JVC Everio GZMG27 20GB HDD Digital Media Camcorder with 32x Optical Zoom

I have been using this camera for about 2 months, taking it on a cruise as well as filming a couple college choir concerts. All went well, exceeded my expectations, based on other reviews I read. The only problem I have seen is with lowlight indoor filming, however the fix I came across supposedly works, but I have not had a chance to try it yet (see fix at end of review). The 20gb drive was plentry for me, cpaturing several hours of HD quality film, still with plenty of drive space remaining. I have had very few problems with the software, the ones I did have are more around lack of a manual, but have figured out thru trial and error. Overall, I would highly recommend this product to anyone interested in a new camera. Plus you can stop buying tapes.

Lowlight Fix (note I do not take credit for this, found it on the web but do not remember where). Here is the text exactly as I found it, including the comments at the end.

How I get good low-light/indoors video (do the following steps indoors with the camera in capture mode):

1) Disable the "Gain Up" feature (major contributor to the grainy low-light video)

2) Turn on "Manual" mode (via AUTO button)

3) Go to the manual control menu (down on the 'stick')

4) Set AE to '+2'

5) Highlight 'MWB' in the WB menu, point the camera at a sheet of paper (position the camera so the sheet of paper fills the view of the camera) and press and hold the middle of the 'stick' until 'MWB' stops blinking (about 5-10 seconds).

6) Set S.sp. to 1/60

7) Press down on the 'stick' to exit the manual control menu

After doing this, my indoors video quality is MUCH better (no more noise/grainy video). The settings will be saved, even if the battery is removed or depleted; they will return even if you switch to AUTO mode then back to MANUAL.

The Everio GZMG27 HDD Camcorder is a wonderful camcorder with lots of handy features at a value price. Although the battery that comes with the camcorder has a limited life, I didn't feel that this was a huge drawback since I always like to buy a spare anyway. The 20 GB capacity seems to be more than adequate and it is easy to transfer to other storage media. The zoom feature is powerful enough to bring out the flaws on the face of a Hollywood star and the Automatic shooting mode allows you to start taking good videos straight from the box.

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Pro's:

no recording media to change, long record time. Small and lightweight.

Con's:

for the price, I can't think of any.

I think some people seem to forget that this model is considered a budget HDD camcorder. You ARE NOT going to get "brodcast quality" video out of it. You ARE NOT going to get good low light performance. What you get is an affordable, compact, decent HDD camcorder for a shoe-string budget. Nothing more. You are paying for the convenience of not having to change tapes or dvds, bottom line.

I've had mine now for about 9 hours and so far I've only done test shooting with it in low-light conditions. On Auto the results were less than exceptable. If you take a little time and learn the manual controls then you will get satisfactory results. There will be some "noise" (grainy picture) but again, this is a "bottom of the barrel" camcorder.

I've read many reviews on this device (and the other Everio G models around this price range) and people all complain about the poor picture quality and I just want to say for the last time... It's a budget HDD camcorder. Yes, I know I'm repeating myself but I want to put this issue to bed. If you want really nice picture quality, pick up one of Sony's new Hi-Def HD camcorders. Mmmmmm...might set you back about $1200.

People have complained about the mod file. Idiots. Thats all I got to say. The included software converts it to Mpeg2 for you. Duh!?! In no time I had my 'test video' shot, downloaded, converted, and edited using windows movie maker. Please keeep in mind that this is the FIRST CAMCORDER I'VE EVER BOUGHT. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE EDITED VIDEO ON MY COMPUTER!

Also, Format the hard drive before you begin to record. Some people complained that picture quality was worse than that of a web cam. Through my countless hours of searching for the "truth", I came to the conclusion that this may be why. They don't even mention that until page 39 of the manual.

One of the most frustating things I've done in my life was research and read reviews for camcorders. Geez, what a can of worm that was. I'm trying to make this as blunt as possible for the next guy who reads this shopping for a camcorder so he doesn't get stuck on the internet every night for a week and a half trying to find out the truth about this thing. "Don't listen to the complainers. They didn't know what they were doing". IT'S A BUDGET HDD CAMCORDER!

So far I'm very pleased with this product and The quality thus far is more than exceptable for my needs.

For the record I'm a Lighting Technician/Designer for an Audio/Visual Company with some knowledge of video technology, but have limited hands-on camera experience.

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I recently purchsased the JVC Everio GZMG27 after much research and thought about which platform to get....hard drive vs. mini DV tapes vs. mini DVD discs. I tested the cam yesterday and it was easy to use, very user friendly (don't really need to read the manual to get it working) and took a nice video. Overall a very good purchase over the Sony which generally costs about $100 more. However, what I do not like about the camera and will be the reason why I am going to return it and purchase the DVD mini disc format is the time it takes to create a DVD. Last night I copied the test video from the Cam to my hard drive and I discovered the following. The files are some weird MOI type which cannot be opened using any standard video software. You must use the disc that comes with the camcorder. The software does allow you to convert to AVI which would then have to be converted to DVD format. This of course is in real time, so if your video is 2 hours, you must play back the video for 2 hours and then wait for the computer to first convert to AVI. After that I could rip it to disc in about 45 more minutes. Although there is an option of directly ripping to DVD, I do not like this option since I would like to have a back up (in DVD file format) on my harddrive along with a copy of the DVD.

With the mini DVD camcorders, it is so easy to make a copy and keep a copy on your computer's harddrive for future editing/copies. Much less time consuming for sure. The drawback is of course that the discs are only good for about 30 minutes of footage, but that is fine with me.

Hope this saves you some time.

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Since I really only have a few small gripes, I'll list them first! The indoor quality isn't great-even with the 'fix' listed below-the colors are mostly washed out so the picture looks nearly black and white, and depending on how much light is available when you adjust the white balance, it can almost take on a sepia tone appearance. Also, in low-light situations, the camera seems to 'search' for something to focus on, causing the subject to blur in and out over and over. Other than that, I've been very happy with my purchase. I did a lot of online searching thru models here at Amazon, and read tons of reviews for many different cameras, and this one seemed to have the MOST positive feedback.

The pros:

Excellent outdoor and daytime (well lit) indoor shooting.

Amazingly smooth zoom! Even at 32X the detail is amazing!

Very easy to use out of the box, easy to understand menu!

Excellent design, great attention to detail!

Very small and light!

Love the 20 Gigabyte HDD memory!

Very easy PC interface, quick transfer of files.

Cyberlink's Products are very user-friendly.

Packed with features I haven't even discovered yet!

Needless to say, I really am not disappointed with my purchase. Anyone who thinks they should be able to get feature-film quality from a small, compact camcorder for less than $500 is pretty naive.

*EDITI have upgraded the bundled Cyberlink products to the full versions and find them to be capable of creating great professional-looking films in 1080p HD without being as cumbersome and difficult to use as Adobe Premiere. It also costs about half the price. A review of them is here ...