Summary: Very Disappointed

Comment: There was a great review written up above that listed everything you really need to know (the first one that had a series of titles and then review). But I belive they gave too many stars and was too positive about this cam.

This is not a very user-friendly camcorder. The MANUAL MUST be read over and over. It has so many steps to just do one action that by the time you have re-read the manual and adjusted the camcorder the shot is over with. Quality of pics and such was very poor once sent to the computer. The large screen wasn't much good in lighted scenes. I was forced to use the small lense to see what I was recording.

I do not recommend this camcorder unless you are not picky about quality and have a photographic memory to remember how to work the camcorder.

Summary: A Pleasure to Use

Comment: The Samsung SCD107 offers average-to-good video quality in a flexible, feature-laden package. If you are looking at camcorders south of $400, read on. Good engineering and rational design tradeoffs make this more than the sum of what came out of the parts bin.

PICTURE QUALITY
You can find better video quality (especially by paying a couple of hundred dollars more), but most people will find the picture satisfactory. If your research thus far has taken you deeply into the world of pixels, scan lines, VGA vs. XGA, and CCD numbers, this won't get on your short list on picture quality alone. That said, the camera works particularly well in low-light situations, and there is a "NITE PIX" feature for very low-light applications.

The "Digital Image Stabilizer" feature doesn't do much - if you have shaky hands, you should try a tripod (usually not a bad idea anyway). There is no manual focus, though you probably won't miss this because the auto-focus works so well. The 20X zoom is plenty, and the 900X digital zoom is overkill - the limiting factor is resolution, so don't expect to see footprints on the moon.

SCREEN
The first thing comparison shoppers notice is that the 3.5-inch color TFT LCD screen is bigger than most in this price range. This helps you frame a shot, gauge picture quality, and review just-taken film, all advantages over tiny screens. It is bright, clear, and rotates through 270 degrees (not 210 as stated in the supplemental info above). The color LCD viewfinder reproduces on-screen info and is a useful way to conserve battery power in the field.

EASE OF USE
Using the camera for the first time is fairly straightforward, even for the non-technical. The most commonly used controls are top-mounted (zoom, camera shutter control, NITE PIX feature on/off, slow shutter), where you would expect them. Other controls are located thumb-side or flush behind the LCD screen.

Getting more than the basics from the camera requires a steeper learning curve, as you must navigate through acronym-rich menus and sub-menus. Even if you pride yourself on NEVER reading instruction manuals, a word to the wise: Pick up the manual. Open it. Read it. If you don't, you will miss some non-obvious functions and features you're paying for. This may seem worse than, say, stopping to ask for directions while driving, but tough it out.

BATTERY
The lithium ion battery pack included gives you 90 minutes of continuous recording time with the fold-out LCD screen, or 120 minutes using the viewfinder. It takes two hours to charge. You might want a second one of these, or even the upgrade battery (SB-LS220), which goes 190 minutes with screen, 250 minutes with viewfinder, and takes 3 and a half hours to charge. A red LED on the camera blinks to let you know how charging is progressing (e.g. one blink/second means less than 50% charged; three blinks/second = 75%-90% charged), which is a nice touch.

RECORDING MEDIA
There are two ways to record moving pictures: Onto Mini DV tapes (60 or 90 minutes on a DVM60), or onto a memory card (SD/MMC or Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO). Using the memory card in this way has huge limitations; you are better off just using the tapes and saving the memory card for still pictures.

STILL PICTURES
You can use the SCD107 in still camera mode for casual snapshots, but it is not a replacement for a multi-megapixel digital camera. The 512MB SD ("Secure Digital") card I bought separately holds 2,997 stills in "super fine" mode and a truly absurd 9,000 in low-rez "normal" mode. Stick with super fine.

AUDIO RECORDING
Audio recording quality is excellent through the built-in top-mounted stereo condenser microphone. Many built-in microphones pick up mechanical noise from the tape mechanism, but I didn't notice any, even in quiet settings. Use the money you might spend on an accessory microphone and get a tripod or a memory card instead.

MISC
The remote control is useful, but much more directional than a typical TV remote. It won't work unless you aim it right at the camera - maybe it just likes to be seen in your group photos.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
If you need the sharpest picture available, you should probably spend $200 more. There are necessarily tradeoffs at this price range. However, if you just want a well-rounded, feature-filled camera that is a pleasure to use, by all means consider the SCD107.

Summary: Funky color, grainy pictures

Comment: I'm not sure how people are giving this camera 4 and 5 star reviews but I was sadly disappointed with it.

The only reasons I'm giving it the two stars are: 1. The screen size and 2. The price.

I own a Samsung TV and DVD player and have found them both to be excellent values for the money so I decided to ignore the negative reviews that I had seen and pick it up anyway.

The picture looks great on the LCD screen assuming that you're at a good angle to view it but as soon as you put it on a tv or pc you will see the lack of image quality. The manual was poorly written especially in regard to transferring video via the Firewire/IEEE 1394 connection. The software it came with doesn't suppport the Firewire though it doesn't mention this at all in the camera manual. Also the camera's driver isn't verified for Windows XP. When I hooked it up via the USB the camera was dropped from the device list after about a minute due to driver.

After much hassle I returned it to the retailer that I bought it from who was nice enough to waive their 15% restock fee specific to camcorders and similar items so that I may purchase a Sony DCR-HC30 which I am much happier with. The store mananger explained to me that they had complaints from at least 5 other people with the same problem.

Some other things to note:
The SC-D107 has one of the biggest screens out there but also one of the smallest viewing angles.
It has one of the largest optical zooms for the price, which isn't much good if the recording quality is low.
Lastly, it has one of the largest digital zooms out there(900x), again useless because anything past about 100x is so grainy that you can't tell what you're looking at (you'll note that Sony doesn't make a camera with greater than 120x digital.)

Try to avoid this one if you can afford something better.

Summary: best camcorder ever

Comment: if you went onto [...] and looked this camcorder up it says that it is one of the worst camcorders ever, well i am never looking on that website again because it is all lies. i got this cam for christmas and i really like it, i think it is one of the best camcorders that u can buy, it has cool features, nice zoom, a 3.5 lcd screen (really good), it is a small camcorder, and it has night pix (night vision). many other reviews complain about the color not turning out, well, you can adjust the color so it matches, duh!, you may be thinking "oh this is just a kids review, dont listen to it" but trust me i have been getting information on this camcorder for a year and know what im talking about. if you are planning on getting a good camcorder for a good price, try this one.

Summary: Great LCD display but disappointing recording quality

Comment: I bought this camera about six months ago (June 04) for $429.00 and have used it extensively both outdoors and indoors.
I looked at many cameras in the $450 price range with similar features. The one thing that stood out on this camera was the 3.5" LCD display. It was so much easier to frame a scene with this than with the 2.5" display on competing models that I decided to buy the Samsung.
I found it easy and comfortable to use; the electronic stablisation works very well; the battery life is fine for recording a single 60min tape. Playing back recordings on the LCD screen is a pleasure. The image looks great and the sound is clearly audible on the builtin speaker. I was initially very happy with my purchase.
Imagine my disappointment then, when I got home and played back the recording on my TV - it was no better than my old analog Canon ES50. At first, I was sure I had hooked it up incorrectly. But alas no: I was correctly using the s-video connection.
Not willing to lose faith, I then hooked it up to my PC using a 4-to-6 pin firewire cable (purchased separately). Well, the picure looked fine in a small window but soon as I went full screen it was pretty grainy and pixalated. It's not even VGA quality.
My number one reason for buying a DV camera was to get a sharper picture than with my analog camcorder. I'm afraid I made the wrong choice and, despite some nice features, I cannot recommend this camera because of the disappointing picture quality. Incidentally, I notice that the specifications page in the manual says nothing about lines of resolution and the size of the CCD (according to camcorderinfo.com it is 1/6").