Panasonic PVGS14 MiniDV Camcorder

Rating:
Summary: Misleading features
Review: I bought this camera at BestBuy and after using it for one week returned it for a Sony DCR HC20 and ate the $60 restocking fee.
What I liked about the Panasonic was the seperate charger, and the fact that the battery lasted pretty long.
What I did not like was the following:
1.EIS -electronic image stabilization- which was in my instance not usable. I recorded in a low lit family room with the EIS and the image quality was not acceptable. Well looking in the manual, it does mention that you have to deselect it in low light situations
2. Magic pix - well I guess if you want to have fun with making odd pictures then this function is for you, but I just want to film my family + pet like they are then it is not.
The picture comes out lit totally goofy, I filmed my wife and she was all bluish, greenish.
3. External light
Well this is why I got upset. Once you turn the light on the image was so grainy that I had to just laugh.

So after turning those features off it was ok, but I paid for them. So after much thinking I swallowed my pride and paid $60 restocking fee and got the Sony.
Well the low light feature in my family room works great and the picture is great.

Rating:
Summary: 1st Camcorder Great Buy Easy To Use
Review: I bought this only a few weeks ago & it's been a wonderful camera. I've used it to capture all sorts of life's moments, mainly our cats being crazy. I've also used it to capture digital images. I've not spent a whole lot of time using the camera, but enough to know how to use it fairly well. I'll start with the digital images 1st, and then move onto video.

The Digital Pictures:
The camera does not include a SD card so I had to purchase one separately, which is definitely a bummer. Luckily I was able to get a small 16mb Panasonic SD card off an auction site for $8 after shipping. I have no plans to capture a ton of pictures so 16mb was fine. I took about 18 pictures after I finally got the SD card in the mail & the pictures looked fantastic... At least on the camera they looked good. I never messed with changing the quality around so the settings were default on the camcorder.

When I finally got the free USB cable in the mail & hooked my camera up to my pc I was pleased with how easy it was for Windows (2000 Pro. in my case) to recognize the camera. Immediately it installed without me having to do anything extra & it added a new drive letter in my computer where I was easily able to copy the images or move them to my pc. When I started opening the images with ACDSee & Adobe Photoshop I was not please at the quality of the images. Not only were they fuzzy & dull looking, they were only 640 x 480 in size. This may be adjustable by changing settings on the camera itself, but I have not had time to do so.

The Video:
This is overall the best thing about this camera. I've recorded a lot of nothing as stated above, but the camera does a terrific job of capturing it all & keeping the image clean & colorful. I've hooked the camera to my TV & it all looks great. The camera has to be pretty still if you zoom into things or else the video becomes slightly blurred while trying to stabilize itself.

There are a lot of different functions to the video recording as well, it has many more options and special effects then I thought possible for a camera of its price range. The footage I recorded at night looked great with the backlight on. I was however unable to tell any difference with the soft skin effect. Unfortunately the battery is easily drained & a second battery is recommended.

The Pros:
Great Video, Light Weight, Easy To Hook Up, Lots of Extra Features, Zoom 22x, Firewire, Fun, Comes With Power Cord So Camera Can Be Used Without the Battery

The Cons:
The Cover for the ports is flimsy, Digital Pictures Fuzzy, Not Much in the Box, No Included Software or PC Cables, Short Battery Life, No included SD Card, No Included DV Tapes

I've not had time to test this out or not, but for other noobs to the DV Camera world might be interested in knowing that with a firewire cable capturing video from the camera is possible. Firewire is the only way to do this as USB & USB 2.0 cannot keep up with the frame rate & chop up picture quality. So if you want to use your video & make a home dvd you can do so with this camera as well as other DV cameras that have a Firewire port.

One last feature that's available that I never had time to mess with & do not care to, is the ability to use the camera as a webcam.

Overall the camera is terrific & worth checking out, if you really want it to take fantastic pictures I'd probably save $100 & pickup the pv-gs12 & use the $100 to get a digital camera or look at the latest model.


Rating:
Summary: Great Camera For The Price
Review: I had 2 big vacations planned for 2004 and was looking for an affordable entry in the digital camcorder market that would produce decent results. This Panasonic more than filled the bill. Video quality was outstanding and using Pinnacle Studio I was able to easily edit raw material in to some entertaining footage backed by music and other effects. The output really exceeded my expectactions as a relative newcomer to the "movie world".

Pros: Great price, excellent video and sound quality, easy to transfer movies to PC, very compact size, plenty of features, battery life actually slightly better than advertised.

Cons: Video seems to be "jumpy" when using the light (this may be user error as I have not researched), no cables or useful editing software included with camera.

Rating:
Summary: How to get the free USB as indicated in the previous post?
Review: I purchased this a month ago. ITs awesome.
I spent 17$ to get the cd today. But now I do not have the usb cable. I noticed in the previous post that the reviewer mentioned that reviewer got the free usb in the mail.
Can you please share the info on how to get it so that others can benefit as well.



Rating:
Summary: Great Camera for a Great Price
Review: I purchased this camcorder about 2 months ago and everything about it is great. I took it on vacation with me, the sound and picture quiality is flawless. The camcorder is so light you can take it with you anywhere. The battery on my camera lasts longer than the advertised amount. Mine lasts about 2-3 hours ddepending on how much I turn the camera on and off between filming. This camcorder is great for someone who wants good quality without spending an insane amount of money.