Panasonic PV-DV400

The Panasonic PV-DV400 has worked well for me. It is lightweight and compact which makes it very manuverable, opposed to some of the earlier VHS models. It has features that rival any other compact digital camcorder but when it came down to buying I picked Panasonic over Sony, Canon and a host of others. It just seemed that they all were very similar and Panasonic at the time gave me the most bang for my buck. The camera was they right size and had the right features. It is offers alot of features and with the right accessories(digital editing software and digital photo software) it is comparable to the 2,000 - 3,000 dollar models. At this juncture, 2 years down the road I have become extremely an intermediate digital camera afficianado with digital editing and music credits to my name. In fact it was put to me by a professional camera operator that he "wished he would have bought that model as opposed to the Canon XL1".

Strenghts have definitely been the IR(inrared) or night time shooting. This has come very handy especially in shooting videos in clubs and other night time situations. The 3 types of connectors for transporting images whether they be still or video. The ease of use when hooking up the 1394 IEEE for transport of mpegs in any software. the placement of the s-video and external audio jacks as well the well thought out controls for movement of zoom and finger controls of still image capturing. The remote works well and there are a range of filter and external wide angle and telephoto lenses available to enhance your production needs.

The only weakness is the fact that 2 years later after learning DV that the CCD imager cannot be upgraded. I wish the camera had more than 680,000 or was a megapixel camera, but at that time I didn't have the money. Also when I look back I would have had to sacrifice something from the camera to gain as many options that I have now. An advanced shutter speed manipulator would have been nice but again this is on more advanced cameras.

I have been using video cameras since 84 and that was VHS. It was big, cumbersome and didn't have the features that the PV-DV400 has. The 3.5 inch LCD monitor was a key purchasing point and the earlie

I have not found a problem with the customer service and in fact a friend has the 900 model and has had his serviced 2 times, without a hitch. Today there are more choices in the digital recording arena. Cameras are smaller and they have many divisions among them. You must read the specs and choose a camera that fits your needs. At the time the PV-DV400 fell right into my lap. I am in the process of purchasing some wide angle lenses and filters to upgrade my experience and knowledge in the Dv arena. The PV-DV400 was the right choice for me.

Like other reviewers here, we compared the Panasonic PVDV-400 to Sony and others and found the Panasonic to be a good deal, given the features you got for the money. Being a novice, I cannot comment on how well some of these features work vs. other camcorders, but I can say that I found most of the features easy to use given my needs. Although we also found the digital stills to be unimpressive, they were easy to transfer to our web site and required little storage space. I have used other Panasonic products before, which is one of the things that led me to look favorably upon Panasonic (I have had a Panasonic CD player for 16 years, and it has never skipped a beat). However, we had a small problem with our camcorder and I feel that Panasonic's proposal for helping us out was less than adequate (see customer service section).

Although we have had the camcorder for six months, we have only recorded about three hours worth of video with it. Suddenly, the tapes we recorded wouldn't play properly anymore: there was no sound and the tapes looked like a progression of stills, rather than continuous video. We called customer service, and they walked us through all of the menus to make sure we didn't have any settings wrong. We didn't have anything wrong, so they said they would have to take a look at it. If we would ship the camcorder to Illinois ($40 shipping), they would look at it for $249 and then tell us how much it would cost to fix. Do the math... That's almost $300 to fix an $800 camera that we had used for less than 10 hours including recording and playback. Not a good value for my money. We eventually found a cheaper solution ourselves (don't use the battery for playback, plug the camcorder in) and also found a closer service center we coudl drive the camcorder to. I'm still angry that companies refuse to treat customer complaints with common sense. I know the recorder only has a 90 day warranty, but does that make it OK for it to fail at 180 days if the thing has hardly been out of the box? Anyway, I cancelled my order for a Panasonic RV-80 (which was back-ordered for 3 weeks anyway... apparently Panasonic gets along without me very well!).

I did not previously have a camcorder (or digital camera) prior to purchasing the PVDV400. I chose to go digital since I had no analog "legacy" from a previous camcorder. I looked at several different models (especially Sony) and decided that (for the money) the Panasonic was more attractive. For what I got, this Panasonic is equal to a Sony that cost at least $200 more. There are those that would say that Sonys are indestructible and are therefore worth the extra money. I can safely say that I disagree. I have two Panasonic TVs and two Panasonic VCRs (it just worked out that way. At the time of purchase I had no Panasonic predisposition), and all have functioned perfectly for up to 8 years.

When it came time to purchase the camcorder, I thought of Sony first and Panasonic second. My final decision came down to price/features. Panasonic won both.

The digital camera is not the greatest, but for me, perfectly adequate for emails or web graphics. I have yet to see a digital camera come nearly as close to perfect as a traditional picture and my flatbed scanner.

If you expect to get outstanding digital stills, look elsewhere, or buy a scanner. A plus is the still picture downloading software. It worked flawlessly. I have yet to try downloading video (via firewire).

Get the long life battery (I got a 3-4 hour one) and use the included one as a backup. I honeymooned in Vegas and never once wished for more battery life.

Recorded images are as good as any. Shooting in the dark (near 0 lux) is as fine as any other I have seen. The camera is very lightweight even with the 3 hour battery I purchased (This is a must!). I found that the controls fit my hand near perfectly (I have medium-size hands and am about 5'10" tall) and while not as intuitive as the Sony, were easy to learn. LCD is excellent.

Digital camera is adequate, but not great. You will need to buy a longer-life battery (an extra cost at the time of purchase).

Ive use my new PV-DV 400 in a number of seetings. 1. Indoor with low light conditions stinks even with the Iris wide open. You diffentely need the attached light.
2. The camera is practically useless shooting onstage performaces with different lighting conditions. Need manual Iris control for optium settings.
3. Dont think your going to get great picture montages from the still shots they're reall grainy.
4. Great video quality under proper lighting conditions. Sound is excellent
5. Fits comfortably in your hand and rewinds and fast forwards quickly.

6. Dont buy this camera for its still shot picture quality. I tried to get the most for my money. I should have bought a mini DV with more manual controls and a light, than try to get everything all in one.

Crystal clear 3" LCD, IR Filter excellent, comfortable, manual focus.

No Light or manual iris control,Still pics are terrible even on fine mode.

This is my first Mini Dv camera,have used regular 8 mm for years and like the Mini Dv format. was looking at Sony D8 cameras but was not impressed by the size and the possibility that the format may some day go the way of Beta. the Panasonic does a nice job with video,the still camera is good for web site publishing but not for prints stick with dedicated digital camera for printing photo's.18x times zoom is great, digital zoom is as always worthless on any camera,image stabilization works good and does not appear to degrade picture quality.Menu's are confusing but after awhile you get used to them,a/v in would be nice but once you transfered all analog you wouldn't use it much again. Viewfinder is sharp and IR night filter works great at 8-10 feet Camera is larger than other Mini Dv but is comfortable to use and all controls fall at you finger tips Seperate charger ,do not have to charge battery in camera like Sony,Canon and others allowing you to still shoot video while charging spare battery. Side loading for tape ,not on bottom like Sony. All in all am happy with performance and feature set.

The 18x optical zoom is higher than all other Mini Dv i have seen,video quality is very good,colors and saturation are also very good Controls well placed and easy to use

No a/v in jack, battery life with supplied battery only about 45 min with lcd on, does not come with remote[can be purchased seperatly]

Looked at Canon ZR10,nice camera but limited zoom,Checked out Sony D8 but larger and hard to tell if format will gain support of other manufactures.

Asked for tech question by e-mail,first response was form letter type ,second response a little better but still not fully answering my question. adequete but not great