I live in a camera-less household. Sure, I have an ancient film camera that was handed down to me years ago, but I don?t count that — we never think to dig it out when birthday parties or vacations roll around, much less have it on hand to snap candid shots on a regular basis. No, until now, we were content with keeping pictures taken by friends and relatives, as opposed to buying a camera or camcorder of our own.

But all that?s about to change: in August, my husband and I are going to be parents. Predictably, as soon as we found out we were expecting, our new mantra became, "We?ve got to get a camcorder." We knew we?d want to preserve our child?s first years on some type of video. The next question was, which format?

I?d been hearing about Sony?s DVD camcorders since last year, when the Advisor published a review of the DCR-DVD300. The idea of saving our memories straight to a miniature DVD-R or DVD-RW disc that we could pop right into our home DVD player and watch on our TV pretty much sold my husband on a DVD cam, sight unseen. But I?m a little more cautious, so I wheedled a brand-new DCR-DVD101 out of my editor, promising a timely review in exchange. And here it is: the digital video neophyte?s take on the DCR-DVD101.

Getting to know the 'DVD101
When I took this camcorder out of the box, the first thing I noticed was its color: instead of the usual silver finish, this model is blue with charcoal gray and silver accents. I dug the styling, as did my husband. To us, it looked cool, but not too flashy.

The ?DVD101 is very palm-friendly, too. I didn?t get a chance to use last year?s DVD camcorders, but I?m told that the ?DVD101 is 29% smaller and 23% lighter than its precursor, the DCR-DVD100. At less than three-quarters of a pound (not including battery and disc), this year's camcorder is also pretty lightweight. I?m not sure why — probably because it?s a relatively new format — but I actually expected the ?DVD101 to weigh more than a Mini DV cam. I was surprised to find that current Mini DV models, on average, outweigh the ?DVD101 by at least a quarter of a pound.

So with a Sony DVD camcorder, not only do you get the coolness of shooting straight to disc, but you get greater portability, too. Score one for the DVD format.