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 Seems great as reviews say, but turns out to be junk Jun 07, 2006
Everything billed about this camera that is good, even its seemingly solid construction, is true--when you first get it.
Then and quickly the camera breaks, and you discover, and I thought I'd learned my lesson about this from another piece of Panasonic equipment years ago, that Panasonic is simply not a brand to be trusted.
I confess I am especially annoyed with Panasonic right now because they advised me to send in my camera for repair, which I did, but they neglected to tell me that the flat fee for any repair would be more that it would cost at this point to just buy another one.
That--and the shoddy customer service in general--is what drove me to write, but at bottom the problem is just that this camera is either just a piece of junk or, more cynically, has a planned obsolescence of something like 6 months past its year warranty.
I would stay away from Panasonic--there are plenty of good other brands.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Ruined 3 vacations - stay away - horrible! Aug 21, 2005
This camera was a dog from the first day I got it. Jittery picture and audio drop outs. STAY AWAY.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Great value - shame about the mic quality Mar 03, 2003
I have had this camcorder (my first and only) for nearly a year. It was a great entry to home video.I was very pleased with the picture quality and it is easy to use. I have tried the EIS feature(electronic image stabilization) and it really works and the effect on picture quality is barely noticeable. Editing on a computer with the IEEE1394 interface is fun (and IEEE1394 interface cards for desktop and laptop PCs can be had very cheaply - I bought one for each.) The camcorder can even print the finished movies back to a blank MiniDV tape for archiving and for displaying on NTSC TVs. The built-in microphone has very poor sound quality - voices sound very tinny. I wish it had a way of connecting an external microphone. And I wish a second, larger battery wasn't so expensive - it is hard to shop around for a third-party battery as the online catalogs rarely mention this model of camcorder. Shop around for MiniDV tapes - good brands can be found for around $5 but I see them many places over $8. The battery charger included with mine doubles as an AC adapter and works on many electrical systems round the world (just get a travel plug from your local hardware store.)
22 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Simplicity is key. Jan 13, 2003
This digital camera has everything you need. Don't waste your money on those overpriced gadgety cameras, when all you need is something to capture good quality digital video. I've played around with quite a few DV cameras, and almost all of them were impossible to figure out. Too many buttons. This camera only has the necessities. My only complaint about the ergonomics is that the record button could be placed better. I usually take my thumb off of it after I hit record, so I have to go searching for it when I want to pause or stop recording, so a lot of my video has a visible jiggle at the end where I was fumbling for the record toggle. The quality of the video is superb. It gets a little grainy in low light, but no worse than any DV camera I've seen below $900. Oh, one thing to note. This camera doesn't come with a DV tape to get you started. So, you better put a 3-pack in your shpping cart before you check out. I'd recommend a second battery, too. This camera doesn't have an analog pass-thru, so you can't use it to transfer your old 8mm videos to DV.... but that's something you'd do only once anyway, right? Why spend the extra bucks on a camera that can do it then? This is a great deal. If you are the bare-bones type, get this. You'll be pleased.
6 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Best Value Jan 09, 2003
For an entry level miniDV camcorder, this one Rocks.
Easy to use & extremely light.
Buy the Pyro firewire card, and you can get great video to your pc.
For the price you pay, it doesn't get much better.
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based on 15 reviews
