At thrifty av I've reviewed several tape based camcorders like this panasonic omnivision
vhs camcorder. You might think from those reviews that I prefer tape based camcorders but I do not.
I prefer digital cameras that record on SD cards like this Panasonic HC-V100M.
I'll take a look at the features on this camera, tell you why I like it better than old camcorders,
and shoot some test footage that's coming up on thrifty av.
on old tape based camcorders like vhs and in this case video 8 the tape transport has to
position the tape, it has to open this protective face, and then spool that tape around the head.
That requires a lot of moving parts and the more moving parts there are in a camcorder
the more things that can go wrong. With sd card based camcorders there are
no moving parts in association with recording the video. Fewer moving parts fewer things to go wrong
this panasonic hcv100m is discontinued you can't buy it anymore but you can find used ones on
ebay for less than what a new replacement battery costs for that vhs camcorder i showed you earlier.
there are three reasons why i think the panasonic hcv100m is so affordable these days. one of them
is that the top resolution is 1080i most people want at least 1080p these days.
it does not have microphone inputs, it does have a built-in microphone though, and it does
not have a hot shoe to mount accessories to, but that being said i still prefer this over
tape based, standard definition analog formats the model number on this is the hcv100m. the m on
the end means memory but it's only 16 gigabytes of memory, so if you can't find the v100m the v100 is
basically the same camcorder without the built-in memory. there are not a whole lot of buttons and
controls on this camcorder here's a slider to open and close the lens cover. to charge it you plug in
a barrel connection right there the batteries on the back. the battery release is right here
and speaking of batteries there's wide compatibility across a whole lot of panasonic
camcorders. i bought this for my hcv 770, and it also fits in here. now up top here i have a camera
and playback mode so if you want to play something back just slide that over. the zoom controls up
here on top left for wide right for tight. in playback mode this doubles as a volume control,
and if you want to take a still photo here's the button. on the inside there's intelligent auto or
manual mode. i'm going to be using intelligent auto for the most part in this demonstration.
here's an optical image stabilization button that will be on when i'm using this handheld. there are
two video outputs here. one of them is mini hdmi so you'll need a cable that's mini on one side
and probably full size on the other if you want to plug it into a normal tv set, and it just plugs in
like so. next to that is av multi and that not only has your regular composite left and right
it also has component video. don't confuse the red right audio from the red component video. now the
av multi input is very much a specialty connection so if you want to use the av out you will need to
make sure you have that cord. here is the usb jack for hooking up to your computer. this is a mini
not a micro usb connection. here's the power button let's go ahead and power this up, and the
first time you power it up it wants you to set the date and the time so i'm going to go ahead and do
that. it is not a touch screen so i'm going to hit enter here and use this keypad to set the date.
now that the data set it says set home location so i'm going to pick basically my time zone.
the card i'm using in here is a 128 gigabyte u1 sdxc one. going into the menu i have record setup.
i probably don't want to use intelligent zoom. record modes i got avc hd and an iframe mode i'm
going to use avc hd uh 1920. soft skin mode as old as i am i should maybe think about turning that
on. if i'm shooting something close up i probably want to turn on telemacro. at night i want to turn
on color night recording. outdoors you want the wind cut on, and i'm going to leave the mic on
auto. i don't really use these for still photos but i'm going to leave the quality on high,
and i'll let it make its shutter sound. media select
sd card for both video and picture. i have not tried to use the built-in memory maybe i should
i'm going to leave the display on the external display i can actually have detail on.
i'll show that later. date time date format economy battery i think that shuts it off if
it's not being used. following up on the detail feature when details turned on through the hdmi
i am getting the intelligent auto logo the time stamp down here and the image stabilization logo
uh which those will disappear if i turn the detail off when you plug in the av multi
you are asked to confirm whether you want to use av or component i'm going to select av
and detail still shows the intelligent auto the date stamp in the optical image stabilization logo
i've taken the hcv 100m outside i have optical image stabilization turned on
and i'm walking around my backyard and the ground's pretty uneven so uh the optical
image stabilization seems to be pretty doing a pretty good job of keeping everything steady
now i'm using the microphone that's built in but the microphones at the front of the camera
and i'm speaking behind the camera so i'll be interested to see how well it picks up my voice
when i am not on the correct side of the microphone looking at the media info the
format is bdav which is blu-ray video overall bitrate 9674 kbps avc kodak variable bitrate
width 1920 height 1080 scan type is interlaced with youtube if you don't de-interlace they will
chroma sub sampling four two zero and bit depth is eight bit i'm still in intelligent
auto mode i've positioned the hcv 100m about where i normally put my regular studio camera
i am using the built-in microphone on the hcv 100m so this is what it sounds like this is
what it looks like when used indoors as a primary camera so overall i am pretty impressed with the
results i'm getting with the hcv 100m it's a very affordable camera it's going to look better than
any tape based analog format a higher resolution than any kind of standard definition digital or
analog format and aside from the image stabilization and the zoom there really
are no moving parts in it to break down so if you're looking for a budget camera that looks
pretty good i can recommend the hcv 100m if you enjoyed this video smash that like button
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