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 ...