JVC Reviews

I like:
The $500 price is right for the package: small palm handed camcorder size / movie quality / features / battery life. Pictures can be stored on memory card. Wide angle feature is cool. You can transfer old VHS tapes to DVD also.

I didn't like:
Very poor quality in low light (worse than my previous old VHS camcorder) and there's no light (just a flash for pictures) - pictures are 1.3MB but quality is poor and you need to use a switch before taking pictures to the memory card - otherwise it's a "picture-on-tape" - even lower quality.

Excellent performing,and ergonomically correct,and easy to use Camcorder. The 1.33 mg,1/4"ccd,performs better indoors than all others.For low light use,use Indoor AGC in menu.Colors are more vibrant on this camera.Has full manual control set,but auto controls work well.Prints very good 4x6 pictures in still mode.Best little cam out their in this size and price range. THE ONLY REAL PROBLEM WAS MOTOR NOISE. ON VERY QUIET PASSAGES OF FOOTAGE, THERE IS AN AUDIBLE HUM ON OUR RECORDED FOOTAGE. SHOULD YOU BE RECORDING LARGE PASSAGES OF FOOTAGE IN A HUSHED ENVIRONMENT, YOU MIGHT FIND THIS A LITTLE TOO MUCH TO BEAR. "I DID". I will email JVC to see if they will fix this problem. 1/31/2004.

I expected good video from this JVC and it delivers, but what has really impressed me are the megapixel digital stills. I took my memory card to Walgreens and printed out several 4" X 6" prints and they looked great!

The cam is also very comfortable to hold. The strap adjusts to fit larger hands and the controls are all right where they should be. I also like the color viewfinder.

I got this on Ebay for $97 and I don't regret one cent of it! This camera is well-made, has lots of features, and great video quality. It has no built-in light or LCD screen... but for the price who could complain?

Best and most simple to use little camcorder I've ever used or owned.But now I find the JVC GR-SXM25OUwhich a friend purchased I like even better so may sell the GR-AX880 to buy it. How they can pack all that neat technology that works with the precision of a Swissmade watch movement,into such a small space,is beyond my understanding. (Ted S.)

My friend has this camera,

And he gave it to me for my sons birthday,

I started using it right away. no manual. no nothing.

Really great quality nice zoom.

What more do u want ?

;-)

Enjoy.

I have used this camera so much!! You can make black and white video, fade in's, date, time, everything! It even has a digital still option. It is also small and convenient. Best camera I've ever purchased.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good camcorder. I love all of the functions and it's really easy to get started with and use. The built-in light and stability features are too die for. There are tons of accessories you can get to enhance your pictures and vhs quality. But, it's not a true digital camera. And the digital camera function could be improved on. I get better quality photos using my scanner at home. The software that comes with the system is not adequate either. I feel that the $649 retail price I paid for this camcorder is WAY too much.

However, all-in-all the camcorder is excellent. But I do recommend you buy a back-up battery or stay close to an outlet because the battery barely makes the full 2 hours it claims it has. We thought we'd be able to shoot basketball games, but it barely makes through the first half on 1 batterty. If you can get a good deal on it go ahead and get it!

I bouhgt this model last year for Christmas and sort of regret it. The quality of the video and ease of use is good, but it is no better than a VHS entry level model. My greatest beef is how wimpy the battery is for this top of the line model. If you buy any JVC, you really need to buy an extra battery or you will miss moments that you want to capture. Buy the basic model with the LED screen for basic use or pony up for a digital model for all the bells and whistles.

Nice little unit. Had a cassette jam when I first got it. Had to send it in ( at my expense ) to Chicago, for repairs. Turn around time was 2 weeks. After that, never had another problem.
Good photos, great zoom. Bought several filters and both a wide angle and telephoto lens to add to it. A must for this camera is a polarizer lens filter. Really brings out colors and reduces glare from water...... Simple to drop the small cassette into the vcr adapter to plug and play them immediately, or just hook it up directly to the TV to view. I also like the remote that comes with the unit. WARNING........GET EXTRA BATTERIES, AND A CHARGER. It eats power like peanuts.
This was my first video camera purchase. I am happy with what I got.....Not too complicated, but has features for me to grow into. It is not digital, but it also doesnt have a digital price either.

Hi,
We dropped ours and would like to purchase a broken one so hopefully we can repair ours. If you have a JVC GR-SXM740U Super VHS-C Camcorder with 3.5 LCD by JVC that you would like to sell cheap please contact me. Thanks,
cricketbags@hotmail.com

I recently purchased the Jvc GR-SXM740U Camcorder and took it on a trip. The picture quality was super. However I was very dissatisfied when I returned home and started to view the movies I had taken. The sound was awful. I filmed some of our movies outdoors and you sort of expect the outdoor sound quality to be less the perfect. But when I watched the indoor movies I could not believe it. Four people in one room and at times three of us could not be heard. It gave me a headache trying to listen to it. Then randomly the camera would just pick up stray noises outside. So beware of this model if you value sound and video.

The sound on this camcorder is good. My 12 year old son was able
to make a very understandable commentary on his video shoot.
The video is very good, even on standard "SP" mode-not S-VHS.
I was able to use zoom to follow a cat outdoors at 30+ feet and
on playback on a 48" RPTV I could see each of his whiskers
very clearly. The controls are not in the most ideal position.
The camera has good balance. I feel this a good family use
camera with a lot of features to keep it up to date.

When I decided to start shopping for a camcorder, not even fully intent on buying one yet, I ran across this particular one early on and, somewhat to my surprise, never found another one that offered as much as this one did. When I think of videorecorders and video cameras, I first think of Sony, but Sony didn't really offer a product with all of the features I found in this JVC camcorder. When I began my search, it didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted a VHS-C camcorder: I wanted to play my videos in a VCR, and I could not really afford a digital camcorder, anyway. Next, I decided I wanted a color LCD screen that was at least three inches. While zoom capability wasn't really that important to me, it also did play a factor in my decision-making process. Finally, if possible, I wanted something that could also serve as a digital camera.

This camcorder has all I wanted and more. In terms of recording modes, it offers S-VHS, S-VHS ET, and VHS. I'm not a photographic expert, but the S-VHS video playback of my tapes was much sharper and clearer than I expected; as far as I am concerned, digital video could not look much better than this and certainly offers no advantages for me to justify the extra expense. I should say that the camcorder is very light and comfortable in my hand no matter how much time I spend recording. As for the LCD screen, it is very nice. The colors, especially depending on the angle from which you are viewing it, often seem too bright, but the picture on the tape itself is perfect. One thing this model does not offer is a color viewfinder, but I don't plan on using the viewfinder much at all anyway. The black and white image on the viewfinder is very good, but using the viewfinder only serves to make you stumble around with your eyes pointed down. With the LCD screen, you can remain a part of the action as you record rather than come off as "some guy with a stupid camcorder" terrorizing your family and friends. The display rotates 270 degrees, as well, so you can record from almost any angle. One important feature of this camcorder is digital stabilization; it's hard to walk around and maintain a steady shot, and this features helps keep the jerky movements to a minimum. When it comes to zooming in, this camera really outdoes most of the competition, offering 400x . While anything at the maximum zoom is naturally going to be pretty grainy, the video quality is excellent until you get close to that maximum. Recording in darkness is also not a problem for this camcorder; besides having its own light source, it also comes with a "Night Alive" feature that increases light sensitivity and allows you to get color video in dark environments.

This is a dual camcorder, serving as a digital camera as well as a video recorder. Certainly, the quality of digital photos is not quite as good as true digital cameras offer, but they look really good to me. With 2 MB of flash memory, it can hold up to 30 digital images at one time. Other cameras offer a higher capacity for digital photos, but this is enough for me. The video capabilites come first in my mind, and the digital picture feature is just icing on the cake. The software that comes with this product is really good (at least for an amateur like myself), and I had no trouble hooking the cable up to my COM 2 port and downloading images.

There are a myriad of other features, many of which I am still just exploring. There are many combinations of screen fades/wipes and special effects. You can film your video as an old, black and white movie, really annoy your friends by stretching the width of the picture and making them look fat, add a strobe effect to jazz up the action, add a fog element for that touch of fantasy, or--my favorite--use video echo to make everything look ghostly and weird. There are more features than I can discuss here in this review.

Returning to simpler matters, I must say that the documentation that comes with this product is excellent. While it does take some time to figure out all of the many things the camcorder can do, there is no problem getting the thing up and recording almost right out of the box. On a final note, I must add that the sound quality is also very good. Since there is no way to use an external microphone with this product, I worried that I would have a hard time hearing people's conversations on tape. This is not a problem. Not only does it pick up the sounds you want to hear, it also picks up a lot of ambient sound as well. All in all, this JVC product offered me everything I really wanted in a camcorder, and I am more than happy with it. Now all I need is something interesting to record.

this camcorder is okay. its not very good for making pro movies, but it gets the job done. its pretty cool. i lost the remote control to it, but with it, you can re-record sound, play it back, all that cool junk.

I really like this machine. The owner's manual is good and the features are useful. For VHS-C format, one has the option of standard-play for 30 minutes of recording or extended-play for 90 minutes of recording. The night vision feature is good - I recorded shots in almost total darkness and the camera made it look like the lights were normal in the room. The LCD screen is really good so that the user can use it for shooting or for playback viewing. The zoom freaked me out at how sharp the picture could be at about 50 or so yards. The price seems okay and this camera is a pretty good deal - for my purposes anyway.

it is very difficult to tell but i think it good