3 comments about Panasonic 512 MB Secure Digital Card.

1. I recently purchased the 512 MB SD card, as I have owned other Panasonic SD cards and I am most impressed with this one. You can not image how much information can be written to this card! I can pile as many pictures as I want and almost never have to worry about it using up all the memory because it can store up to 7,000 JPegs. Also, you can put 11 hours of songs from your MP3 player on it. I like the fact the SD cards are compatible with many of my products, and that I can store information in different formats such as audio and still pictures. I highly recommend the Panasonic 512 SD card to anyone looking for a new MultiMedia card.



2. Too expensive, when you can get similar high quality products from other manufacturers.



3. I own a Garmin iQue 3600 PDA, a Palm OS type. I've been a member of their users' group for over a year and one of the most intense discussions has been on the fastest and most reliable SD cards to buy. You do not want all your data to go down the drain due to a faulty card. You also want all your data fast, waiting for a slow screen redraw due to a slow card is no fun.
   
   Every available SD card on the market has been tested multiple times by the members using VFSMark, a speed measuring program for Palm OS PDA's. In brief, there's no contest - the Panasonic 254Meg and 512Meg cards proved to be the fastest and the most reliable SD cards on the market, especially in write speed, critical for a camera card. The Toshiba cards (for example, some Dane-Elec, PNY) are 15x slower in write mode but read almost 2x faster than the Panasonic). It seems that the Toshiba cards aimed at fast read times at the expense of slow write times.
   
   I just bought a FZ20 for Christmas and need a bigger SD card From my experience on the PDA forum and the hundreds of test done by the members on all types of cards (literally), I am buying the Panasonic 512Meg for $89.99.
   
   I figure that the write speed is the most important number in the card specs for camera owners. The faster the card write speed, the faster the camera can take another picture. Unfortunately, you can't believe the manufacturer specs, we found many differences between the published specs and the actual performance in the VFSMark program which measures 9 aspects of card performance, one of which is write speed. The SanDisk cards were slow and had a high hit rate for problems with people on the forum. The SanDisk Ultra cards were as fast as the Panasonics (or faster in some cases) but some members of the forum had problems with them going bad and losing data.
   
   In summary, the Panasonic 512 and 256 cards proved to be the most reliable as well as the fastest as found by the users of the iQue 3600 forum.

5 comments about Panasonic SVAV50 MPEG-4 SD Video Camera.

1. I purchased the camera a few months ago. I saw it first at a stand at JFK, and thought it was a really neat and fantastic little product. I knew straight away all the my tech friends would love it. Cool design, easy to use. Small, smaller than most mobile phones. Good flash, even sometimes it is to good, and can flash away your picture, meaning close-up photos may become to bright. But I guess it also has something to do with the person operating it. :-)
   
   So then there are of course a few downsides to it too! 1. Inside filming is a bit tricky. You either need very good lighting in-doors to get a good video, or you need to turn on the night view option, which then slows down the FPS (frames per second) which really means that the video slows down, and you really have to hold it still to make a good video. Not a good option I think. So that really sucks, because it means you really have to have some good light indoors. Outside is ok. Not the best video quality there either, but it is more than acceptable and the sound is good.
   
   The second thing here is that it is only a 2 mega pixel camera. And most people today probably have a compact digital cam that has from 3.2 and up. There is no doubt that a compact cam of 2 mega, bets this cameras 2 mega. The pictures are ok, but once you are used to better quality cams, then you kind of feel like you are stepping back with this one. Would be cool to see this cam with at least 3.2 mega...
   
   Unfortunately I lost the CD cover with the installation code for the installation of the MP3 software, so I have not been able to test that yet. But the earphones that came with the cam seem to be of pretty good quality. We'll see.
   
   My overall conclusion is that this is an OK cam to have, but should not be your prime camera to use for those special occasions, vacations etc. I would then stick to either a digital camera with better mega pixels, or just a regular film camera. (but that takes away some of the fun taking pictures I think) Good luck.



2. This is not an MP3 player. To listen to music on it you have to use some stupid conversion software. Personally I think their is a great class action lawsuit for false advertising on this. In the meantime I putting this POS on ebay, and vowing never to buy another Panasonic product again.



3. I recently bought this on sale (very good price I might add) and am going to be sending in for the rebate. For what I paid it is a great little product. It's nice to stick in your purse or bag and you have everything at your fingertips - voice recorder, camera, video and music.
   
   Drawbacks:
   1 - It only plays MP3 files (it comes with software which you must use, but it is easy).
   2 - When playing music if you accidentally nudge the little orange button (used for making menu choices etc) it will go back to the start of the song - very annoying. I am going to try putting a piece of tape over it if I will be listening for awhile and if it will be in my purse or pocket at the time.
   3 - Only comes with an 8 MB card! It hardly holds anything! You WILL want to buy another card if you are going to use it much at all so factor the cost of a 128 or 264MB card into your budget.
   
   For everything together it is great. Obviously it is not as good as a normal digital camera, but I am not going to carry my camera with me. With this in my purse if I see a picture I can't resist or (God forbid) I get in a fender bender I will have it right there to snap a few shots.
   
   It's a nice little splurge to have fun with at the right price.



4. This is very poorly designed product, extremely user-unfriendly. The PC connection has to be snapped so tight till it almost breaks to make a connection. Buttons are very small. I have tiny fingers but still have trouble setting to the right mode and if you are not careful, you could be digital video-recording which takes all the memory in 1 minute instead of taking the pictures. The pics are very poor quality and DARK!!! DO NOT BUY this product, just buy a real digital camera or buy a real digital video recorder.



5. I got this for my birthday a while ago, and is my first of a couple of digital cameras that i like to use regularly. most other cameras only take aroung 8 to 15 mins of video with a high memory card but this one takes alot more. with a 512 mg SD card you can take over 1 hour of video and hundreds of pictures on high resolution. the "mp3 player" is a little low rate but its ok. and i never really used the voice recorder, but when i did test it it sounded ok except for a low static sound in the backround. if you do get it i suggest getting an extra battery, and at least a 256 mg card. Most of the problems that occur can be fixed with the manual, and if you have a dot on your screen that doesnt change its alright because it wont come out in the picture. 2 megapixels is a little on the grainy side, but you can print regular sized pictures without any of the grainy effect. Overall it is a very handy and useful camera for everyday use and catching those spur of the moment things.

No comments about Panasonic PVDV73 MiniDV Multicam Camcorder with 1.33 Megapixel CCD and 3.5" LCD.

No comments about PANASONIC DVM-60EL Mini Digital Videocassette with Memory Chip (PANASONIC DVM60EL).

5 comments about Panasonic PVDV53 MiniDV Palmcorder Multicam Camcorder with 2.5" LCD.

1. We love this camcorder. It's got great picture quality, even in low light, and lots of featuers. Price is great, too.

   However, it isn't a camera. We owned a VHS-C Panasonic camcorder that took picutres as files on an SD card. This one takes "pictures" by recording a seven second still image directly onto your tape. You then have to "play" your movie, uh, picture, into the computer, which can convert the video into a still picture. Of course, your pictures could be spread out all over a 90 minute tape.

   The real kicker is, the crummy serial cable and software isn't even included.

   I'd call it deceptive advertising, to say the least.




2. This "southwestconsumer" (sdclark12) wrote over 100 piece of reviews with exactly the same contents and rating against various Panasonic products. This is a person full of hatred towards Panasonic. His reviews have nothing to do with a particular Panasonic product.



3. I got this DV Camera to tape some old Super-8 movies for conversion to DVD. Thanks to the low light performance and image stabiliaztion it did a great job. Then I shot some footage on the Santa Monica Pier and it did great in daylight as well. So for a low cost video camera you can't beat it. It's not a digital camera though go buy one if you want that. Still no firewire cable was a let down but you can get them cheap look for a 4-6 pin cable and get it hooked up for computer fun!



4. the effective resolution of this camera is 96K, which is worse than most Hi-8 cameras. it supposedly has a 1/4 CCD with 680K gross, but this is probably myth. do not believe anything you see on camcorderinfo.com about this camera.
   if you ever had a Hi-8 you would be greatly disappointed by the quality, although you can still recognize the face of your wife and the color of her dress. not much more though.
   Panasonic do not disclose the effective resolution or the gross of this camera just to trick people who think miniDV means good quality.



5. 
   This unit has the reliability of a marriage to Liz Taylor.
   
   If your a professional and your living depends on a palmcorder
   don't buy this one. Even the Tech Support for Panasonic are
   rather clueless.
   
   Please whatever you do don't buy this junk.

4 comments about Panasonic PVL453 VHS-C Camcorder with 2.5" LCD and SD Digital Still Capability.

1. I got the camcorder, took it home, charged the battery, and started to experiment with it. Seemed fine at first. I was happy with it. The next day, (or the day after, maybe) I noticed a noise that happened while I was recording that sounded annoying. I took the camcorder to a concert to record a band and the tape seemed to drag. I popped the tape into one of the Playpak adapters (whatever you call them) to watch the video on the living room TV and noticed that the sound quality wasn't so great, and neither was the video quality. I don't know if this is just a bad-quality camcorder in all, or if I just happened to buy a bad one. My advice is to research everything you can before getting one of these. Try out others, whatever you want/need to do, but I, personally, do not recommend this camcorder to anyone. The tape seemed to drag, the video quality wasn't that great, the sound quality was pretty poor. The built in microphone, to me, seemed a little too sensitive. Now one thing I realized is that I had the video mode in SLP (super long play) so that the tape would last longer, which sacrifices some of the quality of the video and sound, but that shouldn't cause the tape to drag. And the microphone just seemed a little too sensitive, to me. I don't really recommend this camcorder. Maybe I just happened to pick up a bad one but if they're all like the one I bought, I definately do NOT recommend this one.



2. My wife purchased the camcorder for our trip to Europe. I'm 60 and have never used a camcorder. I prefer still pictures. I tried the video and the pictures and sound were crisp and true. The still pictures were very good. I found the camcorder easy to use and it gave good results for a new video maker. I would recommend buying it.



3. I had bought this camera at sears a few years ago. it works pretty good, i have never had a problem with weird noise, or bad picture or anything, the only bummer is if you want a camera that is easy to be able to transfer your video to disk, then this is not the camera for you, but if you prefer tapes its pretty good, and you can get the tapes from wal-mart, so all in all its a fairly good camera.



4. I have purchased this handycam and I find that the videos/picts cannot be loaded onto the system (p.c) through the usb port.When I asked the seller (I am in India,as is the seller) about it,he said that a "DIGITAL POWERSHOT DISKETTE FOR PANASONIC PVL 453.?Could anyone let me know if such a thing is available in the U.S?If so how do I procure it?
   
   Thank you
   
   Regards
   
   Phanindra

No comments about Panasonic CGRS602A1B Rechargeable Camcorder Battery.

5 comments about Panasonic PVGS70 MiniDV Ultra Compact Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, 3CCD, and 8MB SD.

1. When you consider all the features of this really tiny camcorder that weighs just a little over a pound, there is no question that it is the best mini dv product out there. The picture clarity is just incredible. Sharp and colorful video in almost any situation.

   I live near Washington DC and I go with the kids to the National Mall and to the Smithsonian every couple of months or so. The other day I finally bought this little camcorder and it gave me an excuse to take another sightseeing trip downtown DC (ok I really enjoy looking at what my tax money stands for...). Anyway, i basically used the camcorder all day long and it is the best quality video I have ever taken. I have bought an extra battery pack and I still had plenty of power left on the second battery at the end of the day. I also bought a 256 mb SD card for stills. I used the camcorder outside on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Capitol, and the Washington monument. Then inside the National Gallery of Art, the Air and Space and the National History. It is just fantastic. I think I am going to throw out all my old video tapes of the same stuff and start a new collection. I am thrilled.

   If you are looking to get something really good get this one.

   Merry Christmas.




2. Nice camera for all of the above stated reasons. One serious flaw for a highly portable camera, DURABILITY. This camera can not tolerate humid / moist environments. I was overseas and used the camera sporadically. Some of the environs were misty weather (NOT raining). Upon returning state-side, I discovered the camera was dead. Panasonic repair returned the camera as a total loss, stating that there was water damage to the mainboard, which was irreparable. A total loss, NOT COVERED by warranty on a camera that is otherwise in immaculate condition and 80 days old. A tech person at Panasonic confided that all that needs to occur is a drop of condensation to form on a ribbon cable. If it does, it will track down the ribbon cable to the board and kill it. They did offer to give me a new camera at a price that was more expensive than what I paid for it (at Beach Camera).

   Other commentors have complained of problems after minor drops of the camera. For a highly portable camera, this really isn't acceptable.




3. I'm new to the world of video but have a lot of experience putting complicated technology into people's hands. The GS70 is very nice to use out of the box. However, as you grow into it over time, it also has quite a bit of manual control for optimization. I agree in principle with most of the previous reviewers except that I havn't had any breakage or problems. This camcorder has great spectacular color. It may also have slightly lower resolution than some of the single chip Sony's I've compared it with. I prefer the overall quality of the Panasonic because of the beautiful color. It also held its own when I taped a stage performace at our church in low-light mode. If you read forums, you can do even better with manual settings. The GS70 also has both microphone and a headphone stereo jacks -- features absent from comparable Sonys (new 04 models) and very important to me since I use remote mics. Tape-Toploading is also very nice. I have uploaded the video and edited in Premier without difficulty. Sound is good to my ears. I think this is a great option for a hobbiest in the 500$ range. This camera is also small and light so you can take it with you anywhere. Batteries are small and last several hours. The manual is a bit on the arcane side until you catch on to Panasonic's format. The macro mode is very impressive. Bottom line -- Great color and useability with possibly slightly less detail in the images.



4. I would recommend this product over the pv-gs120 as they took this camera and stripped it down to be able to market it at the $700 price point, you will not lose anything by getting this camera. As for the image stabilization, the newer models are not any better. The trick is that most of the time it will not work unless the following circumstances are met, the camcorder must have a direct light source (indoor rarely works for me) and the unit must be able to focus on an object. When the light is present, it engages and does a good job; otherwise, the display will just blink at you. Most reviews say "use a tripod," yea right! I did not buy this to put on a tripod or it would be a larger unit. I found outdoor use to be great (manual white balance as much as possible or you may get a Tele-Tubby world effect.) Pictures are average at best, but I did not buy this for the pictures (the flash is awesome, however.)

   I bought this for less than half MSRP because it was last years model.




5. There are a lot of features about this camera that I like (alluded to in other reviews), but the vivid colours due to 3ccd technology is not one of them. I did a side by side comparison with my buddy's 3 year old Canon single-ccd and guess what? When played back thru his tv, my tv, my video projector, etc. his looked better. First of all, the resolution of the image seemed much better, and the colours were more accurate than my PVGVS70. For instance, we both shot a yellow sign -- it came out orange with the Panasonic.
   Mind you, it all looks good on its tiny lcd screen (providing you're looking at it absolutely directly head-on.)
   Also, as mentioned in the other reviews, the image stablizer is next to useless. Try full optical zoom and see if you can hand hold it -- hah! Makes the tele-macro function a waste of time, unless you're on a tripod. And furthermore, I see no point in the digital zoom function on any camera, let alone the PVGVS70 digital zoom which goes up to a whopping 700 X!! Even on a tripod, you can't get a decent picture at full zoom. It's all video pixel mush. Completely, utterly useless.
   I am so disappointed, as I was hoping to buy quality at $1000 (Can.), and the 3ccd held out a lot of promise. Also the good reviews I've read here and elsewhere... but I think the positive reviewers haven't done a true comparison. Believe me, it doesn't hold up and I intend to return my Panasonic today.

No comments about PANASONIC PV-A19 OEM AC Adapter/Charger for VHS-C Palmcorders (PANASONIC PVA19).

No comments about Remanufactured Panasonic PV-GS9 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom.