I bought the Camcorder with some hesitation knowing that this is Toshiba's first Hard Drive Camcorder and that they are not noted for making camcorders. My investigation indicated that it basically has Canon lens and optics with the Hard Drive from Toshiba. First some of the bad things that i have encountered:
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br /1. The camera has a focus problem. There is significant difficulty in getting the camera auto focusing especially in dim/low light. In daylight it is much better. Placing the focus to infinity helped a great deal.
br /2.Does not perform well in Low light, problem common to most Canon Camcorders. I recorded a Graduation Ceremony in a dimly lit hotel hall. With the bright light focused on the people the camera tends to produce too much white for the face. Adjusting the exposure helped somewhat but not very satisfactory.
br /3. The Hard Drive does get hot working it for some length of time and this places some discomfort on the hands. Not unbearable though.
br /4. There is indeed some Zoom lens noise picked up by the speaker when no other sound is present. This is however not a major discomfort.
br /5. Not too good quality stills in Low light dispite the flash. Everything looks too white.
br /6. Does not have a viewfinder. One has to rely on the screen. Thought that this would affect the battery life significantly but it did not.
br /7. Does not have an audio or Mic input port. This is a disadvantage for those wanting to record audio from a Mixer or other device.
br /8. The ACDSee software is really quite basic but gets the job done and a welcome for the novice.
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br /Good things
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br /1. Very well built. Fits the hand nicely. Good feel and weight.
br /2. Good Quality video in Outdoor lighting. I was indeed surprised at the accuracy of the colors.
br /3. Very easy to operate. Accessing the menu functions and features were really simple.
br /4. The output to DVD was very easy and fast. The included software is reasonable but has no editing features. DVD authoring is very limited. Tested importing a clip with Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 but it had difficulty in conforming the audio. Maybe i need an upgrade to Pro 2.0 to dealt with Dolby Digital.
br /5. The audio quality is surprisingly quite clean and very sensitive. Has three options to selecting the volume sensitivity.
br /6. The Battery life is excellent for such a small battery.
br /7. Very slim and Good Capacity hard drive.
br /8. No Tapes and limit to recording long events.
br /9. The included Cradle is very useful for charging and connecting to a the computer and network.
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br /With the price and features compared to the competition Sony's i believe that this is a good value for money buy. This is certainly version 1 stuff from Toshiba/Canon but i am sure that improvements are on the way. Since HHD camcorder are relatively new except for JVC, i believe that all the makers will be tweeking and improving on this new technology and as such no brand will have the ultimate at this time.
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br /For those willing to take the plunge into the HHD video world this is a good start.
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Initially, I was very pleased, until using it for a while. I noticed a white spec on the viewing screen. After carefully looking at it, it was a problem inside the lens, not a dead pixel, so the white spec showed up on all dark video and photos.
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br /Other Negatives:
br /-Terrible in low-light conditions. Camera Light it comes with is nearly useless as it can only pick up objects close up.
br /-Settings were very bad. If anyone complains all video comes out very white/bland looking, its because the default settings suck. You need to set it to Flourescent 1 or Flourescent 2. This adds a LOT more color. Also change the color setting to Vivid. You will see an amazing difference.
br /-Photos suck, but thats because its only 2megapixel, which is understandable.
br /-What I find to be extremely dumb design is that although it allows you to capture photos while recording video, it actually records the flicker of the photo being taken. In otherwords, you can be recording something nice, and want to take a photo. However, during playback, you will see the video flicker or 'black-out' for a second. I find this very annoying. And I would have to stop recording, take the photo, then start a new recording just to avoid this annoying flicker. Same thing with the pause recording feature. It allows u to pause recording if theresnothing interesting, but when it resumes, it does not make a smooth segway, instead u see the same black-out flicker that brings the two video together.
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br /-The batter power is displayed in three portions, White/Yellow/Red. White lasts about an hour, which I was pleased, I figured the other two portions must last somewhat the same. I was very wrong. Yellow lasted about 15-20 minutes and the red lated about 5-10 minutes. I was shocked. I couldn't believe how misleading that was.
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br /Pros:
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br /-Battery life was maybe 90 minutes. I don't believe I hit 2.5 hrs like some other online reviews claimed. Keep in mind, the White/Yellow/Red Battery LifeGauge is not proportional. White means fully charged. When it hits Yellow, it means about 15 minutes left, and Red means about 10 minutes left. So if u have a lot to record and your on Yellow, ur screwed.
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br /-Good Design, easy to use. I learned how to use most of it wihtout the instructional guide. I only used it to understand what the color settings meant, but that wasn't very helpful either - More of trial and error.
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br /-Video Quality, I guess is very good for the price.
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br /-You can record w/o the LCD screen flipped up. However, if u change ur mind and want to use the LCD screen to view, but then decide to close the LCD, it powers off. Therefore making it possible, but difficult and confusing to work with the LCD screen off.
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br /Overall:
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br /If it wasn't for the damn white spec inside the lens that show up in the video/photo, I would be very pleased and would keep it, but I am going to return it for that reason. Otherwise, I believe, for the low price, this is outstanding. Battery life of roughly 1.5 hours is good. Takes so-so quality photos - might as well bring along ur other digicam.
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br /But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that I dont have to mess around with miniDV's or miniDVD's (which I can imagine the amount of headache, buying, recording, transferring, editing, re-saving onto DVD would cause)
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br /I would reccommend this if you are on a budget. I also reccommend this because its SO EASY TO USE, imagine no miniDV or miniDVD's that have limited recording time. I damn near recorded 15 hours before i transferred to my laptop, which then recorded another 6 or so hours. It was sweet. However, after seeing the photo quality, I want to hold off until these come down in price and quality moves up!
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br /Cheers!

It's just fine.
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br /Pro: A zillion hours of storage, good-enough battery.
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br /Pro: It comes with a cradle.
br /Con: No other way to interface the harddrive to your computer, no quickie-cable.
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br /Pro: It uses a hard drive
br /Con: Using the MPEG 2 files in a video editor is hard. The included video editor is SUPER AWFUL, clicking on things results in MINUTES OF FROZEN COMPUTER. Terrible. Am converting videos myself to dv then editing in another app. Am looking at SpeedEDIT too.
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br /Pro: No hardware glitches.
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br /Pro: Comes with a remote. Can take flash photographs with it. Easy and quick on/off.
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br /Con: Its auto focusing is a bit indecisive. v1.0 firmware, japan has newer...Toshiba!!! You think you're focused, then it decides it wants to retry focusing. Much worse in the dark.
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br /Con: UI, while fancy, is tricky to get used to. The rotating wheel thing is fine, but the joystick in the middle of the wheel is a bit too easy to accidentally choose things. Clicking in any direction might bring up, via some swirly special effects, the flash-photograph mode, and the only way to get out of that mode is to press the same direction again, but if you didn't realize you pressed that direction in the first place because it's too-easy to accidentally choose the thing, then you have to futz with it or look at the screen to read the on-screen instruction of how to close that screen.
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br /Definitely worth $450. For $350 you get the 30GB one without the nifty cradle, a steal.
br /Pro: Sound quality even from the builtin mic is fabulous, spacious.

I have been very satisfied with the results I have gotten from this camera. I wanted something that would allow me to record business and training presentations indoors in moderately lit rooms. This does a great job and lets me record a full week of training (55 hours) without changing tapes or discs. I have also gotten what I think are excellent family shots.
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br /The 2 megapixel still photos are the best I have ever seen out of a camcorder. They are printable up to 8x10 or so.
br / I do not disagree with the previous reviewer who said the focus searches sometimes, and that you can hear the focus when sounds are low, but nearly all small cameras have this same issue. I am very pleased. A great buy at Amazon's price.

Terrific value, Intuitive features, simple file transfer and excellent software bundle make this a great average consumer video camera. Transferring movies right to DVD via PC is as simple as I've ever seen. Stability control is on the low end of effective and lighting conditions need to be reasonably bright for the picture to have full depth. That's not to say it doesn't video record OK in normal room lighting only that it is not as sensitive as say a Sony video camera (that costs 1/3rd more)

This is my 5th camcorder. Compare with vhsc, minidv, this one has best video quality, not to mention 30hrs tapeless storage capacity. I don't agree with the 1st reviewer on the focus, noise problems he/she reported. After using it for a week, I feel I should let others know the good thing about this camcorder. It defininately deserves a 5-star!

Toshiba Gigashot GSC-R60 60GB 2MP Hard Disc Drive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom
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br /I bought this camera four month ago and was satisfied with the purchase. Only thing that i did not like about this camcorder was that flash does not work properly and pictures or videos in the night are worthless.
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br /Couple of weeks ago, we found out that we have lost USB cable to move files from camcorder to pc and that's when our Nightmare started. TOSHIBA doesn't support this camcorders anymore. WHen you call customer service they will transfer you over to sales and parts department (only they never tolled me that it was a third party vendor, that does only refurbished unwarranty work)and to my astonishment they were rude and not very supportive to solve my problem. They did not have a USB cable and basicly said that i was out of luck!
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br /I will never buy toshiba products again! Because of this one cable i now have a nice camcorder that is useless to me. Think twice before purchasing Toshiba Gigashot camcorders.
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br /Hopefully this helps and you understand the risks of dealing with Toshiba products.

My fiance loves our new camcorder. The zoom works great on this camera, he was able to zoom up on our cats whiskers and see small details. It also works great as a camera. It is very lite weight and portable. The battery has lasted at least 8hours. The video quality once hooked up to a television is excellent. The memory is also huge, you can save quite a bit of video and pictures. The download from the camcorder to the computer was very easy. This is definately a great camcorder for the value.

11/1/06: In follow up to my first review on this unit, I received a replacement unit due to the focusing problem and the lens motor being recorded. It also had the exact same problem (in fact even louder).
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br /I really wanted to keep this camcorder, but I can't. Once you see the autofucus "hunting" and hear the autofocus motor during playback - even in outdoor settings with kids running around - you will understand. Who wants that distraction.
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br /I used this camera for the first time today. I shot several small video clips, then played them back on my TV. The first thing I noticed was that the camera does get a little warm after about 10 minutes of recording, and it happens right under your right hand. I believe it's where the hard drive is.
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br /There were two big disappointments:
br /1) It has a hard time holding its focus on close-ups. I filmed a person talking, and the camera seemed to have a hard time holding its focus, so it looked like the image would "twitch" for a second.
br /2) To me this was the worst part - during playback, you can actually hear the autofocus of the lens recorded onto the video. I guess the camera is so quiet without a tape motor that it actually picks up the autofocus motor. It was immediately distracting, especially given the "twitch" issue on #1 above.
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br /Overall, I really like the concept, and I really want to like the camera, as it has the most ergonomic postion to hold the camera of anything I've tried. But, I think version 1 of this camera from Toshiba might be a little too new. I think I'll check out what the competition has to offer.

Every camcorder has pro's and con's. Pro: small size, light weight but sturdy, articulated screen, easy PC transfer of video, good resolution under most lighting conditions indoors and out, surprisingly steady shooting when hand held. Con: no print manual (it's on a CD), no external microphone jack, though tiny mic does a good job, unit takes a little time to focus in indoor room light.
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br /This camera is perfect for casual family videos, and takes great footage indoors and outdoors. I've gotten some great footage of the deer in our yard as well as family events indoors. Many people do not recognize it as a camcorder which can be a plus with camera-shy family members at events. Battery time is good, and the HD storage is great!
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br /I captured several hours of irreplaceable family interviews that turned out quite well. It records in MPG format so you'll need a MPG editor like Cyberlink PowerDirector 6 to edit clips.
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br /Tip: take short clips and assemble - it's easier than cutting up a long clip into sections. That being said, let the camera roll at any family event and capture all the festivities. The articulated screen lets you shoot from some pretty awkward angles and still get great footage. It's a great value for the money.

This camera seems really nice for the few days that I've had it. However, I am returning it because it is not Apple compatible. I-movie cannot edit the mpeg-2 files the camera creates so all the images are not editable. You can only watch them on an apple computer if you purchase a quicktime upgrade from apple, but the third party work-around that allows you to convert the mpeg-2 file to mpeg-4 results in a totally unacceptable degradation of image quality. I believe the Sony hard disk cameras have the same problem.

I think the yukon's review on the focus and noisy problems was true. It can not hold focus on close-ups. And like Rajendra Bansi said in the review "There is indeed some Zoom lens noise picked up by the speaker when no other sound is present". Low light recoding is not good at all.
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br /Other things are very good.

I like the item, however, although they showed up available on the Amazon site, they were not to be found.

I'm looking for a HDD camcorder. The choices are this one, JVC or Sony.
br /The Toshiba seems to have more functions and more storage than the others.
br /This camera has also received very good reviews on Amazon. Better than JVC or Sony.
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br /The quesiton is: Why is no other major retailer selling it?
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br /Is it discontinued? Does anyone know?
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br /I love this product but are hesitant to order one.