Nifty styling, but Nonstandard CODEC makes this a poor choice
Written: Jul 26 '04
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Pros: Beautifully styled, small and light, MPEG-4
Cons: Nonstandard CODEC, low resolution, hard to use pointer
The Bottom Line: Skip this one and choose a higher resolution device with better ergonomics
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| memobug's Full Review: Panasonic SV-AV50 Flash Memory Digital Camcorder |
SLEEK and SMALL, Panasonic's SV-AV50 D-snap SD Video Camera's hot styling made me want to love it, but the performance left me cold. This device is one of a new category of video recorders that utilize solid state memory cards rather than MiniDVD tape or recordable compact disks to record video. I really believe that this is the future of lightweight compact video recorders, but this one is just a step on the evolutionary ladder that isn't worth your time and money.
THE GOOD NEWS, FIRST: The SV-AV50 is sleek and beautiful, light and very pocketable. A TFT LCD screen folds out and twists so you can even point it at yourself. A mini trackball is used with a fingertip to guide menu selections. The camera will also take low resolution (2MP) stills, and can be used to play MP3s or as a voice recorder. It ships with an internal Lithium Ion battery, AC charger, docking station and 8MP card.
The bad news is a bigger concern:
1. DEPRESSING AND POINTLESS - the trackball pointer is so fiddly and small that you're guaranteed to have difficulty using it as intended to make menu selections. Not only do you need to use it to point, but also depressing it to make a menu selection is, well depressing, because you're likely to move the pointer at the same time.
2. ELECTRONIC ORIGAMI. While it stores into a flat package thinner than you might dream possible, the lens tips out and rotates, exposing the lens and display. As impressive as the folding design is, it has some ergonomic problems: The screen folds easily to face your eye, but the lens is fixed on the axis of the recorder, forcing you into some awkward hand positions to use your thumb to activate the switches to record and stop. There were times I wished my thumb were about a knuckle shorter!
3. RESOLUTION
Video size is only 1/4 VGA (320 x 240). The lens does not offer any focus adjustment (auto or manual), and seems to have a fixed focus, making objects closer than about five feet or so`appear blurry. The 8Meg Secure digital card the device ships with isn't adequate more than a couple of minutes of recording, even at this resolution, so budget another $100 or so for a 256 or 512Meg card
4. CODEC PROBLEMS
This, in my opinion, was the worst of the problems I encountered. Despite the fact that I am running a relatively new PC (1 year old) with Windows Media Player 9, the codec (software that does the conversion and display of the MPEG-4 files) was not available for download.
After creating a movie, I tried to launch it from my desktop, I was greeted with the message "Windows Media Player Cannot Play the File because the required codec cannot be found. To determine how to obtain the codec identified as EM4A, contact the content provider."
This compatibility problem would make it very difficult to share your media files with friends, and probably impossible to use the device to create files that could be accessed by anyone from your website.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 350
Recommended for: Trendsetters - Hip and Stylish Gadgets
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Epinions.com ID:
memobug
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Member: Matt Chroust
Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 0 members
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