Panasonic PV-DV402 Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Picture quality, price, features, large 3.5" LCD, USB, MMC, remote finally included
Cons: 10x optical zoom

The Panasonic PV-DV402 is a MiniDV digital camcorder. At less than $750 it features a large 3.5” LCD, PhotoShot still camera mode with up to 1280x960 resolution, MPEG streaming, SD memory card. It also features USB interface and a microphone that...

Pros: Feature packed. Nice zoom capabilities. Web-camera ready. Affordable.
Cons: Use of the on-board light drains battery rather quickly.

If you've read some of my earlier reviews, you know that I'm a pretty big fan of Panasonic digital camcorders. Their initial PV-DV line were quality built, packed with features, intuitively designed, and offered all of this, and more, at a reasonable...

Pros: Lightweight, 3.5" lcd, audio/video in and out, infrared, zoom mic
Cons: lots to learn

This is a Mini DV digital camcorder that provides the best of all possibilities when looking for a new camcorder it has a 1 CCD system but with 680K pixels provides you with a very crisp clear sharp picture and an 10x Optical Zoom that really works well...

Pros: Size, ease of use, built-in light, 3.5" screen.
Cons: Battery life but I think that is common.

This unit is the first camcorder that I have ever purchased so not much to compare against, but as a rookie, this palmcorder is easy to use and seems to be of the highest quality. Lots of features for the money. The advanced features will take some...

The camcorder is simply great. One has to go through the manual (which is not very clear sometimes, one has to experiment) thoroughly before using it. I am able to copy the tape into a pc without any problem. But it took very long time via usb. Using the software, I am able to copy only 20sec worth of the video into the pc. I am not sure whether I can copy the full video into the pc.Yes, the supplied battery has the short life. Better purchase 1600mAH one for 2.5hr recording.

not able to download tape onto your computer without having to buy extras or even a seperate dvd recorder. panasonics customer service has been nothing but rude, and has treated me like i'm dumb when i ask them questions about the unit. the piture quality is great, as long as you don't try to zoom past the optical zoom. the night vision is pretty cool too, although i don't know when i would ever use it. the remote is simple to use and very straight forward. the view screen is a good size, but it seems to wash out in bright light easier, and at the wrong angle to how you are looking at it. all in all its a pretty good camera. if i had it to do over again though, i would buy a dvd camera for a few hundered bucks more, and i wouldn't have had to buy all the extras. 1 tape for this camera costs anywhere from 6-10 dollars. and only lasts an hour. You also need to buy an extra battery if you want to record longer than 20 min's at a time.

not able to download tape onto your computer without having to buy extras or even a seperate dvd recorder. panasonics customer service has been nothing but rude, and has treated me like i'm dumb when i ask them questions about the unit. the piture quality is great, as long as you don't try to zoom past the optical zoom. the night vision is pretty cool too, although i don't know when i would ever use it. the remote is simple to use and very straight forward. the view screen is a good size, but it seems to wash out in bright light easier, and at the wrong angle to how you are looking at it. all in all its a pretty good camera. if i had it to do over again though, i would buy a dvd camera for a few hundered bucks more, and i wouldn't have had to buy all the extras. 1 tape for this camera costs anywhere from 6-10 dollars. and only lasts an hour. You also need to buy an extra battery if you want to record longer than 20 min's at a time.