DVD camcorders took off a little late and now, despite the popularity of the disc format, appear to have been left behind. Although 2006 saw the format make a considerably more noticeable dent in mini DV's share of the camcorder market, before DVD cam manufacturers had a chance to enjoy their success a new breed of camcorder turned up.

HDD is fast becoming the format of choice and there seems to be increasingly less room in the market for disc-based cams, despite the online savings you can make on slightly older models such as the DVD505, Sony's flagship DVD camcorder of 2006.

In recent months we've been treated to all manner of lightweight, slimline card and HDD camcorders so returning to the bulk of a DVD camcorder comes as quite a shock. That said, it's no bad thing. The additional weight keeps the camcorder sturdy in the hand and although the disc transport sits on the right flank, it makes a suitable rest around which to wrap your fingers, giving you a firm grip on the cam.

All controls are easily accessible, with the forefinger resting on the zoom rocker and the thumb finding a home just above the record start/stop button. The 3.5-inch LCD gives you a good idea of what is being committed to disc and also houses additional controls to give that added ease-of-use to your shoots. Alternatively, there is a viewfinder which will prove less taxing on the battery and can be angled upwards to accommodate trickier shooting angles.

As a top-of-the range DVD cam the 505 is well kitted out for all manner of shooting scenarios. Using 8cm discs, the cam is compatible with DVD-R, a record-once format that offers best compatibility with household DVD players, as well as the rewritable formats -RW and RW, which offer extra functions such as deleting scenes and creating playlists.

The complete solution

To offer the complete home-entertainment experience from your homemade DVDs, the 505 offers true widescreen recording (monitored through the huge 16:9 LCD) and built-in 5.1 audio recording capability, a feature that's becoming commonplace on DVD camcorders.

In keeping with the latest Sony developments the 505 uses a single CMOS imaging chip for video and stills, capable of 4-megapixel still images saved to Memory Stick.