Rating: 
Summary: Well This Review should have been in 2002
Review: For all those with the dreaded cleaning error, I can sympathize - my experience has been somewhat better - I used a Panasonic cleaning tape and that pretty much solved the error problems - we bought the camcorder back in july of 2002 I think for roughly $400.00 off of ebay - Looking back I probably would have gone with a Sony MiniVHS recorder - whatever it's called (the type that takes the small VHS tapes) - Anyway I use only sony DV tapes and that seems to have saved me... I really feel bad for alot of people who had problems with this thing - Customer service person said eventually it will need a new Drum Head - for 250.00 but that won't happen! Again I can't emphasize using a/the Panasonic cleaning tape - Take care folks - JVC is wrong for putting out this product with out testing it thoroughly -
The Good points - nice photo's - people say otherwise but it works pretty well -
The only thing that bothers me the most is the anti-shaking/ vibrating software whatever it's called - here this thing is pretty lame and focus - is good if you don't ever move the camera --
Software package pretty good - but will work with most movie editing software -
take care all -
Rating: 
Summary: Finally I only have to take one camera to events!
Review: For the past 10 years I've always had to lug both my nikon slr and the camcorder on vacations and to events. It was such a pain. I've been waiting for a camera with enough quality to cover both my motion and still photo needs. The JVC 90 did the trick and it's smaller than both my slr and previous camcorder! The quality of the stills when set to XGA fine is good enough to make an excellent 5x7 and pretty decent 8x10. The 8meg mem card will allow you to take ~24 pictures at this level. Even better, you can video and then take snapshots off the video. This allowed me to get some awesome hockey shots during games this winter. The camera has tons of features I'm still trying to figure out, and leaves plenty of room to grow your skills. I'd recommend an extended warrantee though as the internals of this thing are microscopic mechanical parts that would prabably set you back and arm and leg to repair. I bought a pelican box for mine to protect it. My battery lasts about 10 minutes before dying - I usually run with the foldout off to save power.
Rating: 
Summary: I Agree with Sue and Alison - Bad customer service & bad cam
Review: I also agree with Sue and Alison. My camera also experienced the HEAD CLEANING REQUIRED message and you can NEVER NEVER NEVER rely on getting the video captured and played back successfully. If you had a new baby and want to save all the "moments" DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA. I took in for service too and they supposedly adjusted the head, however, I again started getting the messages and my videos come have green and the other half as normal. I truly think that there is something more wrong with this camera. Just as Alison mentioned, I get the E04 Error, you think the battery is fully charged, however, I get this one and I have no idea what to do. In addition, when I contacted the JVC Customer service, they were not too helpful either. SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHES and buy ANOTHER camera. I am tempted to do that also, but for the $$.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware JVC if you need repairs
Review: I bought the precursor to this camcorder (the GR-DVM50) in 2000 and was initially very happy with it despite having to jump through some software hoops to capture not-very-clear stills. But, when the main control button broke off less than a year after I bought it, I found out what a problem JVC can be. You cannot have the camera repaired anywhere else but at a JVC center. (Other camera shops send it off to JVC.) The camcorder works if you drop the button in place, but that's not very satisfactory. Still, JVC wanted to charge me over half the (new!)price of the camcorder to reattach/replace the button. I was also told that they wouldn't warranty the repair b/c it must have been damaged. I went round and round with the repairman who wanted me to repair other items which didn't effect the functionality and which I didn't care about. I'm so stubborn I had them return it (shipping charges really added up) and just taped the button back on which works, sort of. Parts did start to fall off the darn thing from the beginning although, to its credit, it keeps on working and the video quality is excellent. I travel a lot, but I'm not unusally rough with my cameras. I'm looking to buy a new camcorder now ('getting tired of that taped-on button!) and am torn about whether the benefits outweigh the risks of dealing with JVC. I love the small size of JVC's products and the quality of the video, but the inability to repair quickly and at a reasonable cost and the resulting need to replace the camera so soon is holding me back. Anyway, caveat emptor!
Rating:
Summary: Piece of Junk
Review: I bought this camera two years ago. I used it on a very limited basis--basically a few birthdays and a vacations. When my wife recently gave birth to twins, i brought it to the hospital to take some video. Well, as you can expect, the camera did not work. I took it to the repair shop and they indicated it would cost $625 to fix it. Find another camcorder--this one has too many problems
Rating: 
Summary: ok camera, crappy video interface with computers
Review: I bought this camera unaware I would have so much trouble finding the right equipment to capture video, I have a compaq notebook, and I can't seem to find the right stuff to hook the camera up to my computer, nor the software. I'm totally frustrated with this camera , and have had a few mechanical problems with it also, I would not recommend this camera to someone looking for a easy camera to run.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not enough...
Review: I bought this small camcorder about a year ago just before I got married. Since then it went to my wedding, through my wife's pregnancy, and our baby's birth. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with it. Although it's small, it has what you need in a camcorder. Some drawbacks... 1) Sound capture needs to be improved. It records the movie taker's voice perfectly but if you are more than 5 feet away, forget it. Hard to hear on TV. 2) Poor low light performance. I took a lot of indoor shots and it turned out to be way too dark. If you stay indoors a lot, try to buy one with better low light performer. 3) Digital camera is close to worthless. Bad pictures, poor shutter speed (blurry shots). Well... If you need a better digital camera, but a digital camera. It's handy but not as good as a cheap digital camera. 4) Small buttons for Email and other functions too confusing. I hardly used them at all. 5) PC connection is way too slow. It took me over 10 minutes to transfer (via serial port) a few shots from MMC. Get a reader if you plan to use it a lot. Now adantages... 1) Small!!! You can take it anywhere with you. Just put it in your pocket. It's not much bigger than a regular camera. 2)Attention getter. People will want to take a look at it. Nice! 3) Picture quality is good. 4) DV editing (using Pinnacle Studio 7), connection is more than adequate....
Rating:
Summary: Always broken
Review: I bougth this camera 2 years ago at Dumoulin and I took the full 5 years waranty ( luckly ). It is the 3 times the camera goes to repair. Two time they needed to change the main board. And both time the new board they got from JVC was defect and they needed to order a second board. My cam stayed in repair for 6 MONTHS the first time and now 2 MONTHS have past and the teck are still wating for second the board. IT IS ALWAYS BROKEN... buy SONY c'est ben mieux.
Rating:
Summary: I am not a happy camper
Review: I discovered pretty soon after I bought it that this was not the camcorder for me. The only time the image quality (both still and video) is acceptable is outdoors in bright daylight. I have had much problems downloading still images to computer. I was working on a windows NT station and on a win95. I got it to work once but was never able to repeat it. I am a computer professional. It could be I have a defective cable but frankly I do not have so much time to deal with tech support and repairs and replacement. When I buy a product like this I just want it to work out of the box. Other issues are that it comes with no lens cap and that the battery that it comes with has a very short life (less than a hour). In retrospect the SOny P110 (which is almost double the price) is worth it.
Rating:
Summary: JVC GR-DVM90u - READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE
Review: I have done a fair bit of research on the JVC GR-DVM90u camcorder and I have read many negative responses towards this camcorder. However, the specifications of the camcorder compelled me to buy this unit. I found this camcorder as a demonstration model on [an auction website] and paid [money]. A great deal I might add from the original market price of [price]. What I first noticed about this camera was its sleek design. It is one of the best looking camcorders out there and relatively slim in my view. The biggest complaint about this camcorder was its low light capabilities. But the fact is, Which camera will give you a good clear picture in the dark, Sony with its night shot which turns everything green?! Most cameras if shooting at low light require some outer lighting source... even professional cameras. If people didn't jump to conclusions about how poor this camera was in lowlight before reading the manual, they are terribly wrong. The camera has three features available to shoot under low light conditions. Slow 1 - Slow Shutter raises light sensitivity to allow shooting in dark environments. Slow 2 - Slow Shutter raises light sensitivity further to allow shooting in even darker environments.
Gain Up Auto - The shutter speed is automatically adjusted (1/30 - 1/200 sec.). Shooting a subject in low or poor lighting at 1/30 sec. shutter speed provides a brighter image than in the AGC mode, but the subject's movements are not smooth or natural. The overall appearance may be grainy.Although rendering the video quality, it sure helps and provides a decent clear picture. Another thing what others have complained about is the 200x zoom and it being pixilated. It indeed does get pixilated however when using 200x zoom you are suppose to being using a tripod so the camera could focus correctly on the object. When moving your hand a millimeter to the left and right, you are actually causing the video to move 10 feet to the left and right allowing it to not focus whatsoever, in the end, causing the picture to be pixilated. The Stabilizer on the camcorder is average. I can't say it's the best I have seen however it does cut down the erratic movement of your hand. Between 1x - 10x zoom, the stabilizer works perfect, however, anything beyond that point; you will begin to notice that it is becoming less effective. Some camcorders are able to handle better during these conditions, however if you don't plan to zoom beyond 10x, it works great. Okay, enough with the refuting and on to the good points of the camcorder. I have to say that the quality of the video under normal conditions is superb! Colors are rich and clear. Smooth movement under video mode, however, under progressive mode it really gives the video an unnatural look, perhaps for the better, perhaps for the worse. I mainly use the normal video mode when shooting.
The dual mode on the camera is a great added feature to the camera. While having the quality of the video mode, dual mode allows you to take still pictures and save it onto the removable 8 megabyte Multimedia Card. When pressing the button for the snapshots ½ of the way in, it freezes the picture and puts it on the right bottom corner of the screen like a picture in picture feature on a television, however, this does not show on the actual playback of the video. When you want to take that picture, you can press the snapshot fully and it will store it on the memory card. It does not affect the video whatsoever and was very pleased about this feature. The Digital Camera Mode is another great feature that was implemented on the camcorder. Although the picture quality is average, it allows four different settings. Having choosing the highest quality, the picture quality is pretty good. I wouldn't say it is excellent, but good enough to pass it around. The features on this camera are endless, from taking still pictures and adding a picture frame to it, to a wide variety of transition effects. Not to mention adding mp3 sound clips to the video. So far so good, but what about the bad things? All I can say is the battery life and the memory card storage. The battery life on the camera is 1 hour, however, you can pick up a secondary battery on [an auction site] for [price] that will last you 2.5 hours. If you are a fanatic with taking still pictures 24/7, you might want to upgrade to more memory. You can pick up 32 megabyte of storage on EBay for around [price]. This will allow you to take 96 high-quality pictures and 620 low quality pictures. What else should I get? Firewire port for your PC if you don't have one already. Definitely a necessity to have if you plan to do any video editing. Just load the video into the computer, put it in VCD format, and you can take it to any DVD player that reads CDR's and view them. Price? A good value for this camcorder would be up to [price] providing the condition it is in. In any case, anything below [price] is a good buy!
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