My panasonic NV-GS17 not working as web cam.what I can do for use this.

Very disappointed. I always used to buy Panasonic goods, purely for value for money.

With the Panasonic NV-GS17 it's impossible to transfer video on your PC. No connection to view it on TV included as well. Everyone complaints about the USB connection not working but Panasonic does not care. I am not going to re-build my comp in order to use their stupid camcorder!!!

Very disappointing, plan to sell mine and get a different one. Don't buy one, waste of money!

The Panasonic NV-GS17 is my first digital camcorder. I wanted a very small and light unit that was fit for a novice. The Panasonic unit fits the bill. Mini DV means that the unit is very light and small. It's much smaller than the Sony units because Mini DV cassettes allow for smaller machines than the Sony system. It has a great colour screen which rotates by 180 degrees. Controls are easy to use and the functions are useful. There's auto stuff, but you can override this with manual control if you want to (autofocus etc). It also takes still photos. Pictures and movie clips are of good quality.

People write that they are disappointed that there is no USB / Firewire cable supplied or software shipped with the unit, but that's the deal when you're paying £185. No problem though. Windows XP can handle this unit without extra drivers, and you should have MS MovieMaker preinstalled. It offers basic video capture and editing, which is fine for me as I don't want to spend my life producing films from my clips, but I do like to dabble.

Don't bother with a USB 2.0 cable if you have a Firewire port. Firewire is much faster and allows the PC MovieMaker software to control the camcorder. Some folk say that the USB is slow, and some have problems with dropping frames and quality. A Firewire cable costs about £8 from Amazon, so why complain that Panasonic don't ship one?

To use your laptop or PC you need to make sure that your hardware is meaty enough. That's true of any Camcorder, so recognise that the problem may not be the Camcorder but your PC or laptop. You need plenty of RAM, a fast enough processor, and a decent amount of free hard-disk storage space for your clips (it may be best to ship completed films onto a CD-ROM or external drive to reduce the demand on your computer's memory storage). The movie clips are heavy files to transfer, process and store, so using a budget or old PC / laptop may be asking too much. But you can still transfer your clips to a VCR tape without difficulty and bypass that older PC!

Panasonic do supply a charger unit, AC adaptor and entry-level battery (you can upgrade and buy another heavier battery unit). A cable for shipping your clips to view on TV and copying straight to VCR tape is supplied as well.

A nice carry case from Currys for £19.99 holds everything and you're away. And all for a bargain price.

There's a new unit out now offering 30x optical zoom for around £250. So my unit is a run-off model, although it looks identical to the new one. That's why suppliers are offering great deals if you shop around.

Overall, it is a fine and solid basic camcorder with great looks, good build quality, a fine brand name and very small dimensions / weight. For the price there is nothing better!

Like everyone, I like to have the best I can afford, often going for a high ticket price item, just because I can afford it. This said, over the past 18 months or so, I have found myself owning various Panasonic products, firstly I bought a 32" TV which I just loved the quality of, then on researching the web for a digital SLR type camera, I bought a Panasonic FZ20 and was even further blown away by the quality of Panasonics products. Recently I bought a DVD recorder. Yeah, you've guessed it, a Panasonic. So I am just so full of confidence, that there had to be only one choice for the camcorder, yes Panasonic. Now I dont know about you, but I am not going to use this thing everyday, just on special occasions, or perhaps on holidays, so for once in my life, I decided I would go for the end result rather than spend loads of dosh on something that spends most of its life in a cupboard. Well, did I make the right decision, thats for sure, as this little gem delivers everything you could possibly want and I dont feel robbed everytime I pick it up, quite the opposite I feel good that I went for the end result, for if you play the results of this camera on your TV, I challenge anyone to tell you how much the camera that produced them cost. If you have the cash for an expensive camcorder, by all means go and buy one, but if you want to be Mr Smart, remember it's the end result (what you watch on your TV) that you are paying for, not what you are holding in your hand. Let Mr Gadget blow his cash on some flash thing, whilst you know when he gets home, he just isnt going to get anything like the value you have. So thats my advice, you know all Panasonic stuff is quality and at the price this is well its a steal.

I have just bought a Panasonic NV-GS17 digital camcorder. It is a pity there was no software or drivers for NV-GS17, and there wasn't a USB cable with it either.

I went online looking for drivers, and I found a lot of people were having difficulties finding them; so I thought I would leave a review to help.
You can download drivers and software here:
http://parceiros.panasonic-sonicel.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=415