HD experience, you can also bring in SD video over FireWire, composite, or USB to churn out regular old DVDs with automatic chaptering and custom menu backgrounds, or you can go totally old-school and just drop in an SD card full of photos and MP3s to generate a slideshow. Yeah, it's not nerd heaven and you won't be editing Oscar-winners here, but at $230 it's a pretty painless way for everyone else to archive and share their videos. Ships in September.

[Monkey with glasses @ Jul 7th 2009 1:09PM]

Add this in the slim model ps3.

[OneLove @ Jul 7th 2009 3:32PM]

The Sony formula seems to be: some wow + more meh + very over priced = Lotta Fail.

[nintendo fanboy hater @ Jul 7th 2009 1:09PM]

sony made something reasonably price? ~shock~

[BarryL @ Jul 7th 2009 1:10PM]

Should use blu ray tech, DVD is becoming old school. I no longer view them, my collection is collecting dust. It's all digital and HD now so get with it!

[Loonie @ Jul 7th 2009 1:58PM]

DVD ain't goin' away just yet, Barry.

[Vic De Zen @ Jul 7th 2009 1:14PM]

I'm surprised they're still creating DVD technology. Perhaps they realize that with the current economy, the consumer is unlikely to switch to blu-ray? I'm sure the blu-ray version is coming out soon though.

[Alex @ Jul 7th 2009 1:26PM]

This is pretty neat, and it also points out the fact that half of Blu-Ray's technology is just AVCHD compression. I'd say Blu-Ray is one rare instance in which the free capitalistic market failed the consumers. With two companies rushing to get their formats out the door, we ended up with a not-all-that-amazing HD format. I mean really, in the decade since DVD was released, the best they could do is quintuple the storage capacity of discs? Especially if you're comparing a 9GB dual layer DVD to a 25GB Blu-Ray disc, it's not very impressive.

[dan2600 @ Jul 7th 2009 1:46PM]

Pioneer has a disc that came out last year (read only) with 16 layers of 25gigs each...400gigs total

your 100% right and Blu-Ray was a bad "quick fix" format to begin with:

The problem is that you can't just have a high data capacity, another problem with optical storage is the physical read limits. 400Mbps is Blu-Ray's upper limit (this is 10,000RPM and 12x read speed...which would kill the battery of anything portable) Uncompressed HD picture and sound is about 818Mbps for 720 (60p) and 932Mbps for 1080; considering 1080 is only the begging, and before we know it we will be moving from 2k to 4k and beyond, optical storage won't even be an option.

Losses Compression Methods, Faster GPUs, and faster Digital distribution methods is what I hope they are investing in now...Blu-ray is a huge disappointment and failure.

[Monkey with glasses @ Jul 7th 2009 2:17PM]

What's not amazing about blu-ray, no matter how i treat my blu rays shit don't scratch. To me that better than last gen DVDs but if you create one thats better, I'll give a try. Sad truth is what's good for someone is not necessarily good for another.

[Jon Acheson @ Jul 7th 2009 2:58PM]

1080i is not as good as 1080p, so, no, this is not better than Blu-Ray.

[dan2600 @ Jul 7th 2009 1:31PM]

O.O

[gerrrg @ Jul 7th 2009 1:52PM]

Hmm. That form factor reminds me of my first Sony portable CD player from 1988.

[Anticrawl @ Jul 7th 2009 2:04PM]

And thank you internet gods for backing the failing half-assed blue-laser formats instead of a cheaper more viable solution such as VMD.

[NOCknock @ Jul 7th 2009 2:04PM]

Now you can record even more boring everyday events, such as little Timmy's 5th birthday party, faster for your family and friends to suffer through.

[gadgeTT @ Jul 7th 2009 2:17PM]

For those of you complaining about how this is a DVD burner and it's old-school, the real benefit of this product is being able to create Blu-Ray compatible content on a standard DVD. In other words, shoot HD video (with an AVCHD camcorder) and put it on a nearly-free blank DVD that will play in full HD on a compatible BD player like a PS3.

I have the older model and use it as a easy way to archive HD content from my Sony HD camcorder to a nearly-free blank DVD and then play it on my PS3.

Sure, it's a niche product and not for everyone, but editing BD content and burning onto expensive blank BD-R or BD-RE media isn't necessarily required for everything.

[Monkey with glasses @ Jul 7th 2009 2:19PM]

Thank you sir, well said.

[foxb @ Jul 7th 2009 2:33PM]

This product is for anyone who don't know how to use (or don't have access to) a PC. You can burn AVCHD DVD discs on a PC very easily with either the software from your AVCHD camcorder or free downloads from Internet. No editing required either.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 7th 2009 2:52PM]

I also have the SD version of this product. I use it to mainly to archive shows off my DVR, and other than that, it doesn't get much use. I really hate analog copying because it's real time and sort of a pain, if you ask me. At least the HD version can make dealing with this worthwhile, those with HD content to offload, that is.

[shabbis @ Jul 7th 2009 4:04PM]

Spinning optical discs are so 1990s, all future HD content delivery will either be via the net or distributed on read-only flash drives.

Imagine being able to take a small flash thumb drive and directly plugging it into your TV via USB2 to play a movie, no spinning discs, no moving parts, extremely small packaging, compatible with all computers, unlimited possibilities for storage capacity, read-only flash has a long shelf life as well, etc.

[hexydes @ Jul 7th 2009 5:40PM]

Or even better, going to a website and just streaming the video. ;)

[Jagster @ Jul 8th 2009 2:10AM]

@hexydes

I think shabbis covers that when he says "all future HD content delivery will either be via the net or ..."

[hexydes @ Jul 7th 2009 2:53PM]

Just what I wanted, a way to store a 20-minute video clip on a DVD...or conversely, take the beautiful video from my HD camcorder and scale it down to SD-quality on a DVD. This is a much better solution than, say, having a 720p MP4 version of the video just stored both on my computer an on YouTube.

Physical media = dead. Get over it.

[Norman Speight @ Jul 7th 2009 3:09PM]

Why oh Why is it so bloody complicated to get what is on a hand-held video camera on to a disc without going through so many complicated steps.
Surely it is possible to write a programme which allows the plugging in to a computer USB of a camera and with only two steps start to write to the disc.
OK. There is often a lot of bits you don't want, but many, indeed most, non-geek users couldn't care less about those bits. How many holiday shots simply don't make it because of the lazy programmers continuing ability to make the transfer really difficult?
The biggest enemy of tech-gear sales is complication.
Something that absolutely NO firm has every taken seriously.
If the techie can do it in the laboratory - then the end user/purchaser/customer can also do it!
Where did that one come from?

[hexydes @ Jul 7th 2009 3:56PM]

Because at present, there still is no real standard for consumer video? Up until 18 months ago, you could still get 8mm, MiniDV, HDV, AVCHD, Mini-DVD, and even more format options. For the most part, the only software capable of handling all those different mediums/formats were the high-end packages like Premiere and FCP. That meant that manufacturers had to code their own software, which none of them wanted to expend any money/resources on. Just now, the consumer industry is mostly rallying around flash-based AVCHD video, though even the compression methods employed there vary to degrees. I think that as computers continue to get faster (AVCHD video takes a LOT of CPU power), space becomes larger, online streaming and storage becomes more prevalent, and the standards shake themselves out a bit more, we'll see this become less of an issue. The "lite" versions of the big packages will rally around that standard, and present the tools in such a way that it is easier for "normal people" to do things with their video clips. Things like an intuitive timeline, preset transitions/effects, easy export to YouTube/Vimeo/etc, and so-on. Once there is a standard, and the software gets closer to a one-click solution, some of this stuff will start to work itself out. Still probably a year or two out from that though...

[KC @ Jul 7th 2009 3:58PM]

Actually, if you just copied the files off the AVCHD camcorder to a USB drive (so... camcorder->PC/MAC->external-storage), and then plug that USB drive to the PS3 and the PS3 will play it back with no problems.

Or you can just plug the AVCHD camcorder directly into the PS3 and then copy those files on to the PS3.

The real problem is editing AVCHD content. There aren't that many "matured" applications out there that do it natively. It is still a relatively new format for consumers, but it is getting there.

[foxb @ Jul 7th 2009 4:14PM]

If no editing is required, most AVCHD camcorder comes with some simple software to burn the clips to AVCHD DVD discs in one step. Comlication only comes in when you want to perform editing.

[purplecomet84 @ Jul 7th 2009 6:26PM]

I just bought one of the previous models with a bunch of Best Buy coupons and I have to say it's a pretty slick device for transferring analog video from video8 and hi8 tapes to DVD and dual layer. It's absolutely painless and since my PC is pushing 3 years old it's nice to not have to tie it up rendering analog video and burning it to disk for hours on end. I have 25-30 tapes to convert to preserve childhood/family memories.

DVD, be it old skool, is certainly bringing my ancient videos back to the modern age. It's a fun project!

[Simon @ Jul 7th 2009 7:16PM]

OMG. Where is my Bluray VDR? come on Sony, I am still waiting.....

I have the very first VRD-MC1 and VRD-MC5, but my HD video NEEDS BLURAY burner.

[Guy @ Jul 7th 2009 9:35PM]

While I agree, I totally want a true BR version of this with HDMI in, myself and a lot of other local video producers have been using the MC5 for creating real time DVD recordings when we shoot sports and concerts. At the end of a sports game (eg football), to be able to just hand over an instant copy of the game to the clubs, its invaluable and simple. With concerts, you hang one off your safe wide camera and give the principle a DVD rush at the end of the concert...

These recorders to many are about simplfying a workflow, nothing to do with the HD on DVD feature.

As they also run of a DC input, we have found you can run them of a 7Ah gell cell on a remote sports ground with no power for 4+ hours.

Handy tool, but yet, bring on a full BR version please (although you know that is not going to be a cheap recorder like this one...)

PS: Has this MC6 dropped the S-Video input? Its hard to tell as the press release doesn't say anything more than composite.

[dosguy @ Jul 8th 2009 1:46PM]

This is probably a dumb question, but so far I've been unable to find any definite answers. I just bought a Sony Bravia HDTV. I have FIOS service, but with a standard HD box, not a DVR box. Can I still record TV shows onto the Sony device from the TV or from the FIOS box? Thanks!