JVC Everio GZMG130 30GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 34x Optical Zoom

My fiance and searched high and low for a good camera that would fit in our budget. Our inital reason for needing one is to record our wedding, but with kids and whatnot in the future, we wanted a camera that wouldn't be obsolete next week.

We were going back and forth between a Sony SR-42, which is Sony's newest model in HDD, which was $599 at Best Buy, compared to the $499 we paid for the JVC. The Sony supposedly has a better lens, but we couldn't tell. The salesman at Best Buy said that unless you were looking for differences you really wouldn't see them.

The biggest difference we found between the two cameras was the optical zoom. When you were set on a higher zoom, the JVC was able to keep focus better. With the Sony, if you were at a 30x optical zoom and moved the camera everything went blurry and it took some time to re-focus. At the same zoom the JVC didn't do that. That is what really swayed us towards the JVC.

We would have rated the JVC with 5 stars if there had been a port to plug in a microphone or external lighting to the camera. The Sony didn't have that either-you had to buy a more expensive model of either brand in order to get those features.

The software seems to be pretty user-friendly on our XP operating system, but we haven't needed to burn anything (30GB holds a lot of stuff!). Hopefully that will go smoothly.

We've been happy with picture quality so far, and we don't exactly have the latest and greatest in terms of our TV. The functions are pretty easy to use on the camera. We preferred buttons to the touch screen on the Sony. The LCD on the camera is really nice and swivels in just about every direction. The camera is so light you forget you're holding it.

We haven't purchased an SD card for the still-photo portion since we both have digital cameras, but switching back and forth between the still function and video function only requires a flick of the thumb on the on/mode button.

Overall we've very happy with the camera. We went to Best Buy to purchase it and got the warranty, which covers cleanings, and just about any form of damage (including if I drop it, which could very well happen) except loss or theft. Hopefully we'll continue to be happy with our purchase.

We had the camera about 3 weeks now. Recorded my daughter's school musical with it, slightly over an hour long. The white balance seems a little off, but it should be correctable. The direct back-up of these files onto DVD disc fails -no idea why, because the program and "manuals" are more point and shoot than the camera. (You can examine the user manuals at JVC website to satisfy yourself of this point.) However, the files are backed up by the camera into a deeply buried folder called "My Works" on the computer.

I then used the provided cyberlink software to try to edit out the dead spots. I was able to do something only because I have used Roxio programs. Explanation and documentation of the cyberlink program is generic and minimal. So after I produce the movie, I get the news: TO BURN A DVD DISC, ONE MUST PURCHASE THE UPGRADE!!!! My independent Nero burner program will not recongize the mpg files, and I can only produce a disc readable by Windows media reader, and not a DVD player.

To make a fair comparsion to other cameras, add $100 to the price tag, because in spite of all the talk about making your own movies, you still have to pop out $80 more to do it. The Cyberlink programs looks to be a poor program nor will you get much help to get it working.

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I have had this for about a month and have taken a few movies. Some of my family who I don't see all that often. The 16.9 aspect on the camera screen is great and easy to change to regular screen size if that is you preference. It is great to have my home videos in wide screen format and the picture looks good on my 42 inch plasma. Made one dvd so far with out to much hassle. If you play around with the files in the camera you can edit down video before putting in your computer. It allows you to make shorter files from original footage then you just delete the parts you edited and anyway it works great and is pretty user friendly if you are at all computer savvy since screens on camera and controls make sense after a few wrong button pushes. Great size and weight. Can't wait for our vacation to really put this thing through it's paces. You will need an extra battery, bigger is better and a wall charger is very handy especailly if you are traveling. Amazon had best price. Originaly saw at B.J.'s and almost bought but better price and no tax or shipping with Amazon. Had to wait a few days for the free shipping to kick in but I don't mind. Good luck if you decide to go with camera. Alot of features and quality for the money. OH yeah, terrible still pics but that's why you have a digital camera.

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This is my first camcorder, but I think this thing is pretty awesome if you want a basic, reasonably priced camcorder. I'd read somewhere that if you format the HDD before you record any videos, that helps in the grainy department. I did that, and haven't had any issues yet as far as the picture goes. It's really clear and sharp. So if you aren't sure if you want to get this because of the "grainy images" complaints, I'd say go for it. It isn't like what they're describing. If you're looking for a camcorder that you want to have around for those moments you want recorded, this one does the job. The user interface is really easy to figure out, and not having to worry about having enough tapes/discs around is great.

The pictures this thing takes aren't too wonderful, as mentioned before. But I didn't buy this to take pictures with. That's what my digital camera is for. I'd say having that feature is good for those times you want to take a picture, but don't have your digital camera on you. The images wouldn't make very good prints, though.

I'll have to agree with a few other reviews about the software. It's... okay, but there are better programs out there. The program that JVC includes does suck up a lot of system resources and seems to lag when I try to playback directly from the camcorder (I blame it on the usb connection, as opposed to firewire). I found that saving them to the computer and playing directly from that gets rid of the lag though. Also, the software is limited in some areas because you can't get certain features without paying for the "deluxe" version of it. But the software is good to have if you don't have anything to convert to mpg, avi, real media, etc.

Overall, I really like this camcorder, and haven't had any issues yet. It's easy to hold, the buttons and joystick make it easy to navigate, and the picture quality is really good, given the price range of this camcorder. Definitely would recommend to anyone who's a first timer, or wants a reasonably priced camcorder.

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I really like this camcorder. I have NOT had most of the problems any of the other reviewers have had. Except i agree that the still photo function is not very good but i have a digital 8.0 megapixel compact point and shoot as well as a Nikon digital SLR. The still photo function should not be used for prints but if you just want to take a quick photo for your MySpace page or something similar then it works just fine. Oh and the light for the camera is only good if you are shooting up close at night and the night vision feature leaves allot of tracers.

JVC offers a variety of attachable lens, including a telephoto and wide angle lens as wells lens filters. All of which work great. I have no problems editing using the powerdirector and powerproducer software that comes with the camera. Although to use the advanced features you have to purchase the upgrade but the basic model has plenty of easy to use features to make some great videos without upgrading. all of the features in the software and on the camera are very user friendly especially for the novice.

I have had no problems shooting great high quality videos that look great on a regular tv as well as my 42 inch LCD TV. I love the fact that you have the option to shoot in 16:9 widescreen or in regular modes (although if you don't have a widescreen tv dont record in widescreen as it will make everything look stretched out) and editing the videos and burning them to a DVD using the Everio software is simple and the DVD's are easily viewed on ANY DVD player with no problems. I recently shot a friends wedding and reception using this camera and the quality and sound was fantastic and they were very pleased. Although i do wish this camera had an external mic input.

This is the best camera for the price and i am extremely pleased with it and if your a first time user or just a novice then this is the perfect camera for you, anything more would just be over kill and would leave you with a bunch of features you either don't know how to use or will NEVER use.

The in camera functions are so easy to use, you hardly need the instruction manual and with the built in camera modes there is hardly any reason to use the manual settings at all.