Rating: 
Summary: Very pleased so far!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Very pleased so far!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: USB Drivers Don't Work on XP, Win98, Win98SE
Review: Just purchased it 2 days ago. Shot some stills, took some video of my daughters softball game. Then tried to load the software and drivers. None of them work with USB 1 or 2. Tried installing them on serveral computers, from a Dell Demesion 4100 to a Compaq 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4. Maybe the DV port will work. Pictures look good in the lcd screen.
The JVC website has NO SUPPORT for this product, so don't loose your installation disks (especially if they work).
I'll be taking it back tomorrow.
Rating:
Summary: A good camera
Review: The camera is a great little camera. I like it's simplesity and it's very easy to use. Now for the bad part, take the CD's that came with the camera and place them in the circular file (the can) they're worthless and invest in Pinnacle 9. You'll be more than pleased. The combination rocks.
Rating:
Summary: Drivers won't work with Windows Moviemaker
Review: The camera works great as long as its not hooked up to your computer. I was able to use JVC's bundled software but its not as good as other software. Too bad. Back to Costco with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: OK for the money
Review: To sum it all up, you get what you pay for, really. I was disapointed at first with the performance of this camera, but when the price comes to play, it is ok. I wanted a camera to replace our old but very good (although very heavy too) Sony CCD-TRV95 Hi8 camcorder.
I have been trying out fluorescent indoor recording head to head with our old sony and, believe it or not, the older camcorder performs better, in color reproduction (much better) and in autofocus (a little better), although the JVC is better in resolution (less grainy).
Motor noise is recorded on the tape, you can hear it easily, too bad. White balance is not good enough, I played with it a lot and still did not get it to perform as good as the old Sony.
When you rotate the LCD screen completely (so the person being recorded can see himself) the viewfinder does not turn on (even if you extend it), so you can still see what you are filming, our Sony does that. The viewfinder does not rotate, but that is really no problem since the LCD does rotate.
The supplied battery last a little over half an hour of full LCD recording use.
I have not tried taking pictures (that was not what we bought it for, if you want good digital photos get a digital camera, do not waste your money on a camcorder that does both things right, at least not yet).
Another thing that I don't like is that some functions are only availiable on the remote, so you cannot access every feature on the camcorder without the remote control.
On the other hand, the size and weight of this camera are almost perfect for traveling, and of course the price is unbeatable. You also get analog to digital pass through, in my case very useful. Just don't expect too much, when something seems too good to be true, it is.
If I find something new worth mentioning (good or bad) I will post it.
Update, the LCD screen is dead after only two months, bad, bad.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonably priced mini-DV camcorder
Review: Unlike others, the JVC software loaded without a hitch, but as reported by others, it leaves alot to be desired. I am waiting on a new laptop to retest with FireWire and my copy of Magix Movie Edit Pro 2004. The sales girl at BestBuy claimed it would record video to the SD card, but that was not correct. I have also been unable to download video at higher than 320x240 res. I am hoping the FireWire fixes some of this. The real user of this camera will be my wife and the point and shoot simplicity is a must. She will be using it to record people during speech therapy and the remote control will be a handy plus. PS. I find it rather strange that they do not include a tape and/or a small SD ram card.
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: Wow, after reading the previous reviews on this camera I thought it must be a pretty good deal. Boy was I wrong! I've had the camera about a week and think I may have made a bad choice in going back to JVC. MiniDV cameras are supposed to be better than Hi8, but I really can't see it with this camera. Here are my complaints. The video quality leaves much to be desired; it actually looks quite "fuzzy" (even in SP mode) giving the video a look of pixelation or tiling. Digital stills are really lousy, which I expected from a camcorder. The NightAlive feature is useless, unless you have a tripod on which to steady the camera, and even then don't expect to see much. For example, I tried to take some video of my backyard at night, under a full moon and some ambient light and the camera couldn't pick up anything further than 2-3 feet away from the lens. By comparision, one of my relatives has a Digital8 Sony camcorder and the night vision feature on that camera is fantastic and the camera cost him less. As other reviewers have noted, the motor is loud and clearly audible on recordings with little ambient noise. Finally, the included battery lasts about 1.5 hours. On the good side, the camera is quite small, but that is hardly a selling point for MiniDV cameras are all quite small. Frankly, I see nothing to set this camera apart and think I'm going to exchange it for (hopefully) a better one.
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