do not use the software that came with the av100, instead, at the end of the shoot, just plug the digital wallet into your pc via the usb cable, where it appears as just another hard drive... copy the .mod files onto your local hard drive, and rename them as .mpg's... there is nothing to convert, and you can burn the .mpg's directly to dvd.

the av100 is a bit difficult to handle because of the small size, and no tripod mount hole, but surprisingly, it has options for manual controls, and it even has digital image stabilization... along with the mpeg2 recording, you can't get all those features in any other camera on the market today.

improvements i'd like to see would include a bigger ccd pickup, this isn't a camera you get for shooting stills or for shooting video in low light... it's built to serve as a video camera, get a cheap digital still camera if still shots is what you want... the current crop of these types of cameras proves that trying to combine both video and still functions into one camera will result in too many compromises of either one or both functions.

AV-100 is AWSOME (Rating: 4.00)
Review : I just bought this camera. Let me tell you that it is better than I was expecting. The picture qualaty of the mpeg2 fine video setting is noticably better than my sony Hi-8 camcorder, although it is not as good as most mini dv camcorders. It's got tons of features. The audio is also great. I thought it wouldn't be, scince the mic is on the backside of the camera, but it turns out it picks up evrything just fine. (In the first day i shot some great vids of my dog). There are a few problems, but they are not too serious. One of coarse, is the SD card capacity. Now for me, this is not that big of a deal because I bought this camera so i could have it everywhere and get short videos. Another problem is the battery life. It lasts about 40 minutes(I am going to buy an extra to have with me at all times). Also, a problem is that it doesn't have a flash, although that is also not a big deal because if you want a high quality picture, get a DIGITAL CAMERA, not an mpeg2 video recorder. Even without the flash though, the pictures are not bad. Finally, it's the darn .mod files and the software. The software that pannasonic provides does absolutly nothing. The .mod files are very annoying because you have to rename them to .jpeg, which can cause some problems (in the quality). Overall, this camera is SPECTACULAR for what it is supposed to do. I love it. Also, i got it for 675.
Now i'm just waiting for the 5 gig sd card to come out. Thats 100 min of superfine vid!

COOL Right Out Of The Box!!!!!! (Rating: 3.00)
Review : I am redoing my review. I love this. I got my 20 minutes in Mpeg 2 mode and I know for sure because I timed it. That girl above has the right idea, already making movies to computer.
GO GIRL!!!! I paid a whopping $1000.00 for mine and I think the price on Amazon is very good for this unique cam with awesome picture quality. I was using the zoom too when I got my 20 minutes. Now 3 stars because mine has very bad volume and I can not believe no one else mentioned it so I may have a defect. My replacement time may be up and I sure hope not because I would want a replacement because it is so convienient. I do love the size so you can take it anywhere. Again the picture quality is almost overwhelmingly fantastic!I sure hope I can get a replacement because the volume turned all the way up and I have to literally put my ear to the speaker to hear regular talking volume. I am going to go to the above web site the guy put in so nice of him to see what tips ,tricks,. ect. It is as fun as it is small. Please contact me if you have an answer to my volume issue.I really love this so much and need to do what that reviewer is with her movies already. I just purchased a Lexar card reader and I think they have one on Amazon that will answer her download problem. One for SD card. Anyway I think this is the most unique thing I have ever purchased and I was sceptical until that big smile came on my face when I opened the box and I love the little charger /holder cradle too.Sincerely, Josie Ryder
Lovin every minute of it. Just got to figure out the volume problem and then for it's quality images and convienince I would add a couple of stars.Please contact me if any of you have this problem please. Thanks.Very COOL Though! JosieRyder@aol.com

What were they thinking? (Rating: 1.00)
Review : Here's a nice piece of hardware that was sabotaged by Panasonic's software division. It's hard to believe that,in this era of video file type proliferation, Panasonic could have produced MPEG2 files that are incompatable with practically all video editing software on the market. Panasonic provides a conversion and editing program called "MediaStage". It's practically worthless. It's simultaneously elementary and obscure. If you are comfortable with MS Windows and then open MediaStage to run the program, you'll be stunned at how disconnected software developers can be with users. The only conversion available for MPEG2 files (in .MOD and .MOI format, no less) is to MPEG4 or to WMV. What a pity.
Maybe one of these days some software developer will produce some decent software that can edit these strange d-snap files.
I asked Panasonic, but they couldn't recommend any software to me. The joke's on me.