I love this camcorder!!!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Size, Features, price, ease of use

Cons: Try to use Sony discs

The Bottom Line: 
Is a very nice camcorder especially if you are coming out of VHS-C as I did.

Author's Review
The DCR-DVD301 Sony Camcorder is compact, light, with a large LCD, simple control functions, excellent picture quality, audio excellent (sometimes picks up back ground noise), and offers a variety of filming options, black/white, widescreen, sepia, my favorite "old" movie. Software easy to download and understand. Simply the best DVD camcorder price wise on the market. Buy one and enjoy cheating time with lasting lifetime memories.

Love the feel of the camera in my hands. I'm going to use this camera for the birth of my second child. I've played around with the camcorder in various conditions and haven't had any problems so far. The only thing's Sony should consider is a light, more ergonomic controls since most men I talk to are the gadget freaks and will be the directors, and timed video feature which would enable me to film for a few breif moments then shut off and continue again. I like the anti-shake feature this camera has since I will be either moving around the baby's room alot or passing out at the first site of my wife pain. I bought this camera on Ebay, I normally make my purchases online but felt if I ever had a problem, I had a place to return it to for quick resolution. I like my buy! I hope it will be there for all those magical moments!

I have only used this Sony Handycam DCR-DVD301 for 3 discs. One Sony DVD-RW disc and two Memorex DVD-RW. The Sony disc still works but the two Memorex disc have failed - they each get "format error". The Memorex discs recorded OK and played back on the handycam until I finalized the discs. They will now not play on the handycam or the DVD player. The Memorex disc package states that it may be used in Sony camcorders. I like the handycam based on the use with the Sony discs.

It's big screen is a great feature I don't find this in latest 403. I have tried many brand of DVD's and have not experienced ANY problem with recording or playing back.
Things I like about latest 403 is, it has got 3MP still photography, a flash and a shoe to fit light. Otherwise 301 camcorder is very good espcially with a marked down price. I have seen 301 and if price and size (of LCD) dosen't matter, I recommend buying it. I have also heard alot of guys complaining about the editing software that ships with this camcorder. Honestly for starters, it's better than pinnacle or other high tech softwares because it's easy to learn and is targeted for entire range of users.

Buy CDRW discs so you can reformat the disc after finalizing. Finalize the disc and copy it using your home PC to a normal size DVD, then format the CDRW and it is good to go again. Takes very nice pictures and the video is very bright and clean, alot of different modes lets you cover the action any way you want.