Sony's old DVD403 model had a 1/3-inch sensor with outstanding low-light performance. The high-end camcorder in the new DVD line, the DVD910, has a 1/5-inch Exmor sensor, coupled with a Bionz image processor. Both technologies are inherited from pro-level DSRLs and camcorders, and seem to work wonders with noise reduction. While the DVD910's images are not as good as the DVD403's in low-light, at $520, the newer camcorder is also cheaper.



The DVD910's standard definition interlaced video is driven by a single 1/5-inch 2.3 megapixel 16:9 Exmor CMOS sensor. MPEG2 compression at 9Mbps is used, which is not much above one third the bitrate of MiniDv. The reduced size means recording times receive a significant boost, but the same image quality cannot be preserved. 3-inch DVDs are used ((DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL), and can hold 20 minutes of footage. Additionally, an 8 GB Memory Stick will provide 115 minutes of recording time.



Video is noise-free and has clear colors, at least in strong daylight. The sensor/processor combo - identical to the one used in the high definition SR10, but more successful here due to the much lower resolution - resolves good detail, and manages to stave off noise as light levels drop. In true low-light, the camera does not perform well, but that is to be expected.



With a moderate 15x zoom, the DVD910's lens has a 40 - 600mm 35mm equivalent field of view, and unlike the rest of Sony's SD DVD line, has been outfitted with optical image stabilization. As is almost virtually universal in consumer camcorders, the 40 mm wide-angle isn't 'wide' at all. Maximum aperture range is f1.8 to f2.6. The 2.7-inchLCD, with its 211,000 pixel resolution, has had its visibility in strong light conditions upgraded. In dissension with current camcorder trends, a viewfinder can be found on the DVD910 – a positive choice on Sony's part.



Easy mode makes a stand in the name of absolute beginners, putting the camera on auto-pilot and locking down the majority of buttons. Aperture, shutter speed and gain settings are not provided. Solely white balance and exposure shift can be operated manually. The trials and tribulations of achieving manual focus will give you severe hang-overs, during and after shooting. Sony's touch screen control system involves the tapping of on-screen buttons during shooting, which introduces reality-altering level of shake into your videos.



The camera benefits from two interesting playback modes. 'Face Index' attempts to index footage according to the faces that it identifies. 'Film Roll' creates previews of a video file, displaying the content in a time-line at user-selected intervals.



Photos be captured to Sony's Memory Stick cards, at a maximum resolution of 4 megapixels, which could only be achieved by interpolation, given the 2 megapixel size of the sensor. While an improvement over similar Sony camcorders, this is too little for the price.



The DVD910's doesn't go much further than its siblings towards providing real sound features. An internal 5.1 channel Dolby Digital microphone has a zoom function, which targets distant sounds when fully zoomed in visually, and picks up increasing levels of surround sound as you zoom out. Mic and headphone jacks are missing, so the hot accessory shoe can only be used with an external light.



The ports available on the SR45 are AV out, S-video out, and USB 2.0.