Product Description

Samsung introduces the SC-D23 with its 2.5 in LCD and enhanced night recording capability. The user will be able to shoot in low light luminance with the enhanced LSS feature.PRODUCT FEATURES:Lens: Optical 10x, Digital 400x;CCD: 680K pixels;Built-in DSC (Memory-Stick Slot);Image Stabilizer: DIS;TFT LCD: 2.5in.;Color Slow Shutter;0 Lux Night Pix, Power Nite Pix;PC Link: USB, IEEE1394 In/Out;MPEG 4 Video Clip Recording;Color OSD, Beep sound;Easy-Q, Easy-Navigator;Built In Light.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53132 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: SCD23
• Dimensions: 3.54" h x 2.30" w x 6.14" l, 1.06 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 10x optical and 400x digital zoom
• 1/6- inch 680,000 CCD for superb image quality
• USB and FireWire interfaces for high-speed video transfer
• Night recording mode
• Compact design for comfortable mobility

Amazon.com Product Desription
Optics
The SCD23 features a high-performance 1/6" 680,000 Pixel CCD to capture high-quality video and digital photos. It's also fitted with a 10X optical zoom and a 800X digital zoom lens. Digital zoom is a powerful tool, but it can lead to "jaggies"--zigzag contours that reduce picture quality. Samsung has applied a Digital Image Stabilizer to correct this problem.

Digital Stills and MPEG Video
The scd23 can cpature videos in MPEG4 format at a resolution of QVGA 10fps. In addition to high-quality video, the SCD23 also captures digital still photos that are stored on a memory card as JPEGs in your choice of three image qualities.

Inputs and Outputs
The SCD23 comes with an IEEE1394(In/Out), USB interface, Audio/Video Ports, and an S-Video Cable port.

MiniDV Format
MiniDV is the preferred format for personal and broadcast-quality video, highly regarded for its high audio and image quality. With up to 540 lines of horizontal resolution and minimum color noise, MiniDV delivers a 20-percent clearer picture than analog camcorder formats. This is all delivered on a cassette that's 1/12th the size of a standard VHS tape. A MiniDV tape offers digital recording time of 2 full hours--20 times the capacity of a CD.

What's included
Camcorder, AC Adapter/Charger, Battery Pack, Hand Grip, Remote Control, S-Video Cable, and Memory Stick.

From the Manufacturer
The SCD-23 DV camcorder is easy to operate and provides a top-quality digital video image that is virtually unaffected by hand movements during recording. The sharp image is reflected in its convenient 2.5" TFT LCD monitor, which rotates 210 degrees for multi-angle shooting, self-recording, and playback. Other features include audio dub, digital special effects, and nite pix (0 lux recording.)

Customer Reviews

Great little unit for basic digital video
Wow! What a nice little digital "starter" camcorder for casual, fun digital video! As far as I can tell from extensive comparison shoopping, its feature set is just about unbeatable at this price point ...The unit weighs little more than a pound, but has a quality aura about it, with all the buttons and switches feeling quite solid and substantial. I already had several Samsung multimedia devices (MP3 player and DVD player) before my wife bought me this camcorder for Father's Day (thanks, sweetheart!), so I had a certain comfort level with the brand's overall excellent quality.

Here are a few things any prospective buyer should know: Regardless of what the folks at the Samsung spare parts store may tell you, the SC-D23 absolutely DOES accept a memory stick for use as a digital still camera (640 X 480 pixels max resolution); but no stick is included with the camera AND the maximum-capacity memory stick the camera will accept is 16 megs. Also, the USB photo-download capability works only with PCs; therefore, Macintosh computer users will need to purchase a USB memory-stick reader to download their still photos.

Overall the controls are easy to use and fall readily to hand. The LCD display is bright; and the camera's "night pix" capability is lots of fun--it uses infrared light emitted by the camera itself to illuminate objects up to about 10-15 feet away; so you can shoot close-up video in total darkness. The "night pix" video function may not be very practical for the average casual user, but it's a lot of fun to play with and looks very cool green and "Desert-Stormish." The video color quality overall is good, and the sound picked up by the built-in external stereo microphone is also good; although the mic does pick up a bit of the camera's own operational sounds (whirring and such). There is also an external microphone jack.

Pros with this unit: Low price, strong feature set (including built-in light, digital still camera capability, FireWire and USB interfaces, and several video-outs including S-video), good manufacturing quality, nice picture and sound. Cons: No memory stick included, memory stick capacity limited to 16 megabytes; no USB video download capability; no FireWire or S-video cables included, no USB photo download capability for Mac users.

My wife and I plan to use this camera for taking casual video -- mostly of our grandchildren; overall, we are extremely pleased with the Samsung SC-D23.

Excellence Camcorder
This is an excellence camcorder for video pictures for out or indoor, with normal light. This comparision with others well known brand-name (even double price).

BUT ... I can not transfer (capture) video picture from mini-DV tape to Computer through 1394 port. I have read some posts at some forums; they are having same problem like mine. If someone know how to please let me know. Thank you.

PS. I have no problem to capture video picture from mini-DV tape to Computer through 1394 port on Canon Optura 20, Panasonic DV102, and Panasonic GS70. I like the SCD23 because the video picture is the best among of the above camcorders (perhaps because it has 1.4 apperature??).

In-order to transfer Mini-DV tape recorded from the Samsung SCD23 I have to put the mini-DV tape to the Panasonic GS70 then using 1394 port to transfer to computer!!!!!

Edit July 07, 2003
Good News .....
Finally, I found the way how to Capture (transfer) video from MiniDV to Computer. The trick is I have to buy a brand name Adaptec FireWire Card!!! I bought Adaptec FireConnect 4300 AFW-4300 1394/FireWire Card, and it work flawlessly (not bad $41.00 card it came with some good software for transfer video image).

I am very happy with SCD23 and I will buy the SCD27 because the SCD27 is almost the same as the SCD23 with more feature + accessories for example it came with 16Mb Memory Stick, Remote Control, 3.5" LCD, have S-Video (in/out).

Only some minor complains are:
-I have to open LCD screen in order to access The DV 4 pin Firewire port.
-No Smart Shoe for Flash however, the Camcorder came with Video Light.

I am going to give 5 stars instead of 4.

Terrific Value for your dollar
For the price that you're being asked to pay for a digital video camera, this is a great buy! The camera itself works great and I'm very happy with it. There are however, a few details you really need to know before making a purchase.

1. The included battery's life, I found, is really short. If I got two hours out of it, I was doing hand-springs. I ordered an extended-life battery and have been more then OK since. It was very easy to find and didn't cost too much.

2. If you REALLY want to take full-advantage of having a camera that uses DV, you HAVE TO HAVE a computer that has a 1394 Fire-wire connection and the horsepower to operate it properly. I didn't have that at the time and spent about another hundred dollars in extra RAM and a fire-wire card. Just a word of caution too, transferring DV is a BEAST on system resources; make ABSOLUTELY SURE to check your system specs to make sure you can cover the workload.

2a. ... there really is no reason Samsung couldn't have included a fire-wire cable.

3. The camera's quality in low-light (ex. - a candle-lit wedding dinner ... grrrr) is really suspect. It's astoundingly good when the lighting is good, but the video quality is really grainy when it isn't. The built-in light certainly helps, but only to a degree.

4. The camera won't recognize more then a 16 Mg memory stick for pictures. I went out and bought a 64 mg card and had to return it.

All that said though, this REALLY IS a great machine. Just realize before you purchase it that there are DEFINETLY extras that you're going to need to pick up to go with it. I didn't do my homework and had to do a ton of running around I could have saved mself. I'd hate to see someone make the same mistake.