Panasonic PV-GS80 MiniDV Camcorder with 32x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I've had this camera for a couple years now and have enjoyed it's video and audio quality as well as its compact size.

The worst part about this camera comes when you try to transfer video to a computer. Yes, it does have firewire capability, but for some stupid reason, the firewire port is located beneath where the battery is put in. This means you can't transfer video while keeping the battery plugged in. You have to plug the camera into the AC at the same time while you transfer video to a computer. In fact, the AC adapter is located in the battery charger. This is the reason that a lot of my footage has never made it to my computer. For me, the process is tedious and has become my only gripe about the camera.

I'm sure the reason that they designed the camera like this was so that you can't transfer video without purchasing the brand-name panasonic battery charger. I tried to go around this by buying a generic battery charger only to find that it would've serve the function of an AC adapter.

Bottom line, if you're going to be transferring a lot of video to your computer, don't get anything from this line of panasonic cameras. Always do a full check on a camera before you buy it for silly features like this, which will make transferring video an arduous process. I would even go so far as to say that this camera is a COMPLETE PIECE OF CRAP for this reason... that is a small extent of the frustration that this camera has given me.

So far this has been awesome for videoing our little one and all the new things he does! It is so lightweight and can go anywhere. The quality is great and I have already made DVDs for the grandparents.

I have bought a pv gs80 and Iam having a hard time transfering my videos to my lap top . I have a sony vaio lap top vgn aw110j fully equipped , with a windows 64 bit operating system .
I use a firewire connection to get the camera connected to the lap top and I have no problems having the lap top recognizing the camera , although everytime I try to start trasnfering videos from the cam to the lap top , the computer goes to a BLUE screen and crashes , I already called sony and panasonic but no ones seems to know a solution for my problem .
I already tried using every single sofware that came with the comp , like windows movie maker , windows photo gallery , click to disc ,....you name it i tried but no sucess , it crashes everytime and goes to a blue screen filled with words but not really an explanation for it
Did anybody experience the same problem ?
by reading the manual that came with the camera , I noticed that this camera is not compatible with windows vista operating system , although I have read here that many people do use windows vista with this cam .
any help would be appreciated
thanks in advance

Bought this camera after several other mishaps (recalls, left in rain, drops, etc.) with other cameras. It is well worth the money and better than the other cameras I paid twice as much for. In quick summary,
good basic features (can take out of box and use)
great stabilization and picture quality
more advanced features if you want to learn them
most switches or buttons are manual (making the electronic probs less)
rec button recs when pressed (no hesitation or waiting for discs to load)
in short, I love this camera
I have tried the old vhs (were very good until they stopped making them) and also the mini-dvd (which in my opinion suck due to loading time, jumps, the littlest shake messes them up, and certain discs are made cheaper and wont't work in some cameras...not to mention they have short record times)
buy this camera and you'll be set.
p.s. I hope they don't stop making quality stuff like this due to the fact they will not sell as many as when manufacturers build cheap units.

great camera for backup and even to use as a second camera at weddings or events. the quality is there even if it's too small to use as a main camera.