JVC GRDV800 MiniDV 1.33MP Camcorder with 3.5" LCD, 10x Optical Zoom, and 8MB MMC Card

by JVC

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000899YJ
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,329 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 25, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Elegantly styled with an easy to use design, JVC's GRDV800 takes full advantage of the MiniDV system and provides a sharp 540 horizontal lines of resolution, ensuring outstandingly vibrant images. Some of the features of the camcorder include a huge 3.5-inch LCD screen, 10x optical zoom, accessory info shoe, the ability to record MPEG4 clips, and remarkable still camera performance.

Lens
The 1/4-inch CCD sensor captures images with detailed accuracy so that images will be sharp and defined. The optical zoom magnifies up to 10 times while the digital zoom, which works by electronically enhancing the optical image, reaches up to 300 times. The digital image stabilization system keeps the picture steady and solid throughout zooms and camera shakes. You can shoot visible video at night using the night shot function, which allows the camera to shoot full-spectrum video in little or no light situations. Manual controls such as focus, exposure, and white balance give the user greater flexibility in shooting.

Digital Stills
The CCD sensor has a 1.33 megapixel rating, which creates images with resolutions of up 1600 by 1200 pixels. There are three lower quality settings (1280 x 960, 1024 by 768, and 640 by 480) that you can use to save memory. The DV800 includes an 8MB MultiMedia card and is also compatible Secure Digital memory cards.

Inputs and Outputs
The DV800 comes with the standard DV IEEE1394 port which provides a lossless connection to a PC or other DV machines, as well as a USB port for image transfer. The common RCA AV connections are used for direct viewing on a television or VHS dubbing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great in good light, amazing battery life, March 1, 2004

By 

Ashu M (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC GRDV800 MiniDV 1.33MP Camcorder with 3.5" LCD, 10x Optical Zoom, and 8MB MMC Card (Electronics)

I bought this camcorder late last year and travelled a lot over Christmas break - this camera satisfied my needs perfectly! Its charger is multi-voltage capable, the battery charges quickly and lasts forever (I still purchased a large additional battery for those situations when I didn't have access to a power plug for days!)

I agree with the reviewers saying the low-light mode is kind of strobe-like. However, it is in <b>True Color,/b>! If you move your hand gently (use a tripod for low light!), or focus on a scene and don't move the camera much, you will like the results. I, for one, hate the fake, green tint (infraRed-based) that Sony and some other manufacturers incorporate into their night mode. Yes, it increases overall light sensitivity by absorbing more rays from outside the usual visible spectrum, but the video looks (green!) unreal and ugly. NOT an option!

The remote has a few nice features as well, and the photograph mode is quite impressive for a digital camcorder. I took over 300 pictures at the native resolution of 1.33 MegaPixels 1280x1024 (2 Megapixel photos at 1600x1200 are produced through interpolation, don't bother with it!). I got some beautiful low-light, dawn and dusk shots, including sunsets and sea shots.

The lack of a flash forcues you to use good photography principles like keeping the subject's face well lit, but the BackLight mode is a nice semi-fix for video or pictures taken with a bright backlight (eg sun behind subject).

<b>BE AWARE</b> that most versions of this camera do not like LARGE SecureDigital (SD) cards. You will be able to use cards over 128 MB, but can't preview the photos or the amount of space left because the camera doesn't fully support that card size (256 and above). <b>Stick with a 128MB card</b>, which can hold well over 250-300 photos at the highest native resolution, and you should be satisfied!

It would have been nice to have a lens with <b>more optical zoom</b>, because digital zoom is an absolute joke, just like any other camcorder - the graininess introduced into the video makes it quite worthless. 10X isn't bad, though, and the clarity of video and images shot with this camera rival anything I've had a chance to compare it to (mostly similar priced and similar featured cameras from other manufacturers, owned by friends). I've made a few DVDs and amny VCDs of video captured with this camcorder, and the quality is great.

The software included isn't too bad for quick and dirty image and video capture using the USB port and included cable (half resolution video) or Firewire (you need to buy a cable, but can capture full resolution video only with Firewire). However, I strongly recommend using something nicer like at least ULead Video Studio or Sonic MyDVD or Pinnacle's Studio products, or perhaps even Adobe Premiere to make truly 'prosumer' video! Its a pity a Firewire cable isn't included, but make sure you get one.

The video (composite) output cables are excellent, and dubbing video from the DV tapes to VHS or DVD/VCD recorders couldn't get easier. I haven't played with the scene transitions on the camera, because I edit in software, but I'm sure they'll be satisfactory if you want to make VHS tapes or DVD/VCDs directly using the (cable included) RCA composite AV output.

<b> A note on DV tapes</b> - stick to one manufacturer, because others (like Sony) use a different technique to make their tapes and camcorder heads apparently don't like frequent switching. I have had great luck with JVC tapes (duh!) which are re-labelled Fuji tapes. I bought well over a dozen.

The camera's <b>pass through</b> function for analog video lets you convert it to DV which you can capture on the fly (using pass-through) on a computer to convert your old VHS tapes into flawless (as good as the original VHS at least) VCDs or DVDs. I've used this a lot as well.

The <b>large flippable LCD screen</b> is good for those videos when you want to be in the shot but still occasionally monitor what the camera is capturing, from a distance. It doesn't get grimy or dirty and is easy to clean anyway.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Limited on the SD/Multimedia Card, October 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: JVC GRDV800 MiniDV 1.33MP Camcorder with 3.5" LCD, 10x Optical Zoom, and 8MB MMC Card (Electronics)

I bought one last week and I love it, but one word to the wise. The camera is not compatible with a 128mb card. The camera can't read pictures you take using a 128mb media card. This means you have to drop down to a 64mb card. You still get 120+ pictures on the 64, but its something you might want to know.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent camera, August 12, 2003

By 

Maverick "health2100" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC GRDV800 MiniDV 1.33MP Camcorder with 3.5" LCD, 10x Optical Zoom, and 8MB MMC Card (Electronics)

Before getting this camera I've done an extensive research and tryed differnt digital camcorders. I found that the main advantage of this unit is 1.3 meg. resolution still pictures, 3.5 inches LCD, good filming at low light conditions and stereo microphone. I also liked the way this camera looks -- "professional look".
Do not expect that you will get quality snapshots printouts -- none of the camcorderds (with exeption above [money amount]in price)produce enough resolution for printed pictures, but if you want snapshots to be watched on your TV or Computor Monitor, this cammera gives you more then enough resolution for the snapshots.
Controls are easy and self-explanatory. Has its own speaker,I did not like that it is pretty weak, not much louder then my cell phone. Good thing you can plug in your headphones and get a good STEREO sound. Also there is a socket for an external microphone. Highly recommended unit.