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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | the Handycam Station is not very handy
This is a nice camcorder but the Handycam Station makes it less appealing. I have to remember to take the docking station everywhere I travel. What makes it worse is that the Handycam Station is very loosely snapped onto the camcorder. It can easily fall off and disconnect when you try to transfer video/picture through it. The camcorder itself does not have USB or IEEE1394 built-in. All these vital ports are in the Handycam Station. If it were not for this awkward docking station, I would have bought this camcorder. | 3 | 768 days ago | Go for Panasonic PV-GS500 over Sony DCR-HC96
If you are considering either of the two cameras (both of which happen to be the top of the line SD consumer camcorders in their respective brands), the first place you would want to check for an accurate and detailed review is [...]. The review accurately declares Panasonic PV-GS500 as the winner. Nevertheless, I chose to perform some amateur testing on the two camcorders and here is a summary of the results of my tests:
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<br />1. Video performance: GS500 has a three 1/4.7" CCDs, while HC-96 has one 1/3" CCD. The three CCD configuration produces excellent and faithful reproduction of colors in bright light condition. I tested both the cameras outdoors in auto mode. HC96, in an attempt, to produce richer colors, would sometimes produce inaccurate colors, while GS500 consistently produced accurate colors. If you are not a professional and cannot keep your hand steady for a long time, you will notice that HC96 will introduce quite a bit of noise. This is primarily due to two reasons: One is that HC96 uses Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) which is quite inferior as compared to the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) used by GS500. The other reason is that HC96 sometimes struggles to find the right focus. This occurs quite randomly (and more prominently indoors). I viewed the results by hooking the two cameras directly to my 32" LCD TV. The Panasonic produced superior results than the Sony, though the Sony video was good too.
<br />2. Low light (indoor) performance: Here HC96 (in `easy' mode) performs better than GS500 (in `auto' mode), though HC96 again was not accurate in reproducing colors. But wait, don't jump to conclusion so quickly. Simply select the `low light' scene mode for the GS500 and it outshines the HC96. (Surprisingly, HC96 produces a worse image when white balance was set to `indoor' mode than `easy' mode). During day time too, if you are shooting indoors without light, you will find that the `low light' mode of GS500 does wonders. The more adva | 4 | 768 days ago | A Great First Camcorder
Francesco has done a great take on maximizing use of the DCR-HC96 and on its good features. I am a first-time camcorder buyer and want to provide a non-geeky take on this purchase. (I'm a geek in other parts of my life, but I'm missing the camera gene--I just don't care: I want the pictures. Please.)
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<br />First: I nearly had a stomachache over this purchase (DVD or DV? Sony or Panasonic? Etc.), but now that I've had the camcorder for a couple of weeks, I love it. It feels nice, it's fine for small hands, and the buttons are all different enough so they're hard to confuse. The menu on the LCD is very easy to toggle through, and the lightest of touches will work. The manual was clear, though I understood what to do almost without reading it.
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<br />Even more to the point, in Easy mode, this camcorder does great, at least for my needs. Yes, you can get more out of the camera if you venture into the menu. But I took some short clips around the house, at night and during the day, and then Ifilmed a church service, with great results--all on Easy mode. The colors were pop-out bright and clear, the pictures had lots of definition, and there were no odd tones. Yes, it's true: this camera performs well in low light, and by "low light" camcorder manufacturers mean anywhere indoors under normal indoor lighting conditions. It even performs ok when the conditions are worse than that, and I have the "cute cat moment" tapes to prove it.
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<br />You may wonder why I didn't go for the DVD camcorder. First, I wanted more editorial control over the files than the current generation of DVD camcorders allows. I've been very satisfied with editing files with the OEM version of Nero that came with my Memorex DVD burner (again, very easy to use). Second, I bought this camcorder primarily for indoor taping of church services. DV lasts an hour or so; DVD, 20 minutes, plus you have to finalize the DVD in the camera before changing it out. There's nothing difficult about p | 5 | 768 days ago | Great first MiniDV
Bought this camcorder so the kids could compete in a movie making competition. Easy to use and produces a fine product. | 5 | 768 days ago | Pricey But Impressive Performance
I've used this camcorder for about three months now. Most of the shooting has been indoors - parties, babyshowers etc. The camcorder output when played on a TV screen is very sharp and shows lot of detail.
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<br />I am impressed with the low light performance. Color is good, with pleasing skin tones. The sound quality captured by the onboard mic is not great, but adequate.
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<br />I have uploaded a picure showing the camcorder on my palm. I was surprised that it is so small (and light).
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<br />Choosing this camcorder involved two compromises for me -
<br />1. 1-CCD over 3-CCD
<br />I wanted a 3-CCD camera for more vivid colors, but a 3-CCD will have worse low-light performance. Since most of my shooting was going to be indoors, I decided to go the 1-CCD route. This camera has superb low light performance and I am happy with the colors as well.
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<br />2. MiniDV over DVD
<br />Most of the newer camcorders write directly to DVDs. Some even write to built in hard disks. However, the technology is fairly new and involves early adopter problems. The hard disk camcorder is susceptible to shaking / movement, and it will likely be the first component to fail. The problem with DVD recording is that the format uses lossy compression (meaning your raw camera output is compressed using an algorithm to DVD format).
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<br />The MiniDV format, though old fashioned, is raw digital 1s and 0s - original uncompressed video data. So you can use the MiniDV takes as your high quality backup source to transfer the video to your computer. Then you can edit the video on your computer and transfer it to DVD.
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<br />Of course, this assumes that you have the time and the patience to do video editing, but leave the door open on that possibility.
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<br />Being a minimalist, I am against buying all kinds of bells and whistle accessories. However, it would be a good idea to get these two -
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<br />1. LCD screen protector. You will be using the LCD touch s | 5 | 768 days ago |
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