Sony Handycam DCR-DVD405: Test Footage

The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD405 was part of the company's 2006 lineup of Handycam camcorders, along with it came the DCR-DVD805. The DVD405 and DVD805 are identical to one another. The units featured a 3.31 megapixel image sensor (with a effective pixel count of 2.05 megapixels for 4:3 video recording, and 2.06 for 16:9). The lens on this unit (paired with its 1/3-inch CCD image sensor) has been quite pleasant to work with, offering a rather attractive, shallow depth of focus, the user can definitely make use of the unit in both urban and wildlife applications.
The camcorder has honestly been a pleasure to work with, with the exception being the obvious: The 8cm DVDs are pricey, and if the user wants the highest quality, the discs will only hold 20 minutes of video. Along with that, the unit also emits the typical sounds of the DVD drive spinning and writing to the disc itself, which is audible in the recording at times. There was an optional bluetooth microphone available (ECM-HW1) for the DCR-DVD405 and 805 (and the higher-end DCR-DVD505), which likely would have negated that issue.
The unit also uses Sony's infolithium "P" series batteries, which means it's compatible with the "V" and "H" series batteries as well, adding to user convenience.

[@vwestlife]

The same image sensor was used in the DCR-HC90 and HC96 MiniDV camcorders and DCR-SR100 hard drive camcorder.

[@FatCatTech]

All three of which are camcorders I hope to be able to make videos for in the future, excited to get my hands on them when I can!

[@Baldcafe]

Wow this cottage quality actually looks too good in a way

[@SnepperStepTV]

I like that DVD camcorders have their own vibe that nothing else really does. You wouldn't assume this was a phone or a generic HD video camera.

[@FatCatTech]

Definitely, perhaps it's the way the video is compressed for the disc, it's hard to say, but they do have a particular charm, well, when the drive isn't interrupting the audio haha

[@vwestlife]

The DVD405 and DVD805 were the same thing, just sold in different regions.

[@FatCatTech]

Thank you! I will update the description shortly. I had sooorta felt like that may have been the case, mostly because when I would search for the 805, I'd get more international results.

[@horrordvddevil333]

Amazing quality I might get one of these

[@boboducko7852]

do you have specific dvds you recommend for this camcorder? +hows the photo mode? ty, im planning on getting discs and a memory stick for this camcorder

[@souptime7136]

I use the Fujifilm DVD-RW 5 pack discs off Amazon, around $35. Pretty good compared to the Sony discs ($25 for just one). The camera recommends you use Sony brand discs when you pop them in, but so far I haven't had any problems with these. I also purchased Sony brand 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo there. As far as photo mode, it's decent. Takes a full second to process, which I'm not used to after using phone cams my whole life.

[@FatCatTech]

The discs I use used to be sold at Walmart, they were a 3-pack of double-sided Sony DVDs, I bought a small surplus of them when they stopped stocking them. They've been alright, but every once in a while they come with one side of a disc being a dud. The photo mode is one of those "what you make of it" sort of things, objectively speaking it's not really all too good, but it can be fun to play around with.

[@boboducko7852]

@@FatCatTech oh wow, thanks for the info. im glad you made this video also for us to discuss this camcorder, especially since i cant find much other info on this camcorder i just found in an attic

[@boboducko7852]

@@souptime7136 i couldnt have asked for more in a reply. i was just looking at those fujifilm discs so now i have confirmation that they work 👍 as for the memory stick, im thinking of getting the 16gb memory stick pro duo. whyd u go for 1gb? thank you again

[@souptime7136]

@@boboducko7852 I simply wanted to play it safe and stick to the manual's recommendations. And at standard definition, the 1gb stick will store around 2000 images, which for me was more than enough.