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I took the drop 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 prefer a BluRay Player and a 42"+ Panny, although I do (more about that in a sec) . Thus sharing compatibility is more indispensable 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 trace, miniature industry supported software (for unconverted .mt2s files), the fresh h.264 compression standard and the increased horsepower required for PC exhaust 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 utilize centrino technology, 1.8 Ghz, 256-512 RAM, etc. which unbiased 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 look what I mean. SD footage won't encounter these snags. Once again, I am speaking from the point of opinion of sharing with the people I know who for the most share will never upgrade to the latest PC / Home theatre (or at least not in the next 5-10 years) .
2. USB 2.0 Hi Accelerate Transferring, i.e. 100 MB files transferred from card/ HDD in about 15 seconds. Editing, Rendering, Authoring is a coast.
3. I wanted a MEMORY MAKER, not a home movie studio. This unit fits in the palm of your hand (almost bordering on too shrimp) 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 recent SDHC cards available at 4GB+ capacities. More mention of this should be made in my notion. Also, these fresh cards will not work in older devices that do not benefit SDHC. The SDR-H200 does attend 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 unprejudiced 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 impartial turning on the camera and transferring the HDD footage randomly anywhere. It's not that immense 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 salvage this adapter obtain determined you download and install the just driver from the website because there's no Windows XP/ Vista substitute that will do it for you like we're ragged to!!
Another Stamp - if you transfer files directly from the card they present 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 grand program that automatically converts multiple .mod files (i.e. all of your stored clips) to the .mpg extension all at once! Very frigid. It's called
5. 3CCD over single chip, this unit uses 3CCD RGB, nice. A handy F1.8 for dimly lit environments works fine safe. The 10x optical zoom is very collected, accelerate contollable by the amount of pressure traditional on the toggle switch and there was no focus hunting in Auto mode. The O.I.S. doesn't aid considerable when zoomed in on a subject and you're inviting around so staying wider helps unless you're into using tripods. But zooming in fully on a WestJet airplane taking off produced generous results.
Another nice feature is the auto move in and go out when you begin and cessation recording. It effectively smooths over those puny but noticeable camera movements that sometimes occur when the report button is pressed non-gently, awkwardly, haphazardly or whatever. This setting can be switched on or off. I like it, but you may not want to exhaust it if you're into utilizing post-editing software because you can't occupy an already recorded travel.
Here is a few clips I uploaded you can check out. I recommend downloading and playing the clips on your computer video player over using the website streaming player because the web player compresses the video resolution...
Indoor, Available Light, Auto, Setting = XP (higest SD quality) - Outdoor light is completely overcast.
http://files.filefront.com/MOV007mp...;/fileinfo.html
Outdoor - Auto, Zoom in on airplane, XP, Completely overcast sky
http://files.filefront.com/MOV009mp...;/fileinfo.html
Low Light, Indoor, Coffee Shop, XP Mode, Auto
http://files.filefront.com/MOV002mp...;/fileinfo.html
Finally, does the footage measure up? YES. There is no comparison to watching footage on the laptop as compared to a monitor, TV or Plasma. When I watched it on my laptop I was like hmmmm, oh yeah, that's glorious expedient. But when I ran my footage from the camera through a Yamaha RX-V2700 Receiver with 1080i/1080p upsacling to a 42" Panasonic Plasma via HDMI I was blown away! You will be extremely Joyful if you hasten your footage through a home theatre HDMI setup. The same goes for a DVD disc.
I also tried S-Video out directly to TV with included AV cables (no HDMI/ no receiver) and I would detached rate the footage as Immense. Fortunately, you can do this running on straight battery power and a remote control is included! I also ran it through my 23" Samsung LCD HDTV computer monitor and... you guessed it, substantial. In all cases the characterize turns out to be very crisp, well-kept and vibrant.
So although I adore the recent HiDef footage, etc. I took my chances in sticking with SD for home video purposes and am more than elated. No regrets. The unit shoots in 16:9 or 4:3 and has no scrape saturating my entire 42" cloak. Even my mother who is expecting plenty of baby footage from my brother was more than impressed and could notify that it was a quality pic.
So, if you are looking for a memory maker and anticipate bringing it along on trips or to the ball game or whatever you'll be tickled to beget this unit.
The menu is simple and well-kept, and you can easily switch from recording to HDD/ SD/ SDHC card at the push of a button. There is plenty of manual settings you can tinker with but auto mode does the trick nicely.
It is simple, handy and fun which is exactly what I wanted. This unit delivered that. 4 out of 5 stars for not being able to transfer HDD footage to computer without power adapter (but to its credit, the adapter is conveniently cramped) . Since it also holds 7 hours of highest quality footage this shouldn't be too worthy of a bother unless you're a frequent downloader. I peronally will acquire an 8GB SDHC card (110 minutes) off of eBay and leave it in the unit so that I'll have options baby 
The unit comes with ImageMixer editing software and is very easy to spend and import your video with directly from the camera - it's a sterling added value allotment of software.
This is my first review here and always like when others have taken the time to portion their experience with unusual products that I'm fervent in buying too. I hope my taking the descend this time helps. Devour!
One more thing... READ the manual you lazies, there are things you should and need to know.
P.S. It takes decent one push 2MP collected photographs too in a pinch (not outstanding but not too terrible - it's nice shining that it's there if essential)! You can regain a mild I posted here...
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php? t=14208&page=4&pp=10
Bruce
I fair purchased a JVC Everio GZMG130 last week, and was so upset by the 1CCD, 1/6", 340 effective pixel, portion of crap lens and camcorder that it was. First off, the colors were abominable. As a graphic designer and artist, I am trained in color theory. It's so positive that this JVC lens wasn't producing a true colors. Also, the finished movie files, even at highest quality, are really really grainy. This camcorder was objective unpleasant. 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 secure reviews for this Panasonic camcorder, I hope my review will reply 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 titanic lens (1/2") so it seems it'd be friendly for dusky shots. Harmful! Panasonic has a 1 LUX rating (meaning the minimum amount of light to accumulate a shot) while the SONY has a 1&1/2 LUX rating... hmmm.... wierd that the Panasonic has a smaller lens but can pick in more light. If you're wondering what the deal is about a 3CCD lens, it produces considerable more upright 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 sure why they say a 3CCD is venerable for Professional Broadcast. The colors on the Panasonic were unprejudiced perfect. The auto WHITE BALANCE is grand too. No shots are too shimmering or too black. The SONY is a 4 mega pixel, and the Panasonic is a 3 mega pixel. The 3CCD's color quality more than fair makes up for that missing mega pixel. The color is cessation to upright on the SONY's Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, but unbiased not nearly as nice as the Panasonic. Both camcorders have pudgy manual capabilities (shutter hasten, aperture, manual focus... etc.) . The only disagreement is that the SONY can do a slower shutter urge manually, but the Panasonic makes up for that with the MagicPIX feature, which slows the shutter rush. You will want a tripod for this feature or else it will probably near out blurry. Obviously this is the same with the SONY. The Panasonic is powerful nicer to possess and it's only 1 pound heavy. The SONY's battery extrudes from the abet and its very awkward to bear. I can't stress enough how fantastic 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 proper... The Panasonic also comes with a 512 MB SD card, which allows you to hold 3 mega pixel unexcited shots while recording video. The video will set on the 30 GB hard drive, while the photos place on the 512 MB SD card. So chilly! The macro mode on the Panasonic is so remarkable nicer than SONY's. You can bag closer (by like 20-30 mm) than the SONY and the quality is so lovely! There is very puny graininess in both camcorders. The only time you'll notice it is in obscene light situations, and the SONY is worse off. To be unprejudiced, both camcorders are kind of a damage to connect to the computer. The Panasonic connects through USB and it has to be powered by the AC Adapter (can't exhaust a battery because the AC Adapter and USP port are where the battery goes which is very unusual) . The SONY is even worse, because it has the dwelling that it has to connect to. Why can't either objective be as simple as battery powered and one USB connection? Lastly, the auto and manual focus on the Panasonic is soooo grand better than the SONY. For some reason, especially when zoomed, the SONY will assume many seconds to adjust focus, while the Panasonic is instantly. The Panasonic has a gorgeous shimmering light for halt shots, while the SONY only has a flash for aloof images. You will also really spy the disagreement between a 3CCD versus a CMOS/1CCD when you're outdoors. The colors from plants, the sky, clouds, soil, etc. are so finish to what you watch with your believe eyes. Like I said earlier, the SONY's colors are not as nice. The only thing I can really peruse that makes the SONY better than the Panasonic, is its resolution for the finished movie. It's not better quality for say, it's impartial 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, utilize CyberLink PowerDirector. It is so easy to learn and does a broad job. Also, it keeps the wide hide ratio. In my view, & for the mark, the Panasonic SDR-H200 is the best camcorder you can remove. I give it a 9.5/10, while the SONY DCR-SR200 lacks slack with a 8/10. Don't find me execrable, the SONY is a nice camcorder, but for the same brand, you should come by the 3CCD lens, because it's soooo grand nicer. Hope this review helps, and savor your original toy!
I am NOT very proper with electronics or effort shooting. Fair your typical 30 year conventional consumer.
Like you, I research products until I'm nauseous before I recall 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 pain editing the footage, I researched the same websties for comments on video-editing software, and was disappointed at how slight info there was. I want to fraction my petite experience as a non-technical person. (I'm not going to review the camcorder itself; suffice to say I'm gratified.)
The included software, ImagePixeler, didn't work; the Core Duo PC computer I have is heavenly, it's the software's fault (or my fault) . Editing with it was very tedious, 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 predicament.
I tried Windows Movie Maker - had other problems, wasn't able to edit it.
I downloaded Sony Vegas - it didn't look either the .mod nor .mpg file extensions.
I retort that my inability to consume 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 Vast. Kicked as5! I fast sever 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 record how gratified 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_Xpress
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MPEG_Video_Wizard_DVD
www.VideoReDo.com
Standard 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 peril shooting error messages, and have had inconvenience 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=153
2. download Womble MPEG Video Editor DVD:
http://www.womble.com/products/dvd.html
3. 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 folder
5. Utilize SDCOPY to convert the .mod files to .mpg
6. Exhaust the Womble MPEG Video Editor DVD to execute some basic edits; this accomplish pick a while to figure out. Do something basic for practice. Then you click DVD to burn to DVD. Prefer sign 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. Expend 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 "effect 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.htm
http://littlegreatideas.com/steadycam/
these cost $40-50, shipping not included.
