Camcorder Reviews

I bought this camcorder last night. After charging the battery and attempting to use it for the very first time there was a warning on the screen "Dirty Video Head". How could that be with a brand new camcorder? I turned off the power, turned it back on, and the warning was gone. So I started filming, about 15 minutes worth, and then hooked it up to the TV to watch it back. Half of the recording did not even work~ all I had was a blue screen! The 2nd half that did record had thick grey lines running horizontally across the picture, as well as sound distortion (including the very loud motor noise others have mentioned!). I checked the troubleshooting section of the handbook and found that these lines indicate "Dirty Video Head" (again!) and that I would need to use an optional (not included) cleaning cassette!

This is unacceptable in a brand new product. I have sinced checked other review sites and found another consumer who had the same problem with their brand new Sony! This really makes me lose confidence in this company. I returned my camcorder today and will keep looking.

In short, this is a medium quality camcorder. The picture quality is not great, the recorder is picking up the motor noise and still images are completely useless.

The AUTO mode takes the picture or video very dark. You need to adjust the exposure for better picture or video.

You cannot do anything about the recorded motor noise. it is always there

You cannot print the still images taken with this camcorder (even in 4x6). So if you buy this for the still image,dont wasteyour money and choose with better or theonew/o still pictures.

The features are very limited per the canon zseriesof camcorders. Optical zoom is 10x, which is very limited in compare to 20x (Canon)

The software works but the VCD creation is very slow with the provided SW.

So in short, this camcorder does not deserve what is costs.

i bought this camera a month back, and found video quality is uncomparable but stills are not upto mark. i am a professional vidographer and editor in INDIA and purchased this camcorder for professional use but disappointed in stills.
software supplied are a total waste excluding still transfer from cam to PC with USB cable. i dont heard any motor noise as others had.
for night picture quality is not very good.
in total the camera is good for daylight but not for nights.
manish, Ranchi, Jharkhand, INDIA.

There are a lot of pluses and a few minuses for the DV51. The biggest plus is you're getting all the video quality of a much more expensive camera like the DV601. The 680,000 pixel CCD is a big part of that. Most low-end digital cams (including those from Sony) don't have anywhere near this kind of resolution. If you currently have a VHS or 8mm camcorder, you're in for a big step up in image quality.

The DV51 is reasonably easy to record with. If you want to do much more than defeat the EIS, enable manual focus, or enable the backlight compensation however, you'll have to go into the menus. The "jog dial" makes menu selection reasonably easy but for some reason, you sometimes turn the dial to choose which selection you want and sometimes you're forced to press it multiple times depending on the menu. The same jog dial is also the manual focus adjustment and it's a bit awkward for that purpose.

The EIS works well. It takes it a second or so to kill any undesired camera shake after you stop panning or zooming but that's typical of most digital EIS systems. You can also use it after the fact on playback which is a bonus as EIS usually shortens battery life (and can cause side effects you might not want in your final video). If you want to export your videos via the digital 1394 link to your computer, however, you best use it when recording.

The battery life with the included battery is less than an hour with the LCD monitor in use and close to 1.5 hours if you use the viewfinder instead. Most will likely want to get a spare (and possibly larger) battery but this is typical of most camcorders.

The zoom is quiet (you can barely hear it on the recorded video) and has multiple speeds but it takes a light touch to keep it at the slow speed. The digital zoom works well up to about 30x or 40x but beyond that, you lose a lot of quality (just like with any other digital zoom).

There are "program" settings for sport, portrait, low light and bright (i.e. snow) scenes. There's also a "gain up" setting that, when used, allows the DV51 to shoot decent video in relatively low light. Like most camcorders, however, the video noise is much more noticable under such conditions.

My biggest complaint is this camera lacks a microphone input. If you've done much camcorder work, you probably know that capturing quality audio is often difficult. The lack of a microphone jack makes it impossible to use anything but the built in stereo microphone. While this isn't a big deal for taping your baby crawling around the house, it would be a big deal if you want to pull off a professional sounding interview or record your son's band performance.

The built in microphone of any camera can't help but pick up some camera noises, any noise made by whoever's doing the recording and the noise of the camera being handled. Plus, if your subject is more than 5 feet away, you'll get a lot of echo indoors. The microphone in the DV51 is decent as far as built-in mics go, but your videos will still scream "amateur" from the poor audio.

The camera is a little light on accessories as might be expected for this price. You don't get an 1394 digital cable. You also don't get a blank miniDV tape.

I didn't buy the DV51 to use as a digital still camera. It's not well suited to this as you have to record the images to tape and transfering them to your PC is an involved process. If you want this feature, spend a little more money and at least get the PV-DV101 which has a serial connection or the PV-DV201 which steps up to faster USB. That way you can directly download the images to your PC.

In summary, Panasonic chose to throw out features instead of video quality for their least expensive DV camera. For my needs, it's mostly a good compromise. I just wish they could have spent the extra dollar or so and included a microphone jack.

Relatively speaking, DV cameras are likely to continue to rapidly improve. I would expect that two years from now a $500 camera will have a megapixel rating, 32mb or more of still picture memory plus added bells and whistles. In the meantime, the DV51 is a good choice if you're on a tight budget or just want something to get you buy until DV cams are more mature.

If Celia reads this review, I would like to know what specific cable you bought from Pinnacle to use to transfer still pics to the computer. I can't seem to find any info on that. Amazon has cables but I don't know which one I need. It would be helpful if on the despcription of the product, there was a despcription of the accessories and what you need, not just a list.

the video is very good on this one and I find it very easy to handle. I'm just frustrated about not being able to get the still pics on the computer.

Another big note. We have had this less than 2 years now and we had the same case break by the handle that the guy had mentioned above. Not happy with this camera at this point. Going to move up to a DVD camcorder and not panasonic(if they even make them!)

This camera stands out because the video quality is great, while unneeded features are left off. I don't need a color viewfinder--or a color LCD for that matter, even though this camera comes with one. I want to be able to aim it, that's all. I have a nice Olympus digital camera I bought on Amazon last year that takes PERFECT pictures and I don't need an inferior "still mode" which is commonly included with lots of these digital VIDEO cameras. Mercifully, Panasonic made the effort to make a camera for the real, practical world which does not force me to pay for a high-end digital camera and media capability that I do not need at all. The 2.5 inch color LCD is even too much in my opinion! I LOVE that this camera takes such good video and has an excellent zoom capability the most. That's all I really need!

I bought this video camera to record the birth of my child. I got it and immediately checked it to make sure that everything was in working condition. It worked fine. Several months down the line I took the camera out to make sure what kind of card I needed to purchase for taking still photos. When I turned it on and tried to use it, I got the recording of sounds in the room but no picture. Now keep in mind I thought that I was maybe looking at the lens cap, but it was no longer covering the lens. I adjusted everything pertaining to the darkness of the screen and was still unable to get anything other than a black screen on the LCD or through the view finder. Thank goodness it is still under warranty or I would just be out $800.

I absolutely adore my camera... but I'm glad I got it as a gift. It's extremely expensive. The dvd viewing capability is good, the film quality is excellent but...
It has no light. In dim/dark situations, it films ok and plays ok on the viewer but other readers like the computer or dvd player can't see anything. There needs to be a light for this. It looks like there is a place to buy one and attach it to the top but I can't find it anywhere at the Panasonic website.
The software is also a bit of a problem. It doesn't work well with Windows XP.
So, while the camcorder itself is excellent, it's peripherals aren't.

I purchased this camera for the birth of my first child. I figured this was the way camcorder technology was going (actually, this is considered a "palmcorder" due to its small size). All digital. Compatibilty with Windows XP is questionable. I had difficulty getting software to load. Resolution at high zoom is grainy. Other than these two issues the camera has a nice dynamic controller joystick for on-screen navigation. It also is extremely small and easy to carry. Be prepared to fork out a pretty penny for DVD RAM recording media until more manufacturers start making is type of camera.

I bought this camcorder on sale about 1 1/2 years ago and was moderately happy with it until this last week when the firewire (IEEE1394) connection stopped working entirely. I've tried 3 new cables and 4 computers (including one Apple Powerbook) and nothing is working. I've contacted Panasonic and they keep telling me to locate a service center using their online site. I use the online site to discover that there isn't one withing an unlimited mile radius (hello!?) and that I should contact them by phone. Email contact has been fruitless. After two days of this and feeling like a yo-yo from going back and forth so much, I've broken down and bought a new camcorder with higher CCD resolution and a better warranty.

This camera worked fine for shooting videos at close range. Since I have a preference to SLR cameras, I found I was a bit disappointed in the photo quality. But for the most part this camera worked well. I was impressed a bit with the abilty to take still frame shots along with being able to connect it to my PC. One thing that I really enjoyed was being able to connect the camcorder to my PC, I found the software that came with the camera made it easy for me to go through videos frame by frame to find the shot I was looking for.

After eight months, I still love my PV-DV100. I only wish I'd bought it sooner to record vacation footage a few weeks before. I can't wait to videotape my new baby when he or she is born this week! Compared to an average consumer-grade analog camcorder, the video is clearer, and the 16-bit sound is crisp (which I appreciate when playing back movies through my home theater system and making movies on my PC). Images look great on my 32-inch TV. I've actually started producing music videos for local bands with this camera, with good results.

Pros: Small, lightweight design, image stabilization (but always use a tripod when you can!), easy control layout, 18X optical zoom (newer ones at this price only offer 10X), plenty of input/output jacks, and great (but not HDTV great) picture quality.

Cons: (1) Microphones record camera's motor sounds (barely noticeable, only in the quietest footage). A cheap external mic would probably solve that problem. (2) Camera doesn't focus smoothly when panning from a bright scene to a dark one. You can avoid this by setting your AE mode accordingly for each scene you shoot. A simple fix, well worth the [money] saved by not getting a professional model.

I bought this camera and loved almost everything about it. The biggest problem is the fact that there is no external mic input jack and no headphone jack. The quality of sound you get from the onboard mic on almost any camcorder is not very good at best. And you should never underestimate the effect good sound has on the quality of your video projects. If you plan to do anything needing good on location sound you will want to find a model with the ext. mic jack and use either a shotgun mic or some lavalier mics. I would say buy a camera that gives you this option because down the road you may need/want it. It would stink to [buy] a camera and then find out that it didn't do everything you needed it to do. I took the camera back an bought a better one that had all of the connections I wanted. (the panasonic pv-dv400, it's a little more expensive but very much worth it to have the sound quality, not to metion the 18x optical zoom.)

Picture quality is good but the image stabilization is very bad. I purchased this camera a week ago and decided to return it and get Canon Optura Pi, since Optura Pi has the optical stabilizer.

This is my first camcorder, and I'm having a ball with it! It's so easy to use, and I love the snapshot feature that allows me to take a snapshot image in the midst of recording, and it even throws in a little shutter click sound for effect! Maybe I'm easy to please, as I have no prior camcorder experience, and therefore no preconceived notions as to performance. But the picture looks great, and the sound is decent. I'm basically just using this for family purposes, and it serves me well!

This is not a bad camera but I am having trouble with it not wanting to record or playback tapes. I have tried different tapes thinking maybe it was the tape but no matter what I do, it won't work. Took it to the place I got it, they had to send it away, which took forever, and all they done was use a headcleaner on it. They said they could not find out any problem with it. I brought it home and it started doing the same thing again and I bought a Maxell head cleaner and used it several times on it and it worked okay for awhile. Now it is back to doing the same thing again on not recording or playing back a tape. Do not know what the problem is. It just could be that I got a "lemon." I have contacted Sony but have never heard anything back.

Several of the previous reviewers complained about the poor picture quality especially indoors. I thought the same until I
turned off the elctronic stabilization. Aside from the tape ejecting on the bottom I find this camcorder to be a good value.

The 230 is this year's lowest price "complete" digital 8 camcorder. (the 130 does not play analog 8mm tapes). The camera is a pleasure to use. The picture quality is a startling step up from 8mm and the ability to display complete single frames one at a time is fun. I've compared to mini dv and can't see any quality difference (Digital 8 is 500 lines vs 525 for dv). The tapes are easy to find and less expensive that mini-dv... Sony has added a helpful "intermidiate limit" on digital zoom. This feature allows the digital zoom to be limited by the user to a range that is usefull. (about 3x over the tightest optical zoom.) The Color LCD screen is perfect for off eye shooting and great fun with children.

Any downside? -Some don't like the B&W eye viewer. I prefer it since the detail seems better in it. -The backlight button is easy to confuse with the adjacent control. -Sony dropped the "force to infinity" focus button this year. (This was often helpfull). -I'm not fond of the bottom opening deck, but it makes sense since you can keep the camera strapped on your hand while you change tape. -The standard video out plugs have been changed to a mini-video plug. This helps make the camera smaller but may make replacing a lost cable harder.

The features I'd most like to see next year: Move the menu button to the outside of the camera and add an option for a brief date and time display at the start of each scene in play mode.

What about the memory stick option in the 330. I suppose that this is a matter of personal preference, but I bought this to have very good video camera, if I want a good digital still camera, I'll go buy one.

When I first bought this camcorder in December 2000, it seemed to work pretty well. But after 4 months, the zoom button broke. Then for no apperent reason the whole camcorder completley stopped working, so I had to send it to the JVC mechanics to get it fixed. When it was returned (after spending a lot of money to get it fixed), it worked well, or so I thought. Only 2 months after having it returned, the zoom button broke again, and the viewfinder turned green.
Not wanting to have to send it back again, I decided to live with it, but a year and a half later, the built-in lense got stiff and the view-finder turned solid white, not allowing me to even look through. About a month after that, things got worse-- the button which you press to record FELL OFF, the playback stopped working, and the viewfinder turned BLACK, rendering the camcorder useless. Shortly after it broke (for the second time), I bought a different camcorder (the Panasonic PV-L452 Palmcorder Camcorder) and so far, it is working much better.
If you are taking into consideration what kind of camcorder is best for you, don't get this one, EVEN if you like VHS. I was also disappointed by the fact that this camcorder doesn't have an LCD moniter (a screen that folds out), that it doesn't have a built-in light or nightvision, and that the battery doesn't last long. Also, this camcorder only has a 90 DAY warrenty. If I were you I wouldn't spend over 200$ to see this cheaply-made camcorder fall apart (which happened to me).

The picture quality is unacceptable, the VHSC format is a pain, it goes through batteries too fast, and it's shoddily built. Take advice from a guy who works with this kind of stuff all day. I bought this thinking it might be a good low-budget camera for home movies, but it's really worthless. After a month of terrible looking home movies, mine stopped working for no apparent reason. When I tried to call JVC, their customer service line disgusted me so much that I gave up, threw it out, and bought a slightly more expensive Sony model. I'm completely pleased with the Sony, and I highly recommend their camcorders for anyone. Just make sure to get the Digital8 format, it's really the best out there.

My buddy took some video with this camera and it looks really good.. its small affordable and gets the job done..

I've had my jvc model grdvf10 camcorder for over two years and have used it a lot and like it a lot. I do have a complaint though. Recently I decided to figure out how to hook it up to my computer which the salesman assured me I can do and which the instruction book indicates is doable. Well they're both right but neither of them told me it takes an accessory costing [more money] to make the hookup. That the salesman didn't tell me this and that the instruction booklet doesn't indicate it is avery misleading and I am not at all happy about it.

Older model came out just prior to 1394 standard. Lots of features, many of dubious value. RCA-style jacks are the only way to get video (analog only) to your computer for editing, limiting its usefulness as a digital camera. Included accessories are just gizmos that don't help the editing process. If you need digital AND want to edit with your computer, buy a camera that has 1394 capability. Otherwise, spend your money on Hi8 with more available features.

I purchased my Digital Camcorder while visiting the baseball spring training in Florida. I hadn't really done a lot of research but was an owner on an Hitachi Camcorder and had numerous electronic problems with it. I found this unit easy to use with one review of the instruction manual. I agree with the person from Orlando that the off/on switch is cumbersome but it is something you have to adjust to. The snap shot feature is great as it gives you a great still picture and breaks up the traditional viewing of a long recording. The clarity of digital is superior as I have my old VHS cassettes to compare it to. I'm in the market for JVC's JLIP unit which allows you to interface the camcorder and computer for downloading pictures. I paid 1/2 the price for this unit vs. the Hitachi and would totally recommend it to the everyday family movie taker.

I purchased this camera in August of 2002 and have taken very good care of it. I have only used for aprox. 8 hours of recording. I powered on the camera, finished the tape that was currently in the recorder, and it suddenly powered off. I had noticed the battery was fully charged when I was recording so I knew it wasn't a battery issue. We then found there was no way to manually eject the tape since it is a motorized ejection process. We contact Sharp who suggested to remove the battery and reseat (which we had already tried) and if that did not help then it would have to be sent to a service center for $$$'s. The quality is very disappoining considering the camcorder was used so little and was always taken care of. We eventually took the camcorder apart ourselves destroying it just to salvage the video tape inside since it is more cost effective to purchase a new recorder than to send $$$'s to repair a junk camcorder.

I have had this camera for a year and it is has served me well. It takes great video and I have been able to copy and edit the video on my PC to produce playable VCD's.
Operationally, holding the camera is a bit awkward, and I found it hard to go from a viewfinder to using the screen for framing the shot.
Unfortunately just after the warranty finished, it would not switch on! The batteries/adaptor checked out OK. A search on the internet has shown this to be a common problem, so I wouldn't recommend anyone purchasing what appears to be a flaky design.

After several months of research, I decided on this camera, for basically two reasons: Size - it's slightly larger than a film camera, weighing no more than one; Design - the motor is away from the microphone, allowing less motor-noise in recordings.

The biggest swaying factor was the two-hands operation. As any expert consumer-camcorder user can tell you, no optical/digital image stabilization can compensate for the "fumbling" you get at high zoom factors when shooting one-handedly. The so-called "one-hand" cameras aren't really one-handed if you want a clean shoot when you have to make do without a tripod, since you'll be applying your second hand to the left/under side of the camera for added support. Having used various other MiniDV cameras (Sony HandyCams, JVC's, and Canon's), I discovered that it was easier to use a product that is originally designed for 2-handed operation. I've used the camera for a while now, and I am very satisfied with the stability of the video I get, even while zooming and walking simultaneously.

This product does have a "Still" function, however, no way to save it to any removable or internal memory, so if you want to copy them over to a computer, you would have to import it via Firewire after it is recorded to tape. Even at that, the DV-25 format restricts the picture to a low-enough quality that they're not work keeping.

A hint to people considering getting a camera with still functions: get an[inexpensive] 640x480 camera ... from [a local store] - this will do the job better than the still functions on most consumer-grade DV camcorders; if budget allows, a decent 2MP+ camera would allow you to take printable photos.

As a sidenote, looking on Sharp-USA's site, I couldn't find the CCD pixel count, but I have found some indication on the Internet that this camera has a 420K CCD. This is fine for a DV-25 camera, but this also means that digital zoom obviously gets blocky and distorted easily.

Note to the person with the I.Link issue: I.Link is Sony's trademark for a 4-pin IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port. If you want to use your VAIO with this camera, what you would need is just any 4-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable, and use the DVGate software to import the video. Otherwise, if you have a Macintosh or a 6-pin Firewire port, you should get a 4-pin to 6-pin cable. I have tried it with both Mac OS X and Windows XP so far and both results have been very pleasing.

The only down-side I can bring up is the lack of remote, need for an extra cylindrical tripod-attachment as provided (can't use the lock-in pin on the detachable attachment if you have the batteries installed on certain tripods), somewhat [inexpensive] construction (plastic looks flimsy in part), and non-intuitive manual focus (have to open up menu - 4 keypresses, and use buttons to focus instead of any kind of sliders). Of course, this is a very inexpensive camera and consumer-grade at that; finding manual rotary focal lens controls would almost be rare.

All-in-all, the price makes up for what it doesn't have, and I find that this camera does everything I need to do for both semi-professional and home-consumer usage.

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