PD code 805D
09-12-2007, 02:39 AM
The Panasonic PV-DV102 is Panasonic's second to lowest MiniDV camcorder. The PV-DV102's major upgrade over the lower PV-DV52 is much improved still support. The camcorder provides excellent still performance and features for it's price range. The PV-DV102 has an MSRP of $699.95 and a street price around $550.
The Panasonic PV-DV102 has a 10x Optical, 700x Digital zoom. The PV-DV102 has a 1/4 in. 680,000 Pixel CCD and a 2.5 in. LCD Screen. That small CCD produces pretty poor low light performance. The video quality is pretty good though - considering the low price of the camcorder.
I think the PV-DV102 is a great entry camcorder, and at the time of this review it was selected as the under $600 camcorder on the Camcorderinfo.com Select list. A large reason for this selection is the still performance of this camcorder. No camcorder in this price range comes close to offering you the still features of the PV-DV102. The PV-DV102 takes high resolution stills at 1280 x 960 pixels. The stills are saved on SD card through the SD slot on the camcorder. The PV-DV102 includes a Mini USB port for transferring the stills from the camcorder to the computer. Panasonic made a mistake by not including an SD card with the camcorder, although you can get them pretty cheap. The stills are pretty good quality, but the 1280 x 960 resolution is achieved with software, the 680K CCD can't really take stills at that resolution. However, the still performance is still better than any other camcorder in this price range.
The camcorder is pretty easy to handle, it's a standard horizontal layout but it's pretty small. Some of the buttons are hard to access though. To access the manual picture features you have to use the menu, which is a pain but this is pretty much standard for most consumer MiniDV camcorders (URGHH!!!!). Something I really like about the PV-DV102 is the many manual features that the camcorder provides. You have manual control over shutter speed, white balance, exposure and gain. It's rare to find manual control over these features on such a low priced camcorder, and the manual gain control is even more astounding. You control them by using a jog dial which is a little small, but at least you get control.
The camcorder has an IEEE 1394 Firewire in/out port to transfer your video from your camcorder to your computer digitally. The camcorder also has a composite in/out port but it lacks an S-Video port for higher quality analog transfers. The PV-DV102 also has a headphone jack. One of the weaknesses of the PV-DV102 however is the lack of a microphone in jack.
The Panasonic PV-DV102 also has digital electronic image stabilization that can also be enabled during playback, so you get double the stabilization. The PV-DV102 also has a built in light, but it's pretty weak. You can also save 30 second MPEG-4 clips to the SD cards, but the quality is pretty bad. Another neat feature on the PV-DV102 is an audio dubbing mode (only with SP video) which allows you to re-record the audio over pre-recorded video. You can also use the PV-DV102 as webcam using the USB port. Working with Microsoft NetMeeting or similar web cam software, the PV-DV102 can be hooked up to a computer to use it as web cam or a videophone. I really like the Panasonic PV-DV102. Although the high resolution stills are achieved through software interpolation, the SD slot and other still features beat any other camcorder in this price range on still performance. In addition to the good still performance, the camcorder has a lot of manual control and good video quality. The PV-DV102 has a lot of features that you can't find on other similarly price camcorders. It's a great into camcorder for the person on a budget.
The Panasonic PV-DV102 has a 10x Optical, 700x Digital zoom. The PV-DV102 has a 1/4 in. 680,000 Pixel CCD and a 2.5 in. LCD Screen. That small CCD produces pretty poor low light performance. The video quality is pretty good though - considering the low price of the camcorder.
I think the PV-DV102 is a great entry camcorder, and at the time of this review it was selected as the under $600 camcorder on the Camcorderinfo.com Select list. A large reason for this selection is the still performance of this camcorder. No camcorder in this price range comes close to offering you the still features of the PV-DV102. The PV-DV102 takes high resolution stills at 1280 x 960 pixels. The stills are saved on SD card through the SD slot on the camcorder. The PV-DV102 includes a Mini USB port for transferring the stills from the camcorder to the computer. Panasonic made a mistake by not including an SD card with the camcorder, although you can get them pretty cheap. The stills are pretty good quality, but the 1280 x 960 resolution is achieved with software, the 680K CCD can't really take stills at that resolution. However, the still performance is still better than any other camcorder in this price range.
The camcorder is pretty easy to handle, it's a standard horizontal layout but it's pretty small. Some of the buttons are hard to access though. To access the manual picture features you have to use the menu, which is a pain but this is pretty much standard for most consumer MiniDV camcorders (URGHH!!!!). Something I really like about the PV-DV102 is the many manual features that the camcorder provides. You have manual control over shutter speed, white balance, exposure and gain. It's rare to find manual control over these features on such a low priced camcorder, and the manual gain control is even more astounding. You control them by using a jog dial which is a little small, but at least you get control.
The camcorder has an IEEE 1394 Firewire in/out port to transfer your video from your camcorder to your computer digitally. The camcorder also has a composite in/out port but it lacks an S-Video port for higher quality analog transfers. The PV-DV102 also has a headphone jack. One of the weaknesses of the PV-DV102 however is the lack of a microphone in jack.
The Panasonic PV-DV102 also has digital electronic image stabilization that can also be enabled during playback, so you get double the stabilization. The PV-DV102 also has a built in light, but it's pretty weak. You can also save 30 second MPEG-4 clips to the SD cards, but the quality is pretty bad. Another neat feature on the PV-DV102 is an audio dubbing mode (only with SP video) which allows you to re-record the audio over pre-recorded video. You can also use the PV-DV102 as webcam using the USB port. Working with Microsoft NetMeeting or similar web cam software, the PV-DV102 can be hooked up to a computer to use it as web cam or a videophone. I really like the Panasonic PV-DV102. Although the high resolution stills are achieved through software interpolation, the SD slot and other still features beat any other camcorder in this price range on still performance. In addition to the good still performance, the camcorder has a lot of manual control and good video quality. The PV-DV102 has a lot of features that you can't find on other similarly price camcorders. It's a great into camcorder for the person on a budget.