I have 2 other MPEG4 camcorders but the SVAV100 beats them in MPEG4 recording. In MPEG2 recording, nothing comes close. This unit is really amazing. I could not believe the quality of the video! I bought this camera after reading all the posts in JackBrown's forum which, incidentally has been down for over a week now -- I started a website forum of my own at http://forums.merinotv.com to help those who may be thinking of purchasing this item. Please feel free to post anything like comments, help, etc. I did not find any difficulty other people have claimed regarding not being able to play the MPEG2 video. In fact I tested it in my 2 PC's, 2 laptops and PC tablet, never did I have to rename the .mod file to .mpg. MS Video Player, Elecard and QuickTime as well as other players were able to play the video. For editing, I only use Sony's Vegas and did not have any problems editing. So all you people who have been holding purchasing this product, you can now get the SVAV100 at very good discounts. I got mine for $499.00 plus tax with free shipping.

I am just adding this to my review. I just purchased a Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD and I am able to get 45 minutes of recording in MPEG2. That is enough recording time for most. I heard 4GB SD's will be coming out too but will be in the $400-$500 range. You can find 2GB SD's priced between $179-$199.

I've had this for about a year now. Battery life last about an hour and generic replacement batteries from Ebay work fine. WARNING! USE ONLY PANASONIC MEMORY SD CARDS IF YOU WANT THE MPEG2 (DVD) QUALITY RECORDING!. The manual says a card of at least 10megs/sec recording time is needed for Mpeg2 recording. BS! I bought Sandisk Extreme3 SD cards (20megs/sec recording speed) and IT DOES NOT WORK! Panasonic 1gig sd card are about $179 at B&H Photo and at J&R Electronics. Panasonic came out with the 20megs/sec recording speed sd cards so the standard 1gig should drop in the future. I take this snowboarding and YES it withstands all day worth of tumbles thanks to no moving internal parts. I lost the battery cover at Mammoth Mtn and bought a replacement from Panasonic's 800 number for $7+$5ship+tax. I download the sd card from a card reader to my comp hard disk and record it straight to a dvd via Roxio DVD creator. No widescreen recording but the quality is almost dvd like on Mpeg 2 mode (704 x 480 lines of resolution on Fine Mode and 352 x 480 on Norm mode) assuming it has enough lighting. Records 10 mins on Fine mode and 20 mins on Norm mode with the included 512meg card and double those times with the 1gig card. AGAIN ONLY PANASONIC SD CARDS WILL WORK FOR THE MPEG2 RECORDING. Any sd card will work for the Mpeg4 recording mode and the picture mode which are pretty much useless due to the lack of quality. Yes you need several Panasonic SD cards if you want to record alot. Word is that Panasonic AKA Matush. will come out with the 4gig and 16 gig sd cards for their larger video camera with the widescreen recording. Imagine the price of these cards!

Pros: size, no moving internal parts, dvd quality recording, stereo sound recording, wind cut sound recording.

Cons:EXPENSIVE PANASONIC ONLY SD CARDS NEEDED, 20 min max MPEG2 recording with 1gig card, Battery life only 1hr.

I was reading some of the other reviews in which they were concerned with the apparent imcompatibility of the Panasonic MPEG2 format. It's trivial to change the extension from .MOD to .MPG. I had no problem playing this files in Windows Media Player, Roxio DVD Max, etc. As for editing, I had no problem reading in these files and making movies using Pinnacle Studio 8.

The camera is SMALL and very easy to use. Although I later read the instructions, I was able to perform all the basic functions beforehand.

I anticipate that this camera will serve me well.

(...) I purchased my Panasonic SVAV100 D-Snap tapeless video recorder three days ago from a retail store - within the first six hours (six hours in a car without Internet access) I was ready to return it. I could not get the MPEG2 video to play outside the camera. The supplied software, as it has been aptly described by others in the above reviews, is one of the worst applications I have seen in recent years - as one reviewer put it "what were they thinking?" I was ready to return the camera - really - I was making plans to go back to the store - then finally got to the Internet and I read the oh-so-simple comments on the this review board about renaming the .MOD to .MPG and I completely changed my mind about the camera - the results are spectacular!

"What an engineering marvel" we all said upon seeing the results on the PC. With the camera producing native MPEG2 files it was doing what I expected it should do - files that can be edited with any desktop video editor. I still can not believe the - no other word for it - `blunder' on the part of Panasonic's marketing and software groups. This is the only tapeless video recorder under $800 (I paid $600 with a mfg. rebate coupon) that produces native DVD quality MPEG2 files - period. Why don't they just say that? Why don't they suggest renaming the .MOD to .MPG and call it a short cut for advanced users? It's just weird.... My impressions point-by-point:

First Light Setup - 10/10 - (out of the box and shooting video as fast as I could unwrap the plastic - very easy - PC software on the other hand ... read-on below...)

Ergonomics - 9/10 (minor same points made by others - no tripod screw, buttons - though not needed for most functions while capturing images - require a bit getting used to located under and behind the flip screen)

Camera menus usability - 10/10 (what you need for each mode - where you need it)

Convenience (read: size) - 10/10 (you will always take it with you - you will find yourself taking video and capturing moments like never before)

Image quality - 9/10 (Carl Zeis was a genius - no CZ lens here; white balance quite sensitive, but good - though there is a manual mode and this videographer needs to master it for low light, contrast-y, indoor shooting)

Image stability - 10/10 (as good as my image stabilized binoculars - even with the optical zoom extended)

Accessories - 9/10 (comes with all you'll need - but why is the charging system - brick and tray assembly - larger than the camera itself? Charging batteries separately in a small form-factor unit is a must - out-of-the-box, Panasonic requires batteries to be charged in the camera - apparently there is a third-party external charger available separately. I'll be buying one soon!)

Recording Capacity - 10/10 (this may surprise you - I use the NORM MPEG2 - that's 22 minutes - good but not quite DVD quality - on the supplied 512M chip and over 40 minutes on a 1G chip - how much video do you need to shoot anyway? For family and activities - I've not had a problem - plus I can dump the chip to hard drive in a few minutes. At $60/Gig - buy a couple chips. The 2G chips are soon to be sold and 4G chips are on their way - that will be three hours of video on one chip!)

PC Software - 0.0001/10 - (total utter failure on Panasonic's part. Fortunately it is not required at all - as I came to find out. Simply take the chip out, plug it into your SD chip reader - desktop or laptop unit - copy and rename the files - there is even a freeware utility available on the Internet)

Did I mention convenience `-) 10/10 !

When I first looked into this product I was in a quandary - I worried about cutting edge: "high wow factor - low performance" - "sounds too good to be true" - I took a chance anyway - I am happy I did. For more info - excellent source: Do a Web search on "SVAV100" and "Jack Brown" - you'll find an excellent "SVAV100 Forum" - Panasonic should give this group part of their marketing budget - they are far more competent.

After lusting about the SV-AV100 for about 6 months, I just couldn't see forking out the $999 price tag and high priced 1 Gig SD media. But recently prices have been slowly dropping. I ran across my SV-AV100 on sale a Curcuit City for $599 and 1Gig SD media at FRY's for $49. At first, I had problems with the camera not letting me use the Sandisk 1 gig SD. After doing a few searches in varios user groups, [...](Thanks a million to everyone involved with this website and firmware upgrade instructions!) so you don't have to be stuck buying Panasonic brand media cards as someone previously stated. I get 22 min of mpeg 2 (DVD quality) recording for every 1 gig SD card (which is perfect, because who wants to watch long boring movies anyways?, I have my big bulky Mini DV camcorder for that) I compile all the 20 min clips onto a disk using my standalone DVD recorder, so no software problems here. All the positive comments are on par with all the other reviews. Once you go to this convenient size camcorder you'll never want to use them 1 pound and over dinosaurs again!

I just purchased my SVAV100 and am looking forward to using it. Obviously it would be nice to have greater storage than the 512 MB card that is included. Previous reviews are contradictory. One person says the SanDisk Ultra II (with 10 mb speed) works fine for MPEG 2 recording while another says the SanDisk Extreme III (with 20 mb speed) does not work. Before I spend the money for a 2 GB SanDisk card, it would be nice to know if it really will work for MPEG 2 recording on the SVAV100. Can anyone confirm? Thanks.

I've recently bought this camera and have to say I love it. This is by far the smallest camera that is a real video camera. No other camera comes close.
The pros of this camera versus others are:
- smallest size / coolness factor (smaller than my still picture digital camera)
- can transfer to computer and burn to DVD faster than you would be able to do with tape based camera
- SD is more durable than tape, and after you burn to DVD, DVD is definitely more durable than tape (I've learned this the hard way with my honeymoon video tapes being damaged)
- saves to SD cards (they are pretty inexpensive now). To use non-panasonic SD cards you need to upgrade the firmware. See far below for the link on how to do so.
- fits in my wife's purse
- we video tape alot more, because we actually carry this camera around

Cons
- Video quality is same as a mid range video camera
- Doesn't handle dark environments well (this is the same as most cameras)
[....]

The camera would be as advertised if it was not for the MPEG2 file fomat and they use and lack of software control over your files. Sure you can copy and rename the files off the SD card, but don't save them to your computer first using the supplied software, it uses some compression method to create one huge file from all your little ones. And they will be little, 10 minutes record time in high quality for $900.00 + cost of 512 MB SD card, please.

Lastly you cannot edit the panasonic MPEG2 formats like others using Adobe or Ulead, you can burn them straight to DVD but splitting tracks, adding effects, and doing the things that make a video look slick don't work well if at all. Many players don't have the codec available to play back the files either!

Check the net for more info, plenty of angry folks on the camcorder forums discussing the workarounds for panasonics mistakes and misleading product info.

The comment from reviewer "Xdeth" about using Ulead editing software is completely wrong. I've been using Ulead VideoStudio 8 to edit SV100 videos for over a year. Yes, as many others have stated, the ".mod" files need to be renamed to ".mpg" to use Ulead and much other software.

As for the camera itself, what other memory card based MPEG-2 (DVD quality) camcorder can you toss in your pocket like a wallet? I take it everywhere. I have also dropped it a few times and have a few dents to prove it. I am very pleased with it's ability to withstand physical abuse.

While it only records 12 minutes in MPEG-2 on 512MB card, it's not much of an issue. I keep an extra card in my wallet. I also have a 40 GiG portable rechargeable X-drive Pro hard drive with built in media card ports. I can off-load files with the press of a single button without a PC.

Furthermore, how often does anyone ever take more than 12 minutes (MPEG-2) of continuous video? For those who do need the extra recording time, do as I did. Buy an extra SD card or an X-drive Pro.

I bought this camcorder specifically for the MPEG-2 file quality. I only shoot the higher compressed MPEG-4 video when I know I'm going to email the clip.

Another plus is it's 10X optical zoom.

The only downside is the inability to shoot in low light and only 640 by 480 still photos. Since there is no other tapeless MPEG-2 pocket camcorder out there, the AV100 stands alone in it's catagory.

My recomendation: Do buy this AV100.

I own this this camera since February 2004. It is very well built, light and handy, fits in any pocket.

Video quality with light is very good. In low light conditions is very bad or no video at all.

It is complicated to manage the files. Panasonic uses a trick to edit the video files. Files extenssion is .MOD, it is not .MPG. The change of extenssion was done to allow the edition of the recorded files with included Panasonic software and you will not find another compatibility for edition.

If you backup the files in CD's or DVD's you will need to replace the extension of the files to play it in your DVD Player except for Panasonic DVD players.
Example: File name MOV01.MOD must be changed to MOV01.MPG.

You may want to use VLC software in your computer instead of Panasonic software included.

From my point of view this product is not completely developed yet.

The fact that this records files with an .mod suffix is irrelevant. When you rename them as .mpg files they are fine. Actually, Premiere Elements 2.0 doesn't even require you to rename them, it deals with .mod files just fine.
The video is very good, with just a bit of jagged lines when there's fast motion.
The point is, this camera is meant to be an easy thing to put in your pocket so you are always ready to grab some video and it does this superbly.
It's not quite as good video as a higher end DV camera, but it's not meant for that. It's a great addition to your camera collection.

I found no flaws with the d-spap av100, except for the fact that whenever I plug it into the TV, there is no audio. Maybe it is just me, but if anyone knows what my problem is please let me know.

rskurban@comcast.net