Buy Panasonic SDR-H200 30GB 3CCD Hard Disk Drive/SD Palmcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized ZoomPanasonic SDR-H200 30GB 3CCD Hard Disk Drive/SD Palmcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Product Description:
- Built-in 30 GB hard disk drive
- 3-megapixel, 3CCD imaging system
- Capture video and 3.1 MP digital stills
- Large 2.7-inch widescreen LCD
- Included accessories: AC adapter, battery pack, multi cable, PC connection cable, editing software, 512 MB SD card, and IR remote control
Product Description
The Panasonic SDR-H200 3CCD Hard Disk Drive/SD Palmcorder Camcorder is perfect for recording long events. It features extended recording for extended shooting fun. The internal 30 GB hard disk drive holds as much video data as about 22 8-cm DVD discs. That means you can record for around 27 hours non-stop. This SD Card/Hard Disk camcorder is perfect for people who want to shoot for hour after hour without worrying about memory space. 3CCD Camera System / Optical Image Stabilizer /Minimum Illumination 1 Lux (Magic Pix) High Speed Shutter - 1/60 - 1/8,000 sec. (Moving Picture) / 1/30 - 1/2,000 sec. (Still Picture) / Iris AF/Manual / Backlight Compensation LCD Monitor - 2.7 wide (123K pixels) /Manual Focus Ring /Microphone - Stereo Zoom Mic /Wind Noise Reduction / Date Recording Wide Mode (16 - 9) / Digital Zoom - 10x - 700x /Recording Modes - XP/SP/LP Still Picture - JPEG / Built-in SD Slot (SD/SDHC) / DPOF Max. 999 stills PictBridge Compatible / S-Video Out / Video Output - AV out / USB 2.0 High Speed (mini B) Dimensions (H x W x D) - 3.27 x 2.98 x 4.76 inches Weight - 1.01 lbs
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
245 of 250 people found the following review helpful.
Panasonic SDR-H200 - No Regrets
By Somebody, Somewhere
I took the plunge and bought two of them (One for my brother). My reason for this is:1. the predominance of editing software available for MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, etc. as well as the ability to play on practically any regular DVD player. My Aunts, Uncles, relatives and friends do not care for, nor ever will buy a BluRay Player and a 42"+ Panny, although I do (more about that in a sec). Thus sharing compatibility is more important to me than obtaining the latest AVCHD, although I may for other reasons in the future. I know I can down convert but the extra steps, increased price, limited industry supported software (for unconverted .mt2s files), the new h.264 compression standard and the increased horsepower required for PC use are all compelling reasons to stick with SD in the home and for sharing - not only the finished product but also raw footage with others and having zero complications.I have a 2GB RAM, P4, 3.0 Ghz, etc. laptop but 8 out of every 10 others I know use centrino technology, 1.8 Ghz, 256-512 RAM, etc. which just isn't gonna drive h.264 footage nicely is it. Same goes for desktop setups. Try downloading and watching 720p video from the Windows Media HD Video website if your computer leans more towards the latter to see what I mean. SD footage won't encounter these snags. Once again, I am speaking from the point of view of sharing with the people I know who for the most part will never upgrade to the latest PC / Home theatre (or at least not in the next 5-10 years).2. USB 2.0 Hi Speed Transferring, i.e. 100 MB files transferred from card/ HDD in about 15 seconds. Editing, Rendering, Authoring is a breeze.3. I wanted a MEMORY MAKER, not a home movie studio. This unit fits in the palm of your hand (almost bordering on too small) and easily slips into a LowePro camera bag.4. I have a 32-bit PCMCIA SD/SDHC card reader (not 16) that I bought to replace my laptop 4-in-1 media reader. Standard readers that most people have today on their desk or built in to their laptop will not read the new SDHC cards available at 4GB+ capacities. More mention of this should be made in my opinion. Also, these new cards will not work in older devices that do not support SDHC. The SDR-H200 does support SDHC.I experimented recording to the card and then transferring footage to my laptop. The 32bit cardBus adapter is 10-16X faster than USB 2.0. It is just awesome. The reason I mention this is because of the 1 major gripe I encountered, Namely......Transferring HDD footage requires disconnecting the battery from the unit and connecting a DC cable to it from the AC power adapter. Then USB 2.0 cable out to computer. Sooooooo, this means always needing to be around power instead of just turning on the camera and transferring the HDD footage randomly anywhere. It's not that big of a deal but I like having Zero restrictions ;) So using SDHC cards frees me from that restriction, hence the mention of the 32bit cardBus reader (YES they exist - interfirm - http://www.synchrotech.com/products/media-adapters_01.html)! ***If you follow suit and get this adapter make sure you download and install the correct driver from the website because there's no Windows XP/ Vista substitute that will do it for you like we're used to!!Another Note - if you transfer files directly from the card they show up as .mod files. Windows media player 11 recognizes them and plays. Other players don't, so you simply change them to .mpg. Sektionschef created a great program that automatically converts multiple .mod files (i.e. all of your stored clips) to the .mpg extension all at once! Very cool. It's called
180 of 184 people found the following review helpful.
The 3CCD lens is worth every dollar, and Panasonic makes a QUALITY product! ...even better than SONY!
By Patrick F. Hasselwander
I just purchased a JVC Everio GZMG130 last week, and was so upset by the 1CCD, 1/6", 340 effective pixel, piece of crap lens and camcorder that it was. First off, the colors were awful. As a graphic designer and artist, I am trained in color theory. It's so obvious that this JVC lens wasn't producing a accurate colors. Also, the finished movie files, even at highest quality, are really really grainy. This camcorder was just awful. So anyway, I decided to upgrade. It was between this Panasonic SDR-H200 and the SONY Handycam DCR-SR200. I knew this would be a hard decision, and I had to do my research. Considering it's very hard to find reviews for this Panasonic camcorder, I hope my review will answer any of those questions you're asking yourself. First off, the SONY has a CMOS lens (CCD is slightly better quality than CMOS), but the SONY has a large lens (1/2") so it seems it'd be good for dark shots. WRONG! Panasonic has a 1 LUX rating (meaning the minimum amount of light to get a shot) while the SONY has a 1&1/2 LUX rating... hmmm.... wierd that the Panasonic has a smaller lens but can take in more light. If you're wondering what the deal is about a 3CCD lens, it produces much more accurate colors than a 1CCD or CMOS lens. Each of the 3 filters in the lens filters in the blue, red, and green colors. After trying both the SONY and PANASONIC outdoors and indoors, it was obvious why they say a 3CCD is used for Professional Broadcast. The colors on the Panasonic were just perfect. The auto WHITE BALANCE is great too. No shots are too bright or too dark. The SONY is a 4 mega pixel, and the Panasonic is a 3 mega pixel. The 3CCD's color quality more than just makes up for that missing mega pixel. The color is close to accurate on the SONY's Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, but just not nearly as nice as the Panasonic. Both camcorders have full manual capabilities (shutter speed, aperture, manual focus... etc.). The only difference is that the SONY can do a slower shutter speed manually, but the Panasonic makes up for that with the MagicPIX feature, which slows the shutter speed. You will want a tripod for this feature or else it will probably come out blurry. Obviously this is the same with the SONY. The Panasonic is much nicer to hold and it's only 1 pound heavy. The SONY's battery extrudes from the back and its very awkward to hold. I can't stress enough how amazing the Panasonic's OIS (optical image stabilization) system works. Even at a 10X Optical zoom, and no tripod w/ shaky hands, the OIS gets rid of the shaking very well. The SONY shakes like crazy when zoomed. Not good... The Panasonic also comes with a 512 MB SD card, which allows you to take 3 mega pixel still shots while recording video. The video will save on the 30 GB hard drive, while the photos save on the 512 MB SD card. So cool! The macro mode on the Panasonic is so much nicer than SONY's. You can get closer (by like 20-30 mm) than the SONY and the quality is so gorgeous! There is very little graininess in both camcorders. The only time you'll see it is in low light situations, and the SONY is worse off. To be honest, both camcorders are kind of a pain to connect to the computer. The Panasonic connects through USB and it has to be powered by the AC Adapter (can't use a battery because the AC Adapter and USP port are where the battery goes which is very weird). The SONY is even worse, because it has the station that it has to connect to. Why can't either just be as simple as battery powered and one USB connection? Lastly, the auto and manual focus on the Panasonic is soooo much better than the SONY. For some reason, especially when zoomed, the SONY will take many seconds to adjust focus, while the Panasonic is instantly. The Panasonic has a pretty bright light for close shots, while the SONY only has a flash for still images. You will also really notice the difference between a 3CCD versus a CMOS/1CCD when you're outdoors. The colors from plants, the sky, clouds, soil, etc. are so close to what you see with your own eyes. Like I said earlier, the SONY's colors are not as nice. The only thing I can really notice that makes the SONY better than the Panasonic, is its resolution for the finished movie. It's not better quality for say, it's just a higher resolution. Also, the SONY saves .mpegs to your computer while the Panasonic saves those annoying .mov files. To easily convert the .MOV files to AVI, DVD, or DIVX, use CyberLink PowerDirector. It is so easy to learn and does a great job. Also, it keeps the wide screen ratio. In my opinion, & for the price, the Panasonic SDR-H200 is the best camcorder you can buy. I give it a 9.5/10, while the SONY DCR-SR200 lacks behind with a 8/10. Don't get me wrong, the SONY is a nice camcorder, but for the same price, you should get the 3CCD lens, because it's soooo much nicer. Hope this review helps, and enjoy your new toy!
92 of 95 people found the following review helpful.Idiot's guide to VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE for the SDR-H200
By Joe Radiologist
I am NOT very good with electronics or trouble shooting. Just your typical 30 year old consumer.Like you, I research products until I'm nauseous before I buy them; for camcorders, I looked at customer reviews (and official reviews) on: camcorderinfo.com, Amazon.com, CNET, circuitcity.com, to name a few. Camcorderinfo.com, by far, has the best professional reviews. CNET is best for providing general guidance (which format, HD or Standard def, etc), but comparing to camcorderinfo.com, their reviewers clearly know less than they should.After purchasing this camcorder and having trouble editing the footage, I researched the same websties for comments on video-editing software, and was disappointed at how little info there was. I want to share my limited experience as a non-technical person. (I'm not going to review the camcorder itself; suffice to say I'm satisfied.)The included software, ImagePixeler, didn't work; the Core Duo PC computer I have is fine, it's the software's fault (or my fault). Editing with it was very slow, and edited footage was severely degraded in quality. I wasn't able to burn what I edited, got some error message, and I'm not saavy enough to de-bug it or diagnose the problem.I tried Windows Movie Maker - had other problems, wasn't able to edit it.I downloaded Sony Vegas - it didn't recognize either the .mod nor .mpg file extensions.I acknowledge that my inability to use these programs may be due to my ignorance and lack of know-how with de-bugging/diagnosing problems.I downloaded Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD - and it worked GREAT. Kicked as5! I quickly cut out parts from my footage, did slow-motion, applied transitions, made basic titles, added MP3 music, edited the music and music volume, etc. I picked a DVD menu, edited the menu text, and picked out the background image for the DVD menu. I burned the DVD, and it worked! (hard to describe how happy I was)From downloading the free trial version of Womble MPEG Video Wizard to burning the DVD, I spent a total of maybe one hour.I later found several websites saying that this program is among the top 3 MPEG editors (if you search for editing software for this camcorder, google "MPEG editor", NOT "video-editing software", which will yield high power programs not specifically for MPEGs such as Adobe, Ulead, Sony Vegas, Ulead, Pinnacle etc). The other top programs for editing MPEG are TMPGEnc MPEG Editor, and VideoReDo MPEG Editor.Here are some useful links:http://www.videohelp.com/tools/TMPGEnc_Xpresshttp://www.videohelp.com/tools/MPEG_Video_Wizard_DVDwww.VideoReDo.comStandard video editing software "re-encodes" your finished product after editing, and this process results in some degradation in quality. The best MPEG video editors do NOT re-encode any footage that has not been edited. From what I understand, the above products do not re-encode unnecessarily.Always try the free trial version before purchasing any software.If you are not very saavy with video-editing software or trouble shooting error messages, and have had trouble with editing/burning your footage on the Panasonic SDR-H200, here's what I have to offer (my idiot's guide):1. download SDCOPY, which converts .mod files to .mpg files:http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?acti...ic=280.0;id=1532. download Womble MPEG Video Editor DVD:http://www.womble.com/products/dvd.html3. ensure that you have a program on your computer that can burn a "data disc" to DVD-R or DVD+R. Nero or Roxio or Sonic should all work.4. copy your footage from your SDR-H200 hard drive onto your desktop by dragging the appropriate files (extension will be .mod) onto your desktop into a designated folder5. Use SDCOPY to convert the .mod files to .mpg6. Use the Womble MPEG Video Editor DVD to make some basic edits; this make take a while to figure out. Do something basic for practice. Then you click DVD to burn to DVD. Take note of the name of the file folder where the DVD-video files are saved. (this program does NOT burn to DVD, but it makes the files that go straight to the DVD)7. Use your disc-burning software to burn the contents of that file folder containing the DVD-video data onto a DVD disc. There was no "video DVD" function on the program I was using, so I picked "create Data disc".It should work when you pop it into your DVD player.Good luck.Last thing: I started looking into external motion stabilizers. Try:http://www.levelcam.com/media/levelcam%20features.htmhttp://littlegreatideas.com/steadycam/these cost $40-50, shipping not included.
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