Digital-Tapeless Reviews

First of all I was highly unimpressed with the appearance and "feel" of the unit. Second, I went to load the supplied CD and it was either a blank, or a defective copy. I checked my CD Drive to be sure and it loaded other software with no problem. So, I guess I can't really comment on the performance of the unit, as I never got to the point of shooting anything with it. I have waited some time for the release of this Camcorder and was quite dissapointed with its "cheap construction". There was no written manual supplied with the unit, so I assumed that the instructions to be on the supplied CD, which as I said, would not load onto my computer. I drew a blank, I will now go back to the Mini DV technology, or wait for the Samsung unit to be released. I have returned the unit to Amazon.

This is not a review, I just want to make sure that the 'Pretec'
is the famous 'Pretec' I knew for a long time? For they made very high quality CF cards.

What about Samsung? Nothing to expect!

I really wish I had read some of the reviews before buying this camera. It is small, has tons of features, and is really fast, not to mention makes everybody around you, strangers or not, stop to look at it and ask questions. But the pictures it takes are just not a high enough quality to make it worth it. You could buy a cell phone that can play mp3's and take pictures as good as this camera, and thats a phone too. The zoom was terrible and lost all focus when used, and the mp3 player would be cool if there weren't so many restrictions on how to get music on there. All in all, I was really excited to receive, and really disappointed as soon as I tried to print my pictures, so I returned the product.

When reading these reviews prior to purchase, I got nervous that I would recieve a piece of garbage that didn't live up to the curiousity surrounding it.

I was wrong!

This is a great gadget for on the go, making home movies, anything. When taking a picture, if you are too close with the flash on, all you will see is a flash of white light. Just don't take it less than 1-2 feet away from the object.

I was very impressed with the video aspect. The sound was very impressive and I was able to watch the videos immediately after taking them, and the picture quality is impressive considering how small this is.

Overall, I'm really glad I bought this. The voice recorder is reliable, I haven't checked the Audio player, but I mostly bought it for three out of four purposes. It is absolutely worth it, especially to slip in your pocket and make videos/take pictures on the go.

TIP: The SV-AV30 comes with a 64MB Memory Card. If you are planning to use this full-time, or are taking this on a trip, buy an additional card. 64MB is really not a lot of room, especially if you will be using all of the options offered (Voice/Audio/Camera/Video). The memory cards are somewhat expensive, but if you invest in a high MB card, it will last you for a while.

this is the coolest thing you get four great things in one, although i cant print out the pictures because my mom lost the product key

a retard could figure this out it's so easy,but if you are going to buy this buy an extra card for recording because they dont hold very much. well, you should still buy this because instead of buying those expensive video camera, or mp3 players, or digital cameras it's all in one and VERY COOL

This little camera is not for the "professional" videographer or photographer, but it's fantastic for the casual user. We use it to send digital photos, and short movie clips of our children to their grandparents on the east and west coasts. It's easy to use, and it's compact size makes it easy to take along. We upgraded the memory to 256MB for ~$80. That allows us about 40mins of video, or about 2000 photos. This is a great entry-level purchase to capture those rare moments with ease. I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants to be able to take a photo or short video of an event, then stick the camera in their pocket and join in!

I got this camera and I cannot get the JukeBox to work!
The sftwr is awful, how do you convert your WMA music files to MP3 on that software, do you need the CD to send it to the SDcard?
Why dont they allow you to use other software?
Come on Panasonic... you can do better...

I thought the camera was good for what I bought it for. But having trouble sending pictures through email. What am I doing wrong

I just got this camera for christmas and I love it!
These other reviewers must be crazy!!! Obviously your not
going to get a camera as good as say the sony handycam ($1,500)
You get what you pay for idiots. If you want to record huge boring family vacations do not buy this camera! But if you just want to have fun and record little tid-bits this camera is for you. Who wants to watch more than a 3 minute movie anyway! I agree that the quality isn't up to standard but who cares the coolness makes up for that!!!! The other reviews are quite discouraging and seem to be written by idiots! Dont despair this is a great camera. Maybe look around a little more if your a SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHER! Good Luck

Here's a nice piece of hardware that was sabotaged by Panasonic's software division. It's hard to believe that,in this era of video file type proliferation, Panasonic could have produced MPEG2 files that are incompatable with practically all video editing software on the market. Panasonic provides a conversion and editing program called "MediaStage". It's practically worthless. It's simultaneously elementary and obscure. If you are comfortable with MS Windows and then open MediaStage to run the program, you'll be stunned at how disconnected software developers can be with users. The only conversion available for MPEG2 files (in .MOD and .MOI format, no less) is to MPEG4 or to WMV. What a pity.
Maybe one of these days some software developer will produce some decent software that can edit these strange d-snap files.
I asked Panasonic, but they couldn't recommend any software to me. The joke's on me.

The camera works as advertised, but I couldn't find any software that could convert the .mod files to something useful. Even the software that comes with it fails to convert the files to a standard format. I have a new XP Pro desktop, and Windows Media Player, Roxio Video Wave Movie Creator, and Windows Movie Maker do not play the files, convert the files or burn the files. Neither does the software that comes with it. I contacted Panasonic, and they said, "We appreciate your frustration. However, Panasonic does not offer software that will allow you to convert the mod.
files. At this time we will relieve ourselves from any further e-mail correspondence regarding this matter." The software that comes with the Product is advertised to convert the files and it does have Panasonic's name on it. That aside, I did find Ulead VideoStudio 7, which can burn the files to DVD. The quality isn't horrible. It will only burn the highest quality video which looks 'ok' on my tv. This means that I can only get 10 minutes of video per 512 MB SD Card. The fact that the SD Cards used by the camera are not standard should be emphasized. You cannot just use any SD Card. Please, do yourself a favor and keep looking for a better choice. This camera is definitely not ready for market.

i shoot quite a bit of video, and i really like not having to use tape... you can get a cheap hard drive-based digital wallet with an sd slot to copy the av100 sd card contents into while you are shooting with a second sd card... no need to ever have more than two sd cards, and you can shoot all day without having to unload the digital wallet.

do not use the software that came with the av100, instead, at the end of the shoot, just plug the digital wallet into your pc via the usb cable, where it appears as just another hard drive... copy the .mod files onto your local hard drive, and rename them as .mpg's... there is nothing to convert, and you can burn the .mpg's directly to dvd.

the av100 is a bit difficult to handle because of the small size, and no tripod mount hole, but surprisingly, it has options for manual controls, and it even has digital image stabilization... along with the mpeg2 recording, you can't get all those features in any other camera on the market today.

improvements i'd like to see would include a bigger ccd pickup, this isn't a camera you get for shooting stills or for shooting video in low light... it's built to serve as a video camera, get a cheap digital still camera if still shots is what you want... the current crop of these types of cameras proves that trying to combine both video and still functions into one camera will result in too many compromises of either one or both functions.

I recorded a chicken chaseing a car and watched it later all I could see was the chickens but. I love chickens did you know that?

I must say I understand every review here.
The good things about this camcorder are: its size; its looks -- yes, it does look great, no cheap plastics, in my opinion. It does NOT feel cheap right out of the box, I would rather say the reverse; the nice zoom function; amazingly excelent recorded sound quality; nice MP3 playback function; rechargable Li-ion battery; nice tripod included...
But the bad things are: not enough clarity and sharpness in video images -- it looks like the camera doesn't focus correctly; colors are a little distorted -- anything that has red in its color shows a vibrant red in the video; no flash/light availabe; the sensor is not very sensitive in low light -- normal interior light is not enough for this camera. Indoor evening shots become distressingly dark. You can use the night-shot function, but at the cost of a slight decrease in video quality.
Yes, it does cost only $189... and believe it's the best among its type. But I guess it still not enough. Consumer electronics is advancing and one has to demand better quality, even if the price is low, considering the functions.
Considering the nowadays standards, this camera may be a good buy, but it might dissapoint you -- you may reach the point where you feel that not even a price as low as $189 is reason enough for spending your money (the well known why-did-I-buy-this,-anyway? feeling).
To summerize, if you're looking for a toy, here it is. But if you're looking for an actual camcorder, either wait a little longer for a better one to show up, or pay more.
I've had mine for 2 days and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it.

I am writing for the DV5000 that is the replacement for the DV4000 posted here. The big difference is that it has a 3.1 CMOS for the digital camera. There is a flash and the batteries are now AA batteries.

It actually looks better and functions more like a battery. Viewing still is not great when shots are in doors.

Overall a good camera.

I purchased a DV-S20 last week. Well, I have to agree with what the people who give this product one and two stars have to say. I really cannot add much more to what's been said about it, but I can confirm that it performs poorly in pretty much all aspects of operations. The one thing that I truly did not care for, is that the camera insists on taking pictures at 1/30 of a second, no matter how much light is available. I adjusted the ISO by bumping it up to 400, but to no avail. In some cases, the shutter operated at 1/6 of a second! With shutter speeds that slow, it's no wonder that most of the pictures were fuzzy. Once in a great while, I was able to get a good, clear picture. But that was only achieved by holding the camera perfectly still with two hands and leaning up against something solid. Unfortunarely, this method isn't very practical in the real world. I used up the batteries very quickly because I spent so much time deleting a lot of bad pics. The video I took of my normally graceful gray tabby made her look as if she was in an earthquake. It was very jerky.

I got this for Hannukah from my parents, and although it's not exactly a real camcorder it really is better than nothing. The Digital Camera on here all out sucks basically, but once in a while you can nail a decent digital picture. As for the camcorder it's ok, you can't exactly make a real movie, (unless you buy more memory, which is almost the price of the camera/camcorder itself), but even so ive enjoyed making short documentarys and sending them to my friends. Anothjerb great thing is the size, I mean you can take it anywhere, you never know what you could get on tape. Anyway overall, this is a decent item.

This camera is just great. The quality of the videos and pics aren't perfect like you would see from an 1000 dollar camera but I love them because I just want a camera that I can have fun with and not get real serious about it. First of all it's inexpensive so if it breaks, it isn't the end of the world and since it's so small you can take it anywhere. It includes software that you can use to edit and create your own movie masterpiece. It's zoom is a little weak but having a great zoom is too high above the price range of this product. Its battery life is about one hour but if you get the accessory pack it will turn into 90 minutes if you use the batterys included in it. The vidoes do include sound since the camera has a microphone. Another great quality it has is the fact that it can record up to 18 minutes and 700 pictures with its 64 MB internal memory. I would recommend this to someone who doesnt want the top of the line camera (if you do than spend more money) but wnats something that will be easy and fun to use. Really, anyone who wants to make movies should buy this. That's what my intention was and I love it.

The items in the accessory kit are all very high quality. The batteries and charger are great. The charger can handle AA and AAA batteries and there is room for up to 4 batteries. The DC adapter is handy when you want to save battery power and you don't plan on moving around much. The case, handy for traveling with your camera, has a belt loop, but makes for a bulky load when the camera is attached to the belt. The mini-tripod is fun, but the camera can cause the tripod to fall over because of the lop-sided weight. The tripod legs to not expand. Overall, the kit is by no means and requirement for DVS20 owners, but full of high quality and very useful items.

I got the camera and it does just what I expected.
Great pictures! Very Clear!
Add 512MB of memory and I should be able to video
for a little over an hour.
Very much worth the money!!!!
VC