JVC Everio GZ-MG30 30 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder w/25x Optical Zoom

First the good: this camera is small and very convenient in MANY ways and you don't have the cost of tapes or mini CD's. And if you are a little computer savvy, the file format issue that people are always complaining about really isn't that big of a deal. I have Pinnacle Studio Plus 9.x (ie, with all the latest online updates to that version) and it handles the files just fine once you rename the file extension from .mod to .mpg. I've seen a lot of reviews here and elsewhere on the Internet that Adobe Elements Premiere 2.0 also handles the files just fine. I think ULead and a few others might as well. If you aren't that computer savvy (and don't necessarily want to be), then you may want to consider another camera just for this reason alone (unless perhaps you buy JVC's external DVD burner drive and are happy with mostly unedited clips).

However, I have learned my lesson by putting too much trust in Amazon's online reviews and discounting what is said in official reviews too much sometimes. I don't think any of the reviews here mention this camera's poor indoor (low-med light) picture quality... so I figured the official reviews of it I found elsewhere online were just being too picky. PC Magazine does a good job of describing the poor (especially low to medium light) picture quality in their Oct 17, 2005 review of this camera (you can find it by searching PCMag.com search on "GZ-MG30"). I'm sure there are many other reviews noting the picture quality issue as well.

I am giving this a 2 rating (really s/b about 2.5, no option for that) because I feel the low to medium light picture quality issue is enough to sink this camera for many people... especially at this price (I paid $550). If it was only $400, then I would have given it 3 stars (for overall price/value). If you will be using it almost exclusively outdoors, then I could probably give it a begrudging 4 stars.

For my all-around purposes, I am dissatisfied with this camera and wish I could return it. If you don't have good video quality, then nothing else really matters, does it? For some people, this camera might be just fine, but for the rest, I hope this review saves you from a costly mistake.

The image quality, small form-factor, small size, large hard drive, and battery life make this a winner. However, the .mod files are a pain in the butt. The only thing that you can view these with is the PowerDVD viewer. In order to convert these files to AVI or MPEG I had to by something called Power Producer, and let the computer work for an hour to convert a large file to MPEG. That's just wrong. The camara should have an option to compress to MPEG. This is similar to what the early Kodak digital camaras, such as the DC-120, did in saving images to the proprietary .kdc format. A royal pain.

Hopefully generation 2 will have MPEG conversion built in.

Anyhow, better and easier than converting from tape. A buy if you need a camcorder now.

Buy JVC Everio GZ-MG30 30 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder w/25x Optical Zoom Now

I waited a while before writing my review to really experience this camera. I have to say I love it. I went through some trial and error in the beginning but I really am enjoying the camera. I am not a professional videographer so this camera is fine for me. I have been taping all my son's basketball games and after a few times, I finally found a sports mode which works great. The camera is a perfect size. The convenience of not using tapes is incredible. I would suggest downloading your film often. It takes 11 minutes to download about an hour worth of filming. Since the camera can hold over 30 hours of information, I would not suggest downloading all the material at once. I have not used the software that came with the camera. After reading other reviews on the internet, I decided to get Adobe Premier Elements 2.0 which I am very satisfied with. The camera records in .MOD format so you need this software to convert it to MPEG. Yes, it takes a while for the process to complete, but once it is done, it is ready to be burned onto a DVD. You can also save the MPEG file to watch your entire movie on the computer in Windows Media Player. I would strongly suggest having at least a gig of ram and alot of hard drive if you plan on filming alot and keeping the footage on your computer. Even though this is the first hard disk camera, I am very happy with it for my use. Anyone that wants to record family events, games, etc., and is computer literate, this camera is for you. Would I recommend it to a professional videographer? No. The film quality is the same as a mini-dv or hi-8 recorder. The menu buttons are small, but easy to use and simplified. If anyone has this camera and has some good tips for me, please email me .

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Other people have covered the good aspects of this camcorder light weight, no tapes/discs to mess with, pretty good menu. However, these are easily outweighed by the lack of thought by JVC's engineers; and to add insult to injury, the downfall of this camcorder hinges on the very feature that is supposed to be it's selling point storing video files on a hard drive (and not other media).

You would think that if this was to be the camcorder's selling point, that these knuckleheads would have come up with an easier system for transferring the video files from the camcorder's hard drive to your computer's. The complete lack of thought is amazing. To come up with the goofy .mod naming convention is outside my comprehension. Why not give customers a naming convention with which they are generally familiar? (Besides the .mod files, I've also got .moi fileswhat the heck is that about? Are they important? Do I need to keep them associated with the .od files? And the uselessness of the Capty software (even its name is goofy) is astounding.

Finally, I don't mind having to actually read the users' manual. However, in this case it's useless. It doesn't explain anything about file transfers, the naming conventions, etc.

Obviously, the customer wasn't first in JVC's thinking. I would recommend staying away from this camcorder...What good is the convenience of recording on a hard drive is the files then become a mystery to access and edit. Stick with the "inconvenience" of tapes & discs...I wish I had!

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I got this camcorder yesterday. After taking some video images, I transferred the files to my PC and renamed the file extension from "MOD" to "MPG". It turns out that there is no audio playing the recorded video files using Microsoft Media Player 10. My Studio 8 software also failed to "initialize the audio file". To listen to the audio, I have to use the "Power DVD 5" or "CyberLink PowerDirector Express" came with the camcorder. As we all know that the video image software came with the camcorder is very limited. To do anything meaningful, I have to buy their upgrade. So far, I could not find a way to convert the MPG files to a compatible format so that I can play and edit them in Studio 8 or Media Player. For this reason, I'm going to return the camcorder to the vendor soon.