Sony announces DVDirect DVD Video Recorders

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Sony is set to release two new DVDirect standalone DVD video recorders. The two models are the VRD-VC30 and VRD-MC3 and are designed to cater for the non-technically minded to provide a straight forward and simple way to record video to DVDs.

The Sony DVDirect DVD recorders can function with a variety of video sources including Firewire, Composite, S-Video, and USB to DVD-R and DVD+R discs. This means that the DVD recorder has the ability to record directly off DVRs allowing you to save shows permanently and free up space on your DVR. When recording to DVRs the 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios are preserved as well as the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

The main difference between the VRD-VC30 and VRD-MC3 DVD recorders is that the VRD-MC3 has image recording capabilities allowing images to be transferred to a DVD disc to be stored or saved as a slideshow. Additionally the DVD recorders can be hooked up with your PC via USB 2.0 and used as a normal DVD burner.

The two Sony DVDirect devices are expected to be available in October. The VRD-VC30 DVD recorder will be available for around $200 while the image capable VRD-MC3 will be available for $250.