I bought this camera, hooked up the firewire and loaded movies into MovieMaker on WindowsXP a couple of times. Then, I tried to use it and it did nothing. I tried other cables, other firewire devices, and determined the problem was in the camera, so I returned it. Amazon was great about the return and sent me a new one - and the same thing happened. The firewire worked a few times and then did nothing. I even tried it hooked up to another computer this time with no results.

I found a piece of paper tucked in the instructions saying that you must turn off your PC and camera, connect in a certain order and then turn them on or else the camera may be damaged. Are they serious? They expect me to shut down my PC and restart everytime I want to load video from this camera? I sure wouldn't recommend this camera.

This Cam does not come with the software needed to transfer
to your PC. Panasonic is not responsive when support tickets
have been placed. I found some instructions on the internet
how to force the video to the computer, after 3 utilities and
hours passed, tons of editing I had a poor quality picture -
Not worth the time or hassle! Buyer Beware!

IT DOES NOT INCLUDE THE PC CONNECTION CABLE AND DRIVER SOFTWARE AS TARGET IS ADVERTISING IN THE DESCRIPTION. WHEN YOU GET THE CAMERA YOU ARE STUCK WITHOUT A WAY TO CONNECT IT TO YOUR COMPUTER, AND YOU HAVE TO BUY YOUR OWN CARTRIDGE BEFORE YOU CAN USE THIS. IT NEEDS SOFTWARE THAT IS NOT INCLUDED. I HAVE TRIED FOR TWO DAYS TO CONTACT PANASONIC AND ORDER OR FIND THE SOFTWARE NEEDED, HELD FOR OVER AN HOUR TWICE AND SENT TWO EMAILS TO THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT STILL HAVE NOT BEEN ANSWERED. SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE I HAVE GONE THROUGH - FIND ANOTHER CAMERA.

this is great. dumb people who give it one star just because it doesn't included the internet accessories , anyway you can take pictures with this camera , you can either record in tape , or then pass it to a DVD , you can use it as a web cam too, and it's so small it can fit everywhere!buy it it's so cool!!oh and if you want to record on dvd and want to buy those dvd camcorders don't , they have little time about 25mins to record and you can't use the dvd discs twice + they're really expensive
buy this one and you get three in one!

I have a couple high-end 3-CCD Panasonic camcorders. I was afraid of racking up hours and hours fast forwarding, rewinding, and playing back tape on these expensive models. At this incredibly low price, this is a great deal for pro's looking for an inexpensive DV "deck" to offload DV footage into their computer. (Considering that stand-alone DV VTRs cost more than $700!) I use it to feed my 3-CCD DV footage shot with my other cameras into Final Cut Pro over Firewire and it works like a dream! It's also great if you want to feed footage into a Firewire ready DVD recorder.

I just reviewed so many cameras and thought this was the one!
After my second one (did a exchange) I have to find a new camera. In low light and even average light situations there is these ghost like artifacts that follow the image! Very noisey and bad! If you move the camera up and down or left & right you can see this "double" image lagging and following! It almost looks like an "effect"! You only see it on a TV screen, not the EVF screen. My Sony hi8 looks 100x better! Out door light is pretty good though. I also own a Canon XL1 3 chip so I have higher standards I guess but I thought this was a lens defect (it can be seen "live") but after an exchange I can see that they're all the same and other people just don't notice or care.
I wanted a good quality small camera for home use but I may just have to lug around my XL1!

For under $300 you shouldn't expect a high quality all-around video camera. You will get exactly what you are paying for.

It records great outdoor video. Indoor video is OK, but not the greatest. Good enough for documenting our family events and travels. Audio is good also.

Easy to use, light to carry around, and robust enough for clumsy handling. I have owned it over a year now and have no complaints.

No video camera brings connection cables or software, so buy the cable if you expect to edit movies on your PC (buy an extra battery also)... regarding Software I had no problems hooking it on to my Mac and downloading and editing movies in no time.

A very good buy!

For the price this Camera Rocks !! I've had it for close to 2 years and for the price it's awesome.. I've used it to video tape Basketball and Football games .. Just an outstanding value.. The battery last at least over an hour .. Picture quality is great .. Check out some of my video at www.pleasantgrovesports.com .. Go to either Basketball or Football links .. click J.V. and then one of the kids last name for a short video clip..

I shot all of the football video from the stands .. outstanding zoom !!

If you can still find this video camera ... buy it .. especially if it's around $ 200 dollars ..

I use pinnacle 9 and adobe for video editing ..

My camera came with the standard A.V. cables .. and i expected to have to buy, or have , the other cables needed to connect to my computer ..

Thanks Panasonic !!

I've had this camera for 2 years now and for the price it has done alright. Recently though, just as someone had mentioned in an earlier review, it stopped connecting to my PC via the firewire. I plugged in a friends JVC and it worked fine, so I know it's not the computer or the cable. Its past warranty obviously... I don't think I'll pay to have it fixed. I just wish this would have lasted longer. Time for a better one - this time made in America !

Well, I just read other reviews and I was surprised! First of all, I had a USB cable that fit the camera and plugged into my computer, so I didn't have that issue. I'm sure I would've been frustrated as well if I had to go purchase one. Personally, I was able to edit and create movies on my computer with no problem, using the free software that came with my computer (Sony VAIO, 3 years old). So I guess maybe I was lucky, but I have had a very good experience with this camera. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the picture quality on my movies isn't the greatest. This camera is a little outdated though, so I can't complain. Plus, for the price, it has been outstanding.

Yo uso esta camara para montarla en motocicletas deportivas expuesta a mucha vibracion, somplemente nunca ha fallado, segue trabajando como nueva a pesar de ya tener mas de 20 horas grabadas bajo estas duras condiciones.

beware of the low price, panasonic has managed to make the price so low ($350) because they don't give you any software for the computer (to transfer or to edit), and no cables for the computer. I can't believe they would neglet to put them in the box. Your better of with PVGS 15 as it comes with the software and a USB cable, the price is $500, but the software, cable, and still picture on sd make up the $150 price difference.