Customer Reviews

JVC Everio GZ-MG40 1.33 MP 20 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder w/15x Optical Zoom

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

 

 

I have been using this camcorder for almost two weeks now. And here are my impressions:

PROS:

A) This is a tiny camcorder and I can easily carry it in my pocket everyday.

B) It records directly on a 20GB harddrive. This is probably the most amazing feature of this camera. It has the following amazing benefits:
(1) A huge recording space
(2) Random access to recorded videos when browsing
(through a thumblist of videos)
(3) Super fast transfer onto your computer through USB 2.0.
(4) No tapes, no CDs, no DVDs to worry about while recording video.
(5) Facilitates easy archiving/organizing . For example, all the recorded files on the camera's harddrive have "creation date"s as a part of their file information. When the camera is connected to your computer, you can sort all files by date and easily separate all recordings by date to different folders by simply selecting and dragging. (This is extra, but if you want to index and be able to search your video files, say with google desktop, simply enter a list of keywords in the file name about the contents of the file.)
(6) The harddrive on your camera can double as additional portable storage media- this is unlikely but If you wanted you could even install linux on it and carry with you an operating system on your camera.

C) Video quality is good for a consumer level video camera. The sound quality recorded through the internal microphone is good: i can hear the lectures I record very clearly and there is no annoying noise generated by the camera.



D) The charger that comes with this camera is very small. So you can carry that around as well and worry less about running out of battery.


CONS:

A) No mic jacks.
B) manual focus and light adjustments are done through menus.
C) The editing software that comes with it is limited.
D) The battery life is a mere hour(but you can buy a 3 hour battery for 70-80 dollars).


As with all camcorders, the still images shot with this camera are not at the level of quality you can get from a good still camera. It produces reasonable snapshots in well lit situations.

The video files recorded by this camera have a ".MOD" extension in their name. I replace ".MOD" with ".MPG" and most of my standard video viewing software automatically recognize the files.

I really like the long record time of this camera. I bought this camera for my trip to Europe, and it was great. It's small, yet powerful. I could record off and on for days before having to dump the movies on my laptop. I would suggest getting a second battery, preferably the 3 hour. The 5 hour is almost the size of the camcorder itself, and made it heavier.

It was hard to find a case that is small enough for it, yet big enough to hold extra stuff like batteries. I bought the: CASE LOGIC TSC-4BLUE Sport Compact Camcorder Case. It doesn't even look like a camcorder case, which I also like.

The software that comes with it takes some getting used to, but I think it works well.
Night recording is a little grainy, but not too bad. I love that it has a wide screen option. The stability software works well; the hand shaking is greatly reduced.
I don't like the quality of the still pictures it takes, but I have a separate 8mp camera.

This camera is easy to operate but when it comes to getting the footage on the camera turned into a DVD it is not so easy. I am a fairly comfortable and experienced computer user but not an expert. The software included has very inadequate instructions. For example it says "never plug the camera into the computer while the camera is turned on". Later it says "don't ever turn the camera on or off with it plugged into the computer". Hmmm, this makes it awfully hard to transfer files! An email to JVC customer service received no reply!

Then the files come in multiple folders with odd names and extensions. The default file names are actually hexadecimal numbers! Good lord! How about using date and time instead?

It's not clear if I can just save the .MOD files and delete the rest or not. Then when I burn files to DVD's they invariably have skips, even though when I play them on my computer they look great. Maybe this isn't the camera's fault, maybe my DVD's are cheap. Regardless i may find myself playing the camera back onto my TV and recording simultaneously onto VHS tapes if I can't figure it all out!! At this point I have lots of nice videos on my hard drive with weird names and no DVD's that I can play on my TV!

I purchased this camera in December of 2005 to use to record the milestones of my then 6 month old son. I ended up using it sparingly, as the battery would drain quickly while not being used, so everytime I went to use it, I had to remember to charge it up. But that's not that uncommon with rechargeable batteries, so I got used to it.

The biggist issue that 22 months after I bought it (Halloween 2007), I went to record my son for Halloween and got an error message that said "Lens Cap", even though the lens cap was not on the camera. With a bit of online research, I came to find out that this was a problem with the CCD (the image sensor, I believe) and it was a known problem with JVC models and JVC was replacing/repairing units with specific model numbers. However, this model was not on the list, even though I found dozens of postings on line from people with the same problem with this camera. I was able to convince JVC to provide a free evaluation of the problem (they tyically charge $60). It was the optical block (of which the CCD is a part, so I'm not totally convinced it wasn't the CCD all along). They quoted over $280 for the repair. When I told them not to do it and to send the unit back as the repair is too expensive, they immediately lowered the price to $190 - a little sketchy in my mind. But, I went ahead with the repair. I haven't yet used the repaired unit, but will shortly as our second child is due in days.

I would recommend staying away from JVC as I don't feel I was dealt with fairly and evenly in this manner. Even though they did the free evaluation, I think the issue with the CCD is something they should have handled at no cost, since it was such a wide-spread problem. And the negotiating on the repair cost is pretty sketchy for a company the size of JVC - I expect that from a local yokel. I expect JVC to quote me the best price they can acheive.

This camera has worked really well. I use it often in a Gym videoing High School Basketball and the lighting in a gym has not been a problem and been very clear...

I do wish it had a night vision capability... it would help in really low lighting situations... The Zoom button is hard to get if you have big hands... but not a negative for me..

Overall a very good camera...

I GIVE 2 POINTS AS I CANNOT ACCESS MY VIDEO FOOTAGE TO COMMENT ON QUALITY. THE CAMERA IS EASY TO RECORD. IT IS LIKE ALL OTHER CAMCORDERS. THE PRINT ON THE CAMERA IS VERY DIFFICULT TO READ EVEN WITH GLASSES. I AM NO TECHNOPEASANT BY ANY MEANS. I HAVE READ AND REREAD THE INSTRUCTIONS. I CAN NOT GET THE CAMERA TO REWIND OR PLAYBACK. I CALLED JVC. YESTERDAY I WAS ON HOLD FOR 45 MIN. WHEN A FEMALE PICKS UP THE PHONE, SAYS, I THINK! CALL BACK TOMORROW AND SLAMMED THE PHONE DOWN. I TRIED FOR HOURS TODAY TO GET THROUGH, EVEN TO GET THROUGH TO AN OPERATOR. NO LUCK, JVC SUCKS. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE 2ND BIGGEST CONSIDERATION YOU SHOULD TAKE ONCE YOU DECIDE TO BUY AN EXPENSIVE PRODUCT. WITHOUT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE HOW CAN WE GET OPERATION INFORMATION WHEN HELP IS NEEDED . THINK ABOUT IT! WON'T YOU!