JVC GRDX97 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom

by JVC

Product Details

Product Manual [3.45mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001B86H2
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,588 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 27, 2004

Product Description

JVC GRDX97US Digital CyberCam Camcorder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 star... not 1 star, January 19, 2005

By 

Ron Brisko (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC GRDX97 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Russian Texan's 1 star rating needs to be corrected. Just because the USER doesn't know how transfer video to pc via USB... doesn't make the GRDX-97 a 1 star camcorder. If Russian Texan's is using XP, there is no need to install driver. Plug in USB cable to camcorder, plug USB into pc, turn on camcorder, USB Mass Storage Device Manager will recognize new hardware. No need to purchase firewire cable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overall performance. Some motor noise, July 16, 2005

By 

Andrew (VA. USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: JVC GRDX97 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I just received this camera. I bought it to replace a 5yr old JVC GR-DVM90 which was about the same size. That one died and had the dreaded E04 error.

This camera is nice and compact and, based on two days of filming and editing on my PC seems to produce good video. The one niggling issue I see is a persistent background whine from the tape drive. Not enough of an issue to return it, but a little bothersome. You can attach a remote microphone if you want to avoid that noise, but I think that defeats the purpose of buying one of these mini sized cameras, having things hanging all over it and around it.

I think they are making these cameras "cheaper". It doesn't quite seem as robust as my older camera. The black finish on the top portions looks like it was spray painted a little. Lack of an off-camera battery charger was another thing I thought was a little cheap. Plus they don't give you a firewire cable. I got all that with the older camera (I reused its firewire cable for this one). Having said that I think that most of the newer DV cameras look more "plasticky".

Its a little fatter than my older camera making it a little tricky to reach the zoom buttons on top. However (and they don't tell you this in the advertising) it actually has 2 sets of zoom buttons, which is great! The second set faces you just below the viewfinder and are easy to use.

On the good side I find low light video drastically better than my old camera. The digital image stabiliser works well when panning to (for example) follow horse riders in a ring.

I still have some old 8mm film that I'm hoping to be able to convert to digital with this camera. I think it has an analog-to-digital pass through feature. Haven't tried it yet.

If you are looking for a good, portable DV camera for home movies, I would recommend it. Its inexpensive and should hold you over until the HD cameras come down to reasonable prices!

2.0 out of 5 stars Zoom gone mad!, September 12, 2005

By 

Kevin Kaiwen Hsu (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JVC GRDX97 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I bought the grdx97 camera new, back in march 2005. This past month or so, the camera has begun malfunctioning. When turned on, within a few seconds of recording, the zoom automatically starts, resulting in a blur. I tried changing the zoom feature to limit the max zoom at 12x, but still, it zooms to the max of 12x, thus limiting my ability to film anything at home.

The warranty is labor 3monts, parts 1 year. There is no customer service I can talk to at the toll free JVC number. Therefore, I have to drive to the nearest service center which is apparently an independent business. All of the service centers are > 30 minutes away.

I never thought I would be having problems 5 months after purchase!