Is your digital camera holding six months’ worth of pictures? Have you filled dozens of camcorder tapes without watching a single one? Sony’s DVDirect VRD-MC1 recorder makes transferring photos and video to DVDs easy. The device ($300) is nice and compact—about the size of a portable DVD player—and you don’t need a computer to use it.
Run a cable from your camcorder to the MC1 and press one button to burn a full tape’s footage, in real time, to a single- or double-layer DVD. Insert your camera’s memory card in the DVDirect recorder and it makes slideshows for viewing on your TV or PC. As you transfer images, check your progress on a top-mounted, two-inch LCD screen.
You can feed content to the MC1 from a VHS deck, digital video recorder (a TiVo, for example), or television. Just don’t plan on using the device for playback. The MC1 is strictly a burner; to enjoy your new masterpieces, you’ll need to pop them into a standard DVD player.
