JVC Everio Camcorder
November 2005
Ten Hours of Video in Your Hand
By Grant Clauser
It's fitting that in this age of mini hard drives for portable music that a decent hard drive video camera should finally come along. Frankly, I wonder what took so long. Anyway, JVC's Everio line of camcorders uses 20 or 30 GB hard drives (depending on the model) for recording up to 10.5 hours of video in MPEG2 format. That's the same format that DVDs (and DVD camcorders) use. JVC sent E-Gear a GZ-MG30, which uses a 30 GB hard drive and a 1/6 inch, 680K CCD. Models with a larger 1.33 megapixel CCD are also available.
The GZ-MG30 is an incredibly compact camera, with plenty of useful features, though not so much to be confusing. It easily fits in my hand, and at 14 ounces (with battery), it's not at all cumbersome to carry around. At one point I even tucked it into the pocket of my cargo shorts. I thought it's compact size was a bit too small for my hands though. I would have liked it to have a swivel grip so my wrist wouldn't need to be bent at an uncomfortable angle when shooting. It's fairly rugged, so you can toss it in a backpack without bothering with an extra camera bag. It also has a built-in drop protection mechanism in case you're clumsy. This model has a built-in light for shooting in the dark, which you can set to on, off or auto, depending on your preference. The flip-out 2.5-inch LCD screen is very sharp and bright enough for use in daylight, which I did at a Renaissance festival one weekend.
The main benefit of the Everio line is the hard drive. Recording onto a hard drive means you don't have to build up a library of tapes, or take a bunch of tapes with you when you go away on vacation. With 10.5 hours of free space (at 7 megabits per second—7 hours at 9 megabits per second) at your disposal, you've got more blank space than any trip to Disney or family reunion will fill up. You'll never have to stop shooting to switch tapes or worry about recording over something else. The downside is you need to figure out a way to get the video off of that hard drive and onto something else that you can share with other people.
The camera is designed mostly for point-and-shoot operation. Flip it into auto, open up the screen and start shooting. Start up time is actually a bit slower than most DV tape cams I've used, so be careful not to wait until the last minute to turn it on, or you might miss a few seconds of an event. The 25x optical zoom works well, but as is usual with zoom, going much over 10x gives you very pixilated and unsteady images, even with the stabilization feature turned on. I was quite pleased with how the Everio recorded the bright costumes at the Renaissance Fair as well as the action of the acrobats and jousters. Overall, though, the picture looked a bit soft, particularly in less than bright light situations.
Other than the vast amount of recording time, the hard disc makes in-camera editing possible as well. Scenes are available as thumbnails which you can rearrange into playlists or delete from the camera.
Now, to get the video off the camera, you need to either plug it into a PC via a USB cable or jack it to a VCR or DVD recorder via an analog cable. It doesn't feature a Firewire output to connect directly to a component DVD recorder, which is unfortunate as that would make dubbing so much easier. When plugged into a PC (it's also Mac compatible) the Everio registers as an additional drive full of your video files. I used the included CyberLink software to pull together some clips and burn a DVD. The software let me select a thumbnail image for the DVD's menu page and add MP3 clips as background music. If you have any experience with video software, you won't have a problem with this program.
Overall, the Everio is an easy camera to use. Its size makes it perfect for light-packing tourists and the hard drive format is very convenient. I thought the picture was a little noisy compared to some DV cams I've used, but if that's a worry for you then look into the MG40 or MG50 models which record at higher resolutions.
JVC Everio GZ-MG30 Camcorder
$900
30 GB hard drive
Up to 10.5 hours of video
Records in MPEG2 (DVD) format
650K CCD
640X480 still image capture
Easy Scene search
Drop detection
SD card slot
25x optical zoom
Built-in light
www.jvc.com
By Grant Clauser
It's fitting that in this age of mini hard drives for portable music that a decent hard drive video camera should finally come along. Frankly, I wonder what took so long. Anyway, JVC's Everio line of camcorders uses 20 or 30 GB hard drives (depending on the model) for recording up to 10.5 hours of video in MPEG2 format. That's the same format that DVDs (and DVD camcorders) use. JVC sent E-Gear a GZ-MG30, which uses a 30 GB hard drive and a 1/6 inch, 680K CCD. Models with a larger 1.33 megapixel CCD are also available.
The GZ-MG30 is an incredibly compact camera, with plenty of useful features, though not so much to be confusing. It easily fits in my hand, and at 14 ounces (with battery), it's not at all cumbersome to carry around. At one point I even tucked it into the pocket of my cargo shorts. I thought it's compact size was a bit too small for my hands though. I would have liked it to have a swivel grip so my wrist wouldn't need to be bent at an uncomfortable angle when shooting. It's fairly rugged, so you can toss it in a backpack without bothering with an extra camera bag. It also has a built-in drop protection mechanism in case you're clumsy. This model has a built-in light for shooting in the dark, which you can set to on, off or auto, depending on your preference. The flip-out 2.5-inch LCD screen is very sharp and bright enough for use in daylight, which I did at a Renaissance festival one weekend.
The main benefit of the Everio line is the hard drive. Recording onto a hard drive means you don't have to build up a library of tapes, or take a bunch of tapes with you when you go away on vacation. With 10.5 hours of free space (at 7 megabits per second—7 hours at 9 megabits per second) at your disposal, you've got more blank space than any trip to Disney or family reunion will fill up. You'll never have to stop shooting to switch tapes or worry about recording over something else. The downside is you need to figure out a way to get the video off of that hard drive and onto something else that you can share with other people.
The camera is designed mostly for point-and-shoot operation. Flip it into auto, open up the screen and start shooting. Start up time is actually a bit slower than most DV tape cams I've used, so be careful not to wait until the last minute to turn it on, or you might miss a few seconds of an event. The 25x optical zoom works well, but as is usual with zoom, going much over 10x gives you very pixilated and unsteady images, even with the stabilization feature turned on. I was quite pleased with how the Everio recorded the bright costumes at the Renaissance Fair as well as the action of the acrobats and jousters. Overall, though, the picture looked a bit soft, particularly in less than bright light situations.
Other than the vast amount of recording time, the hard disc makes in-camera editing possible as well. Scenes are available as thumbnails which you can rearrange into playlists or delete from the camera.
Now, to get the video off the camera, you need to either plug it into a PC via a USB cable or jack it to a VCR or DVD recorder via an analog cable. It doesn't feature a Firewire output to connect directly to a component DVD recorder, which is unfortunate as that would make dubbing so much easier. When plugged into a PC (it's also Mac compatible) the Everio registers as an additional drive full of your video files. I used the included CyberLink software to pull together some clips and burn a DVD. The software let me select a thumbnail image for the DVD's menu page and add MP3 clips as background music. If you have any experience with video software, you won't have a problem with this program.
Overall, the Everio is an easy camera to use. Its size makes it perfect for light-packing tourists and the hard drive format is very convenient. I thought the picture was a little noisy compared to some DV cams I've used, but if that's a worry for you then look into the MG40 or MG50 models which record at higher resolutions.
JVC Everio GZ-MG30 Camcorder
$900
30 GB hard drive
Up to 10.5 hours of video
Records in MPEG2 (DVD) format
650K CCD
640X480 still image capture
Easy Scene search
Drop detection
SD card slot
25x optical zoom
Built-in light
www.jvc.com
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