Customer Reviews

JVC Everio GZMG21 20GB HDD Digital Media Camcorder with 32x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I moved up from a MiniDV camcorder to this one because of the hard-drive recording. It was a *great* purchasing decision. My personal favorite features:
- Plug it into your computer, drag and drop the clips to your computer, rename them from .MOD to .MPG, and then author a DVD. NO CONVERSION NECESSARY! Records AC-3 audio.
- Easy manual control
- Intuitive navigation of the menu structure (MG21 has a 'stick' control while the MG20 did not)
- 16:9 recording! Fills up my HDTV.
- 32x OPTICAL zoom
- ~5 hours of recording time even in the highest quality setting

Downsides:
- Quality out of the box is not so good, BUT with a few adjustments it is much better

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.

I am really happy with this camcorder.

[...]

I chose JVC everio of course because of its ability to write video files on hard drive and then easily copy them to my PC ( don't forget to change .MOD extension to MPG to play it in any player. Also you may need MPEG-2 codec which you can find on internet). No tapes, disks, etc. Just calculate how much you will spend on these items of the past. I think they still exist just because of companies getting money for this on the regular basis. If you have a tape camera you are busted for all your life to feed producer of DV cassettes... But this is all just thoughts.
About the camera you can read a lot of reviews for other models which are almost exactly the same and get a lot of useful information. I just chose the cheapest model which is totally enough for my needs. Summary is that this camera is very convenient, battery life is less than 1 hour, video quality during the day is good, during the night is no quality at all and in low light you should play a little bit with the settings. I've read other reviews and just want to repeat this: try GAIN UP setting or follow this advise of one reviewer:

I came of a way to improve its indoors performance
significantly, use "M" mode with white balance set to
"Cloudy" and shutter speed set to 1/50 (in extreme
conditions 1/30)
The camera store these settings, so you just need to
set these once and switch to "M" whenever shooting indoors.

I think JVC should give more hints to people, not everyone can guess such things.
So 5 stars for the idea minus 1 star for battery, bad manual and average video quality.

I recently purchased this product and have been very happy with the performance. It is very small and light and the recording quality is really good. I especially like the ability to record segments directly to the hard drive. It is very easy to delete the bad takes and just get the good stuff. The quality in dark places or at night is not very good (except for close-up subjects), but considering the size of the camera I am fine with limiting recording the well lit places.

I would highly recommend this purchase, especially for getting good video of kids or friends.

I got this camera as a graduation gift, yet i had to pitch in 200 of my own, which was completely fine for me..

I use this very often, and my band does touring and I record everything that goes on, and make videos out of the clips.
The hard disk drive is very helpful, because all I need to do is plug into a power source, and I can record out whole show!!!

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THO TO TURN DEMO MODE OFF BEFORE RECORDING WITH THE CAMERA ON A TRIPOD WHEN IT IS STILL, my camera kept shutting off during out last show, and our show tonight will record smoothly..

I use this for documenting pretty much anything that happens, and I love it, cool features like "old reel-type film", black and white, strobe, sepia, and it shoots in 16X9 which is a cool feature to have, because I produce the videos in that format.

I love this camera and would definately tell everybody to buy this camera for any use.

the only negative thing is nightime recording isn't that great, so have an external light source... or don't record at night ;)

This is a great product. I love the design, size, hard drive (no tapes!), 32X optical zoom, added convenience of an SD card, as well as excellent video quality. The format that it records videos on can be easily changed by changing the extension of the file. Downloads to PC without issues and easy to setup and watch recorded videos on TV. Now the Auto settings are not the best for indoor/low light conditions so try using it under Manual recording mode setting the AE to +3, the WB to Halogen, and the Shutter Speed (S.Sp) to 1/60 or in extreme conditions to 1/30. These settings worked really well for me and I am really happy with it. Also disbale the "Gain Up" feature which is makes video quality bad. I recommend to get a 5-hour spare battery is only like $25-35 online and worth every penny. I have not used the software that came with it though.

Love the camcorder and the fact that you never have to buy tapes or those stupid little 20-minute discs. The quality is great. And you can upgrade to a three-hour battery, so battery life isn't a concern. My only drawbacks: 1) camera can be very sensitive; I took it to the beach and jostled it around a little and the zoom and focus stopped working, and 2) using it with a program like Sony's Click to DVD software scrambles the clips, so when you edit before burning to DVD you have to go back, frame by frame, and rearrange the clips in the order you shot them in.

We purchased this camcorder because we have our first child on the way and it has far exceeded our expectations to date. First off, it is incredibly small and easy to carry and hold. The hard disk recording media is the way to go for us and eliminates the need to purchase yet another type of disc or tape. For the way we use it, this unit delivers quality video and good sound. The default settings are not the best in low light situations, but menu adjustments can be made to improve low light recording results. Like many others suggest, buy a longer duration battery as the one that is included just doeasn't last long enough and requires constant charging. Overall we are very pleased with our purchase of this camcorder and the results it has given.

This is my first digital camera ever, and I've got to say I could not think of anything better. The idea of not having to buy tapes or disks to record on was one of my main reasons for purchasing it. Think of it this way: 3 digital tapes usually costs like $20+ and imagine how many tapes you could go through in the span of a few years. With this camera you just transfer it straight from the camera to your computer... no tapes involved!

It's a good idea to buy this camera. Yeah it's a little more expensive than a lot of other cameras, but you will save money by not having to purchase tapes!

We had the standard video camera for years. Problem is you wind up with all these small tapes. My husband would work on putting them on the computer and making disks but that took way too long. My brother-in-law bought a mini disk but that requires expensive disks and each one has to be finalized before you can watch them. All of these issues are solved with this video camera. It tapes beautifully and you can watch them back on the camera with SOUND!! This is great if you want to see if you got what you think you did.

Also, every time you start and stop taping it makes a file - this makes editing much easier as it is generally sectioned well.

Finally, when you want to download you just plug it into the computer and it is easily transferred. Editing is very easy with the included Nero software. If you want to do advanced editing you may want something more but the enclosed software works fine for my family purposes.

We bought this one due to concerns about function in low light with the other cameras. This is still somewhat of a concern in this camera as the quality of the film is not as crisp indoors as out. But, the quality is just as good as in my old tape based system.

I highly recommend this hard disk based video camera.

I have had this camcorder for a few weeks now. After reading some reviews on here I was scared, but I have to say that this camera works fine for me.

I have taken video indoors in low light situations and the quality looks fine on my TV (32"), it is definitly comparable to other cameras in this price range. Outdoors the quality has been great. I have also had no trouble with shaking in my video up to a 20x zoom, anything beyond that and you definitly notice the slightest vibration.
This camera also makes it very easy to edit video which is a great feature.
The battery lasts for about an hour, but I bought the extended battery (3hr) and it lasts at least 2.5 hours which is plenty for most situations. It does stick out a little further but this is already one of the smallest video cameras so it does not make that much of a difference.

If you want professional looking video then look at a higher price range, but if you are in the market for a lightweight, easy to use camcorder, that can take almost 5 hrs of video on the highest quality with NO TAPES then I would definitly reccommend the Everio. I am very happy with mine.