Not the best but Good for the Price

Author's Rating:

Pros: Price, Price Price. Good clarity in bright light. Compactness. Easy to use.

Cons: poor in lo light - stills & camcorder. Only 7 LUX. Jog button is overused

The Bottom Line: 
If you get a good deal - get it and save the extra money to buying something else. The picture quality equals that of more expensive ones.

Author's Review
I got a deal on mine and only paid 720cdn (tax in) or about 460 US (includes taxes! or $400 before taxes). It's so cheap as they are clearing the old model for the newer DV101. Definitely not worth paying the extra for the DV101. It has a few more useless features eg. PIP,and a slightly better viewfinder. (not for $350 more). But to date (Nov-01), I think the DV101 has dropped in price with the mail in rebate offered. I saw it for about $798 Cdn after rebate.

I also paid another $20 cdn (12US)for a remote so the buttons won't get worn out on the unit plus for convience.

There are lots of features on this model but it lack others that other companies have.

1. no UBS link (so basically you can't download movie to your computer unless you invest another $150 for the cable software & the firewire card.
2. no analog in
3. no titles to add to your movies.

I was looking at the Digital 8 and really liked the new TRV330 but that would have set me back another $500 Cdn if i went for that. It had everything and good quality video in lo lighting which Panasonic lacks (actually sucks). I really debated over the Mini DV vs Digital 8. I know i should have gone digital 8 as I can no longer view my old 8mm tapes now. But at a $500 diff, maybe i'll pick up an old 8mm camcorder for $50-$100 to play them. Besides it seems like Mini DV is the way to go with all mfgers leaning to it. The tapes are not that badly prices. I managed to pick up Mini DV tapes - Sony 60 min for only $10 Cdn (6.50 Us) tax in!! That's not bad. If you have any connections in Hong Kong, Mini DV TDK tapes go for $5 Cdn ($3.20 US) no tax!

The Panasonic will do everything I want but just doesn't have that extra. But get real, people never use 70% of the features on a digital camcorder. You may play around with it at first but will never do it again. Most people don't have time to edit videos either. Nor do most people have the hard disk space nor the IEE 1344 slot on their computer to edit.

I think this digital thing is a bit of a hype too. Can you really watch at 500 resol. Usually not. Unless you have state of the art TV or have a SVideo jack (which only gives about 400 lines). If you use RCA plugs like most of us, resolutions goes down to 300 or so. So who cares about this 500 RESOL HYPE. Besides, some people may even dubb to VHS so you're back to 240 resolution. Will you ever see the 500 lines. Not really. But I guess everybody want the best even though they may not be able to maximize on the benefits.

Back to the camera. Still shot are not too clear but that's with all Still photos on camcorder. Nothing beats a real digital camera. To download the pictures to your PC is a bit of a pain. You have to do one at a time and then press Transfer then Save As.... Quite tedious. But i don't plan on using it that much otherwise a memory stick is much faster. Stills need much more light than the video filming. It's very gainy if you capture a still in low lighting. Actually now I don't use the Photo Still feature. Just record the video as normal and freeze frame upon playback to capture the shot. It's not necessary to use the pain in the butt tiny photo shoot button to capture stills. (the button is way too small for my fingers to press on!!!).

The videos are good with lots of lighting but suffers from color saturation and graininess when light is dimmer. This is my main complaint of the camera esp for stills.

There is no manual zoom so the battery get eaten up by any adjustment.

The battery lasts about 1 hrs - which is ok. I haven't purchased the 2hr batter which goes for $120 Cdn. I'll wait till I really need it before buying it - eg when i go on vacation. For the time being the 1 hr battery provided is sufficient.

The functions are easy to use and understand but a bit too cumbersome to use as you have to use this tiny menu and Jog button constantly. Even to do simple task. I wish the shutter speed or exposure functions where directly on the camera for easy access.

I guess I haven't said too many good things. But it's a good little camera for everyday shot and videos and will be sufficient for normal use. I'm sure it's 20x better than my old 8mm!!! Besides with the $500 I saved on getting the old model and not going Sony, I bought myself a new DVD player (excellent Panasonic RV31K - plays MP3s & CDRs).

Besides i figure in 5years times, it'll be time to upgrade and I would have definitely gotten my money's worth out of this little camcorder. The video looks amazing with a SVideo hook up (even RCA looks ok) on my brand new Sony 43" high def TV. Flawless picture!!!! No scan lines and crisp details.

So, dispite all these minor glitches, I still recommend this unit only if you don't need all the gadgets and you get it at a good deal. You can't go wrong for a mini dv with great resolution for $399!!!! If you can't find the DV100 now, the DV101 is now reasonably prices!

If you have any questions, please contact me at

namabeer@hotmail.com or namabeer@colosseum.com

I have great travelogue of the world if you care to see some picutures i took with my digial camera. The address is

http://members.fortunecity.com/namabeer/index.html