Customer Reviews

JVC Home JVC Everio MS130 16GB Dual Flash Camcorder (Black)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just purchased the JVC Everio MS 130 color blue, a week ago. (I got it at Best Buy). I wanted to say that I am a VERY satisfied customer. This is the first time I've ever bought a digital camcorder. After reading several good reviews on this item I thought I would go and get it myself.

The picture quality is sharp and very clear. The sound is amazing. It comes out loud and crisp. The menus are very easy to use. I had a hard time getting use to the "touch" type of screen. But after reading the manuel that came with the product I realized I was doing it wrong, so after that the screens and the menus were very easy.

I had no problems uploading my videos and burning them onto a dvd. I purchased the Maxwell DVD+R dvd's at Walmart and they played fine on my dvd player. (I have a magnavox dvd player).

I know some people were complaining about loading their videos onto youtub and how the video comes looking like it was squashed. I do not understand this. My video on youtube looked just fine. I filmed in 16:3 and the quality on youtube was great.

I also have a software editing product called Roxio. This program is great for editing my videos. The only problem is that the audio w/ the camcorder is not compatible to this software program. You can still add your own background music to the video but the actual audio attached to your video won't transfer. HOWEVER, do not fret. I have the older version of Roxio. I was told by a prompt on this software that if I upgraded to version 10 the audio would be compatible.

I haven't had any problems with the battery life. I charged it fully two nights ago and filmed a good 30 minutes yesterday and today. I still have a 50% charge. I think the charging percentage could probably be a little higher; but since I was constantly turning the product on and off, filming at different times, it probably wears down the battery more.

What I also love about this camcorder is not only does it come w/ 16 GB of internal memory, there is also two slots to put memory cards into, so you can add additional recording memory to this product!

Overall I am happy I bought this product. I am very satisfied and would defnitely recommend this to anyone who asked.

I'm a camcorder newbie and bought the JVC MS130BU basically on an impulse at Walmart. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I took the plunge because I needed a video camera fast. I've now had the camcorder less than a week and am very satisfied with what I purchased. Could you get a better camera, I'm sure that you could, but for a standard definition digital camera, I am very happy with the image quality. The image playback direct from the camera into a 42" Samsung LCD 720p TV is sweet. High definition images aren't needed here. Why spend extra money if you don't need to?

I'm in agreement with the previous review from P.L. Penar that the menus are cumbersome and not as straightforward as I'd like and the 4 gb video file size limitation can be a problem. Also, the included Pixela Software Media Manager makes me scratch my head. Not the most polished of programs, and I wish you could export your videos to file formats that you could edit with other popular video editor. (P.L. explains in his review how to accomplish that). For this, I'm only giving the camera four stars, but it would have five if they could fix this.

Overall, I can't complain about the performance of this sleek, lightweight and compact camcorder. If you're looking for a value-priced, good quality video camera, this one fits the bill the just fine.

I've just begun testing this camcorder, and it seems to work very well. Be aware of two limitations: (1) maximum file size is 4 GB, so the manual says it will create a new file at that point if you are continuously recording. (2) the MOD file format is indeed MPG, and can be copied from the camcorder and renamed as .mpg and edited. However, even when acquired in 16:9, the file has internal tags that tell all Windows software that it is 4:3, so it appears "squeezed" on screen. The solution is to shoot in 4:3 only, or to use DVDPATCHER to change all tags to 16:9 (be sure to keep the other parameters unchanged). Ultrafine has 9100k and Fine has 8400k data rate. The software provided for conversion only converts to WMF at low data rates, so is not useful. Oh, and JVC was completely unhelpful in this regard. They referred me to Pixela technical support, even though the software was not the problem. (I would quote the rather dismissive email, but that would be illegal, according to JVC.)
I do not have an assessment of battery life yet. Menus I would assess to be a bit cumbersome, with scrolling and selection buttons far apart from each other. Overall, though, a good camera -- very narrow in body and light in weight.

I went on a hunch and bought this for my obsession of film making. And I'm glad I did. I've read other reviews and wasn't sure if this was the camcorder I wanted but it works perfectly. The zoom is the best part and the 16GB internal memory is a plus along with the SD memory. What more could you ask for?

As for the camera, it's not the best feature beacause sometimes the pictured come out blurry. I didn't expect much from the camera considering it's designed for taking videos. But I've noticed that to get the best pictures is to take "snapshots" while it's still in video recording mode.
It really works: pictures come out great especially if there's great lighting. The light on the camera is a bonus as well.
The battery life could be better but I use my camera non-stop, therefore, I drain my batteries faster.
The JVC 130 is very easy to use and it's easy to upload your videos and pictures onto your PC without the use of the software. Just connect the camcoder and PC using the USB cable and you're good to go. I don't use the software at all beacause it just seems irrelevant and it just takes up space on my computer.

Finally, there has been some complaints that the .MOD codec doesn't work when transferred from the camcorder, I've noticed this to be true when I upload my videos on to Windows Vista, but my laptop is Windows 7, so I don't have that issue - ONLY with Vista. If you have windows 7, you should view the videos just fine. Or you can choose the option of downloading the codecs, or buying a software to convert the .MOD files. Also, videos work well with Windows Movie Maker.

Completely incompatible with Windows 7. Pretty ridiculous that JVC doesn't support a three year old product. I'm thinking about taking a dump in the box, sending it back to JVC, and responding to their complaints by saying I couldn't tell fecal matter from the hunk of crap they sold me.

I don't know what everyone else expects or if there is a malfunction with mine, but the video quality is terrible. It's slightly better than what I can get with my LG Dare camera phone. This is on the highest quality settings viewed on a PC through windows media player and/or movie maker. It also looks grainy and washed out on my TV. I have a 3yr old Canon A570is (a cheap point and shoot camera) that blows away the video quality. It's not even in the ballpark. I'm exceedingly dissapointed in this camcorder especially because it was a gift and so I didn't try it until after the 30 day return period was up. Now I'm out of luck with a $300 camcorder that does no better than the pinhole camera in my cellphone. Don't waste your money on one of these. Especially when, for $300 you could buy a very nice still frame camera with full HD video and true optical image stabilizer with light years better output quality in a smaller package. There are multiple makes and models that accomplish this. Canons allow you to compress the files so you get plenty of record time too.

If anyone wants a good deal on an almost new one (less than 2hrs use) I'll sell you mine for a lot less than $300.