Pros:
It looks cool. 4500 still photos per disk is very sweet.
Cons:
Movies on computer do not include any sound.
The Bottom Line:
Buy it if you want a good camcorder and you can get it for 600 or less. Don't buy if you expect PC based movies with sound.
Overall Rating:
Author's Review
- I bought this item new from EBAY for $499, which I felt was a very good price. I love the size, functionality and ability to edit the pictures and movies. Lots of people complain about the 20 Minute limitation of movies stored to disks but I found you can swap another disk in less than 6 seconds so this is not a problem.
- PC Connection. The DCM-M1 uses a ethernet connection to your PC's network or network card. I had no problem getting it to work with my lan with a server but it is impossible to get this thing to work with a stand alone PC running Win 2000 professional. The instructions are for Win98 and older and there is NO tech support available from Sony.
- What good is a digital movie you cannot hear any sound with? That's right, movies are saved as quick time format (.MOV) and quick time is not capable of playing the sound format saved in these movies! I found in small print in page 30 something a little statement that there is no current PC decoder for the sony MPEG2 sound format. If you plan to buy this for PC based movies FORGET IT.
Having said all the bad stuff, I really like the digital camera and camcorder functions. Just wish the PC format would have sound.
Send me an email at qsplit@cs.com if you have any questions ( or if you figured out how to decode the sound files!)
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