Any feedback on this camcorder ?

Video Quality & Video Editing

Thanks . . .

[lurcher]

Hi,
Just seen your thread after posting on other one.
I got this about amonth ago for a specific purpose. I already own and use a Panasoniv dv camcorder Model GS120 which produces excellent footage (3ccd model).
The reason I decided to purchase an additional camcorder was I required something that would record several hours footage without changing tapes and gave immediate access to recorded scene from onscreen thumbnail display.
The JVC fitted the bill.
Video quality at the highest setting (7hrs footage ) is very good but not as good to my eyes as the dv model.
I dont intend to do any editing with the footage, but I dont envisage any probs in that direction as files are easyly dropped on the computer(connection via usb).
I copy the footage direct to DVD Recorder via "S" in and the results on dvd-r/ram are acceptable for my needs.
If I want the very best pic quality I would use the dv camcorder but its short recording times and rewinding tapes for instant replay would slow my tasks.
Any further questions please ask.

[lurcher]

Couple of things worth mentioning,
The supplied battery doesn"t last that long (like many others), however I bought a 5hr third party one for under £30 and it works well and gives full data info.
No facility for charging bat outside of camcorder so i bought charger(again 3rd party) for under £20.

Thanks Lurcher, this is just for family video, I think it would suit my needs. Is there really a big difference between the two ?
What's name of the battery ?

I was also looking the other model mc500 but its a bit expensive. just worried the quality of the video quality.

[lurcher]

Pinoy,
No not a big difference in my eyes , but still a difference.
If u pm me your address I"ll put a few mins on a dvd-r and you can see for yourself.
The battery was sourced from ebay(china i think).
I"ll try and recover the link for you.

Lurcher, I am based in Ireland, don't bother, thanks anyway, that's very kind of you. I will proceed buying this camera anyway, we will be going for holiday in the next few weeks, so I need to decide and get one now.

Thank you very much . . .

i have this jvc hdd camcorder and the picture quality is terrible! the low light is a
mess of grain (and that with one light on!) can you please tell me if i am doing something wrong? I copy the files on the desktop input them to cyberlink power director 5 (full edition) and then output them in mpeg2 format high quality (basically i have tried avi, mpeg2 all qualities i even renamed the files as they came from the camcorder) but still the low light looks awful and the camcorder seems to have trouble focusing because the picture gets in and out of focus a lot of times. Can you please advise me? should i go the mg-mz50 route or buy a dv model?

[jomike]

You are not doing anything wrong and it has nothing to do with mpeg2 format. Grainy video and focusing in low light is a problem that is common to all the lower end camcorders, be they miniDV, HDD or DVD. The reason is the CCD sensor that captures the picture has lots of pixels packed into a physically small space. When the CCD sensitivity (ISO value) is turned up in low light conditions, the individual pixels overheat causing the grainy effect. Some cams are worse than others in this regard if you read the reviews.

Thanks a lot jomike for your reply. Do you know if there is any way that i might be losing on quality when i import clips to my pc? I mean since mpeg 2 is already compressed is there a possibilty of losing on quality if i insert my clips to power director? which format has the best quality? avi mpeg2 or mpg high definition. Thanks again

[jomike]

Yes you will lose quality if you try and edit in a editor that is not designed to edit mpeg2. The reason for this is that the editor converts the footage to its own format, then converts it back to mpeg2 when you save. If you try and convert to another format like dv avi you will also lose quality. A specialised mpeg2 editor like Womble mpeg wizard or VideoReDo do very little re-encoding of the mpeg2 file when saving, and so are the best for editing mpeg2 video.
A good test to see if your editor is re-encoding the mpeg2 file is to import it into the editor and then without doing any editing, saving it again as a mpeg2 file under a different name. Then compare the 2 file sizes. If the 2nd file is smaller than the 1st, you have lost quality.
Another good reason to keep the file in mpeg2 format is that if you want to burn a DVD, you don't have to re-encode it, it's already in the right format.

[mattlittle]

[QUOTE=alogo]i have this jvc hdd camcorder and the picture quality is terrible! the low light is a
mess of grain (and that with one light on!)....QUOTE]

I am thinking baout buying one of these camcorders - when you say "low light", do you mean "standard living room with light on" or "Dusk outside type dark"?

I want it to take videos of my family, and will shoot outside and indoors, but don't want to buy a camera that is no good indoors without some serious additional lighting.