Sony DCR-PC120BT MiniDV Network Handycam

September 18, 2002

The Sony DCR-PC120BT MiniDV Network Handycam (Sony, $1,799.99) is a palm-sized digital camcorder with amazing capabilities. We had a chance to try one out recently, here’s some of what we found:

The camcorder is a solid 1.5 pounds and fits neatly in your hand, with important control buttons right at your finger tips. This is no small feat, since there are 38 control buttons overall, not counting the 26 buttons on the included remote control. The camera also has 32 menu items (grouped in eight categories) to set features such as picture quality, white balance, digital zoom, copy modes and more.

One of the most fascinating features of the camera is that you can use it to wirelessly access the Internet. We used this feature to send both digital photographs and short movie clips, directly from the camera, to family, friends, clients and whoever. We also used the camera to send and receive e-mail, browse the Internet and upload select images into our own Web Album on Sony’s Image Web site; we could then send messages to others inviting them to view these photos and movie clips. All this is done right from the camera, with no PC needed. How? Well, included with the camera is a wireless modem you connect to a phone line. You use the camera to wirelessly control the modem to connect to an ISP (Internet Service Provider), either by subscribing to Sony’s ISP service, So-Net, or by using your own ISP. The wireless technology is Bluetooth, so you can use the camera with an Internet enabled Bluetooth cell phone for complete wireless freedom. Admittedly, because of the small LCD screen and rather clumsy text entry, using the camera is no substitute for regular PC access to the Internet, but it is convenient for situations where there’s no PC around.

The camera can record, through the Carl Zeiss 10x optical zoom lens, digital video or digital photographs (still images) on a miniDV cassette or on a Sony Memory Stick. Or it can copy selected digital video scenes from the miniDV cassette onto the Memory Stick as MPEG movies limited to 15 seconds at 320 x 240 or 60 seconds at 160 x 112 resolution. The 1.5 Megapixel CCD sensor can provide up to 1360 x 1020 resolution (producing nice 4 x 6 prints) for the digital photographs recorded on the Memory Stick. The Memory Stick holds from 4 to 415 images, depending on Stick capacity (4MB to 128MB), resolution and compression. Did we mention that the camera has back light compensation and a pop-up flash with various flash modes for low light digital photos? Or that there is a laser hologram focusing light to insure accurate focus in low light situations?

The color, saturation and resolution of the digital video recorded by the camera was spectacular, especially on a large projection TV screen. The SteadyShot feature kept the image solid, even at the longest zoom. You can select an additional 12x digital zoom, but at the greatest magnification, resolution suffers because you’re using fewer sensor pixels to create the image. Using another cool feature, the NightShot, we found that the camera could see and shoot video in complete darkness up to 10 feet away with the built-in infrared light or up to 30 feet with an optional infrared light that slips on the camera’s accessory shoe.

Other features include a color viewfinder in addition to the 2.5 inch swiveling color LCD display screen; mirror LCD mode when you’ve turned the display around so you can see it and yourself from the front of the camera; a self-timer to use in both digital still and digital video modes of recording; index titling; intelligent rechargeable battery that keeps track of the battery time left; and support for the memory miniDV cassette, which uses a built-in chip to record various items such as cassette label or index. Using the A/V/S-Video in/out, you can output to a TV or VCR or record from any video source.

Use the camera with your computer and you can do even more: load your digital video into the digital video editing program (MGI Video Wave IIIse is included with the camera) via the i.Link (IEEE 1394 firewire) interface and edit away. Trim and rearrange scenes, dub additional audio comments, add special effects and much more. You can do some limited special effects and editing on the camera itself such as fancy fades, reverse colors, solarize, create mosaics, audio dubbing and inserting scenes. You can use the USB connector to transfer digital photographs and MPEG movies from the Memory Stick to the computer. Edit and print digital photos using the included MGI Photo Suite III software, and you can play the MPEG movies on Windows Media player or Real player. You can also attach still photos or MPEG movie clips to e-mail.

The Sony DCR-PC120BT is a fun camera to use. It offers the convenience of taking digital still photos or remarkably clear digital video. If you don’t need or want the wireless Internet feature, model DCR-PC115 is priced several hundred dollars less.

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