A zoom mic and a built-in light are included with the PV-DV102, along with an MPEG-4 movie system, which lets you capture compressed video clips for e-mailing to friends and family. The camcorder also features a composite video out, and, of course, IEEE 1394.

Product Description
Offering high-resolution digital video, high-quality digital still images and PC interoperability, the new Panasonic Palmcorder MultiCam digital camcorders combine fun and function for beginners and accomplished videographers alike. More than just a camcorder, every new model features the built-in PhotoShot digital still camera feature, letting consumers enjoy two ways to capture their memories in a single, compact package: digital video and digital still photos. With more PC-friendly features than ever, the new digital camcorders are ready for a variety of multimedia applications, and can also easily serve as web cameras for home videoconferencing. All models feature an i.LINK IEEE 1394 PC interface, making it easy to download digital recordings (still images and moving pictures) to computers where they can be edited, included in e-mail messages or used in the creation of web sites.The PV-DV102 features PhotoVu Link with a USB port, an SD Memory Card Slot, web camera functionality, and a built-in SD drive. This model also boasts the MPEG-4 Movie Messenger system and new Zoom Microphone. This clever feature works with the optical zoom function to create a natural correspondence between recorded audio and images. When visually zooming in, the sound will also zero in on the subject. This puts emphasis on the subject and gives any video recording the feeling of realistically capturing the moment.

Pro
1. Extremly small - really 'palm held'
2. Extremly Light
3. Jog dial a very nice feature

Cons
1. The pictures captured on the SD card are "average" quality
2. No remote comes with this
3. The SD Card is additional priced
4. The software is so very average.

Considering that I moved up from the DV 52 model for this model hoping to get

a. Remote (optional I am told)
b. Digital picture capability (v v average)

c. Software (that fell way short)

I would suggest that you buy the Panasonic DV 52 Model.Its a 100 bucks cheaper and buy yourself a seperate digitial camera - even at 1.2 m pixles they will outperform these palm comders !!

Tough learning but I hope you learn from my mistakes !!


Heaven forbid your's should ever need repair   February 19, 2002
 43 out of 71 found this review helpful

Mine did: three times. They lost it for weeks. For the 6 months I have owned it, I have had it for about two. Panasonic dragged its feet until I had my attorney call them.


BRILLIANT!!!   November 12, 2003
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I can't say enough good things about this camcorder. I've made a Las Vegas documentary, a skateboard movie, and simple home movies with it. Not only that, I managed to make them look professional. It transfers video without flaw onto the software I use to make movies (Windows Movie Maker) and also makes flawless re-transfers back onto the tape. Using an SD card, it can be used as a digital camera (albeit a very low quality one... it's still-pic mode is only .5 megapixels).

Pros:
-Great for beginners to home movie making
-Great for beginners to digital camcorders
-Amazing film quality
-SD card slot to save still pictures
-Great sound
-LCD screen

Cons:
-Poor explanation of how to use the digital zoom
-Lens cap is detatched
-Doesn't come with a FireWire, which is necessary to transfer video to the computer
-Still pics saved to the SD card are very low quality

Besides these four problems with this camcorder, it is a dream come true for those into amateur movie making. It really couldn't be any easier to use, save the digital zoom control. Other than these flaws, the camera is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to make professional-looking home movies. Great product, strongly recommended.


small but powerfull   November 9, 2002
 8 out of 15 found this review helpful

This mini-dv camera does all that i expected and more.Take still photos from the recorded tape then download to pc and enhance them then send them in e-mail WOW what more could u want?
Take all the still photos u want (use a 32mb scan disk memory card and u get 440 stills .......need more?64 megs gives u 880 pics.the pics are awesome and the camcorder is easy to use


Great for the price   January 28, 2003
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is my first Camcoder, the other choice I considered was JVC-DV120, I liked JVC's 16x optical zoom, but its construction looked cheesy and it's much bulkier. The DV102 looks much better and has some nice features I like: zoom-mic and build-in light. It's a real good deal.
Camera is pretty easy to use and takes good picture, the image stablization does a good job, I took a lot of video by holding it without a tripod, sometimes I need to walk around, and the image wasn't very jerky. The sound quality is very good, no background noise at all.
In low light the image is a little bit grainy, but still very acceptable.
I'm not worried about the SD card, though I do have a spare one from my digital camera, I rarely use it, the still picture quality is too low to justify the price of a card. If Panasonic removed the SD drive and offered it with a remote, I'd have given it 5 stars. The other thing I missed is it doesn't have S-video output.
The Camcoder offers some manual feature such as iris lock, backlight and program AE, which are essential to cope with certain light conditions.
The camera's control buttons are a little hard to reach for me by just using one hand, my hand is relatively small, so make sure it's good for your hand.

Overall I feel it's perfect for begainers on a budget.
Btw, the software is virtually usesless.