Panasonic VDR-D310 DVD Camcorder (3CCD, 10 x optical,USB 2.0)

July 21, 2008 | By Doug In Digital Camcorder |

Panasonic VDR-D310 DVD Camcorder (3CCD, 10 x optical,USB 2.0)
Customer Review: good quality video & stills
i purchased this camera for my daughter several weeks ago, having originally purchased a JVC GZ-MG175EK hard disk camera from comet at ?249, which was taken back as the video quality was very grainy with low resolution.I am quite impressed with this camera, as the quality of video footage is very good & stills seem comparable to a dedicated sony 2.3mp camera we own. The sound recording quality is also excellent. Given the asking price on amazon(includes free tripod & bag which are good quality) i would say this is a very good buy for those who want a quality camera at a budget price. this camera seems to retail at over ?400(argos ?439).

for more reviews i would look on amazon.com as this camera seems to have been in the US for a while. This is a dvd camera & you may have read about problems with transferring dvd files to pc for editing. This has been no problem for me with this camera. here’s how: all you do is plug the camera into your usb port.The camera now appears as a seperate drive. now just open the files within this drive till you see the vro file( this contains the mpeg2 movie).Now copy & paste the vro file to a folder of your choice on your pc. Next open windows media player & open the vro file. media player will state the file type is not recognised but select to play anyway. once the box is checked you will not be asked again.once the video plays, stop it & save the video with a name of your choice and the file ext name .mpeg. This can subsequently be recognized in most video editing software inc windows movie maker. as for down sides, the camera is a little heavier & more bulky than hard disc cams, but i find the weight better to keep the camera steady. there is no dedicated night vision facility but the camera video quality is good at even low light levels.

Amazon Price: ?290.03
Customer Review: An Excellent, Competitively-Priced DigiCam
Having bought a Sony digital camera 2 years ago, and been very impressed with it, we were looking for a compact digital camcorder with a hard drive that would serve as a family machine, and also work in the classroom. This machine is proving to be an excellent buy for the following reasons: Amazon have it very competitively priced. At only 14oz (400grams approx) it is amazingly light and compact The 40 Gb Hard Drive allows over 20 hours of recording at standard quality (less at high quality). The battery gives you 2 hours of recording capability between charges. You do not have to mess around with DVDs in the camera - the hard drive is an ideal medium for recording, and it has Sony’s Pro mem stick capability which gives it great functionality with other Sony products and/or card readers in your PC. Full USB connectivity to your PC/Laptop - and SCART connectivity to the TV This 55 model is a better buy, and worth the few extra pounds, than the 35 for a number of reasons: 10Gb more hard drive space; a docking station which allows recharge, DVD burn, via USB to your PC, and quick link to your TV for viewing; and a remote control for the cam - excellent and useful accessories; and finally, 1 Megapixel compared with 0.8 Mp on the 35. The screen is clear, and the touch menu system is easy to use. It has a robust carrying strap, and just feels well-made - having said that a carry case is always a good investment for such a piece of kit! I am no technical expert, but this is a great-priced and intuitive digicam, with lots of great features. Highly recommended.
Customer Review: Disappointed
This is a great little (4-star) camera but for one thing — the quality of the mpeg-2 compressed video, hence the two stars. If you’re used to uncompressed video from the older generation of Sony mini-DV Handycams, which recorded to tape, you may find the image on SP (standard play setting) completely unacceptable. The best I can describe it is as a watercolour painting that’s had a wet sponge smeared over it. Those who are familiar with this kind of compression artefact will know what I mean. I guess it’s what one has to accept from the fact that 13 Gb of video — the size of an hour’s uncompressed mini-DV footage — is being squeezed down to about 2.7 Gb, which is how you get over 14 hours recording onto a 40 Gb hard disk. It’s a big hit, and I found it unacceptable. I mainly film nature subjects outdoors. If you’re filming buildings or indoor settings you may find the results more tolerable. My point of reference for this camera is an earlier one in the Handycam series — my trusty DCR-PC8 bought in 2003. This is a tape cassette machine that turns in beautiful video for the format with good colour and no compression artefacts. I couldn’t test the HQ (high-quality) setting on my Apple computer as Apple charge for the mpeg-2 codec you need to play movies from this camera, but I doubt HQ is very much better as 8 hours of video are still being squeezed down to about 5 Gb for a hour (from 13 Gb for an hour of uncompressed video). I looked at video made on the SP setting on a good-quality digital television — A/V connection is easy and you can view clips easily and quickly. The chapter format, whereby each clip appears as a picture icon, makes this delightfully simple. Just touch one and the clip plays. Another reason for not liking the output of this camera is the rather poor colour. Colours are not well saturated, i.e. they look faded compared to the scene you actually see with your eyes. The DCR-PC8 produces better colour. Apple Mac users can use this camera — make the USB connection and you see your (Quicktime) files by clicking on the hard disk icon that appears on the desktop. These can then be dragged to the computer’s hard disk. But you need the mpeg-2 codec and an up to date version of Quicktime to be able to play the movies. Plus points: the lens is amazing and at minimum zoom will focus from almost 0 mm to infinity. The zoom is 25x, and by adding the 2x digital zoom you get a fairly acceptable 50x zoom, which really pulls in faraway subjects. I was able to get a recognisable image of a Great Spotted Woodpecker at the top of a tree at least 80 yards away. A negative point is that fringing can be bad at high zooms. Also I noticed a pale “misty” band appearing in the lower quarter of the image at zoom settings over about 20x. I love the manual spot focus and metering: put the camera in manual mode, touch the part of the screen you want focused or metered and bingo. The only thing I wondered was whether — as you’d want — you can do the two things at the same time. It seems not — it’s either one or the other — so maybe Sony could implemement simultaneous spot focusing and metering on the next model. Silly not to have done it already. The zoom control is much better than on my old camcorder. No runaway zoom effects! Overall impression: Nice software on a beautifully engineered camcorder, as you’d expect from Sony. But for some this will be horribly ruined by the poor movie quality on the standard setting. I’d probably have kept mine if there’d been an uncompressed video setting, which would give 3 hours of recording on the 40 Gb hard disk. I guess my reservations about the SR55 apply to the range of SR hard-disk camcorders using mpeg-2 compression. So why such compromised quality? I guess this camcorder is aimed at people who want to take one on holiday without the hassle of tapes — it’d easily do up to two weeks worth before the hard disk was full. Or maybe just people who aren’t aware how much better quality you can get.
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The new SDR-S7 is a stylish model with an ultra-compact go-anywhere design. It offers a small size light weight and superb mobility made possible by SD/SDHC Memory Cards letting you shoot video with the same casual ease and carry-about convenience they enjoy with small digital still cameras. For occasions when in the past it may have seemed a bit awkward to pull out a camcorder such as on short outings or business trips the SDR-S7 is ideal..
Amazon Price: ?179.99
Used Price: ?161.67
Customer Review: Absolutely brilliant!
I bought a Canon camcorder only 6 months ago and never really got on with it as it was not really small enough to fit in a pocket and only recorded for 30 minutes onto mini dvds so I decided to get this tiny Panasonic and it is FANTASTIC! I took it to Sri Lanka on my holiday and with an 8gb SDHC memory stick I recorded for over 4 hours. It is so light and small that you can take it anywhere, it is up and running in seconds, and by the end of the holiday everyone in the group was taking the model number and wanting to get one too. It was smaller than most people’s digital still camera. The quality is great and with the digital zoom going up to 700x with a steady hand I could shoot fruit bats that the others could not even see at the top of a tree in the next field! You will definitely not regret buying one.
Customer Review: Great portable, compact camcorder
First camcorder that I’ve bought and it works great. Super compact size, very light and with an 8GB card you can get a couple of hours of storage. Unlike DV and tape camcorders, it is extremely simple to edit and merge clips on a PC or Mac. Most impressively it starts up in seconds and the sound is very good, even when zoomed in.
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Hitachi has revolutionised the world of digital camcorders with the DZ-BD7HE. This hybrid camcorder is equipped with a 30 GB hard drive and Blu-Ray burner for creating videos in Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels).The DZ-BD7HE has a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, a multi-layer video lens and Full HD PICTURE MASTER image processing technology for capturing bright, colourful images that are full of detail.The DZ-BD7HE also has an HDMI connection and a USB 2.0 port for transferring footage to your computer or hooking it up to an HD TV. The DZ-BD7HE also has a direct saving and recording function for your convenience as you film. The DZ-BD7HE has many transition effects and different recording modes, so you can really give your creativity free rein.Ready to film in just 1 second, the DZ-BD7HE immortalises your best memories in high definition!
Amazon Price: ?797.34
Customer Review: blu ray camcorder
hi, i just bought the hitachi dzbd7he blu ray cam i cannot see how anyone can give this cam anything but 5 stars,ive tried every thing on it different light inside shops zoom burned to disc on cam and playback on tv is 1080p well pleased.i done what the other 2 done it is not the camcorders fault it is pixmania as they advertized wrong,the code was for hitachi 300 not the blu ray camcorder,as the 300 was ?245 the blu ray was ?835,it was a mix up on pixmania they was wrong.isent back 3 300 cams they would not send the blu ray i hope this clears up about the blu ray,again i am very pleased ps i dont work for hitachi thanks.
Customer Review: Amazing
I don’t see how anyone can give a bad rating because they had the wrong item delivered. What has that got to do with the camcorder? Anyway this is a great piece of kit, easy to use and takes good Blu Ray 1080 resolution. The menu is easy to navigate and instruction book easy to follow. Would thoroughly reccommend this item.
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