JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

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JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

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JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

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JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

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amazed with it. It records great in low light with Electronic Gain Up, and it focuses SO WELL, that most of the time it appears that there is never anything out of focus. It does it so fast. AND, unlike the Canon FS100, when you take it out of manual settings to auto settings, then back to Manual, it REMEMBERS the last settings. The Canon FS100 clears them.

The only thing I can say good about the Canon is their electronic image stabilization is better than JVCs. But with the focus problem, does it really matter? I love my JVC Everio 330!

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

is a quick change in movement. However to me that is a small problem when compared with all the other benefits of owning this camcorder, and I would recommend it to anyone as well as the share station. (JVC Everio share station, CU VD3U.)

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

is a quick change in movement. However to me that is a small problem when compared with all the other benefits of owning this camcorder, and I would recommend it to anyone as well as the share station. (JVC Everio share station, CU VD3U.)

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

is a quick change in movement. However to me that is a small problem when compared with all the other benefits of owning this camcorder, and I would recommend it to anyone as well as the share station. (JVC Everio share station, CU VD3U.)

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

is a quick change in movement. However to me that is a small problem when compared with all the other benefits of owning this camcorder, and I would recommend it to anyone as well as the share station. (JVC Everio share station, CU VD3U.)

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

in daylight unlike older camcorders which washed out the video during the day, forcing you to use the eyepiece (please note this camera does not have a viewfinder/eyepiece).

* The price.


Cons:

* Video quality is pretty poor, they could have done a lot better.

* Small size makes it hard to keep camera from shaking when you are zoomed out past 10x.

* Battery it comes with only lasts a maximum of 110 minutes.

* Snapshots are very low resolution, but ideal for small presentations or emails.

* Look closely at the photos, there is no viewfinder (eyepiece) for you to look through if you prefer that method... however the LCD works well in daylight (unlike older camcorder LCDs where you can barely see the picture).

* Bundled editing software is a little difficult when trying to edit on the timeline... the split clip function is a pain and you have to click on the timeline at least 3 times to get it where you want it. No menu shortcuts either, you have to go through all the menu items.

* On a very bright sunshine day if your subject has a white shirt it will create a purple rim around it. This happens on still cameras as well, but still it's pretty annoying when you have a purple halo around someone wearing a white shirt.

* If you want to edit your video in another software, you may run into some problems. I wanted to use Windows Movie Maker because I find it easier than the included software. Well, it turned my video upside down and each clip I had to rotate 180* to get it right side up. Also, it hangs up when you are attempting to edit and view the video in the source window. Not to mention before you bring it into Windows Movie Maker or any other program you will have to use the included software to convert the .MOD file to .AVI or .MPEG. Yeah, that kind of sucks.

* Difficult to go back through your footage to find a certain thing when you have transferred it to your computer. File names are generic and Windows does not create a handy little thumbnail of what you have shot, just a Windows Media Player icon. If you want to be organized you'll have to spend the extra time in going through each clip (which is created every time you record a small segment) and rename them so you'll know what you're looking for... I guess this is the only slight disadvantage when using a hard disk camcorder.

In Conclusion:

This is a pretty decent little camera though I expected a little more with the video quality. I think that's the only drawback that I have about it. These days we are so used to watching crystal clear images on our televisions and DVD players that when we view the video from these little camcorders it's a bit disappointing. However, all-in-all this is a good value for the home/personal consumer, but professionally and for the video enthusiast, pay a little extra money and go with a 3CCD. Find a hard-disk-drive camcorder as well... you can't beat not having to pay and keep up with a bunch of MiniDV tapes.

(I will keep updating this review the more I use the camcorder and the software.)

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

else in the market.

all my best,
late

Matt M.

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

else in the market.



all my best,

late



Matt M.

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

else in the market.





all my best,


late





Matt M.

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

and JVC camcorders, and recommend both lines.

All previous camcorders were mini-DV tape format - I just recently had 100+ tapes converted to all DVDs - very nice if you have not done so yet. It will cost you about $11-13 per DVD (2 hours of video) to get yours professionally transferred, with menus, etc. Well worth the $$. I just resold my previous Canon Elura70 1.3MP camcorder, which served me well for 3+ years. I wanted to move to the "future" and go with either a DVD, HD, or flash-drive, or combo. Something that would allow me to better archive and copy my footage myself (DVDs, etc).

After 2+ months of reviewing, I was all but sold on the Canon HG-10 - high-def, multi-MP camcorder, with a hard drive. Reviews were very strong. But I liked the size/features of the JVC. The HG-10 looked unbeatable. Then I went to a store and compared them side-by-side, and was pleasantly surprised by the JVC performance and feel (in the store) and by the notable size difference (HG-10 about twice the size). I decided to take a chance on the JVC, even though it was not high-def, 1+MP CCD resolution, etc.

For the above explained purposes, this camcorder is, hands down, THE BEST VALUE and size and features and results that the "normal" user can ask for, at this price. The size is phenominally small, the features, ergonomics, and usage are near perfect, and the video quality is excellent to very good under most instances. I have now used this to film outdoors, indoors, and what I consider a VERY difficult scenario - a high school concert, dimly lit in a big auditoruim, with bright backlighting behind the performers, and from a distance of several hundred feet, zooming in 20x or more to see a full face image (my 16-year old) in the screen. Under this very difficult scenario, and viewing the video on my 52-inch 1080P Samsung (a VERY unforgiving LCD TV for less-than high-def images - remember the larger the playback monitor, the harder it is on video as it will show every imperfection in the signal/images), the video was EXCELLENT up to a zoom length of about 22x. After 22x zoom (which is pretty darn far), the image got somewhat grainy on the 52" TV. Images at less than 22x zoomed, on my huge TV, looked phenominal under these poor image filming conditions. This is impressive, if you consider the zoom ratio (and hand-held!), and then played back on a hi-res 52" monitor!!! When viewed on a smaller 20" TV or my 17" computer monitor, the zoomed video looked flawless in these dim conditions up to the full 35x optical zoom - I was impressed, and sold on keeping the camcorder. The digital image stabilizer works well once zoomed to where you are going, but a bit jittery while zooming - I did the above hand-held resting my elbow on the seat armrest only, and had NO jitters in the image once zoomed in or out. I was blown away by the quality of this less-than 1MP, less-than-Hi-def CCD sensor even given the tough situation/playback described above - BUY THIS CAMCORDER!!!!
All other videos I took under normal lighting - in the house during the day, outside, etc. were flawless when viewed on my 52" TV.

There is an Auto mode (everything done for you), and a Manual mode, where you can adjust the most common settings (white balance, shutter speed, "scenes" or enhancements to the video, etc.) I tried both, and for most of what I will ever do (and have done for 12+ years), Auto is all you need.

The laser-touch slide bar for menu access is intuitively genious, and easy to use. Menu's are simple and understandable, the users guide is brief and informative, and within 15 minutes, I understood every feature of this machine. Battery usage has been reported less than great, but I get a full 90-100 minutes from the standard battery - just buy another one for a spare. And the on-screen battery life sensor (minutes remaining) is way cool with JVC batteries.

Burning DVD is SIMPLE, and connectivity is SIMPLE on this camcorder. I was able to burn and copy a DVD with the push of 1 button when connected to my desktop that has a DVD burner. Very simple to use. I am 100% sold on this camcorder for what I (and most people) will ever use it for.

I cannot underscore the simplicity of usage. That, on top of the image quality, sold me.

For stills, don't even bother using this - I did not even try (seriously), and never will. If you are a true photographer, even amateur, spend $150 and get a 6+MP digital Canon camera or similar, fits in your shirt pocket, and KEEP STILLS SEPARATE FROM VIDEOS!! I have had 2MP CCD video camcorders in the past that took terrible stills, so why bother???? THIS IS A VIDEO CAMERA!! I would love to see manfacturers stop trying to combine both into 1 package.

If you are a high-end videographer, you need to skip this (why are you even considering a camcorder for under $500????), buy at least the Canon HG-10 (which is wonderful except a clunk in size compared to the JVC), or go for an even better camcorder and spend an extra $500 doing so. For the price, this is more than 99% of what the normal users will ever need and expect for under $600. Period.

My only reccomendation to JVC - consider upgrading the CCD to a true 1MP or better, for enhanced low-light video imagery. This is a wish list only item, as the images are pretty darn good as-is, and the larger f1.2 lens and 1+MP CCD that would be required for that will defeat the size/form factor that you get with the 330.

Bottom line - best darn harddrive based mini-camcorder out there at close to this price - BUY IT!! (and you can choose any of the cool colors - a WOW factor to say the least). And, if you buy from a reuptable dealer, you'll have 15-30 days to test it like I did, and not worry about having to return it. If that happens, nothing lost, just get the HG-10 or better!!

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

and JVC camcorders, and recommend both lines.



All previous camcorders were mini-DV tape format - I just recently had 100+ tapes converted to all DVDs - very nice if you have not done so yet. It will cost you about $11-13 per DVD (2 hours of video) to get yours professionally transferred, with menus, etc. Well worth the $$. I just resold my previous Canon Elura70 1.3MP camcorder, which served me well for 3+ years. I wanted to move to the "future" and go with either a DVD, HD, or flash-drive, or combo. Something that would allow me to better archive and copy my footage myself (DVDs, etc).



After 2+ months of reviewing, I was all but sold on the Canon HG-10 - high-def, multi-MP camcorder, with a hard drive. Reviews were very strong. But I liked the size/features of the JVC. The HG-10 looked unbeatable. Then I went to a store and compared them side-by-side, and was pleasantly surprised by the JVC performance and feel (in the store) and by the notable size difference (HG-10 about twice the size). I decided to take a chance on the JVC, even though it was not high-def, 1+MP CCD resolution, etc.



For the above explained purposes, this camcorder is, hands down, THE BEST VALUE and size and features and results that the "normal" user can ask for, at this price. The size is phenominally small, the features, ergonomics, and usage are near perfect, and the video quality is excellent to very good under most instances. I have now used this to film outdoors, indoors, and what I consider a VERY difficult scenario - a high school concert, dimly lit in a big auditoruim, with bright backlighting behind the performers, and from a distance of several hundred feet, zooming in 20x or more to see a full face image (my 16-year old) in the screen. Under this very difficult scenario, and viewing the video on my 52-inch 1080P Samsung (a VERY unforgiving LCD TV for less-than high-def images - remember the larger the playback monitor, the harder it is on video as it will show every imperfection in the signal/images), the video was EXCELLENT up to a zoom length of about 22x. After 22x zoom (which is pretty darn far), the image got somewhat grainy on the 52" TV. Images at less than 22x zoomed, on my huge TV, looked phenominal under these poor image filming conditions. This is impressive, if you consider the zoom ratio (and hand-held!), and then played back on a hi-res 52" monitor!!! When viewed on a smaller 20" TV or my 17" computer monitor, the zoomed video looked flawless in these dim conditions up to the full 35x optical zoom - I was impressed, and sold on keeping the camcorder. The digital image stabilizer works well once zoomed to where you are going, but a bit jittery while zooming - I did the above hand-held resting my elbow on the seat armrest only, and had NO jitters in the image once zoomed in or out. I was blown away by the quality of this less-than 1MP, less-than-Hi-def CCD sensor even given the tough situation/playback described above - BUY THIS CAMCORDER!!!!

All other videos I took under normal lighting - in the house during the day, outside, etc. were flawless when viewed on my 52" TV.



There is an Auto mode (everything done for you), and a Manual mode, where you can adjust the most common settings (white balance, shutter speed, "scenes" or enhancements to the video, etc.) I tried both, and for most of what I will ever do (and have done for 12+ years), Auto is all you need.



The laser-touch slide bar for menu access is intuitively genious, and easy to use. Menu's are simple and understandable, the users guide is brief and informative, and within 15 minutes, I understood every feature of this machine. Battery usage has been reported less than great, but I get a full 90-100 minutes from the standard battery - just buy another one for a spare. And the on-screen battery life sensor (minutes remaining) is way cool with JVC batteries.



Burning DVD is SIMPLE, and connectivity is SIMPLE on this camcorder. I was able to burn and copy a DVD with the push of 1 button when connected to my desktop that has a DVD burner. Very simple to use. I am 100% sold on this camcorder for what I (and most people) will ever use it for.



I cannot underscore the simplicity of usage. That, on top of the image quality, sold me.



For stills, don't even bother using this - I did not even try (seriously), and never will. If you are a true photographer, even amateur, spend $150 and get a 6+MP digital Canon camera or similar, fits in your shirt pocket, and KEEP STILLS SEPARATE FROM VIDEOS!! I have had 2MP CCD video camcorders in the past that took terrible stills, so why bother???? THIS IS A VIDEO CAMERA!! I would love to see manfacturers stop trying to combine both into 1 package.



If you are a high-end videographer, you need to skip this (why are you even considering a camcorder for under $500????), buy at least the Canon HG-10 (which is wonderful except a clunk in size compared to the JVC), or go for an even better camcorder and spend an extra $500 doing so. For the price, this is more than 99% of what the normal users will ever need and expect for under $600. Period.



My only reccomendation to JVC - consider upgrading the CCD to a true 1MP or better, for enhanced low-light video imagery. This is a wish list only item, as the images are pretty darn good as-is, and the larger f1.2 lens and 1+MP CCD that would be required for that will defeat the size/form factor that you get with the 330.



Bottom line - best darn harddrive based mini-camcorder out there at close to this price - BUY IT!! (and you can choose any of the cool colors - a WOW factor to say the least). And, if you buy from a reuptable dealer, you'll have 15-30 days to test it like I did, and not worry about having to return it. If that happens, nothing lost, just get the HG-10 or better!!

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

and had a hard time finding any damage to the outside of the camcorder. To my astonishment there was only a small scrape on one of it's edges about an 1/8 of an inch long. I turned out to be surprisingly durable as well. The software is ok but I tried to drag and drop a video onto my pc as described in the quick start instructions but the audio would not play. Using the software it worked fine. I consider it a great investment for the $500 package I purchased.

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

It spent about 3 GB of the storage. Not bad.

35x zoom is great. I didn't pay too much attention to the optical zoom, but it turned out to be very important for various shootings. You can zoom in and see objects which you cannot distinguish well with your bare eyes. It's a good idea to use a tripod if you spend much time in the zoom recording.

The connection to the computer is easy and intuitive. However, the bundled software to organize the video files runs very slowly and its GUI looks pretty simple and ugly. The video editing S/W has better GUI though.

The image quality is okay. I didn't have a chance to compare the image quality of all the camcorders. It looks better than the old tape camcorder or VHS tape recorded video on TV. It's not as good as the DVD titles. It could be nice if the camcorder had an s-video output. On computer, the image looks much better. Especially after you finish the video rendering into DVD HQ format with the bundled software, you'll find out that the video shows smoother motion than the original 'MOD' one. You cannot play the MOD video from the media player directly. You need to convert it to MPEG2 format using the bundled software. The max video resolution is SD 720x480. Anyway, I didn't expect the highest quality video at this low budget camcorder. For a casual home video recording, the quality looks fine with me. However, I'm curious how good the video quality of this camcorder is compared with others though.

However, you should handle the LCD panel carefully. It looks weaker than other camcorders. The average image and fragile LCD is why I give 4 instead of 5 stars.

JVC Everio Digital Camcorder w/30GB Hard Drive and 2.7" Widescreen Color LCD Monitor - Ruby Red

...

many other models, even some Mini DV