Sporting a bright silver and dull grey colour tone, the VDR-D160 is compact for a Mini DVD camcorder. The sticker on the side sporting the 30X optical zoom moniker puts across a subtle statement rather than screaming style. Build quality is extremely good-not even the slightest play from the Mini DVD drive bay after two weeks of usage. Even the outer surface treat- ment seems excellent-well-set to weather the passing of time.




If anything, we found ergonomics even better than that of the SDR-H20, which we'll harp about a little later. The Record button is a little closer to one's hand than on the bulkier HDD-based SDR-H20, as a result of which large ed people will find their index finger and thumb getting cramped. If you've got smaller hands-perfect! The joystick has a nice positive feedback and works well. The simple menu is well comple¬mented by the easy one-handed operation-others should take note of the way Panasonic has worked on usability; you never need stop shooting to access any
of the menus. The SD card bay lock seems a little cheaply built, not like the SDR-H20.
Immediately, we noticed slight graininess while shoot¬ing indoors-there was noise
that became apparent especially at the long end of the zoom. The IS system does work at up to 15x magnification, but at 25x and beyond, you'll notice small jit¬ters-something which we couldn't notice on the SDR-H20. However, outdoors, with better natural lighting, this won't be a problem-and you'll hardly ever use the entire zoom indoors.

At rupees 19,990 the Panasonic VDR¬D160 quickly establishes itself as an alter¬native to the Canon DC210 and the Samsung VP-D975Wi and while we can eas¬ily recommend it over the latter it gets neck and neck with the former. Of course danger from the excellent value for money Sony DCR-DVD608E is ever present.


Specifications:
1/ 6-inch CCD image sensor (0.4 megapixel);
LCD viewfinder 2.5¬inches (105,000 pixels);
Weight: 480 gm.