Samsung VP-DX205

Full Review

Samsung’s latest addition to its midrange standard definition camcorders line-up is the Samsung DX205. Though many will remain unimpressed with this outdated offering, the DX205 still has something for who are not yet into HD world of videos.

Features and Design
The DX205 has a compact and stylish design which also scored high on ergonomics. Powered by Schneider Kreuznach lens with 34x optical zoom, and a 1/6-(inch CCD sensor having 800k pixels , the DX205 is quite humble in terms of features. It also includes the now common face detection feature and digital image stabilizer. Overall the build quality is satisfactory. The plastic dark grey and black body did not look that solid but proved good enough. The DVD drive is on the right and photo capturing button and zoom lever is located conveniently on the top. Shortcuts for mode shift, capturing, power and Easy mode buttons are also easily accessible at the real panel. The overall design is quite easy to use even for first timers. And there is a swiveling 2.7-inch LCD Viewfinder which helps a lot in shooting at various odd angles despite it lacks of optical viewfinder. For better controls, a joystick navigation is also mounted on the side of the screen apart from the buttons for menu and capturing button. The camcorder has ports for Composite video, miniUSB but no HDMI. There is a built-in lens protective cover and light for shooting in darker environment.

Videos recorded stored in DVD(DVD-R/-RW/-R Dual Layer) are in MPEG2 format while the card stored them in H.264 format. Clips have 720 x 576 pixels resolutions at 25fps with three quality options (Super Fine, Fine and Normal). Photos captured are stored in memory card with SD card 800 x 600 pixels resolution. Audios captured are stereo audio but we did not find the useful headphones jack. Fortunately, there is a wireless remote control included in the package as well.

Performance and Usability

Focusing happened at decent speed and the outdoor videos we recorded came out with well saturated colors but slight artifacts were also noticed.

Operating the Samsung DX205 is quite simple with no learning curves involved. All buttons are quite easy accessible and the interface menu is also well laid out. The camcorder started up in under a minute and once the blank DVD was formatted, we could easily start to shoot the video. Focusing happened at decent speed and the outdoor videos we recorded came out with well saturated colors but slight artifacts were also noticed. The clips were not super-sharp to bring out details and color balance was fairly accurate. But if you are not looking out for crystal-clear resolution, this is good enough for casual home videos. If we are to nitpick, the dark images sacrificed details for both indoor and outdoor shots. There were also purple fringes noticed on high contrast areas. And the lack of optical image stabilization was also quite disappointing and the digital IS did not help much. Face detection worked well but in a dimly lit environment it did take a few seconds to lock on the subject . Audio sounded rich and clear and the background noise was kept at minimal with the wind-cut feature switched on.

Overall, the DX205 priced at Rs. 18,900, is a good buy if you just want a standard definition DVD based camcorder with decent performance and adequate number of features.

Bottom Line

Decent standard definition DVD camcorder that will suffice for casual home video recording.