Panasonic PV-GS120 Versus Sony Trvs

Author's Rating:

Pros: small, light, great video outdoors- one of the best consumer models out for daylight video

Cons: color and focus a tad off, stills &stabilization and night shot not particularly good

The Bottom Line: 
a capable small affordable camcorder with great real life like video at times.

Author's Review
First off the Panasonic, Pv-GS120 is very good , if not one of the best consumer level digital mini camcorders for day light videos I tried out there, but with strong limitations and realize most of my comparisons are from last year model Sony Camcorders. Newer Canons with larger ccds chips with more pixels might be better or worth investigating also now but I don't know that for sure. The following long ramblings are basically comparing all the camcorders I tried and tested this year.I just updated again and its Nov. 21,2004 and tried a new Sony trv-38 ) and now I believe the trv-70 is tops followed very closely BY the Panasonic and then the trv 38. For over
all performance the Panasonic is best at day light video if you dont count shake or if you have steady hands and delivers stunning results.Please realize though if you want to take advantage of the full versatility of digicams, the Panasonic might definitely disappoint because lack of decent night mode and worse focus as in speed
then the Sonys. You really don't need to read further, that basically sums it all up .
NOW its middle of July and tried a Canon Optura 10 and a Sony trv-19 (the trv 19 was the best camera I tried for low light shots of all camcorders and not sure why) and Sony trv-33 all a bit older models. My final opinion after trying five digital camcorders out at least? Panasonic best for daytime videos by a small margin, but the TRV-70 is best camcorder in all areas when added up,then the panasonic and then the trv 38.
I will try to deduct the logic for everyone, based on what I tested and heard from other reviews. First realize these things are individual and whats nice for me may not be nice for you, and each unit might have its defects.On that note I have test five Sony V-1 s and each camera was completely different in performance. By and large there were some excellent reviews from others that I will agree with. Sony trv 33 (trv 38 even better)and later models have the best color balance and a bit more color then the preceding Sony models and its worth paying more for if you can find them. Since Sony makes the finest consumer camcorders I tested, that to me is all there is to know. But realize I can't speak for all camcorders obviously, only the ones I tested and liked Sony best.
Here is a comparison of the tvr-70 with the Panasonic -PV-GS120 . The Panasonic adding the 3ccds is the vision of where all camcorders might be by next year, that according to even people at Sony I talked to. (3ccds) Why did I do a reviews of these camcorders? I could finally afford to try some models out and compare them since they are or were near the top in quality according to reviews and prices were reasonable and were coming down. I did a fairly long study for days and here is my opinion and after I had to decide on one to keep: Both good camcorders under $750. Here are some observations: Plus for Panasonic: Small, lightweight and easier to maneuver, great video at times. Plus for Sony trv-70: The LENS.. amazing, more on this later, but suffice to say Sony could have made the best consumer digital camera if it wanted to, but didn't or didn't quite yet, but should use this exact lens for every camcorder they ever make thereafter in imho.Perhaps they have made their professional video cams with this kind of lens, I just never tested them. After trying two other camcorders out in July, even more convinced of the superiority of this top of the consumer line of Sony cameras and this Zeiss lens. Color accuracy as in right white balance for colors was great on the Sony if not exactly like one might want albeit the color was a tad light!! It was like watching true EXACT white balancing, not to be confused with brightness or total color, which unfortunately was a bit bland and listless compared to the Panasonic though. Sony calls it true to life and people who own the Sony wrote, they think the colors are natural but if you got a professional camera from Sony, I was told you would see why maybe they skimped on the consumer model. Sony used a bigger chip in the ccd for both video and stills, but Sony wasn't quite able to maximize it to me, in the regular video format so consumers end up losing a bit. So it seems the question I must ask was, what was the point of using the extra large chip? Now after trying two more older models out (tvr-19 and canon optura 10) I realize the color was actually ok, but still not as good as Sonys own progressive mode, (too bad that mode was too unstable and jittery) or the Panasonic. In progressive mode the colors came flying out exactly how I wanted, but so did the jittery movement so I KNOW Sony teased the buyer with glimpses of potential but just never delivered it in reg video mode. In the end Sony had more pluses like accuracy in focus (better then the Panasonic by allot and in fact better then any camcorder I ever tried,) and a focus wheel, better low light shots by allot, and had more megapixels for digital photography stills but the stills WERE NOT comparable to a 2 megapixel regular digital cameras, and the low light shots were not equal to some good camcorders ( not digital) yet probably BETTER then most digital camcorders including the Panasonic. So why get a digital camcorder? For quality videos ..and for this reason and the small size Panasonic wins in the best video daylight categories and of course the reason probably was the color from the 3ccds that the Panasonic utilized- and it did deliver Vivid color videos. I didn't say true to life colors all the time with just have a feeling it was a tad off somehow but that could have just been my perception (I took it to park so thats how I deducted that rationale). With the Sony you had the look of tape, with the panasonic it looked real and well if you can keep it steady thats all to know, it will be the best you can buy so thats really hard to pass up on isn't it? lol ! Still Panasonic could have done much better!!!!! This is still a low end attempt to cash in on 3ccds. To make it even more complicated: Sony got more detail because the video looked more settled with better stabilization and maybe the ccds or lens did pick up the detail but at other times or even most times the Panasonic was more vivid. Its a shame but the biggest weakness with the panasonic is the shake and its a big negative and when you combine the awful low light shots and no focus ring, and hard to use menu and poor digital stills especially in detail, its a no brainer, go with the Sony trv-70 unless something better or newer is available or unless you don't mind the negatives I mentioned from Panasonic.(or get a good trv-38) Why panasonic couldn't just add something worthy that went along with the better video quality, I HAVE NO IDEA but suffice to say the rest that is bad ruined it for me even though I gave the Panasonic a very good rating and it might just well do for you. The Panasonic has a menu system when you open the LCD to change the focus and other options which , I still couldn't figure out, was not easy to use. To change contrast, you had to push four different buttons,- whats with that, they must be kidding ???!!!!!!!! and then that makes the video shake even more! So after going back and forth and back again I ended up going with the Sony TVR-70. If the reason you buy a camcorder is the the video quality only in daytime, or in good light inside, the 3ccd Panasonic might definitely please more but be prepared to accept the drawbacks especially if your picky. If not you might love it and really its pretty easy to still get great videos, even with all the beforementioned, if you have steady hands; just try it out. However in the end I did miss the amazing white balance and lens from Sony trv-70 more, and its added benefits. With the Sony (trv-70 had anti shake)I could steady the camera and predict good video always with real colors. You could not say that with the Panasonic as often the videos were shaking all over the place and sometimes the colors were a tad off , at least to me but not by much. Even though Panasonic advertised anti shake , it didn't seem to help much.
Sony meahwhile had to know if they could have brightened up the colors in the video, they would have the best camcorder on the market for at least a few years so I recommend that they do nothing different next time except use 3ccds or more color. Maybe this is why the 3ccds are available with the panasonic, but remember with the brighter dots and colors, you sometimes mightlose details and add shake. Sometimes like listening to some digital audio the channels are so crisp and seperate the music loses total tonal balance. That doesn't have to be, but its true sometimes with this panasonic in picture quality. So you choose, for everyday outdoor shots the Panasonic is better really. If you need a digital for stills, buy a digital camera. If you need a combination of gadgets and home video on a card you can put up on the net or email (not bad for Sony) and better focus and great lens and better white balance and night shooting, go with Sony but lol. If Only Sony and Panasonic took this one step further but hey thats why they call them consumer models probably,,, drats Not sure why they expect us to pay 700 dollars without completing the task.
Thanks for reading and hope this was helpful. I did try a older Canon optura 10 and Jvc, and Sony tvr-19 compared to these two in july and the Sony tvr-70 still won easily. I thank the person from another review who suggested that sony just didn't maximize the colors in the chip for video, may have been right but now I realize it may have been the best a CONSUMER digital camera can do without 3ccds or better chips. The bottom line: The Panasonic is best for day light video, the Trv -70 can do a bit more because of the lens.. Ps- SonyTRV-33 is good cause of its size and its a bit like the trv70 but its quite not as good as my now new favorite second choice TRV-38 which is like in between size of the trv70 and trv33, with most of the advantages of TRV-70,and QUITE a bit better although not cheaper then the trv33 imho. Still if all you want is good daytime video,(s) the Panasonic is probably right up at the top above them all still. One more note, The trv-18 digital looks like the trv 38 but be careful because while the 18 is good and has manual focus ring also, its not as good as the trv 38 in my honest opinion.