JVC GZ-HD620 120 GB High Definition HDD Camcorder

Great Camera Great Price

Having researched a bit about buying a High Def Camcorder these last two weeks I made the decision to go for HD620 and on the whole I certainly don't regret it.

Having said that I've only had the camera for a few hours now so my 'review' isn't a fully fledged full review at all but more with first impressions.



One thing I would like to share before I list any negatives is this..

I set up the camcorder on a tripod and zoomed in to some plants down at ground level far below my 6th floor apartment then set it to record (on UXP mode). After a minute or so of recording I plugged it into my HDTV and I was totally blown away at the level of details on this HD picture I could see ants walking up the plants and flies near by and this must be close to 80-100 metres away.. WOW!!! On this basis alone I felt justified in my purchase.



I've yet to test it properly but first impressions are looking very favorable.. So why only the 4 stars..

The Negatives..

- For me (others may not have issues) I find the scroll bar and the button presses a little fiddly it may take some getting used to but I find myself scrolling right past the menu item I want very easily.

-Lack of separate charger.. You charge the battery by having the battery on the camcorder and then the power cord plugs into the camcorder. I would prefer having a separate battery charger - they are an optional extra but it would be good if they were included as standard.

-Software doesn't work on a Mac. I pushed in the JVC disc but noticed all the files were for windows. Not too fussed as I would be using Adobe Premiere anyway. But still I wanted to check out the software.



Ok 3 negatives but honestly they are only small things. Overall for the price I don't think you can go too far wrong purchasing this camcorder.More detail ...

JVC GZ-MG750 80 GB HDD Camcorder

Excellent camcorder at a great price!

This is a wonderful compact camcorder for filming family and sporting events. I prevously had a Sony handcam which uses DV tapes but it finally broke down after 10+ years. This JVC camcorder is about 1/4 the size and weight of my previous one so it's handy to put into my purse. I also looked at the new Sony handycams but I was not impressed by their image stabilization. The JVC camcorders were much better. The controls are pretty easy to operate. I read the manual front to back but I was able to show my husband how to use the basic controls in 5 minutes. He probably could have figured it out himself since it's fairly intuitive. I like how the camcorder turns on automatically when you open the screen. We tape our daughter's gymnastic competitions so the 45X zoom is fantastic since the equipment is usually far from the spectators. The zoom button is a little hard to operate with your right finger since it's also holding the camcorder but you can also zoom using the screen. The picture quality is fine if you want better you might want to get the HD version. For the price it's definitely a good buy.



The only disappointment for me is that JVC camcorders output in their proprietary .MOD format which is not readable on my old MAC 10.4x Tiger OS. I found a s/w program that supposedly converts various formats that the MAC can read but the output resolution was awful. I ended up using the JVC supplied Pixela s/w to create a DVD that I can play on the TV. The Pixela s/w is OK and you have to do some reading in order to figure out what you want to do but it does the job. I wish I can use iMovie on the MAC since it has more features and is easier to use.More detail ...

JVC GZ-MS230 Camcorder (Red)

Only JVC for camcorders

Back when camcorders were huge JVC was always a brand I could rely on. My daughter even dropped the one we had from about four feet up onto solid asphalt - it still worked.



Five years ago I made a switch to Sony. It lasted a year and a half. Next I tried Canon. Also a year and a half. I went back to JVC two years ago with the purchase of an Everio MG-330 hard disk camcorder. It's been a wonderful little camcorder. Reliable lightweight and the images are crystal clear. In the future I would only consider the JVC brand when it comes to camcorders.More detail ...

JVC GZ-MS230 Camcorder (Black)

Just hat to put it down

Just too msny ways to enjoy this camera. Weighing in at 8ounces it's extremely easy to handle. One great thing... NO TAPES!!! This is my first tape free video camera. The firt feature I used was the time-lapse recording of me laying track for my railroad. The advanced stablization is awsome. I am rather unsteady from my disability. You'd never know that from the videos. Even from a moving car.



My only complaint is the supplied software implies some editing abilities. Only one. String clips together. The manual that describes the SW is not current with theactual software.



If you want a lightweight easy to use affordable camera then this is it. If you wantto edit you vidoes for DVDs to share get a decent editing package. Personally I use Pinnacle.



More details in a later review.More detail ...

JVC GZ-HM550 High Definition Camcorder

Very good video quality great price great features

I've had this camcorder for about a week now and so far I am pretty happy with it. The one thing that really strikes me as odd is selling a HD camcorder but not including a HDMI cable in the bundle...? Playback of the footage recorded on a full HD tv via RCA or even component cables isn't going to result in good picture quality. My mini-HDMI cable should be delivered in the next day or so and then I'll be able to really evaluate the video. So far the video looks much better on my computer monitor than it does on my 52" 1080P LCD TV.



Also the camcorder ships with the video quality set to XP instead of the highest quality UXP. When setting quality to UXP it gives a warning that UXP video files can only be written to Blu-Ray which of course makes sense. However the bundled software will automatically downgrade the UXP video files to XP quality if you want to write to DVD and then you'll still have the higher quality UXP for future use. Seems odd to not record in the highest quality as you can always downgrade the footage but you'll never upconvert to true full HD quality if recording at lower quality.



So far I am not impressed with the photo quality of still images but I haven't played around with the settings much yet. The handful of stills that I've taken have turned out grainy and dark. In dedicated image mode you can take 9MP stills while when taking snapshots in video mode you are limited to 5MP. So far I think all of my stills were taken in video mode.



The camera has some great features that I've not yet played with nor am I sure I ever will. The time lapse is a great feature but unless there's a spectacular sunset or something I'm not sure I'll have much use for it. Same for the auto record feature interesting to have but what are the practical applications? I suppose I could set it up and see how often my dog moves around during the day when we're not home. One thing with both of these modes is that the LCD must remain open if you close the LCD the camera shuts off completely.



The battery that comes with the unit doesn't last very long - roughly 45 minutes. the built in memory can hold about 2.5 hours worth of video at UXP quality so the battery is by far the limiting factor in your usage. If the video via HDMI turns out to be as good as I hope I'll be investing in a higher capacity battery and a stand alone charger. Out of the box the battery only charges when the power cord is plugged into the camcorder itself.



The software included is very easy to use and has some neat organization methods of displaying video files in a calendar layout by month day and hour which it makes it easy to locate your files.



The software has options for converting the video to a number of different media and file types. You can write the files to Blu-Ray DVD and AVCHD disc (DVD media). It also has the ability to convert video for upload to You Tube iTunes and can also convert to .wmv for use on computers and upload to other sites such as Facebook. The conversion process lets you choose the video size you want and at least on my PC was pretty quick to process.



I'll try to update this review after I am able to test the video via HDMI and use more of the features.



UPDATE 3/24/2010: Recorded a school concert last night and the battery lasted for 1.5 hours of nearly constant recording. This was much better than the capacity I noticed earlier when recording 5 or 10 minute segments spread out over a couple of days.



UPDATE 3/28/2010: Video quality via a Category 2 mini-HDMI cable is much better than via the cables included with the camcorder. My TV indicates a full 1920x1080 video resolution although it doesn't indicate if it is 1080i or 1080p. The box indicates that the camcorder has full 1080p output but I can't verify that for sure.



I've had a chance to take some more still images both in video and in the dedicated photo mode. Given the right lighting images in both modes are usable. Images taken in dedicated photo mode are of higher quality which is to be expected since they are 9MP images instead of the ~5MP images you get in video mode.



All in all I'm more satisfied with camcorder now then I was when I initially posted this review. I'd rate it at 4 1/2 stars if possible.More detail ...

JVC GZ-HD500 80 GB High Definition HDD Camcorder

GZHD500 (good if you find it for $400 or less)

Cons:

Any photo shot (it is have 2 Megapixels) inside is extremely grainy even in the daytime.



Recording longer than 23 minutes it is breaks into 23 minute segments.



Its a good camera if you are using it outdoors. This cannot be used

in doors even with bright lights. The video is dark and granny.



The "laser touch" feature looks cool but actually using it is awful. It's really nothing more than an up / down slider that glows blue and is terribly inaccurate.



Not have light no remote control.



The battery life is poor.



Not have a menu setting to get out the words in the display.



The snapshot and zoom buttons are a little uncomfortable.



The software is very poor.



Pros:

Full HD 1920x1080 Recording videos (outside only)

HDMI out put port is 1080p.

HDMI® (V.1.3 with x.v.Color(tm))

24Mbps High Bit Rate Recording

Advanced Image Stabilizer

20x optical zoom.

The camera size is comfortable unless you have a great hand.

Advanced Image Stabilizer

1.37 Megapixel CMOS Sensor

24Mbps High Bit Rate Recording

Konica Minolta HD Lens

80GB Built-in HDD

micro SD/SDHC Card Slot





Recommendations:

Use UXP resolution option always.

Use a category 2 HDMI cable always.



For full specs visit: [...]More detail ...

JVC Everio GZ-HM200 Dual SD High-Def Camcorder (Black)

Plug and play HD for this Mac user

It's been a number of years since I had a camcorder. It was a tape unit and after the initial infatuation with the new toy I found that I never used it. Recording was a chore (juggling tapes and batteries) uploading was tedious and the quality wasn't all that good. For quick ad hoc recordings my various digital still cameras could grab a few seconds of good-enough video. The camcorder disappeared from my life.



A few years later things have really changed. I received the Everio GZ-HM200 snapped in a couple of 8GB SD cards charged the battery and I was ready to go. We took a day trip to Mount Rainier; the weather was perfect and I took a lot of video of photogenic glaciers and waterfalls.



When I got home I wanted to upload the video into my computer. The Everio comes with software for Windows PCs and Mac users are hardly mentioned in the documentation. I had searched the various on-line discussions of Mac video and there were many cautionary tales about compatibility issues with the Everios. I anticipated problems.



I was wrong. I connected the USB cable to my Mac Mini started iMovie (part of iLife '09) and opened up the camcorder. The USB menu opened and I chose the "Upload" option. iMovie detected the camera asked me a few questions (video quality destination whether to check for stabilization issues) and then imported the video clips. It was trivially easy - just the way I like it.



The Everio has a "Snapshot" mode to take still images and I had tried it out. This meant that while I was working with iMovie iPhoto also started up and offered to import the photos I'd taken. My verdict: it's OK for casual 1x use but no substitute for a real digital camera. The problem is that the Everio's autostabilization mode only works for video not for still images. This meant that a couple of 20x zoomed images while impressively magnified were hopelessly blurred. I'll stick with my Panasonic DMC-TZ4 for the still shots.



The JVC Everio is a tremendous little camera: compact easy light and producing excellent HD video. (Yes my Mac Mini feels a little underpowered for working with this.) The dual slot SD card design is excellent; the camera will automatically switch from one card to the next during recording and you can swap cards on the fly. In XP mode (17 Mbps VBR 1920x1080) 16GB is good for 2 hours of recording which feels about right. (You can crank it up to 24 Mbps which will give you 1 hr. 20 min. or drop down to 5Mbps at which point you can run for over 7 hours!) No more media juggling.....



There are tons of additional features in this camera and sometime I may try them out. But for the basic job of plug-and-play HD video this is hard to beat.



Recomended.More detail ...

JVC GZ-HM300 Dual Slot High Definition Camcorder

Excellent camera for the price!!

I am an amateur when it comes to cameras camcorders and the like. I'm basically a point and shoot type of customer that wants a good quality camcorder for recording our families activities. This is an outstanding camcorder for the money! First and foremost it takes very good quality videos. While I'm sure the videos aren't the highest of hi-def possible keep in mind this is a $300 and change camcorder. The video quality far outshines your standard camcorder. The two other features - the time elapse and the motion detection both work very well although outside of surveillance I'm not sure what the use of either is. The motion detection might be handy at something like a basketball game where you would point it at one end of the court and only capture the action when it's on that end. The only con I had with the camera wasn't really the camera's fault. I couldn't get the Patriot 16GB memory card to work consistently. I bought the Transcend cards and they work perfectly.More detail ...

JVC GZ-HD620 120 GB High Definition HDD Camcorder

Fantastic Camcorder That Can't Be Beat For The $$!

I needed a good quality high definition camcorder for a small business on a tight budget. This new JVC GZ-HD620 is a great little camcorder for the money. It is a BIG Technological Upgrade from last years JVC HD Model i had bought from Sam's club and returned soon afterword. It focuses very well on far away moving objects and the color and clarity can't be beat even in indoor low light situations. The zoom is very smooth too.



I have not installed it's software because i use another production program. I just copy it's .MTS video files to my computer hard drive and then produce them into flash media files that i can self stream to my client's websites and on eBay and Craigs list ads. I am posting a review later today with actual HD video taken with this camcorder at [...]



Overall I am very impressed with this camcorder and give it a big thumbs up and 5 Stars! And also a big thumbs up to Amazon.com for the easy order process and fast shipping! Thank You from the Website Doctor.. :)More detail ...

JVC GZ-MG750 80 GB HDD Camcorder

Excellent camcorder at a great price!

This is a wonderful compact camcorder for filming family and sporting events. I prevously had a Sony handcam which uses DV tapes but it finally broke down after 10+ years. This JVC camcorder is about 1/4 the size and weight of my previous one so it's handy to put into my purse. I also looked at the new Sony handycams but I was not impressed by their image stabilization. The JVC camcorders were much better. The controls are pretty easy to operate. I read the manual front to back but I was able to show my husband how to use the basic controls in 5 minutes. He probably could have figured it out himself since it's fairly intuitive. I like how the camcorder turns on automatically when you open the screen. We tape our daughter's gymnastic competitions so the 45X zoom is fantastic since the equipment is usually far from the spectators. The zoom button is a little hard to operate with your right finger since it's also holding the camcorder but you can also zoom using the screen. The picture quality is fine if you want better you might want to get the HD version. For the price it's definitely a good buy.



The only disappointment for me is that JVC camcorders output in their proprietary .MOD format which is not readable on my old MAC 10.4x Tiger OS. I found a s/w program that supposedly converts various formats that the MAC can read but the output resolution was awful. I ended up using the JVC supplied Pixela s/w to create a DVD that I can play on the TV. The Pixela s/w is OK and you have to do some reading in order to figure out what you want to do but it does the job. I wish I can use iMovie on the MAC since it has more features and is easier to use.More detail ...