Rating: 
Summary: OK, but Mediocre Video
Review: A really nice unit functionally, easy to use, lots of features, large battery, inexpensive, but.. Video quality leaves something to be desired. There seems to be a cross hatching, especially at low light levels. Color is relatively drab. I compared it to a Panasonic PV-DV102 pretty closely, with the same scenes, location, lighting. The Panasonic colors are much more vibrant and realistic-it was easy to see(wife, daughter readily agreed). Also, the SCD23 field of view is pretty small, so you can't take good movies in a small room. Its too bad, because it beats the Panasonic otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: it could have easily been 5 stars but......
Review: First off, the only problem I am having with this camera is the viewfinder (just in case you dont know what a viewfinder is ((or is too me)) its the lens that you look into to see what you are recording or photographing- you know the old fashion way). At times all i see is scrambling lines. This problem is corrected by simply adjusting the viewfinder either up or down. I have found out that even though my viewfinder is screwed up, it still is recording just fine- even if i cant see what i am recording (basically, I am recording even though at times I cant see what i am recording). Please note, most people dont use the viewfinder. Most people use the flip-out LCD screen. I like to use the viewfinder because it saves on the battery life. I had a sony camera before this one and I learned that using the Viewfinder saves on battery life. Aside from this problem I have to say that this camcorder is a great deal for the money. I never did any video editing before this camera and with the help of my HP laptop, I have already made two movies. I have gotten some great laughs and people are talking about how I should submit them to a independent movie site or whatever-NO LIE!. NOw I am not trying to say that I agree or believe them, what I am basically saying is that it I have a new hobby that I never thought I would have and this YES THIS camera has allowed me to do so. I have become alot more familiar with camcorders because of this one. This is an excellent starting camera. It is great for all the common stuff like birthdays, grads, etc. I am so glad I bought this one even though of my problem. I have had it since Nov 2003. I have never used the still photo option because I am sure it has to suck because of the photo resolution- but keep in mind, 1. I have a 6.0 res camera for that and 2. THis sucks in all camcorders with this feature. No camcorder under a thousand dollars will give good photo resolution. So, to sum it all - This is the best deal for the money of all camcorders in this price range (250.00 to 350.00). I am having alot of fun with it and I wish I didnt have that one little problem.
NOTE: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN DOING VIDEO EDITING, YOU MUST BUY A FIREWIRE CABLE (IT DOES NOT COME WITH ONE, I BOUGHT ONE WITH A FIREWIRE CARD FOR MY LAPTOP FOR 30.00), HAVE A COMPUTER WITH A FIREWIRE OUTLET (AGAIN, I GOT THE WIRE AND CARD FOR 30.00- ON A DESKTOP HOWEVER, i DONT KNOW HOW MUCH ), YOU MUST HAVE A DECENT SYSTEM- 40 GIGS 512 RAM ETC.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Value for your dollar
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Value for your dollar
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: will take larger memory stick cards
Review: I agree with the other review as far as quality and the like. I am very happy with camera for the price. If it helps anyone I am using the unit with a 128 MB lexar media stick and it seems to work fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Bang for the Buck!
Review: I bought this camcorder at Aldi Foods (yes a grocery store) brand new for 299.99! I bought a Lexar brand 64MB Memory Stick off of Ebay for $19.99 and after formatting in from the Camcorder's Menu it works perfect. Holds up to 371 pictures and all I have to do is plug it into my pc's usb port and it instantly comes up. With the memory stick inserted into the camcorder you can switch the camcorder over to "Memory" mode and my windows XP automatically puts a removeable drive on my PC to copy over all my PICS. The quality of the .jpgs is not earth shattering but to get a 2 in 1 product for under 300.00 I can't complain at all. You do have to watch your lighting so your pictures don't turn out "grainy". I use the "VLight" a lot on my pictures/camcording when I'm inside. I haven't tried the Video capture yet because I don't own a firewire cable/card. I figure that will be my next purchase. I highly recommend the Camcorder for anyone looking for a cheap 2 in one product! Have fun!
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera for Good Price!
Review: I bought this camera last year for Christmas. My husband and I wanted a small camcorder with digital photo option and this little camera fit the bill (including the price)! It takes great video and has a nice quality LCD screen viewfinder. It does get a bit dark and "grainy" looking in low light--the built in flashlight helps to an extent, but not really.
The instructional book that came with the camera does not tell you what memory stick to buy. I assumed (knowing very little about digital cameras) that they were all the same sizes...much to my dismay they are not. I went back to search the instructional book to find out what I needed to buy, and it doesn't specifically say. I just took my camera to the store and the clerk helped me find the memory stick that fit my camera.
All in all this is a great camera for the price I paid. I didn't want to spend too much money and mine was a little less than $300.
I haven't tried printing any digital pictures on my PC yet. I'm not very computer literate, so I know I'll need help before I attempt this.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible video artifacting
Review: I got this camera because it was comparable in features and price to the Canon ZR-60, which was out of stock. This camera looks great on paper, but fails to deliver out of the box. Every scene I shot the video was broken and full of digital artifacts. I tried adding light and moving the camera slowly, but the artifacting still occured. I'll be taking this back and hopefully be getting the Canon.
Rating:
Summary: Great For Video - Very Easy To Use
Review: I got this samsung video camera not knowing what to expect after reading all these reviews. Well I'm happy to say it works great. The NightShot is way fun and it takes great quality video for the money. Now the camera part of it I would say is crappy. It looks as good as my webcam but I didn't buy it for the camera. I got a 2 MegaPixel Fuji FinePic for that. I bought a 32MB memory stick knowing that the camera peobable wouldn't be that good. I bought a $4.00 FireWire cable to hook up to my Audigy FireWire port. And the video's that I can download with it to my computer look awesome. I'm going to buy a DVD burner next and have even more fun. I also bought a wideangle and a 2X telephoto lens for it and the wideangle really helps indoors where u really need to see more area at once. I bought premium sony tapes for it and they work great. I think some of the people having problems with video probable bought lower quality tapes. I think if your buying this for yourself and not profesional video you will be extremely happy with this Digital Samsung Camcorder.
Rating:
Summary: Light, Well Designed But. . .
Review: I have tested this camcorder and found that inspite of it's shiny-slick adorable design, light weight and wonderfully low price, there are a few drawbacks to this unit. The number one drawback is something Samsung needs to work on; image stabilization! When fully zoomed-in (optical zoom) this camcorder performs notably worse than most of the other brands I've tested. You simply see much more shaking. Colors are also not as accurate as some of the Canons, Sonys and Panasonics I've looked at. Another minor inconvenience is that it has an external mic jack -- yet no headphone jack to moniter sound with. That said, it does have a small external speaker. This last point is only an issue for more involved video projects, not for casual vacation or home use. Macro close-ups look beautiful as with most cams. So if you want a basic camcorder that is very easy to use, don't mind your video being a little shaky (fine with a tripod of course) it may suit you fine.
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