[Soupladel]

What is the General thoughts on the Panasonic NV-DS65?

I have been thinking about buying a MiniDV Camcorder for the past few days (nothing like an impulse buy eh?) and have the opportunity to buy this one @ £309.99 from berridgemail.

All thing considered it appears to be the best camcorder in that price range that gives me MiniDV, DV in&out and a memory card facility.

What do you think?

[Chivalry]

well mine arrived today from them at a cracking price and i must say it looks great ) ... i cant believe how small it is!.. very impressed so far ... im just trying to figure out if i can connect to my PC using firewire connection... i only got a USB cable ith the cam so do i need a differnt cable?? is the cam even capable of firewire connection? im new to all of this!

[Soupladel]

Yes it is capapble of firewire as it has both DV in and out, I was in Comet tonight looking at it, was sooooo tempted!

Although I can buy it from Comet and then get barclaycard to refund the difference (well hopefully anyway acording to their price promise thingy, just so long as berridgemail don't change their prices anytime soon)

If yours arrived today when did you order it?

[Chivalry]

phoned em yesterday morning and placed order :0) and in case no one knows it seems that they are a mail order department of Cecil Jacobs... a large photographic retailer here in leicester

it realy really is tiny!

[Chivalry]

also.. is this the cable i need?

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...oducts_id=6048

i have a ASUS A7N8X delux mobo that has a firewire thing with 2 ports on it,,, 2 differnt ones though :/ heh.. i think ones a 4 pin and one is a 6 pin one

[Soupladel]

I now wonder whether I would be better just ordering it from their website or to go down the comet/barclaycard route!

I assume it brand new kit they sell and not refurbished?

[Chivalry]

yup all brand new comes with a nice little thing that cips onto u shirt with controls on as well as a Infa red remote control and a free 8 meg SD card and usual wires and bits and bobs ..... i cant stress enough how much of a bargain this is for 317 quid deliverd.... i seen 2 places still selling it for 599 !!!!

[Soupladel]

I am that desperate to get me hands on one I'll probably get one from comet then claim the money back from barclaycard!

What's the software like?

[Chivalry]

as far as im aware the software suplied only deals with uploading Pictures to u PC... not actual movies... but im told that the free upgrade to windows XP moviemaker 2 is available as a free download and is quite good for beginers

[MarkE19]

Yep Movie Maker 2 is a good starting point for video editing. But only works on Windows XP. And yes, it is free

By the way the firewire cable you require is a 6 pin (PC end) to 4 pin (cam end). But if your MoBo has a 4 pin connection then 4 pin to 4 pin will also work. Can get them for less than £5 from ebuyer etc.

www.ebuyer.co.uk
QuickFind Code: 47752 - 1394 Firewire Cable 6pin To 4pin 2 MTR Long £3.70 inc VAT & Del

Mark.

[Soupladel]

what's the actual picture quality like for both video and photo's?

Hi im also looking at buying the nv-ds65, before i do does any one know of a comparable camera at this price that has dv in and out?
From what I can see on web reviews this in the only one at the £300 price range to consider.

Thanks in advance

[Chivalry]

try to remmeber this isnt a 300 quid camcorder... almost everyhere else is selling it for between 400-600 pounds so for 317 deliverd i can genuinly say u havent got a hope in hell of finding anything that will compare to it for the same money

[Soupladel]

Well I have sprung for the DS65 and I have to say that whilst I am more than happy with it as a whole I am a little disappointed with the still image quality. ok, I didn't expect to be perfect quality but I did think it would be better than it is!

I am also disapointed that it strobes when trying to film in colour nightshot!

Or am I just doing something wrong?