Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is a nice looking camcorder. I have only used it indoors and in dull snowy weather. The color is terrible very washed out and lack of color. The instructions are bad, does not explain anything well. You need an extra battery as the one that comes with it only lasts 55 mins. It does not come with mini tapes, so you will need to purchase them. You will also need editing software as it does not come with it either. Altough this web site says it's firewire and USB compatible. It is not USB, it only uses firewire. This is my first camcorder, I am expecting too much? I'm not sure but I would expect crisp colorful images, which this camcorder does not produce.

I bought a PV GS39 a couple of years ago. The quality of the pictures were great. Using the Mini DV tapes allowed me to upload to Movie Maker and reuse the expensive tapes. Last week I was taking pictures of water skiing and set the camera, turned off, in the carpeted gunwale (side pocket) of the boat. Later, when I tried to review the movies on land, the camera would not respond correctly to the mode selector. Apparently, the electronics are just too fragile to take the vibrations of a boat, even damped by the carpet. The camera was useless after this. I had to destroy it in order to remove the tape, since it would not eject it. As long as you treat the camera with kid gloves you will probably be completely satisfied. I didn't, and wasn't. About the only technical gripe I have is there is no convenient way to erase a used tape.

The only con I have isn't the camera's fault. I don't think I'd go with miniDV tapes again. The camera has been great. Battery has good life, has a decent microphone, and has been very reliable.

My first camcorder purchase in several years....my last one was a full size VHS unit! (Does this tell you how long ago??) Anyway, saw this unit on sale in my local store for 169.99 (Reg. 299.99) and thought I would try it. Menus are easy to use and setup. Zoom is good. Image stabilization works okay. Didn't expect results like a $800 - $1000 unit but for my expected occasional use of this unit, it was a great buy at the price!

I bought Panasonic digital video camcorder (PV-GS39) at BestBuy. It was not functioning right after 1 year warranty. The power switch button does work anymore. It can not be powered on. The tape with valuable pictures is stuck in the camcorder and there is no way to get it out. I'm so frustrated and not happy with the quality of Panasonic product.

I've had this camera for less than 24 hours, but I already think it's great. Mind you this is an entry level camera, so don't expect the world in features, but there are more than enough features to enjoy. I was a little concered about how the video would look indoors, but after taking a couple of test videos my concerns were put to bed. The test videos I took look great, I am very satisfied and Grandma will love the DVDs of the kids. Be sure to spend the extra money and get the firewire cable. It is not included with this camera, but as far as I know, firewire cables are not included with any camera.

was very easy to use,this is my first camcorder and i had no problems,works very good with mac and imovie 08