Camcorder Review:
Sony DSR-PDX10 DVCAM

D. Eric Franks
May 2003

The professional Sony DSR-PDX10 is, in every important way, identical to the consumer DCR-TRV950, which received a very positive review from us in the October 2002 issue (read it at www.videomaker.com). The cameras have the same three CCDs, the same lens, the same data format and the same camera body. This review is going to focus on the differences between these two cameras. For some of you, the extra features will be a necessity. For others, the question is whether the extra features are worth the roughly $400 price difference between the two.

If you need to use the DVCAM tape format, then the consumer TRV950 is not an option. The PDX10 allows you to shoot on both DVCAM tape or consumer Mini DV tape. The quality of the video captured to either format is identical, since the Digital Video (DV) data is identical (both are DV25). The DVCAM tape format is theoretically more robust and durable than Mini DV tape, but millions of Mini DV camcorders and tapes have been sold and used without anyone reporting any inherent problems with the format. Another feature of DVCAM is that the audio is locked with every frame of video. While Mini DV video is not as precisely synchronized, real-world reports of problems (e.g. lip sync) as a result of not having locked audio are extremely rare (we've never encountered it here under normal shooting and editing conditions). Again, just to be clear: the video is identical in both formats. More relevantly, we like the fact that the PDX10 allows you to switch between DVCAM and Mini DV, but we don't see anything wrong with Mini DV in the first place.

We would expect to pay roughly $200 for a compact two-channel XLR adapter, such as the one that is included with the PDX10. The adapter will allow you to jack in just about any audio source: line level from a mixer, standard microphone level or even an attenuated microphone level. In addition, the camera can supply +48V phantom power (which of course drains the battery more quickly) and has a Low Cut filter that can be toggled on and off (for reducing wind noise). The camera comes with a compact Sony shotgun microphone (ECM-NV1) that we figure is probably worth about $50. The quality of the microphone was fair, but no worse than others in its class and is the same as the included microphone on higher-end Sony products such as the PD250 or the VX2000. We tried three other shotgun microphones with excellent results: the convenience and integration of the Sony XLR adapter make it well worth the money.

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