So you’ve shot an Oscar-worthy weekend masterpiece on one of Canon’s fine whanau of camcorder beauties. Having no patience for editing (and as an editor, I can sympathise) you realise nothing would give you – or the family members you roped in as talent – greater satisfaction than seeing the results immortalised on DVD with a minimum of mucking about. How very fortunate, then, that Canon has released the perfect product to meet this burning consumer desire, so to speak.

The Canon DW-100 DVD Burner is compatible with all flash-based and HDD Canon camcorders. If you don’t own one and have no intention of joining the Canon party, fear not, other manufacturers make similar units for their product lines. What the competitors’ products may lack is a feature that is the most intriguing aspect of the DW-100: the ability to create AVCHD DVDs that will play your vision back in full high definition. To put it another way, using standard or dual-layer DVD-R media, you can create HD discs that can be played back on your HDTV by Blu-ray devices such as the PS3, or the DW-100 itself when connected to a Canon HD camcorder.

It also records standard definition video, meaning the end result is playable on DVD players. Simply connect your camcorder via USB 2.0 and select the disc creation settings using your camera’s menus. This can include all recorded scenes, those scenes not already burned to disc, or a playlist that you create by in-camera selection (a very basic form of editing). Insert a blank disc, push the burner’s massive array of three buttons in the right order and you’re away. The type of footage being burnt will determine the type of DVD you get at the end and, of course, how much footage can be squeezed onto one disc.

The DW-100 also converts still image (JPEG) files into slideshow photo-movies, which is a convenient way of archiving or sharing your holiday snaps. Be warned that the DW-100 does not convert HD to SD; you’re stuck with the format you shot on unless you throw the clips into a decent editing platform to down-convert. And if you’re going to those lengths then there’s probably little reason to get a standalone DVD burner such as this.

This highlights what is the essential strength or weakness of this product, depending on your needs. The DW-100 forms a vital link in what is a very basic workflow, that is, straight from camcorder to disc in a basically unadulterated form. If this is how you want to rule your visual media empire, then great, you have everything you need. But if editing for you means more than just shuffling your clips around in-camera, this burner quickly becomes quite superfluous.

What they said

“I’m not sure I see a huge demand for this, but if you are wishing you had bought a camcorder that made DVDs, here’s your answer.” – www.thetechbrief.com

Specifications

Supported media: Recording – DVD-R /-RW/-R DL (12 cm); Playback – DVD-R/-RW/ -R DL (12cm/8cm)

Supported input formats: HD – AVCHD (up to 24Mbit/s); SD – SD-Video (MPEG-2)

Recording formats: HD – AVCHD (up to 18Mbit/s); SD – DVD-Video

Still images: JPEG

Dimensions: 179 x 275 x 70mm (W/H/D)

Weight: 1.9kg

Pros

• Burns and plays back HD and SD DVDs without the need for a computer or DVD player

• Simple to operate

Cons

• Size is barely portable

• Can only connect to Canon camcorders – useless for computer-based editing

Verdict

Great for convenient DVD creation, pointless if you want to edit properly. Total 3/5

Justin Redding

This review is from Tone issue #71.

What do you think?