Customer Reviews

JVC GRDF450U MiniDV Camcorder w/ 15x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

As C. Dvorak noted, I too have had this "Lens Cap" problem with this camera. I think I have shot a grand total of about 45 minutes of video. Also, 2 months ago, I spent ~$150 having some fuses replaced - the camera wouldn't power on. The camera was 9 days out of warranty.

It has good quality, and a great set of features... So if it wasn't for the problems that I have had... It would be a nice camera.

BUY A SERVICE PLAN! BUY A SERVICE PLAN! BUY A SERVICE PLAN!

Have I said it enough? Once more: BUY A SERVICE PLAN!

I had this camcorder for 4 months, was reasonably happy with the quality of the video. I intended to tape my sons's one-act play, but luckily decided to check the camcorder ahead of time. It would not record video and showed a "lens-cap" error. Needless to say the lens cap was not on. I called JVC, they said to take the battery off for 2 hours and try it again. No luck. I called a service center since the camcorder was out of warranty and found it would cost $50 to look at the camera plus the cost of the repair. I called Sam's Club where I had purchased the camcorder and they agreed to take it back. After looking into buying another camcorder, I found that JVC and Sony are both famous for this problem, along with refusing to stand by their products. There may be a class action lawsuit filed against Sony because of this. Lesson learned - buy service agreements with camcorders.

I really wanted to like this camcorder. I bought it even after reading about problems JVC was having with its camcorder products (lens cap issues etc). Unfortunately the camcorder had problems getting the colors right so I sent it back. Many scenes either washed out in green for the duration of the scene, or green flashed in and out of the shot. I could do several pan shots of the same area and one shot would render normally and another would be all green.

I did adjust the Gain and White balance, and all the other things, but no adjustments corrected the green wash-outs and wash-ins. I also had problems with lines and other aberrations that would zip in and out.

In many respects this camcorder was an admirable device. It has many useful ports and features not widely found in this price range. A Firewire, accessory shoe, S-VHS, microphone jack and analog-to-digital port all on the same camera for less than 400 USD is a very rare bird.

It made good videos when it wasn't green or distorted. The only thing I wouldn't have liked about this camera under normal circumstances was the zoom. It was very stiff and twitchy. Getting a smooth zoom-in or zoom-out was hard. If a person is doing sports shots and wants quick in's and out's without modulation then this cameras zoom might be good for them.

The new Canon ZR's have zoom speed control and I can see that being a good feature. Unfortunately people seem to be having problems with the Canon ZR motors making a lot of noise that can be heard during playback. Guess we cant be too picky for two or three hundred dollars.


The JVC camera is very small - smaller than it looks in pics. If you know what a mini DV tape looks like then look at the tape chamber in pic and realize the chamber isn't too much bigger than a tape. This camera is small. It was nice to be able to put it in a jacket pocket. The problem was I have size large hands, and some of the controls are miniscule. To switch the camera on a person must shift a lever while pressing down a tiny red lock button about the size of a ball point pen tip. If you have big hands this isn't a camera you can grab quick to catch that fleeting shot. A person is better off leaving camera set in the "On" position when at some event.

I had no problem getting the video to my PC - but only because I already had a All-In-Wonder video card and knew how to import video already. I also had a Nero suite that came with my Sony DVD RW. Both of these made getting the video on the PC easy. Good thing too because JVC didn't want to say much about getting video to a PC in its directions. I did have to install a firewire adapter to my computer( I found a Sabrent PCI card that cost me 10 USD at New Egg. It had 3 ports and it came with a firewire cord!) but I could also get video via my SVS jack on the video card.

Since most of the cameras in this price range seem to have issues with features or quality I can't say this camera isn't worth a shot at buying. Just make sure there is a good return time (I like the TV sellers because they allow 30 days). This is a four star camera if it works right. I can only give it two here since my unit was a bust. If my only problem was a lens cap I would have sent it in to get fixed and then kept it. The greenish wash was a bit too much though.

I think a lot of electronic products these days are being hampered by poor quality components that cause problems for vendors. A lot of motherboards have been failing because of poor quality capacitors. It looks like JVC has been having issues with some of its components despite some quality engineering (a lot of model numbers having lens cap issues were listed on its site so its not just the cheap models).

This is a re-write as I've gained new information.

We bought this camera based on the Consumer Reports rating. We wanted to download our videos to our pc so we could save them as DVDs. Although we are fairly computer savy, we had no experience with camcorders. Buying a JVC brand was a big mistake because of the poor customer service. This camera does not come with instructions on how to download the taped material onto a computer.

For anyone wanting to buy a digital camcorder to download onto your computer, make sure you know what kind of wires/cards you will need. This camera requires a firewire card with a firewire cable (also known as a dv cable.) Although the advertising for this camcorder states, "Throughout JVC's Mini DV line, the camcorders are designed with the PC in mind, offering multiple PC connection options, including USB and iLink (IEEE 1394) DV cable." However, with most models, the USB only transfers stills.

If you have Windows XP, the camera will be instantly recognized and you can actually control the camera with the computer. We hooked this camera to a friend's XP computer. When we tried to save the video, the playback we got on the computer was really grainy. We don't know if it would have been better if we burned a dvd and played it on the tv. We've heard that there are ways to adjust the software to get a better record. Doesn't make sense to me and we've heard so many conflicting things that I don't know if that's true.

If you own Windows 2000, it will not recognize this camera. After nearly a dozen calls to JVC, we still haven't been given information on how to make this camera work with our computer. I spoke with a technician somewhere else who told me that all camcorders require software to run with 2000. The necessary software DOES NOT COME WITH THE CAMERA. Most editing software seems to cost about $80 or more so you will need to add this cost, plus a firewire card if you don't have it, to the cost of the camera. We have a device that allows us to transfer video from a vcr into our computer so we used this to transfer our camcorder tapes.

As I've mentioned, JVC service was awful. We would have returned the camera, but we bought it from an internet store that required returns within 7 days. Be wary of that when buying a product you are unfamiliar with, it may not be worth the $40 you save. Also, had we returned the product, we still would have had a 15% restocking fee. Amazon has a restocking fee.

Back to JVC. We've sent several emails to their service department over nearly a 2 month period and none were answered. Nine or ten telephone technicians gave us differing information--some technicians said the opposite of what others said. One tech refused to transfer me to a supervisor, stating, "No one at JVC can help you."

All that said, we do like the camera. Like most contemporary camcorders, it is smaller than older models. We filmed the birth of our son (the whole reason we bought the camera) and are pleased with the color. We were in a dmily lit birth center with daylight filtered through thin curtains and the image is good. I'm not a videophle, so can't compare this to other cameras.

The covers over the connection ports are flimsy and seem like they will break off easily.

The service (or lack of it) provided by JVC was so bad I will not buy another JVC product. In my initial review I gave an extra star because the camera seemed okay. The service we've received since then was so bad, I would take that star away and only give it one star if amazon would let me do that.

I received this camera as a Christmas gift and have only had the opportunity to use it ONCE! When I was getting it ready to take on our family vacation to Orlando, I noticed that it wouldn't record. The "Lens Cap On" message will not go off of the screen. When I called JVC, I was put on hold for over 10 minutes, then was cut off once the guy started to tell me what I needed to do with the camera. After calling back and waiting AGAIN, the girl was very rude and told me I had to send my camera back to the JVC factory in New Jersey to have it repaired!!! Well, considering we're going on vacation TOMORROW that really didn't help me!

What a WASTE of money! Now we don't have a video camera for our family vacation!!!!! DON'T BUY THIS CAMERA!!!!!

See my review of the GR-DF430U for more information. I'll try to help anyone with this problem, as the repair is relatively simple and you can do it yourself. No need to pay JVC anything at all. They should have fixed this problem long ago, but refused to help out their customers for whatever reason. A bad business decision, in my opinion.

Contact me if you require assistance and instructions on how to fix this problem. Save your hard-earned money and don't pay JVC to fix this!

The camcorder was great for a couple of months, and then, the dreaded "Lens Cap" error. Now it is useless. Fortunately, I bought the extended warranty from Sams, where I bought the camera. Now I'm waiting to see how that works out. Either way, unfortunately, the camera clearly isn't well made or reliable. Once fixed, I'll use it when convenient -- until I find a new one that is equally good and made by a more reliable manufacturer.

I purchased this camcorder less than a year ago. I had to exchange it within 4 days of purchase becasue of the lense cover error, now 10 months later my second one is doing the same thing. JVC pretty much says it is a fluke thing, I guess not. Also AmericanTV where it was purchased is doing the oh well as well. I will never purchase another JVC product or shop american. I have lost alot of memories do to this very common proplem.

Unfortunately, I also have the same problem almost everybody has. I used my camera 5 times in 3 years and now it won't work. Don't waste your money on this!!!!

My GZ-MG21U HDD has same problem. Use very few times. Stopped working since last 3 months with Lens Cap Error. Sent it to JVC Center. They are asking $275 to fix. BEWARE before buying. Read reviews carefully. This looks to be widespread problem.