Panasonic SV-AV100 SD Digital Recorder (Panasonic-SVAV100)

Reviewed by: wxhuabin

Strengths: light, full function, cute!

Overall: this is most power and most tiny macnine in the world, i love it so much, the most important thing is that I think because its good quality, its price always keep stable, which makes me feel so good!

Reviewed by: panhao

Strengths: Super compact, great recording quality, love it

Weaknesses: battery life, storage

Overall: This is one of most compact camcorder in current market. Record directly into DVD files, quality is great. Not very good in weak light though. Bettery life is not very long and provided 512MB SD card can only store 12min DVD super fine video, so be sure to get an extre battery and SD card. But the amazing small size makes it win everything. Highly recommed.

Reviewed by: z_ry

Strengths: small size, good video quality, good fucus even at the highest zoom. Direct writing to DVD without capturing.

Weaknesses: Need large capacity SD card (expensive) if you want to take long videos. Highest quality MPEG-2 video seems to only work with Panasonic brand cards. Still picures have low resolution.

Overall: I am very impressed with this video camera. Its small size means no bulky bags to carry, can be put in the pocket and go anywhere. No tapes means no motor sound contaminations in the video, and no need to use special software to "capture" the video onto the computer - just copy the file directly from the SD card.The video quality is very good, especially if you use the "fine" mode of the MPEG2 encoding. Videos can be played back directly onto the TV screen using the supplied cable. When viewed on the TV, even the low resolution MPEG-4 encoded videos look good.I have tried a non-Panasonic SD card and it would only let me record in "normal" MPEG-2 mode, but not "fine" MPEG-2 mode.

Reviewed by: wenv

Strengths: Small, weight, zoom, and lcd screen.

Weaknesses: Low light conditions, still picture quality, no flash for stills, and supplied software.

Overall: I have been reading and researching about this camcorder for the last year. The AV100 is the smallest camcorder that I have use. I have try different tapeless camcorder and nothing really fells or has the video quality as the AV100. It seems like I have listed more weakness then strengths but the video quality on the av100 out weight all the listed weakness.

Reviewed by: Andytex5

Strengths: It's size, obviously. It is easy to use, although some of the buttons are small. The zoom is great as well as the stableization. It hooks up easily to a TV, and the remote is a wonderful tool.

Weaknesses: Memory. I cant transfer to dvd's without expensive equiptment, and the memory card are extremely expensive. Also isn't too good indoors.

Overall: I expected to transfer directly from the card to my computer then onto a dvd. It turns out that you cannot do this without the picture becoming fuzzy and blured. You can, however, buy pannasonic's $1200 dvd DMR-E100HS recorder. Indoor filming could also use some improvement. Although it does work in a darker, indoor enviornment, it needs to be in a well light area to achieve its best quality. I was surprised with how crisp the image quality was when I connected it directly to my television. It was equivelent to that of a dvd, and it was easy to hook up. If pannasonic developed software to copy from the camera to a dvd via computer it would be a very useful camera and worth its price, but unless you want to buy a $200, 512 MB flash card for half an hour of high quality filming or purchase the dvd recorder, I do not recomend it too highly.