Sony DVDirect VRD-MC5 review
- October 9th, 2007
- Read 5240 times
- 36 Comments
Is the medium really the message? First, I had a VHS camcorder, then an S-VHS camcorder and in the early nineties I did a lot of recording on the Hi-8 format. After that I went digital with DV tapes. All of those were messages, right? Messages from the past to the future. Deep stuff. So recently I stumbled across a box with some of my old tapes and I thought it would be cool to save them. I would imagine that many of us have old family videos of vacations or birthday or other special events. So, what is the best way to save them? The general consensus is that burning them on to a DVD disc is the way to go. The challenge is to find the easiest way to do it.
A good choice is the Sony DVDirect VRD-MC5 next generation multi-function recorder. The MC5 transfers AVCHD quality videos to DVD discs in their native 1080i resolution. But, it can also transfer standard–definition videos, depending on your video equipment (VCR, camcorder etc) and there are many things you can do. While it’s true that Sony being Sony, they usually like to work within their own proprietary product family, with the MC5, Sony has relaxed a little and made this burner compatible with most other products.
This Sony is a little chunky and I suppose that’s because of its options and features. As far as connectors, there is a USB port, Digital Video-in port, iLINK FireWire iEEE- 1394, S-Video ports, Composite Video and RCA audio. The right side has three media card slots for SD and SDHC cards, xD cards and Compact Flash cards. Then, there are the Sony memory products including the Memory Stick and Memory Stick Duo. In front, you have the DVD/CD tray and the buttons, record and pause. There is also the 2.5 inch LCD color display for menu and previewing videos and pictures. The card reader lets you transfer photos to burn to DVD. Using JPEG you can transfer some or all and even do a slide show and add music.
For the full set features you’ll need a newer Sony video camcorder (AVCHD), but it already has so many features that any manufacturer’s camcorder/VCR will do fine. For direct transferring from camcorder to DVD there are different approaches: normal recording, full recording, incremental recording, consolidation recording, and DVD burning. The DVD burn is the simplest to use assuming you are using a Sony camcorder, but even with other products it’s not hard.
You get six hours of standard-definition video, up to 95 minutes of AVCHD video and 2,000 digital pictures can be recorded to a 4.7 GB DVD+R/+RW disc. The corresponding record media is DVD+R, DVD-R,DVDR+W and DVD-RW, DVD+r DL MC5 maintains Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and 4.3 and 16×9 aspect ratios.
Transfers
I take out my old Sony Hi-8 camcorder, hook it up with S-Video and RCA audio wires and make a DVD. Then I wire it into my PC and watch some of the DVD. It comes out fine, but it was analog so the resolution isn’t that good. In fact, it works just fine. It’s not an editor, but I wish it was; If you want to edit video you have to do it before you transfer your video.
When you copy tapes or pictures, the recording will stop automatically when the content has finished being transferred. This means, if you don’t use the space on the recordable DVD then you don’t have to finalize it and you can then add more content. Having said this, if you do fill up the first DVD disc, the VRD-MC5 will finalize that disc before instructing you to insert the second one.
All-in-all the DVDirect VRD-MC5 works as promised. It’s a little pricey for the category. For full ease of use and functionality it needs a Sony camcorder. Also, it can’t edit, but then they didn’t promise that. Sony stretched by allowing other brands to work with the MC5. For clean copy/recording of video this unit is hard to beat, it’s a very good piece of equipment for anyone who has to burn old tapes. As a byproduct this device also doubles as a standard external DVD burner to use with your PC. I wish it was a little smaller and cheaper but hey, what do you expect, it’s a Sony!
Will this product work with an older Sony Camcorder (CCD-TRV85)?
Do you know if this is the only product I can use to transfer Hi8 tapes to DVD or is there another way to hook a CCD-TRV85 directly to a PC?
Thanks
there are different ways to hook it up so yes, it will work with any camcorder.
I have an old digital sony camcorder which I bought in 2001. I also have some Hi8 family video tapes from an even older sony camcorder. So my concern is that once I transfer the tapes to DVDs would the DVDs be able to play on any old DVD player and TV or they will be completely useless unless I buy new HD TV??, blu ray player??( I don’t know anything about these new technologies) to be able to watch the DVDs.
I would like to know if I could do the same thing with my computer. It is a Compaq Model SR1103 WM-B. I don’t think it would down load Video tapes on a DVD. I have got lots of VHS tapes. This SONY DVDIRECT VRD MC5 sounds like it would be the best route to go. What do you think?
Thank You for any help. K.R. Hunter
fyi, you forgot to mention that photos in raw image format are not supported. i can understand not being able to view these as that is very cpu intensive, but it is a major design limitation not to allow raw images to be backed up to dvd media. other reviewers mention the mc5 no longer supports hooking up to a computer, but your review states it does. SONY IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE ADD A FIRMWARE UPDATE TO JUST BACKUP RAW IMAGE FILES FROM MEMORY CARDS TO DVD. THANKS!
Hi,
can I record from the camcorder to the DVDirect in real time? For example, I want to shoot a dance recital unedited to a DVD for the school?
Thanks!
- A
I have some Hi-8 video tapes that I want to convert to DVD. If I use the MC5 to burn DVD, can I then use the PC/video editing software for video editing and re-burn on the same disk?
Thanks
No. Once you burn on the DVD-r or DVD+r you can’t burn on them again. You’d have to burn your edited video to a different blank disk.
Once I copy to DVD….Can I edit the material on the DVD?
You can if you have a video editing program on your computer.
can live TV programmes be recorded on dvd by connecting VRD-MC5 TO TV? can VHS tape recorded data / video be recorded on dvd by connecting VRD-MC5 to VCR?
Not sure about taping live shows but that is what your Tivo is for.
You can copy VHS tapes by connecting VCR to VRD-MC5 as long as tapes being copied are not protected.
I have read all the question’s above ,but have not seen any answer’s.
I have one included above also.
I am seriously thinking about buying a VDR-MC5, but wanted to know a few things before I biught one. I have about 40 or 50 VHS tapes I need to copy. Thank You, K.R. Hunter
I have a lot of VHS tapes as well but it won’t transfer pre-recorded movies that are protected. Too bad since my main purpose was to copy my movie collection to DVD’s.
The MC5 has NO means to be hooked to a PC, nor to anything else but video equipment that has the red-white-yellow RCA out plugs. You could possibly record from your cable box or TV as long as you have the RCA plugs (not composite). You cannot connect a camcorder other than Sony via the USB or Firewire plugs. Ken Sandler should do more research before posting untrue reviews and giving people false expectations (at 200$ a pop!)
Just a clarification for my previous comment: you can connect with a/v RCA composite or S-video. You cannot connect with Component devices. Sorry for the confusion.
You mention in the review that you can add music to a picture slide show. How can this be done? Ipod? Mp3? Please let me know if you can. Thanks.
You need to use your computer to store a single music file in the top directory on the memory card. Then put the memory card in the MC5 before you burn the disk. You can oy use one mp3 file according to the manual.
I bought one and took it back to best buy. Paid 230.00. On the internet best buy reduced the price to 179.00 plus free shipping..so i am going to try another one. I got it to make beautiful dvds off my vhs panasonic camcorder after about 5 attempts. It wouldn’t cut the first 3 sony dics of a new pkg..but could not get it to do anything with my kodak sd card..however I did not unlock the sd card ,….so maybe it will work…I know the vrd-mc5 is getting a lot of mixed reviews..It will be a fantastic product if Sony gets the bugs out of it..Jvc makes one too..but lowest price 400 dollars..ouch..and can only be used with jvc camcorders…I do have an insignia brand dvd player recorder i got on closeout for 70.00 bucks and I can burn dvds from my tape camcorder on it after much effort..so I am hoping the next sony works as it was really easy once it started working..if not then maybe I’ll give up on electronic equipment altogether!
Can I edit the video by pushing the pause button on the MC5…….run the camcorder past the stuff I don’t want and then push the pause button to restart the DVD recording.
Yes you can pause the MC5 and even switch to another tape and add it in as well. You can play the DVD yu make in DVD players, and evn Windows Media Player. I’ve done it.
Fuck you ya cock sucker!
I bought one couple of weeks ago to trasfer my Hi8 and DV tapes to DVD. I copied a Hi8 tape to a dual layer disc using iLink from a Sony TRV480 cam. When I played it back, there was no sound and the video was jerky at some spots (DVD player is a Sony as well). Then I copied the same tape to a single layer DVD-R with audio cable connected along with the iLink cable, I still did not hear any sound during playback on the DVD player or my PC.
I found four other users complaining about the same problem on another web site. Some actually had intermittent sound during playback.
I just copied 15 DV Tapes to DVD using the VRD-MC%. All the DVD’s have a nice picture and wonderful sound.
I put allot of digital stills on DVD as well right from my CF Card. This will be nice to take on vacations as it will allow me to put all my media onto DVD for secure backups.
I think Sony may have a copy of the manual on their website. Read the manual and it will answer most of the aboove questions.
I just bought a new VRD-MC5 and recorded a single layer DVD with the DV firewire using a Sony camcorder hc1000 as source and got picture and no sound. I noticed a software download fix for sound and no picture but haven’t seen picture and no sound problems. Am I the only one with this problem? Is there a download for system update to solve this problem?
I’m looking to get one so that I can get rid of my old VHS tapes. These are mostly studio movies. Are all of these ‘protected’ from duplication? Or is it only a certain percentage? Is there a way that I can tell if my tapes are protected before buying the recorder? Thanks for your help.
Ken,
It seems like my DV recorder to DVD transfer (via i.link IEEE 1394 connector) is lower quality than the original DV tape. I would like to think for digital to digital it should be lossless. This is even using the highest recording qualitin on the VRD-MC5. Do you know if this is a compression issue?
Also, do you think VHS recording quality would increase if I put a digitall time base corrector between the VHS playback device and the VRD-MC5?
thanks,
Chris
Ken,
Thanks for all the wonderful info on this page.
My wife has been copying all of our old home movies from 8mm to DVD and reliving our children’s childhoods at the same time.
Every so often, she gets an error at the end of recording that says, “unable to finalize disc.” I’ve searched and can’t find a reason for this. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Randy
Ken,
You caught my attention in your article as you are the first person I have found in a similar situation. I have about 100 SVHS tapes and an equal number of Mini-DV tapes that I want to transfer to DVD. What is the best method, or equipment you know of that will transfer SVHS and Mini-DV without losing picture quality.
Thanks for any help you can give,
Art
I’m surprised tat no one has mentioned the use of a regular DVD recorder to transfer video from tape to DVD. I have transferred, edited and record to DVD with the greatest of ease in my Panasonic DMR-EH55 with a built-in 200GB hard drive. I moved video & audio from VHS, 8mm, Mini DV, BUT NOT 1080i or HD. The DMR-EH55 is an excellent dvd recorder/player and an AWESOME video editing tool.
I’m taking mine back. I have tried every connection in the world and can’t get any sound to record. I want to burn some shows from my DVR, but I can’t get sound! I get great video, but it doesn’t do any good if I can’t get sound.