Customer Reviews
simple, solid, sweet 
2008-04-22
Yesterday I took this to the gym and used it with no special lighting, got videos of my trainer doing various exercises, then had him get videos of me doing them. No learning curve how to use the camera -- he played with it and got some nice results, and instantly I saw ways to improve my form. I want him to buy an SD card and borrow my camera to see if it's helpful with other clients. Hiking with my dog I get shots of him digging and chasing rabbits on the golf course. Take it anywhere in your pocket, no worries about dropping it. It's easier to use than my "real" camera. I've saved clips to my MacBook and done a little editing with iPhoto, nothing elaborate. Every Panasonic product I have is durable and performs well. Reviewers obviously have different expectations. I just like having this handy little gadget and use it all the time, $200 well spent..
Worst purchase ever 
2008-04-12
This Panasonic camera does not shoot in MPEG2 despite what you have read. This camera shoots files that have the extention .mod You will NEVER find a program that can read, or edit these files. Your only option is to use the Panasonic software to view these files. Nice...until you lose the software or sell the camera. You can't just download the software from the Panasonic site to view the files. You'll have to buy another camcorder just to get the software again.
The incompatibility of the video format that this camera uses makes this the worst purchase ever...
Much better than the last comparable cameral I reviewed. 
2008-04-05
I tried another camera from Best Buy. I really like the stability control on this camera over the other one. This camera's zoom control feature is also much easier to use than the other one. Since I've never had a video camera before (although have used a bigger one) I wanted something compact to carry in my purse as I've just moved to Scotland and this fits the bill. There's still a lot more I need to learn about the camera so I can't really comment in its entirety at this point. The video picture also seems to have better resolution that the other camera. So far I'm very happy with the camera. I just have not had time to fully evaluate the camera and that's why I gave it a four instead of a five at this time.
Very Poor 2008-01-21
This camcorder went back to Amazon because it has very poor performance. I bought it for indoor use and even with all the lights on the videos were still dark and fuzzy. I expected better resolution since this uses MPEG2 which is supposedly less compressed than MPEG4 file types. I have now bought 2 cheap digital camcorders, this one and a Samsung SC-MX10 (which records in MPEG4). They both performed about the same - very poorly. I guess you have to spend a decent amount of money to get any kind of quality in these things. One other note, my little Canon SD600 digital camera takes better videos in camcorder mode that either of the camcorders I've bought though the files sizes are bigger.
Very Poor Video Quality 2007-10-27
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RJY9F6LVLHSI This is a review of a few different options I've tried for recording video. Part way through I talk about how poor the Panasonic SDR-S10 video quality is and about how the file format Panasonic used is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker or Sony Vegas Studio 6.
good at what it does 2008-06-19
This camera is good at what it does. It is not a $400.00 camcorder that takes flawless movies. It is a great little camcorder that is small enough that you will take it with you and actually use it. I have had other camcorders and they got left home a lot. This one goes with me everywhere. The sound on this one is very good. I use it at music events and am very happy with it. The 10x optical zoom is more than enough for most uses. The one drawback is the software that comes with it. I don't really like it. Just change the file from a .mod to a .mpg and you can use movie maker. Or you can learn the software that comes with it. If you don,t know how to change a file from mod to mpg ask your kid, that's what I did.
Excellent video and very easy to use 2008-06-04
I bought this camera last week and have been using it indoors and outdoors with my family. I've found it to be very easy to use and the video quality is great. You have the option of low quality video (more recording time, up to 3 1/2 hours on a 4 gig card), Normal quality (about 1 hr and 1/2 on a 4 gig card), and High Definition (about 40 minutes on a 4 gig card). The high definition works great. I've been using it for my sons' lacrosse and baseball games, and the picture is very sharp and the camera is so easy to use. The audio isn't high definition, but suitable.
The .mod format shouldn't hinder ANYBODY with this product. If you copy the .mod files to your computer and rename them .mpg files, they will play. There's absolutely no conversion needed, just rename the files.
Nice Little Camcorder 2008-05-23
CAMCORDER
What I like best is the user interface. It's menu is so simple my first wife and I both can use it. If you want a easy-to-use camcorder this is one. It powers up quick. It's very portable.
CAMERA
It takes good still photos if you want capture the moment. Of course, you probably already have a good still camera with a higher pixel rating than this camera.
OVERALL
It would be better if used standard AA batteries instead of the square battery. The SD cards give unlimited capacity. Transferring the movies and pictures to my PC is quick and easy.
Decent Little Video Camera 2008-05-21
I have a great little mini-DV camera. However, I get so tired of having to play the video to get it into my Mac. After hearing Andy Ihnatko rave about this camera on MacBreak Weekly, I decided to give it a try.
It does create .mod files which are a special form of mpeg-2. However, iMovie '08 has no problem sucking them onto the Mac. It does what I wanted -- almost no wait time to get the movie onto the Mac. And instead of importing everything I have shot, I can just import whatever cuts that I want. This is a great advantage.
There have been some other reviews rapping the video quality. You have to compare it to other cameras in its class such as the popular iFlip. I think that this camera is about the highest in it's class, and it is certainly convenient to use. I do think that my Canon mini-DV may be higher quality. But then it is a much bigger camera and I have that horrible wait that causes me to not edit a lot of my video. I like this camera, and I carry it in my laptop bag. It is the camera that I have with me most of the time.
Now for what I don't like: mainly battery time. It charges in only 40 minutes: good. It has let me down on several times because the battery ran out. Get a 2nd battery. Convenience is the main reason for getting this camera, and having to carry a 2nd battery and charge it is inconvenient.
One other smaller problem: it uses a high speed SD card. These SD cards are necessary for video, but they are more expensive, and not every card reader can read them. Some of the gripes in the other reviews about the format being unreadable just might have to do with having an incompatible card reader. I have never touched the Panasonic software; I've used iMovie '08 with it exclusively.
NOT FOR MAC USERS!! 
2008-04-28
This camera while the quality is good is not campatible with Macs. The file format is actually .MOD which quicktime cannot read. You can force it by changing the extention to mpg or mp2 and buy a $20 MPEG2 plugin for quicktime but I find it's more trouble than it's worth. Even after succesfully converting the files they are still testy when it comes to editing in I-Movie. If you have a Mac I would suggest finding something Else
