Panasonic PV-GS180 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by Guy Bruner
Published on Jan 24, 2006 3:00 PM

Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls Still Features
Handling and Use
Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Other Features Comparisons / Conclusion


Audio
The stereo microphone system captures audio in either 12 bit or 16 bit resolution. The microphones can be selected to zoom along with the video in the menus. There is a 3.5mm stereo microphone jack for attaching an external unbalanced microphone. When the external microphone jack is used, the internal microphones are disconnected. Comparatively, Sony has begun implementing 5.1 channel Dolby Digital on their upper-end DVD camcorders, which uses an external microphone in conjunction with the onboard mics. There is a small speaker on the right rear of the GS180 for listening to the recorded audio. Audio volume during playback is controlled with the zoom slider control on the top rear of the camcorder.

VCR Mode
Tape playback is the operating mode for viewing the footage on the LCD or TV (via the A/V cable). Users may play, pause, fast forward, fast preview, fast reverse, fast reverse preview, and stop playback using the joystick control. In addition, tape playback mode is used for copying the video to a computer over either DV (FireWire or iLink) or USB cables. All of the Panasonic 3 CCD camcorders implement USB 2.0 high speed this year. The PV-GS180 permits the video (DV Data in the menus) to stream through the USB port. Capture applications that support capture over USB, like Windows Movie Maker, should work with the PV-GS180. There is no included software to facilitate capture like MotionDV Studio, which comes with the GS300 and GS500.

Ports
The PV-GS180 has ports for DV, USB 2.0 high speed, A/V / headphones, and a microphone. It was nice seeing the headphone jack since Panasonic chose to not include it on the upscale 3 CCD models. The A/V jack supports composite analog video and audio out only.



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