Panasonic SDR-H60

Summary: This is a very very nice camcorder, and everything I use on it is optical. I also liked that the low quality video was still very nice. Something I didn't like was when I imported the video into something like windows movie maker, there were lines on the top of the video that looked like a crumpled film in a bad projector, this is fixed with a proper video converter, but still. The battery life sucked very bad at first, but, as I got into using it more and more, the battery seemed to be lasting longer, and owning the camera for two years, that makes it sound much better. I also liked that the camera takes pictures, but the pictures are only VGA quality, pretty good for a SD (standard deffinition) camcorder, not very good for a $500 camcorder. I did NOT see any result of digital compression, it actually looked better than any footage I got off my friend's miniDV camcorder. I definitely recommend this camcorder for anyone who wants to upgrade to digital video, this camcorder will not disappoint you. It is good for capturing those precious memories that you want to share.

Summary: I purchased this camcorder as a Christmas gift for my wife and myself. I used it for a month recording the fun of our 18 mo. old. When it came time to unload the video and start creating DVDs I learned that the camera records in some proprietary format, which only seems to work with the software packaged with the camcorder. The software included is clunky and unfriendly to use. It basically only functions as a way to dump your video onto your PC and do some very basic editing. I had hoped to be able to use one of the free editing software like Windows Movie Maker or Wax. Needless to say, those programs could not import the video. In the end, I returned the camcorder to Costco and plan to purchase a different make/model.