Panasonic SV-AV20

*Originally posted on my old message board in Feb 2005. Copied here as it is popular.

Well, this is the story of how a Panasonic SV-AV20u was donated to me by someone with whom I have done a lot of computer work. The device is pretty cool as it will work as an mp3 player (sort of), video recorder (.asf), and audio recorder. It even has some good write-ups. The only real issues seem to stem for the SD Jukebox software and the use of the SD encryption technology.

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Charging System
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The CH-9007 Charging System is compatible with this device even though Panasonic tries to say only their charging unit works. eBay usually has some, but I found one for around $50 here:

http://www.batterysavings.com/site/1/product/5/194/16619/CH- 9007/1/a.aspx

One of the nice things about this unit is that it comes with both the a/c charging plug and the car adapter for the charging unit.

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USB Cable
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The USB cable is a  USB 2.0 to MINI USB 2.0 (5 Pin Format). These aren’t hard to find either. As a matter of fact Wal-Mart has them too.

http://www.mycableshop.com/sku/CUSB2-AM506.htm?x=22&y=9

*See below for the Lexar Jumpdrive Trio method of dealing with the files.*

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A/C Power Supply
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One of the issues with using the USB cable is that it will not respond until the SV-AV20 detects the A/C power supply. The until calls for a 4.7v DC input. I went to Radio Shack and purchased the 4.5V/1600mA AC-to-DC Power Adapter (part# 273-1760) which comes with a free “B” type plug. Connecting this unit works perfectly.

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SD-Jukebox, SD-MovieStage, and USB Drivers
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The fact that you cannot download the USB drivers nor the software from the US Panasonic website is crazy. There is nothing very proprietary about this software. It is simply a way for Panasonic to make their products more difficult or rape you of more money for something that should be easily accessible.

Originally, the Russian Panasonic site had the v3 downloads of the software. After I downloaded the software, and published the link, Panasonic yanked it down.

I have copies of the software so here are the links to them (at least until Panasonic threatens me):

www.smartergeek.com/files/PanasonicVoiceEditor3.zip

www.smartergeek.com/files/PanasonicSDJukeboxv4.zip

www.smartergeek.com/files/Panasonic_SV-AV20_USBDriver.zip

www.smartergeek.com/files/Panasonic_SD-MovieStage_and_USBDriver-SV-AV20.zip

www.smartergeek.com/files/Panasonic_SD-JukeboxV3_and_USBDriver-SV-AV20.zip

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Converting the .VM1 files
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I’ve found that using Awave Studio is the best and easiest method to convert the SV-AV20 .vm1 audio files to mp3. No, it’s not cheap to buy the software, but it works very easy. Make sure you copy the Lame encoder DLL to the Awave installed directory for mp3 output.

• Just put the SD card in your computer
• make sure hidden files are enabled in Windows
• copy the files to your computer
• start Awave and open the files to convert them

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Another Thread on AV-20
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http://www.petesipple.co.uk/panasonicbook.html

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Other Notes:
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I do have a PDF copy of the manual for the SV-AV20u. If you would like a copy, send me a private message on the board or email at rex (at) rexpage.com with Panasonic SV-AV20u in the subject (or the spam filters will get it).

I also purchased a Lexar Card Reader for SD/MMC/Memory Stick (USB thumb-drive type device) so that I could read the 64MB SanDisk SD Card on any computer. This device is compatible with Win98, 2k, and XP without the need for drivers. Now, I can access the device however I need. Moving the files from  the SV-AV20u is now simply a case of pulling out the SD card, inserting it into the Trio, plugging that into my USB port, and doing a little copy/pasting. Then I use my other methods described in this article to deal with the movies and voice recorded audio. In the future I may also purchase a larger SD card although I hate to spend money on DRM-type devices.

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Convert .asf to .mpg
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www.tmpgenc.net

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TMPGEnc converts *.AVI file to MPEG1, the format which is used in VideoCD. Using variety of option in TMPGEnc, you can compress your video file in high quality.

TMPGEnc enables us adjust bitrate, quantize matrix, GOP structure, Interlace and many other parameter so that you can create most appropriate movie file depends on your purpose.

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Since the .asf format is proprietary Microsoft and oddly enough it is patented, I highly recommend that you convert your videos out of this format as soon as you are able. Using TMPgenc, you can easily convert the .asf files to non-proprietary MPEG or AVI (non-compressed) which means they should be playable in any player including vCD’s, DVD’s, etc.

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Listen / Convert .vm1 files:
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A reply on [ this site ] gives a method for listening to .vm1 files. You can then record them using Audacity or whatever method.

Note: you will unfortunately need Microsoft Windows Media player for this method.

Download WMP: [ Click here ]

Download WMP Plugin
http://www.wmplugins.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=524

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Convert .wav to mp3 format:
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Well, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to do this in JukeBox or MovieStage or Voice Editor. The device saves your voice files in .vm1 format which is proprietary to Panasonic and requires the SD Voice Editor Software. Use Voice Editor to convert to .wav file. Then, simply use Audacity to convert to .mp3 or oog. Problem solved.

Link to Audacity (free and open source sound editor)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

You can read more by checking [ this article ].

You will also need to install the LAME encoder [ download here ] for mp3’s. This is easy to do. You will download and unzip the file. Then place the lame_enc.dll somewhere in your computer (I usually put mine in the c:\program files\audacity directory) and use the File…Preferences…File Format (tab) to locate the .dll.

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Final Conclusion:
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This is the most idiotic thing I have seen that tries to utilize some sort of DRM. I called Panasonic support, and from what I can research I can either (1) order the software from them or (2) purchase an SD card reader to work with the SanDisk 64MB SD card that I have. The only downside is that audio recordings are saved on the device in a proprietary format, the video is saved as .asf which is owned by Microsoft, and I will not be able to really utilize it as an alleged “mp3″ player.

Since it is really not an mp3 player anyway as it encodes the mp3’s on-the-fly to the device anyway plus I have an iPod, I was going to opt for the card reader until I finally found the software. However, I up buying the SD card reader anyway. Then I can at least access the jpg images and .asf video files. The video files can then be converted to whatever format I wish. It’s a little bit of a pain to convert the voice recorder audio, but not too bad. All in all for a donated piece of technology, it is not too bad.

Would I ever buy one? Hell no.