Samsung, an electronics giant in some fields, is not generally considered a top camcorder manufacturer, due as much to the middling quality of its product as to the scant number of models it produces each year. The Samsung SC-DC173, its entry-level DVD camcorder, is a prime example of a camcorder that has no easily classified target user. Though it makes modest efforts in video quality, ease of use, and manual controls, it excels in none and can easily be beaten by stronger offerings from Canon, Sony, and Panasonic. So where does the SC-DC173 belong?
Inside the camcorder is a small 1/6-inch CCD chip with a 680,000 pixel count. This is the standard low-end chip for entry-level models, and can’t be expected to perform above its means. Surprisingly, the SC-DC173 managed to produce decent color in bright light testing. Good color performance was offset by poor sharpness, however, making for an overall fuzzy image. In low light the image became quite noisy, and areas of fine detail were all but impossible to see. The small CCD simply can’t handle itself in darker environments, which should be of utmost concern to those who want to shoot a lot of indoor birthday parties or holiday events.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the Samsung SC-DC173 is the poor placement of the joystick, with which nearly all manual controls and menu functions are performed. Rather than have it face the shooter, Samsung placed it on the left side, among a host of buttons inside the LCD cavity. There’s no way to use the joystick and buttons without either craning your neck around to have a look or twisting the camcorder. Either way, your eye is off the subject and the shot it lost.
The tragedy of the design issues is compounded by the fact that Samsung equipped the SC-DC173 with a decent manual control suite. Options include shutter speed, a simple exposure compensation tool, white balance, and focus (albeit the weakest of the group). There are also some beginner-friendly one-touch correction tools, including Scene modes for shooting sports, low light, portrait, sand and snow, and high speed events. Samsung deserves applause for creating an easy-to-use menu system broken down into two parts: a main menu and a simplified “Q Menu” for fast access to image correction tools.
Straight point-and-shooters with no interest in manual controls will find the SC-DC173 less than ideal. The automatic responses are fine in some regards, but weak in others. For example, the auto focus functions efficiently, but the auto exposure tends to blow out bright areas and leave shadows too dark. In many instances, manual intervention yielded a much better image.
The SC-DC173 records video to 8 centimeter DVDs in the DVD-R, -RW, +RW, and +R DL (dual-layer) formats. Most of these formats are widely available, even at non-electronic stores such as pharmacies. A single-sided disc can hold about 20 minutes of footage in the highest quality setting. While DVDs are great for instant archival, however, don’t expect them to keep forever. The dye used on burnable DVDs degrades after five to 15 years, depending on materials. It’s a good practice to import video to a computer and back it up on a hard drive.
For every step forward the Samsung SC-DC173 took, a poor design choice or failing performance took it two steps back. In attempting to create a jack-of-all-trades, it of course became master of none, easily outdone by the competition when vying for the “point-and-shoot” crowd, the “enthusiast” crowd, or the “performance-oriented” crowd. It’s not that the SC-DC173 is a bad camcorder, but better choices abound. Look to the Panasonic VDR-D310, the Canon DC220, or the strongest candidate in the category, the Sony DCR-DVD108.
For a more in-depth review, visit the Samsung SC-DC173U Review at our partner CamcorderInfo.com
