Toshiba Gigashot GSC-R30 30GB 2MP Hard Disc Drive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

Given that this is my first real camcorder, outside of the digital cameras I own that support 20 second video clips, I have little to compare it to. That being said, I've seen people with stacks of DV tape that they never convert to DVD, and consequently never view again. I received my Gigashot from Amazon yesterday and was for the most part very pleased. It took very little time to understand how to use, the functions and menu items were relatively self-explanatory. I'd give Toshiba an Afor the design and ease of use; within five minutes, I was able to shoot a few clips, view on the LCD screen, hook up to my TV and computer to play back videos.

I really enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to install additional software to download clips to my PC the USB cable, included, was inserted and drivers were automatically installed; the Gigashot then appeared as an external drive that I could drag and drop files to my desktop piece of cake. Although, there was software provided, it appeared as though they were only trial versions (leaving the only option to buy more software when the trial expired). Needless to say, I did not install either software bundle: ACDSee v7 (photo edit) or PowerProducer v3 (DVD editing and writing/authoring), but I'm sure this could be helpful for some who do not already own a DVD authoring program.

The only bad thing about this camcorder, in my opinion, was that it had a tendency during low-level sound (e.g., no one was speaking) to amplify the background noise. I didn't notice this very often, so probably nothing to worry about in fact, this may be normal for camcorders, but then again I don't have much experience. The problem with this, leads to what sounds like a few small rapid-fire clicks every so often (presumably as the Gigashot writes data to the hard-drive). It sounds just like a hard-drive, so may not even be noticeable to some, but it could be an annoyance for those who listen in great detail. I doubt this would be even audible at a party or event, but just thought others might like to know. Overall great product and I'm happy with my purchase (especially since it seems Amazon's price was the lowest at this time!)

I did lot of comparisons with similar PRICED camcorders sony/Canon ($500) and here are my finding

The factors need to be considered in any digital photo/video are

1. CCD size

2. MP

3. Filter Size Lense dia big means more light goes in to CCD

4. Lense Quality

I like this camcorder because

1. Price 375 for a 30 GIG HDD camcorder

2. CCD size 1/3.6 compared to sony/Canon which has 1/6

3. Filter size is 30.5 sony/Canon 30 or 27

4. 2 Megapixel sony/canon 0.7 MP

5. No need to carry any media

6. Free case

Cons:

Spare battery is expensive $80 at bhphotovideo

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This is an amazing little camera. If you edit your movies on a computer you will LOVE this camera because it stores files on the built in hard disk drive instead of tapes. It can record for more than six (6) hours on the hard disk drive (at the HIGHEST quality setting). The videos are automatically saved as MPG2 files which are recognized by almost all video editing products inclding Adobe Premiere and Adobe Premiere Elements. MPG2 is also the current standard for DVD movies, so you can burn your movies onto a DVD. The audio and video quality is excellent.

The camera has a bright white, built-in LED light which allows the auto focus to work in dim light. It also has a built in flash for still pictures. The still pictures can be stored on the built-in hard disk drive, or optionally on a small memory card. The camera supports WIDE SCREEN videos as well as standard video formats.

Downloading the movie files to your computer is amazingly simple. Just connect the USB cable and the camera is recognized as an "external storage deveice" so you can simply drag and drop the files from the camera to the computer.

The automatic mode for most settings like FOCUS, WHITE BALANCE, SCENE SELECTION, etc. works fine. When taking stills the camera will beep twice to indicate a clear focus. When the camera is charging the battery LED shows amber and later green (when fully charged).

While the built-in condenser microphone with multiple settings offers excellent sound quality, a plug-in microphone jack would have been preferred.

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I bought this camera through Amazon and antonline. Its a really nice camera, but it is completely unable to function in any meaningful way through imovie and has no value if you own an Apple Computer. This is because the camera records in mpeg-2 and apparently is inherently non-editable. DO NOT BUY IT UNLESS YOU OWN A PC!!!

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I just graduated from the 1min movies in my digital camera to this camera. I am impressed by the overall functionality of this camera.

Positives:

1) Easy to shoot both Movies and Pictures. We think still pictures have their own value. So, taking good pictures was important for us.

2) supports wide screen recording and has 2MB CCD

3) For a HDD camera, I was surprised at the almost non-existent HDD noise. (I did not get any noise disturbance during zooming as some reviewers had mentioned)

4) Easy (as the digital camera) and fast USB2 downloads

Negatives:

1) In low light situations, the camera searched for focus for a few seconds. (But I understand that most of the video cameras do that.) It is annoying.

2) The camera needs to be mounted on its rechargable stand where the USB connection to the laptop is setup. Not a big issue, but if travelling without the base, you cannot download movies.

Overall a very nice camera to have.