Panasonic Full HD Video Camera Camcorder HC-V770, 20X Optical Zoom, 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor, HDR Capture, Wi-Fi Smartphone Multi Scene Video Recording (Black)

I purchased this HC-V770 at 2016. It is still running great.Video:It is at low ambient light that this camcorder shines. I can have a crystal clear video shot on the performers at the last row of the stage from the last row of a music hall.The manual functionality is fantastic. When auto zoom from afar has difficulty to focus on my kid with a large group of students performing on a stage, the manual functionality can do the focus every time. It will need to go through the user manual though to get used to the manual operation though.Audio:The recorded audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround sound, a rarity in consumer grade camcorder. You would need a headphone of 5.1 channel or above to enjoy the full audio effect.The battery:A caveat: it still drain small amount of battery when the camcorder is turned off.I take off the battery when not using the camcorder. After so many years, the battery still runs great.I/O:It has plenty of ports to hook up with other devices like PC and TV. There is no problem in transferring contents or viewing them on another screen.The WiFi functionality:It is a gimmick. Good luck with that.This is a fantastic camcorder. Its video capability and audio quality far exceeds the highest end of mobile phones currently on the market. My recommendation is: if you can, go and get it.

This is an awesome camcorder. For those thinking they need a 4K camcorder look on YouTube for 4K vs 1080 HD comparisons. Specifically check out LinusTechTips "4K is it worth it" and you'll learn that unless you want to do extreme cropping in post-production editing, shooting in 4K has basically zero benefit even if when you upload in 4K. Video shot in 1080 and unconverted to 4K before uploading looks identical to video shot in 4K even when viewed on a 4K monitor. The reason is simple. 4K video has to be compressed more to make it practical.This camera has a much bigger sensor than most 1080 consumer and even "prosumer" camcorders. That gives it a huge advantage both in low light as well as depth of field and bokeh (the ability to selectively blur the back ground). That combined with great auto focus, great image stabilization, and a mature feature set, set it apart from anything in this price. Search on the model number and "low light" on YouTube for examples of how it blows away anything under a thousand bucks in low light including 4K cameras.For a given sensor size adding more pixels generally means less light per pixel and significantly more noise in low light. So, for the same size sensor, a 1080 camera can outperform a 4K camera and that's the case here. Consider also a 4K camera results in much bigger file sizes unless you compress the image further. With similar file sizes 4K has little if any benefit over 1080. And at maximum quality the file sizes of 4K are enormous resulting in very slow transfer times, much more cumbersome editing, and much longer rendering. All for basically no benefit unless you're going to view the native 4K video on a very large (70+ inch) native 4K TV and even then the V770 will likely win in lower light.The only potential negative here is battery life. A larger batter is available. But, for the performance, it's a worthwhile trade off. I also have a similarly priced Canon HD camcorder and this simply blows the Canon away in any circumstance but especially in lower light. The Canon's sensor is about half the size of the V770s and that makes a massive difference. Get this camcorder before Panasonic stops making it or they ruin a good thing with whatever replaces it (which will likely be 4K and inferior).

I only used the camera for 2 days but here is my first opinion: the video quality is extremely good. I took some video sample by using all the available recording formats and in my opinion it records best in avchd mode, 1080p. You can use 5.1 sound only with this video format. Recording in mp4 only allows 2ch sound. If there is quiet in the room, you will here a background noise (some kind of white noise, like a fan) but when you record actual sound that background noise is gone. Compression is very good in avchd mode: 1 minute of video is about 90 mb (1080p). In mp4 is about 350 mb. When you take pictures while recording, the maximum size of the picture will be 12megapixels but when switching to photo mode you can take pictures at 24megapixels. Picture quality is awesome. I noticed a problem with the focus when moving the camera to fast but you get a warning on the screen that you are moving too fast. In low light conditions, if you record a screen, it changes the colors (example: purple is recorded as blue) - i used auto mode all the time. Also, when using the zoom, if you go to the max value, everything will be blurry and you will have to zoom out a little bit to have the subject clear again. All my tests where in good light conditions. I tried shooting outside during the night but i did not get great results. Because I only tried for 2 minutes during the night i cannot provide an educated opinion yet. You cannot use the menu with the buttons of the camera, only by touching the lcd screen. I am satisfied with the purchase. I will try to shoot some videos soon and upload them on youtube. If any future customer is intersted in seeing some video samples just leave a message and I will provide you with the link.Later edit: after using the camera for a few days i found out some issues. First of all, night pictures aree terrible. I tried taking a picture of seattle at night and in automode the grain is terrible. There is a setting to turn off the light but it keeps turning on in both auto and manual modes. This flash light is not in sync with the camera button, more exactly, you press the button, the light turns on for a fraction of a second, it turns off then the camera takes the picture. So the flashlight is useless in this case, even if it starts after it was turned off completely. I know this is a video cam but if you include still pictures capabilities i will review them.Also, try to check the price regularly. It fluctuates a lot, even with $100 up or down.