Analog-Camcorder Reviews

I had been kicking around the idea of buying a camcorder for a couple of weeks and bought this model just two days before going on vacation. I didn't do a whole lot of research, I just liked the look and the price. It is small and sleek and super easy to use. It can use regular 8MM tapes, Hi8 or Digital8. I used it for recording live music performances in Nashville and was happy with the quality of the video and audio on playback. There are 8 effects for shooting (sepia, stretch, etc.), along with three fade-ins/outs. So I have more options than I really know what to do with at this point but I'm sure I'll get into them as I use it more. The display is sweet and can rotate around.

My one complaint is the battery area. The battery clips on the back, but there is no cover - my Sony digital camera has a locking compartment the battery slides in. I'll probably also be picking up a spare, even though it seems to hold a charge well. I really like the size because I have small hands and short fingers, but I can still use the strap and reach all the buttons.

We just got it yesterday for $419. It can be found a little cheaper, but check store reviews...

We almost bought the PCV-L552 for its big view finder and 27x optical zoom, but after a lot of digging on obscure web sites, we found that older camera suffers from a dew detector light that goes off too easily, shutting down the camera for hours. The PV-L424 just came out in 2004.

The 20x PV-L424 optical zoom is amazing. Things still look good at 40x digital, can read a UPC bar code from across the room. Things look tolerable at 120x, but ridiculous at 750k. There a single digit from the bar code fills the screen and is almost unreadable due to pixilation.

It's kind of slim, better looking than the photo.

Menus and controls seem intelligently laid out. What's used most seems to have a single button for it.

I like the way the LCD screen swivels around so that you could actually dictate into it and see yourself. It's smart enough to know to flip the image right side up when I do that.

I can't say anything yet for the durability.

We chose this VHS-C thing because I think all playback equipment for formats other than this and DVD will be difficult to find in 50 years. And the DVDs suffer from $10 disk costs (for 30 minutes) and the resolution won't match the MiniDVs until they change the image format to MPEG2. The PV-L424 seems like a great inexpensive holdover until the DVDs mature.

My camcorder was accidently bumped about 8 months after I purchased it which caused the deck assembly and loading assembly to become unworkable. Even though the fault was mine, Panasonic doesn't seem to want you to have their products repaired, they would rather you buy another one, as the repair technician stated to me. The parts cost more than the camcorder did new.

Needless to say I will never buy another Panasonic product again and neither will my friends and family.

for one, the loading part would'nt work but my dad somehow managed to shove the tape in (i have no clue how because he can't do it anymore) and when he did it wouldn't record, play, or anything else!

other than the fact that, its a nice camera.

Then I tried to make some more complicated things, with multi-level menus, and a number of different file types, and fill up the whole DVD. I ended up with about 5 coasters. The pinnacle tech support was no help at all.

Then I found TMPG DVD Author, used to make DVD files which are then burned from within the program or burned with Nero. TMPG has not produced any coasters yet. Now I do all my editing/transitions with Studio 8, render it, and use TMPG to actually make the DVD.

So all in all, I had to spend an extra $90 for a REAL dvd authoring progam to go along with Studio 8.

I am a moderately experienced PC user who bought and installed Studio Deluxe version 8.25.21 in June, 2003. This product is beautifully designed and rich in features, for a consumer video product. I found a number of blatant and frustrating bugs, but in the end was able to create a beautiful 30 minute video.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Go to the Pinnaclesys.com site and spend at least 20 minutes going through their forum postings. Notice that the forum is nicely designed and very active. Notice that there are hundreds of very frustrated users who have spent weeks or even months getting Pinnacle to work the way it's supposed to. Notice that many of the threads have almost no helpful info from Pinnacle staff and are sprinkled with comments like "Hello, Pinnacle... anybody home?" or sad accounts of trying to get phone support. Users list the things they've tried, and eventually somebody comes up with a solution or work-around. Do not buy this product unless you are willing to troubleshoot your problems with other users on the Pinnacle forum and try 7 things before finding the thing that solves your problem.

2. If you make the plunge, buy it from a local retailer with a 14 day return policy (or better) and get right to work.

3. Install this on a late model computer running XP. Follow all their install recommendations (and those on the forum) to the letter, including adding a 2nd hard drive. My PC was a ... Dell 2350, but it was very up-to-date, and it was adequate.

4. If you are working to a deadline, leave lots of time for problem solving and refining your work. No matter what software you use, you will spend a crazy amount of time polishing your video.

5. Complete a small project before starting a large project. You may lose your work and have to start over, or find that you are unable to output your work to DVD.

6. There are bugs in this software, but keep your cool, and don't blame everything on Pinnacle. In my case, 1/3 of the problems were operator error, and 1/3 of the problems were due to a bad DVD burner.

7. If you can, wait 6-18 months. The whole video editing/ DVD burner situation may be ready for prime time by then.