Customer Reviews

Panasonic VDR-D200 DVD Camcorder with 30x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This camcorder is only good for outdoor recording. In indoor recording or recording in little bit low light, picture quality is very bad. I tried to record in my living room where I have two 100 watt bulbs but recorded picture was very blurred. In outdoor recording in a sunny day, picture quality is quite good with sharp colors. Zoom works well.

I purchased this camcorder with the express intention of capturing every single football game that my sons' have played. This fulfilled that, what sold me on this particular model was the 30x optical zoom and the fact that it recorded directly to dvd and could be played back on a regular dvd player.

The only drawback to this system was the editing. The software is very limited, and if you use anything but a dvdram disc you cannot use this editing software, nor can you use any outside software to edit the movies to a greater degree as most software does not support the VRO format most dvd camcorders record in.

So in short if you are merely looking for a camcorder to record moments directly to dvd and have no aspirations of doing alot of editing, clipping and splicing different scenes together than this is a suitable camcorder, by far one of the best deals for a dvd camcorder as far as ability picture and price. But if you are looking for a device that lets you have more options for editing afterwards I suggest looking at the true digital camcorders available that have their own hard drives as those record in formats that are compatible with the editing software that is on the market right now.

Currently I am still doing my homework trying to decide which digital camera would be the best for me to use, but this was a viable camera to use for their games and came in handy on other occasions as well.

So far I am quite satisfied with the camera's performance. I have taken many still shots with satisfactory results. Video footage of sporting events with very good results. Also I found it pretty easy to transfer videos to my PC.

We have used this for a few years. It is a good quality camera and does well filming my daughter and other family. The editing software that comes with it is low end. The porcess needed to get it on the PC is time consuming and a pain. The video quality is lowered when put on the PC for editing. I ended up using an Adobe editor that is great but as stated above editing on a PC lowers the quailty in the transfer. Happy with the camera not happy with output options.

I purchased this at a garage sale, still in it's original box, for a great price. It had only been used a few times. It sat for a few months, during which time I got married, and moved to my new husband's house. I started using this camcorder in May when our circle-track racing season began. We race 2 trucks, and my husband likes to review the video's to see how driving patterns can be changed. We are able to watch the videos on TV with no problem, but, since the software did not come with the camera, we have to buy new discs quite often. I contacted Panasonic about the software, and they advise that "it is not available for 4-6 weeks." HUH?? You cannot buy this anywhere except Panasonic - you'd think they'd have copies of the software in stock. I have tried other editing programs to no avail, and am just totally fed up and disgusted with it. I think I'll go back to using our old bulky camcorder... at least I won't be spending a small fortune on the discs.

I'll be quick:

Everyone else covered everything else about it so...
Major drawback is that this palmcorder will not record motion video straight onto the SD Card at all; it only saves the still pictures (VDR-D200) taken by it onto the SD.

What a major bummer and Panasonic should be 'spanked' for this one while charging the consumers a FORTUNE for it!

I for one would prefer a USB palmcorder with SD backup option.

This is a trick-camera for magician actors! BOOOOH!! >:P

I was so excited to buy a camcorder that recorded straight to DVD AND took pictures.......Well, the picture quality is AWFUL! I have gotten maybe 20 nice pics out of over a 1000........The problem is its SO low in pixels. We hear about 5MP cameras and up, this camera has less than 1MP!!!! I bought this before I knew anything about megapixels........You have to have 5 or more for the prints to be decent. All of my prints from this camera are bad! And they are only good for email. That's it. The camcorder capabilities are fair. My problem is that it doesn't work well on the computer, and it does NOT play immediately in all dvd players. You HAVE to buy the very expensive RAM discs for editing....Overall, I definitely would NOT buy again and I would not reccommend to a friend. I wish I had spent all that money on something else.....

I like this camcorder because of 2 options that no other camcorder has.

1. Can take pictures

2.Has that light in the front that let you shoot in the night.

I will highly recommend this camera.

Added in 2010:
this review was done back in 06' so this camcorder was one of the few that could take pictures and had flash. This camera is still a good buy for anyone. mine still works perfectly.

I make movies from this camcorder in good result, but feel snapes with noice. I think it's not too much resulation. If you can spend more mony then you buy high resulation Panasonic or Sony camcorder else it's enough choice in your budge.