JVC Everio GZMC500 5MP 3CCD 4GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

by JVC

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.5 x 2.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007Z6D7W
• Item model number: GZMC500
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,639 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 5, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Still images or video--capture either 60 minutes of DVD-quality MPEG-2 movies or thousands of super-high resolution UXGA-size JPEG pictures with the Everio--the first camera to use Microdrive technology. The included 4GB Microdrive card, though it is the same size as Compact Flash card, has such unprecedented capacity because it is has its own built-in HDD (hard disk drive).

The completely tapeless Microdrive format lets you choose higher video quality or longer shooting times.

Store more photos than you ever thought possible on the included 4GB Microdrive card.

Until now, tapeless formats have been severely limited in the length and quality of video capacity, but the Everio's Microdrive lets you shoot up to 60 minutes of high quality MPEG-2 video--and even more in lower resolution modes. A selection of recording modes lets you choose more quality or more shooting time. The highest quality Ultra mode records at a constant bit rate of 8.88 Mbps with AC 3 audio--comparable to the DVD data rate (average 4 Mbps video/9.8 Mbps maximum). Essentially what you get is DVD quality, with the same video and audio format as a movie DVD. And the number of still photos that will fit on the Microdrive card is nothing less than awe-inspiring: More than 5,000 of the highest resolution images (1600 x 1200 fine).

Three 1/4.5-inch 1.33 Megapixel CCDs for High-Quality Image Capture
The image sensor in the Everio GZMC500 features three 1/4.5-inch CCDs offer the high-resolution capabilities needed for high quality digital videography and photography. The Everio features a total of 5 Megapixel-Class Digital Still recording up to 2560 x 1920 pixels (JPEG), and High-Quality MPEG-2 Video Recording (up to 720 x 480/60i in ULTRA mode) with Dolby Digital Audio (MOD file). And the Megabrid Engine applies separate, optimized processing to moving and still images, for videos with a high signal-to-noise ratio, and high-resolution still pictures.

Versatile, Lossless Data
Store what you've shot on the provided Microdrive card, optional CompactFlash or SD Memory Cards. size as a CompactFlash card, but with many Gigabytes of capacity. You can eject the Microdrive card, just as you would a CompactFlash or SD Memory Card, and load data into your PC via optional card adapter. Or simply connect the camera via its USB2.0 interface for quick downloading to a PC. All transfer is digital-to-digital, so you won't lose any quality in the process.

DVD Creation and Sharing

Three advanced applications are provided: Power Producer offers easy saving (authoring) of your video clips in any order to DVD, even right from a USB-connected camera, so you can share your original DVDs with anybody who owns a DVD player. Power Director offers feature-rich non-linear editing so you can flex your creative muscle with titles, effects, and even mix still with videos. Power DVD for easy video clip and DVD playback with AC 3 audio.

Multi-Format Support
In addition to making it easy to create DVDs, the supplied software converts to a variety of file formats for distribution via the Web or by e-mail. Supported formats include DV-AVI, Windows-AVI, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, as well as Windows Media Video and RealVideo that can be streamed over the Internet.

Product Description

JVC GZ-MC500 creates sharp and vivid images by dedicating a 1.33 (1.23 effective) megapixel CCD to each color - red, green and blue. JVC's advanced prism optics and filterless 3-CCD pixel shift technology quadruple the pixel count to record 5 megapixel-class stills. Simply put, the pixel shift technique, used also in JVC professional cameras, captures double the 1,228,800 pixel information in both the horizontal and vertical directions, creating a real full color image pixel count multiplied by four for stills. (Everio uses 691,200 effective pixels for each RGB video color.) The broader dynamic range delivers videos with bright realistic colors and photo-quality digital stills up to 2560 x 1920 pixels for beautiful 8 x 10 or A4 prints. JVC optics using three dimension angle mounting technology assures high precision prism/CCD registration with accuracy on the order of one micron. The camcorder's two sections - the grip and the lens/body assembly - pivot so the lens portion can be tilted without the user changing hand location. This makes it easy to quickly transition to a high or low shooting angle, and affords a number of comfortable and stable single and two handed shooting positions 4GB Microdrive Removable Media Provided / Microdrive/ CompactFlash card and SD Dual Card Slots for Extra Data Storage and Transfer MPEG-2 Video Recording (up to 720 x 480/60i in ULTRA mode) with Dolby Digital Audio User-Friendly GUI for Easy Operation and Setting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice convergence 5mp digital camera and video cam in one, June 4, 2005

By 

Robert W. Bjoraker "Robert W. Bjoraker, Jr." (Green Bay, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JVC Everio GZMC500 5MP 3CCD 4GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Had this digicam for about 24 hours and here are my first impressions:
I own a Panasonic SV AV100 which saves mpeg2 video and mpg4 to a SD card. It did it well and I was pleased with it, but the low resolution digital camera function was surpassed by some wireless phones. I wanted a device that took high resolution photos and digital mpeg2 video saved to a memory card that could be immediately loaded to PC and burnt to DVD. The JVC GZ-MC100 and MC200 took 2mp pictures and saved mpeg2 video to a 4 gb microdrive or SD card, but had poor low light performance - worse than my little Panasonic. So, it was with some anxiety that I shelled out $1595 for the GZ-MC500.

I bought it hoping that the new 3CCD video chip would not only give better color video and good 5mp jpeg pictures, but that JVC would have taken the time to improve low light performance... and they did.

In bright light the automatic videocam performance of the camera is really good. Indoors without any light on and bright sunlight coming in the window, the video remained sharp with pretty good color saturation and no graininess to my eye when played back on TV directly from camera. The MC500 seems to really be working much, much better in low light conditions than the MC100/200s before it. At night with room lights on, I took more videos and although there was some dimming of the picture, the video was still bright and not grainy. Color still looked good though there was some loss of color saturation in those conditions. In a completely dark room, forget about it since there is no infrared function. But I did not care about that. Much better in low light than my Panasonic SV-AV100 overall. Microphone picked up voices/sounds in stereo very well.

The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate for me.

The camera bottom heats up while recording to microdrive and I never recorded more than 5 minutes of video but the heat build up was quite noticeable. Unlike my Panasonic, there is no remote control which is quite disappointing in a $1600 digicam that is begging for immediate video playback to TV directly from camera.

In summary, I am both relieved at the camera's good low light performance and very happy with the camera's mpeg2 video quality and very happy with the 5mp jpeg picture performance. I would give this camera 4.5 stars out of five taking off 1/2 point for lack of remote control.

Go to this site and use translate option on google toolbar to read text or just download the duck video and jpegs to see this camera's quality. Rename video .mod extension to .mpg to view in WMP. Remember this is 720 x 480 mpg2

(...)

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depends on your purpose..., January 6, 2006

By 

Oral Inaler (Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JVC Everio GZMC500 5MP 3CCD 4GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This small thing is so unique that your satisfaction level will only depend on what you need from a camcorder.

Firstly, everyone says this bug is not "that good" with low light. I can not agree with this, there are a few settings in the menu, and you can get really good results under low light. If you leave it at "auto" mode though, they're right. It sometimes sucks!

It also has issues with the other meaning of "light"... Weight is so low. Combined with its narrow-angled default lens, that lightness causes too much shake in the picture. But that can be solved by installing a wider lens. I don't like to turn on its digital image stabilizer, since it gives the picture an artificial effect, but it can work for you.

Another problem I experienced is: Your computer will see the camera as a hard disk. So when it's plugged, your computer will not recognize your other external hard disks. I had a huge external USB hard disk to store videos, but I can not transfer video files from camera to that disk directly, coz the computer does not allow both of them at the same time. First you must transfer from camera to your main internal disk, than you must plug the big external disk and move files to that one.

Still image quality is really bad for 5 megapixels. That's so clear.

But still I do not regret I bought this camcorder. The pain of capturing videos, splitting them, etc. are gone forever. You just drag & drop the files. And they already come splitted, because Everio takes every shot as another file. In other words, everytime you press the record/stop button, you create another video file. That's sooo useful.

I tried the included software. That video editing software is really primary, it will bore you after learning the basics. But you can get real stuff from Adobe instead. They offer trial versions of Premiere on the site.

Finally, buy this camcorder if you care about:
1) Easier editing
2) Size and Weight
3) 3 CCD (Not a big difference though)

And do not buy if you care about:
1) Need long battery life
2) Will make 1-piece long shootings, like sport matches, conferences, etc.
3) Have Parkinson disease ;)
4) Will use more for still pix, than video

Since editing is my priority, I rate it with four stars, but your rating will only depend on your purpose.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very difficult choice, especially with such high cost, December 10, 2005

By 

RKM - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC Everio GZMC500 5MP 3CCD 4GB Microdrive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I must say that amount of excitement and thrill I had with extremely high degree of anticipated satisfaction while I was getting this item packed, it didn't make it to my satisfaction in reality owing to vedio quality I'm getting for such a high price.

Good things:
1. Very compact, easy to carry
2. If someone is not too much fuss about quality, both video and still picture in one device which is great
3. Digital to digital transfer, saves heaps of time and pain for transfer from camera to PC. I have bought a portable hard disk of 40 GB capacity so that on trip I can transfer from camera to it without needing to carry my laptop everywhere
4. One of the very nice things I liked is ability to record just voice. Especially voice quality is pretty good so it is much appreciated feature.

Bad:
1. Video quality is good but not so good as one would expect with 3 CCD, digital storage and so much price. Final picture looks like as if a high quality recording with a dirty lense.
2. There is no manual view finder. so if sun is on on your back, you can't see a thing in digital view finder
3. Operation of record and stop button is not very ergonomic. I get strain my hand
4. Gets heated up very quickly.
5. Button to switch between still and video is pathetic. I never able to get it in right position
6. I'm surprised that JVC forced to adopt to Cyberlink editing software by creating .mod files. I hate it to bottom of my heart. I have to first open files in cyberlink software, create an AVI file which I then import into another video editing software like movie maker or Sony Vegas. This is extremely painful since it is time consuming and I suspect I'm loosing quality also.
7. Even though still picture resolution is 5 mega pixel, I don't get is quite as good I use to get in Sony 5 mega pixel even after using tripod.
8. Battery life is not very good.