Sony VRD-VC20 Review

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Chris - LA • July 26, 2005
Rating: 4/5
first the bad news: no video output (not too big a problem), no 3 Hour record algorythm for dual layered discs, and no 120 minutes of record time on the highest setting (it’s 119 minutes)
But considering all of that, it really is a great unit. One more hint: Do not use RW discs! They are not as realiable as +R or -R blanks.
All in all though this is a great unit!
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
C-Evans • October 12, 2005
Rating: 4/5
My best advice to anybody using this unit is that you use Sony DVD media. I had numerous problems with other media which took awhile to figure out and have had none with Sony. I have been using Sony DVD-R and it’s been excellent.
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
dkerr • November 9, 2005
Rating: 3.5/5
I like the packaging and size.
However, had mixed results with the
sound level (low) and the color balance, viz a viz the original (tended toward yellow).
Over all, however, the unit is a nice desk-top addition to my editorial suite. Maybe someone knows of a fix (internal tweak?)
for the audio and video.
Oh, and one more minor nit:
Can’t seem to get firewire to work
(from Premiere Pro 1.5 — although the cable pumps out signal OK to my
camcorder.
Thanks for takin’ time to read.
– dlk
Rating: 7 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Bob • January 3, 2006
Rating: 0.5/5
This much advertised DVD recorder lacks the basic functionality of recording DVDs from miniDVs taped in 16:9 widescreen format!
While most SONY camcorders have been able to record miniDVs in widescreen format for many years (ex: DCR-TRV10, which is 7+ years old), this latest DVD recorder can only support 4:3 format. Don’t buy this unit!!
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
John B. • January 20, 2006
Rating: 4/5
There is a work around: Try connecting your r/w/y RCA cable from your camera to your TV during playback & use the firewire connection to the DV Recorder. You should get the video/audio monitoring you want.
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Kelly • March 19, 2006
Rating: 0.5/5
Windows Professional identifies the VRD-VC20 as a USB Mass Storage Device with the yellow warning not as a DVD as it should. I have sent the device back to Sony only to have them tell me there is nothing wrong with the VRD-VC20. Tested on two new computer systems with the same result.
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
MOORE • May 3, 2006
Rating: 2.5/5
Kelly – I have the same problem as you, what is the solution?
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Doug • May 23, 2006
Rating: 5/5
You have to install the software first, before you plug it in, just like the instructions say. Have had nothing but excellent luck. This is an awesome device! No issues, blazing speed and high quality. I LOVE IT!
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Ron • May 11, 2007
Rating: 0.5/5
I have to wait 16 hours to burn a dvd disc on this device, its frustrating!
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 1 people found this user review helpful.
Tim • May 17, 2007
Rating: 1.5/5
Maybe the one we got is a lemon and the rest are ok but we have hit or miss reliability when it comes to writing DL disks in this drive. We’ve lost many recordings using this drive using dual layer disks. We’ve tried Verbatim and Ridata. One day it works fine and the next day the disk won’t finalize right or it just doesn’t right correctly. We’ve tried recoving our data using ISOBuster and the data isn’t there. We thought the 20 pack disks we bought were bad but they worked fine when we eventually burned them in another drive. Otherwise, the drive works great with single layer disks.
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Avi • September 2, 2007
Rating: 0.5/5
The concept is great but the device doesn’t work as advertised. I bought it a couple of years ago and do not use it that much. In the beginning it was OK. Now it is a hit or miss operation. I wasted many discs, time and energy in trying to record from video camera. I am using DVD-R discs. It will record for the first 10 seconds and then it quits. I am looking now for another device, certainly not by Sony.
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
George • September 28, 2007
Rating: 1/5
I have 12 DVD recorders. 6 of them are Sony VRD-DC20 units. I’m a professional; I know what I am doing.
When in stand-alone mode, such as you would use for pulling video off of a camera, DVR, or VCR, the units appear to work good, if you use media they like… That is on a good day. On a bad day you throw away disk after disk… Sometimes it doesn’t like the signal, and in the process it craps your disk… So you ruin disk after disk, trying to make it work. It is very sensitive to the video being just right. I moved 4 movies off my DVR, it works great. On the 5th movie suddenly nothing works, I try all 5 of my working vc20′s, and none of them appear to like the signal. I try a different recording that worked an hour earlier, and no luck, rebooting the DVR doesn’t help. Different disks don’t help; they all fail at the same time. When I was using them for recording live video from my newtek vt4, a professional video studio system, the same thing happens… one day everything works, the next day nothing works.
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 1 people found this user review helpful.
George • September 30, 2007
Rating: 2.5/5
The Sony VRD-VC20 is notorius for refusing to record some things, while working perfectly for others.
I figured it out!!! Sony has a copy protection system where a TV station can encode a movie such that the VRD-VC20 will refuse to record it. It is NOT a media problem, it is NOT a problem with the drive, it is doing what it was programmed to do, and Sony tech support is not telling anyone.
This does not explain the finalize errors, those are a different issue, such as an out-of balance disk, a misloaded disk, a vibration during recording, or an out-of-spec disk.
But when you take a known good disk from a known good spindle of blanks, and forwhatever reason it records for 10 seconds or less, then just stops… that is because it detected a copy-protected signal in the video stream.
I have 5 of these units, and all 5 fail on the same exact movie, but all 5 work fine on other sources. If I pull video off a camera, it is fine, but if I pull video off my DVR, it has to be a channel that does not copy-protect their movies.
The solution is to use the supplied nero with a computer to capture the copy-protected movie.
I notice some channels, such as AMC always protect their movies, while other channels don’t. And Sony is infamous for imbeding protections in their hardware and software. They got busted for doing that to the windows operating system, so now they only do it in their encoder firmware… So by bypassing their encoder, and using nero instead, you bypass the problem.
So I’m upgrading my review of this unit, though it is still penalized for the number of disks it makes you ruin while you figure this out.
If you only use it to encode from cameras, and other non-protected source material, it works pretty good as long as you have good disks, and it doesn’t get too much vibration.
Dual-layer disks are more prone to vibration problems than single layer disks.
Rating: 5 :: 1 out of 1 people found this user review helpful.
Bill • February 26, 2008
Rating: 0.5/5
I’ve had the VRD-VC20 for almost three years, perhaps burning less than 200 DVDs in its lifetime. I’ve used the direct video inputs (all 3 – analog, Y/C, and firewire) plus computer control and I have never gotten a “perfect” DVD. Somewhere in the disk there will be freezes, jumps, or lockups – however, some disks are close to perfect while others are just plain unusable. I have only used Sony DVD-Rs and Verbatim DVD-Rs. You can’t control the burn speed in stand-alone mode, although I always try to write at the slowest speed in computer mode to help the quality. It is very frustrating and embarrassing when the disk is given to someone, and worse if I am there while it is being played.
Sony offers DriveCheck.exe software on its website to “check” the drive. When I run it says my drive is a “Pass.” Sony is willing to do a repair/replace for $150 but I’m very suspicious the second unit would be just the same as the first. It’s also sad that recent email correspondence with Sony tech service results in five letters from five correspondents who aren’t sure what the previous correspondent said to me (the valued customer). That does nothing to build my confidence about Sony! The VC20 would be such a perfect little device if it only worked reliably.
Finally, what convinced me that home-made DVDs with errors aren’t a “normal” thing is the acquisition of a MAC PRO about a year ago. This burns DVDs (even using no-name or bargain media) with rock-solid sync and no freezing frames or similar instability issues. I wish Apple would make a similar device to the ‘VC20, so that I could burn directly (in real time) from raw video or raw camera feed over firewire.
I would not recommend this DVD burner to anyone – it has lots of potential but is disappointing.
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.