JVC Reviews

everything is nice,except the most important feature: challenge with exporting movies from the camcoder to the computer. Pentium 4 processor is highly recommended and it seems that all the files (no matter what quality you choose, refer to the manual) are at MPEG1 compression which practically renders them UNUSABLE! It takes cca 250MB of memory per one minute at normal quality! Everything else is impressive (don't get upset about the manuals and support, it could be better).

I purchased this camera not to long ago so I'm still new to it. Video is pretty good and adjusts to light well. Optical zoom (10x) is nice, but digital does degrade video as with all cameras. I'm happy with still pictures and found out I had set resolution to the third highest level. I will be even happier to see the ones I take on highest level. I bought a few extra memory cards so I can continue taking pictures. 16mb that comes with camera is nice to begin with, but some space is taken up with special effects (sounds). As with most cameras, I'll be checking into extra battery. S-video in and out can be a nice feature seeing I'll be putting home video onto dvd or cvd. Viewer screen is nice size for reviewing and showing pictures or video. Loaded with features that I haven't had a chance to use yet, and you can put camera into total manual and manual focus for videoing far away with other things moving in front where autofocus would be trying to compensate. Onscreen controls are easy to use. DV port to sony laptop took some time to get to work, but heard of alot of people having problems with this with other cameras and computers. Happy so far.

I don't want to repeat what the other reviewers have said, I agree with everything. Small buttons? Sure, but the unit itself is small - you can't fit buttons that are any larger on this sucker.

I've used the professional Cannon broadcast quality camcorders, and if I had the means, I would certainly own one. I'm fanatical about picture quality and being able to transfer the video to PC and play with it - you know, the modern day necessities when living in the digital age. This unit is the highest quality sub $1,000 camera I've found. I did quite the Pepsi Challenge too (the folks at Circut City and I are all on a first name basis now).

This is THE BEST camcorder I've ever owned. I love the fact that I can shoot video and take a snapshot without changing modes. It also doubles as an awesome digital camera. The info shoe makes the accessories the most functional of any other unit I've used.

I first bought the Video Light because the unit slightly underperforms in low light. The second was the flash unit for taking awesome digital pics. The third (and the coolest, but not necessary) is the directional microphone for zeroing in on a single person's voice from a distance. When you zoom in on their face, it 'zeroes' in on their voice, canceling out the ambient noise. Is that cool or what!

If it sounds like I'm gushing, I am. This camcorder, feature by feature, it cannot be beat!

The Part numbers listed below are the accessories I recommend all of which are currently sold on Amazon.com:
Description - Part# - AISN#
---------------------------
Video Flash - VLF3U - ASIN: B00006HTJO
Video Light - VLV3U - ASIN: B00006HTH7
Directional Microphone - MZV3U - AISN: B00006HTJN

I have owned this camera for about 7 months and I must say I an impressed.
The quality is outstanding!!
It has every feature you could hope for (except a built in flash).
The thumb buttons are a little hard to get use to but that is a small flaw.
This thing has soooo many features that I have not even got to use them all.
The best in my opinion, is the ability to take pictures without interrupting the Video!!
You push the button half way down while you are shooting video and you get a preview of the still then push all the way down and it snaps the photo while the video rolls along uninterrupted!!
I highly recommed this DV cam.
PS. I would recommend you buy the external flash.It is great.

After looking over the vast range of camcorders available, we selected this model and could not be happier!! We have used it for app. 3 hours so far and the picture and sound is sensational. It was a bit hard to get used to the features at first (there are so many) but it is second nature now. My only suggestion is, get a Tripod. When you use the zoom, it is impossible to stay steady without it. I would buy this camcorder again and highly suggest it. I saw this camcorder cheaper at many different locations on the internet but opted to pay more at Circuit City and have not regreted it. Their policy gives you PEACE OF MIND, and can you really put a price on that?

I purchased this camera at Sears. Got it home and made a short tape. The video quality is average. The worst thing however is the noise that is picked up by the microphone of the tape mechanism. It is Extremely loud and annoying. This was a deal breaker for me. And I dont consider myself too picky. The software that comes as part of the package is the bare minimum and I probably wouldnt use. I got a screaming deal on this camera and was really disapointed that I had to take it back - but the noise picked up by the mic is very noticeable. Not worth the money at any price.

This JVC digital camcorder is all you need. The stills are good quality and the zoom is amazing. It has many effects that improve the overall quality. Battery life could be improved.

Pros: Small with many feathers and good price.

Cons: Bad quality of color and auto focus, Objects may have low visiblilty under low light sutiation, The Night-shot is not pratical with very slow shutter speed.

I'll be the first to admit this camcorder is very stylish and the 3.5 LCD were some of the major factors why I purchased it. But when it came to crunch time, this is nothing more than a pretty package with not much substance. A typical camcorder functions,(manual, auto, night live etc) but the digital still camera is why I rated this product so low. A majority of my stills came out with a yellow tint. YELLOW!! I know not to expect much from a camcorder/digital camera but I certaintly don't want any of my pictures yellow when it shouldn't be. I know you are probably thinking it was the lighting. But it wasn't. I took pictures in all different lighting environments. And my pictures still came back with a yellowish tint. Bottom line, I had a very bad experience with this cam

My freind bought this camcorder a sharper image. It is a decent camera, not great, not terrible. picture is average, sound is average. With this camera you dont get as much for the price as for a canon or sony. It has no mike input and no earphones. It doesnt support LANC like all other JVCs. The firewire port sucks. After two weeks of having the camera the pins inside it bent and the plastic the holds everything in place pretty much disitegrated. He returned the camera under warranty and got a new one. We learned that you have to be really careful with it.

WELL I BOUGHT THIS CAMERA FOR MY FIANCE AND IT WORKS GREAT AT THE BEGINING I TOD QUALITY SUCK BUT WHEN YOU LEARN ACTUALLYTO USE THE ACM IT BECOMES EASY YOU CAN CHANGE THE LIGHT AFTER YOU RECORD OR TAKE PICTURES TO HOOK IT UP ON THE PC IS MAD EASY IS NOT AS BAD AS PEOPLE THINK WORKS THE SAME A STHE SONY MY DAD HAS AND THE CANNON MY FATHER IN LAW HAS SO SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE PREMITIVES THAT DONT KNOW HOW TO USE THE CAM AND THEY BLAME THE PRODUCT TO BE A FEALURE SO IF YUO WANT A NICE CAM THAT TAKE STILL PICTURES GET IT WONT RETURN THE CAM TRUST ME

I've only had this camera for a week now, but I'm very pleased with what I got for the price. I have a degree in cinema & photography, so I like to think I know a few things about cameras.

PROS

Nearly all the controls can be manipulated with one hand, thanks to the scroll wheel. Pushing it in brings up the menu, and scrolling the wheel allows you to select the menus and features you want to change. Another push of the wheel selects the menu item you want to change. This is a great feature that pretty much sold me on the camera, as the Sonys rely on a touch-pad LCD. The trouble with that is you must have the LCD screen out whenever you want to alter a setting, and therefore you have to take the camera away from your eye and use both hands. You also use up your battery twice as fast, and you'll eventually wear out the LCD screen and get it dirty. No thanks, Sony.

It also has a built-in LED light for low-light shooting. This doesn't compare to the infra-red of the Sonys, but then again infra-red gives you a green "night-vision" picture. If low-light shooting is important to you and you don't mind the greenish video, then go with infra-red.

It uses a separate SD memory card for digital stills (card not included).

The viewfinder is color, not b&w like some camcorders.

Analog-to-digital pass-through for converting your old analog tapes (VHS, etc.)

Remote control included! Big plus in my book.

It has a bigger lens than the Sonys (but still not as big as the Canons). This should result in better picture quality; however, it does make the camcorder slightly larger and heavier than the Sonys.

The optical zoom is 16x, versus 10x on the Sonys. (Canon even has a camcorder with 22x zoom.)

JVC bundles MovieWOW software for editing your videos. I haven't used it yet, but it's a freebie so it's worth trying out. You can also download Microsoft's Movie Maker software for free if you don't like MovieWOW.

At less than $400 it's the best value out there. (...) CONS

The viewfinder doesn't tilt up -- strange that JVC wouldn't incorporate this feature, as it would be a big plus. I'm over 6' tall, so when the camcorder is mounted on a 5' tripod I have to stoop to look through the viewfinder. (Yes, I can pop out the LCD screen and angle it up to view the picture instead, but this eats up battery power as I said. I could also get a 6' tripod, I suppose.)

There's no hot shoe on top to mount an external microphone or flood light -- another oversight on JVC's part.

No included SD memory card for digital stills. Oddly, you can only select "tape" or "tape & SD" for capturing stills, so either way it's going to record the still to tape. Why JVC didn't give you the option of writing stills strictly to the SD card is beyond me. No matter -- the stills any camcorder takes are low-resolution, so if you want good digital stills then buy a digital still camera instead.

Image stabilization is disappointing, but that's true with all the camcorders I tried out. It's somewhat helpful, but it's certainly not going to turn your camcorder into a Steadicam. Use a tripod when at high zoom levels, or keep the lens as wide as possible when hand-holding to smooth out your tilts and pans.

Night vision mode slows down the shutter speed, making your video a bit choppy.

OTHER ADVICE

Go to a camera or electronics store and try out the different cameras before making a decision. You might be surprised by the features you hate and the ones you love. This is what steered me away from the Sonys and to this JVC model.

Turn off the digital zoom -- it's worthless (this is true of any camcorder).

Make sure you add on a UV filter, if only to protect the lens. This should be standard issue for all camcorders.

Also consider a polarizing filter for sunny outdoors shooting -- makes a big difference.

A flourescent filter is a good idea if you will be shooting indoors where flourescent light dominates (office or industrial settings, for instance).

If zoom is important to you, consider adding on a 2x or even 3x telephoto multiplier. This will turn your 16x zoom in a 32x zoom, or 48x zoom, respectively. But be warned -- at those zoom levels, you'd better have a rock-solid tripod to keep the picture as steady as possible.

You need a firewire connection to your computer to get the best transfers. If you don't have firewire on your commputer, you'll need to buy an add-in card.

Enjoy!

I spent over 20 hours researching my recent camcorder purchase. The best site was camcorderinfo.com. In fact, they just posted a thorough review of the GRD72 and also have reviews of one model down (D33) and one model up (D93) from this one. Also be sure to check out the competing models' reviews (Sony and Canon).

What I was looking for in a camcorder, was, surprise surprise (!) good video performance in a range of lighting conditions. I had read that low-light performance on ALL so-called consumer camcorders was very poor. The D72 (and D33) have the best low-light performance of ANY camcorder priced $600 or less! That's saying a ton considering these models sell for almost half of that! Seriously, check out the Sony HC20, 30, or 40 and the D72 beats them all! Plus it has decent still image capability, includes LED lights, and has analog-to-digital passthrough. Can't be beaten! What a deal!

Super easy to use and great video - what more could you want? Some of the other reviews on amazon for the D72 seem bizarre and based only on the software that comes with the camera. You likely won't use the software that comes with ANY camcorder you buy. What do you want out of your camcorder? Good video performance, versatiliy, and ease of use are the only criteria that matter! Dig around on the Internet for reviews of other models to convince yourself, but if you take this reviewer's advice alone, you'll save yourself a dozen hours of work! :-)

After researching online and trying out several brands and models, I chose the JVC GRD72. I purchased it at Costco for $400.

Low light performance, the remote control, and analog input were the main reasons I purchased this camera and they all work very well. I have also found the 16x9 squeeze mode and LED light to work better than I expected. I have had no trouble capturing video on any computer via firewire.

This camcorder does not take very good still photos, and provided software is only fair. You should look at another camcorder if these features are important to you.

Overall the performance has been better than expected and I am very happy with the purchase.

I purchased this model in the June of 2003 and by May 2004 it is in Safeguard mode. I was extremely careful with it and used it a moderate amount. After researching in google a bit, I found hundreds of others complaining about the same problem not only for this camera but for other JVC models - some people are even organizing a class action lawsuit. The camera - without this problem, was decent, but I recommend getting a removable mic because all of my footage has recorded the camera whir - a problem you'll have with about any built in mic. I highly recommend staying away from JVC!

I am telling you people this camera was a waste of money. I urge you please consider a sony or some other brand. This camera has really nice features when they work. I keep getting this condensation message that comes up and will never go away. Also the tape always get stuck our and cannot automatically retract. This camera has went for service 3 times and THEY CANNOT FIX IT!!!!! Please condiser a sony. Dirt can record better video then this camera.

At this price I bought two - I bought a 5 hour battery from ebay and this tiny camera churns out great big video.

I use it in school for making student produced videos - easy to work and fits the hand comfortably.

We bought this as an upgrade to our VHS camcorder we got 6 years ago. I wanted to be able to edit our videos in the computer. After my first filming, I quickly learned this camcorder has poor zoom quality (if you zoom in too close it gets fuzzy) and very poor audio as you can hear the motor running on playback. When I wanted to hook the camcorder up to the computer to try to do some editing, I discovered the cable you need to hook the two together is not included. This is an extra $30 purchase. Either put more money into a better quality camcorder or save your money until the better quality lower in price!!

Mommy and Daddy bought me this camera at Best Buy. I love the sounds it makes similar to the E.T. ride with the beeping sounds. I give it a 5 star rating by PG, R and Y.

I was looking for an inexpensive digital camcorder (i do own a very good digital camera) and this fit the budget perfectly. Its very easy to use on auto mode (it does have a manual mode for savvy users) and the video quality is great even indoors on dim light situations. The audio quality is good (though the mic is not external) and there is no motor noise that i've seen people complain about in other camcorders.

Pros:
Great quality, incredible value, easy to use.

Cons:
Remote control for play back.

I bought this model JVC mini DV camcorder one year ago when it was first released. The price then was $375 after a $25 rebate, great price I add. At around November of that year the camera locked up into "Condensation, Operation Paused" mode. I didn't know what to do, and the Authorized JVC location wanted a lot of money to just look at the camera, not fix it. I read online that putting a blow dryer on it and leaving it plugged in and on for one hour will allow the camera to clear up the condensation. It worked, but the camera started to go into that mode over and over, until it was in a perpetual locked mode. After leaving it plugged in a week, it suddenly became fine, and here I am a day later it appears to be fine now. This camera shoots great video except in low-light situations which is fine but I find it unreliable. I went on a trip and it never worked, but it works now, weird.

This is a standard-issue MiniDV digital camcorder in a very stylish body. While not one of the small pocket-size types -- incidentally those are often awkward to operate and susceptible to hand shakes -- the GRD30 is still small enough to be highly portable. All the standard features of a digital camcorder, from digital tape to fold-out LCD screen to IEEE 1394 "Firewire" connections, are there, and JVC also claims superb video image quality. The 16x optical zoom is higher than many other camcorders. (When choosing a camcorder or digital camera, pay ZERO attention to digital zoom claims, since digital zoom is entirely useless. Only optical zoom power counts.)

An attractive price, especially here on Amazon.com, makes this a top buy.

I did extensive researches before bought it, and I finally chose JVC GRD30. I'm very pleased with my choice. I had a chance to use Canon ZR65 and this one. I really prefer the JVC better. The indoor picture quality could be better, but it is better than I expected since all the camcorders in this price range are not that good under soft light condition. I love how small and light this thing is! I find the camcorder is easy to operate, and charges the battery in less than two hours~~ Video quality is great when using outdoor; acceptable indoor. Zooming on this thing is powerful. The only two tiny imperfections were a bit noisy on the background when recording silently (you can hear the tape running or something like that)£»and you kind have to back up when u try to get more stuff into your videos.
Overall, money well spent!!