Panasonic SV-AV100 Best Prices, Compare, Reviews

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Product: Panasonic SV-AV100

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(...) I purchased my Panasonic SVAV100 D-Snap tapeless video recorder three days ago from a retail store - within the first six hours (six hours in a car without Internet access) I was ready to return it. I could not rep the MPEG2 video to play outside the camera. The supplied software, as it has been aptly described by others in the above reviews, is one of the worst applications I have seen in novel years - as one reviewer save it "what were they thinking? " I was ready to return the camera - really - I was making plans to go encourage to the store - then finally got to the Internet and I read the oh-so-simple comments on the this review board about renaming the .MOD to .MPG and I completely changed my mind about the camera - the results are spectacular!

"What an engineering marvel" we all said upon seeing the results on the PC. With the camera producing native MPEG2 files it was doing what I expected it should do - files that can be edited with any desktop video editor. I detached can not own the - no other word for it - `blunder' on the portion of Panasonic's marketing and software groups. This is the only tapeless video recorder under $800 (I paid $600 with a mfg. rebate coupon) that produces native DVD quality MPEG2 files - period. Why don't they honest say that? Why don't they suggest renaming the .MOD to .MPG and call it a short sever for advanced users? It's unbiased unfamiliar.... My impressions point-by-point:

First Light Setup - 10/10 - (out of the box and shooting video as rapid as I could unwrap the plastic - very easy - PC software on the other hand ... read-on below...)

Ergonomics - 9/10 (minor same points made by others - no tripod screw, buttons - though not needed for most functions while capturing images - require a bit getting dilapidated to located under and late the flip conceal)

Camera menus usability - 10/10 (what you need for each mode - where you need it)

Convenience (read: size) - 10/10 (you will always choose it with you - you will obtain yourself taking video and capturing moments like never before)

Image quality - 9/10 (Carl Zeis was a genius - no CZ lens here; white balance quite sensitive, but obliging - though there is a manual mode and this videographer needs to master it for indecent light, contrast-y, indoor shooting)

Image stability - 10/10 (as grand as my image stabilized binoculars - even with the optical zoom extended)

Accessories - 9/10 (comes with all you'll need - but why is the charging system - brick and tray assembly - larger than the camera itself? Charging batteries separately in a petite form-factor unit is a must - out-of-the-box, Panasonic requires batteries to be charged in the camera - apparently there is a third-party external charger available separately. I'll be buying one soon!)

Recording Capacity - 10/10 (this may surprise you - I exhaust the NORM MPEG2 - that's 22 minutes - genuine but not quite DVD quality - on the supplied 512M chip and over 40 minutes on a 1G chip - how grand video do you need to shoot anyway? For family and activities - I've not had a jam - plus I can dump the chip to hard drive in a few minutes. At $60/Gig - remove a couple chips. The 2G chips are soon to be sold and 4G chips are on their plot - that will be three hours of video on one chip!)

PC Software - 0.0001/10 - (total relate failure on Panasonic's fragment. Fortunately it is not required at all - as I came to pick up out. Simply recall the chip out, coast it into your SD chip reader - desktop or laptop unit - copy and rename the files - there is even a freeware utility available on the Internet)

Did I mention convenience `-) 10/10!

When I first looked into this product I was in a scrape - I skittish about cutting edge: "high wow factor - coarse performance" - "sounds too kindly to be upright" - I took a chance anyway - I am cheerful I did. For more info - marvelous source: Do a Web search on "SVAV100" and "Jack Brown" - you'll earn an agreeable "SVAV100 Forum" - Panasonic should give this group allotment of their marketing budget - they are far more competent.

This is a gargantuan small camcorder for having with you at all times to buy short videos. You will have to download often to your computer since the SD card cannot contain noteworthy. These .MOD files for MPEG2 select up a lot of room. Most people don't like to look long videos anyway. You will have this camcorder with you when the bigger one will be at home or in the car. The supplied software is not worth a dime. It cannot preserve up with your files if you need to go them. Catch Moonlight El-ecard MPEG2 Player software from the Internet. You can also transfer the videos to VHS, 8mm or DV tape. Actually, they sight better doing this (then watching on your TV) than by viewing them on your computer.

Even after reading about all the 'problems' with the SVAV100 I decided I quiet had to have one. I wanted a diagram to lift video of my daughter without looking like the proverbial "dorky-dad-with-a-video-camera." This camera lets me do that.

But, surprisingly, I've either not experienced these problems or found very simple workarounds for them. Here are some examples:

Software: there are numerous, high-quality editing programs that handle the task of editing MPEG2 video with aplomb. Most offer free demos so you can choose which works best for you at no cost.

.MOD file format: simply change the files extension to .MPG and nearly any video tool (Windows Media Player included) can read the MPEG2 files produced by the SVAV100

CODECS: I have WinXP running on a fairly novel PC - I didn't need to install anything to derive up and running.

SD Card: the camera records 10 minutes of MPEG2-fine on the included 512M card (I gather unbiased over 20 minutes from a modern 1G card) . Between the two cards, 30 minutes of storage covers all the video situations I've encountered.

Battery-life: I have found replacement batteries for less than $15 each. I carry a couple of fully-charged backups which provide all the battery life I could possibly need (certainly more than enough juice to maintain both SD cards, and then some) .

Anyhow, this has been my experience to date; YMMV. Overall, I am very gratified with the quality of the camera and it's output.

Finally, I'd like to give kudos to Jack Brown for establishing an extremely useful SVAV100 users' forum (watch URL in his review here) . It contains a wealth of information and is definitely worth checking out.

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