If you are more than a casual video user or if you have bought a video camera more than twice in the last 10 years I would say that you probably need a high end HD camera to satisfy you. For me, someone who has only owned 1 other video camera in the last 10 years I find this camera to be amazing. I do not shoot professionally and if i did there are many great HD solutions in the 3-6 grand range. Since this is not my business and I do not have money to burn this was the camera that satisfied all my needs. Those needs were: no tapes, large hard drive, HD quality or something far, far better than my old mini DV camera. I also needed to be able to archive the files on my mac which is a dual 800mhz G4 and possibly edit on the mac in imovie. This camera does all of that, and quite easily I might add.I had no problems installing the codec that came with the camera for quicktime. Once I opened a clip in quicktime it did not play properly, however once I imported it into imovie it worked fine. I edited simple edits, added new audio and was satisfied for what I need. After all, all I will be doing with this is shooting the wife and kids.
JVC recommends A 1.25 Gigahertz G4 or higher, so do not complain about the camera not working smoothly on your mac unless you meet those requirements. They are stated on the GZHD7 box. I suggest the newest mac with 2 gigs of ram at least. In my experience, more RAM makes all the difference in the world. Eventually I plan to get a new mac to be able to handle the footage.
I have a 1080i sony plasma TV. The picture looked great. There was some banding of subtle gradients I shot. It was acceptable to me. Also the banding was not apparent on my mac in imovie. I think because my TV is already 2 years old it is not up to the same standards as the GZHD7 camera and my mac. Bottom line is the camera was producing better images on my mac than on my TV. Now all this is nonsense because I will be using this to mostly shoot video of my family and friends for recreational use. Compared to what my dad shot of us when we were kids and then the sandy grainy video we used in the 90s this camera is AMAZING. The quality is good enough for me and I would also add that any film student on a zero budget could easily get by with this. Like I said earlier, if you have the means and require perfect HD video, spend the few extra grand and go for the gold.
I was puzzled by the placement of the mounting hole on the bottom which is not centered as it should be. The professional lens is very nice and yields a quality picture. I have ordered two additional lenses to expand the 10X zoom range which is not enough for wildlife photography, my main use for this camcorder. The optional GL-V1846U Tele Conversion Lens is heavy. Perhaps it weighs as much as the camcorder. This makes the whole assembly front-heavy but not excessive. Using this lens, you will get a tunnel effect at 1X on the zoom. This will disappear at 2X and beyond. I have not yet received the GL-V0746U Wide Conversion Lens but expect that it will also be heavy. Together, these lenses will expand the total potential range from 0.7X to 18X (a span of over 25X).
A number of users on forums have had questions about how to use the TOD files that this camcorder produces. My platform is Windows XP. The camcorder comes with a Cyberlink software package that includes three programs: PowerCinema, PowerDirector and PowerProducer. PowerCinema allows you to browse and save video clips to your PC using a USB interface. You can play these TOD files from your PC's hard disk or directly from the camcorder. Few software packages know what to do with TOD files (even Cyberlink's). PowerDirector is an NLE video editor and when you go to import the TOD files, it converts them to MPG files in the process. What I do is to import them just for the side effect of getting the MPG files. PowerProducer seems to be a DVD authoring package. Now for the bad part. Many people have complained about the OIS not working very well. I can live with that because, with the higher resolution, you need to get used to using a tripod (or some other mechanical stablizer) anyway.
Users have reported that Pinnacle can use TODs directly but I have stopped using that package because it has some really bad behavior (including corrupting your project file when it crashes often). As it stands the MPG files are unusable for anything but static or nearly static scenes.
The pixel-shifting technique used in this camcorder allows its half-resolution triplet of CCD's (960 X 540) to stretch the images to full 1920 X 1080i so the image quality is probably below theoretical 1080i (but still better than 540i). Imagine what JVC could do with true 1920 X 1080 CCD's. This technique could produce a camcorder that rivals the Big Red One professional cinematic camcorder at a small fraction of the cost. At 3840 X 2160, its images could approach the 4K resolution of some very expensive equipment. My hat goes off to JVC.First of all let me deny all the idiotic reviews that keep copying one another that this camera produces inferior video. This is 3ccd baby produces unmatched quality footage with perfect color separation, great sharpness and smooth operations. Technically speaking this camcorder is way over the category it was placed in. HD7 has a Fujinon PRO lens with 3(!!!) AS EL elements and it has consistent 1,8-1.9 aperture all across the range while Canon and Sony are 3 on the tele end.
I also deny any credibility to "reports" that claim its weak low light performance. I own vx2100 that is THE BEST low light camera for any price below $5000 and this hd7 is very near.
The optical image stabilization works very well, it is not supposed to suppress all shaking but for what it is billed it produces! I have absolutely no problems with it. In fact the image stabilization in this JVC keeps up MUCH BETTER than Sony VX2100! I linked two cams and shot the same footage with both. JVC wins easily and unequivocally.
I edit with FinalCut and using the free utility I downloaded from Internet all the footage is ready for edit in two minutes. The 60Gb of the drive makes a superb storage. To mention this camera has all the belts and whistles of full scale pro or near pro camcorder and if you know what you are looking for it is a steal for the money. Not to mention that it is pleasure to hold camera, quality made and convenient to operate.
Well, this camera awarded "Best expert camcorder of the year 2007" by META(!!!), so if you you are looking for a camcorder under $2000 it is a best you can get. You can get slightly better one for $3000 but it will not be so nicely compact and ready for the action.
I was stunned to see how competition tries to discredit superior product by pouring fake review supported by morons.
Do not use software included with the camcorder. Download free MPEG StreamClip that is SUPERB program!
For a full Professional review and complete instruction how to use it with Final Cut go to digitalcontentproducer.com and look for first and second parts of the review on this camcorder, it includes complete illustrated instructions! I use in Final Cut and I do not use FireWire with this camcorder at all!
I download full resolution footage via usb2 just like described in aforementioned review and footage is very quickly and without conversion in full quality is available is for editing (it can simply unwrap it in the same format as it is on the hard drive of gz-hd7).
I can't comment on iMovie as I do not use one. But for Final Cut it is a snap. BTW, also allows shooting events (like plays for example) that last longer that cassette allowed).
If you buy a camcorder to enjoy convenience, great image quality and boundless creativity it is the best thing you can buy.I bought this camera and the JVC CU-VD40 Share Station DVD Burner for HD Everio Camcorders. Our goal was to get an HD camera that was the best, and tape our kids, etc in HD. When we wanted to send a copy of the big game off to Grandma's house so she could pop it into her DVD (in SD) we could just push a button and make it so. If you look at the JVC website this combo should fit the bill! So, $2000 later... The camera is really nice, easy to use, full of useful features, and is well built. My wife and I both sat down, read the manual and figured it out in very little time. We videotaped the dog doing a trick and went and played it on our plasma. Nice picture! Shot a few more dog tricks and kids and then we decided to open the CU-VD40 "Share Station" and hook it up. Piece of cake, very intuitive in fact I'll bet my 8 year old could burn a DVD off this thing. It's literally as easy as plug it in-click-click-click-burn. Here's the rub: the "DVD Burner" spits out a DVD of your selected recordings that CAN ONLY BE PLAYED BACK ON THE CU-VD40. I asked JVC why they call it a share station... Exactly who am I able "share" this with? This unit spits out a DVD "that cannot be played on normal DVD players" (manual, page 47 small print). So I called JVC who denied it but when I pointed it out, they confirmed it. The CU-VD40 is essentially an "archiving" burner. At $400, I'd say its the most expensive DVD archiving method known to man. The manual also said the DVD could be played back on a PC... Not the 3 PC's in my house. So, if you're an HD movie maker and love to burn things to your PC and edit them YOU CANNOT BEAT THIS CAMERA. If you don't like having to go through a PC, but would rather just burn a DVD on the fly not gonna happen. JVC's Tech Support solution: Shoot your video in SD and it will work like a charm.... Ummmm why did I just buy a $1600 HD camera if I'm going to wind up shooting in SD. Anyway, after more research, I found nobody has a solution that will do this (shoot in HD and burn in SD). So I kept the camera and returned the CU-VD40. The camera is just too good to return.I bought this camera as an upgrade from my trusty Canon GL1. The light weight, compact size, high def, three CCDs, and hard drive recording are real pluses. I was considering the Sony HDR-SR1 AVC HD 30GB but was concerned about the inability to edit their new format. I edit my video in Adobe Premiere Pro and burn DVDs. Video is stored on the hard drive in *.TOD format, which is uneditable. However, included software converts it to MPEG-2 for editing. I assume the *.TOD format will allow the video to be converted to future video formats. Each video sequence is recorded as a separate file with ascending numbers (001 999)._
The picture quality is superb, the camera fits one's hand well and the controls are well placed. To avoid shaky video, I would recommend using the viewfinder rather than the LCD screen. Holding the camera in outstretched arms drastically decreases stability. In addition, LCD screens are hard to visualize in outdoor light. The only missing feature is 5.1 Dolby surround sound (available only on the Sony unit (one CCD)); however, I wonder how practical that feature is on a compact camera with small mics. I often remove sound tracks from my videos and add appropriate background music during editing.
I am looking forward to an upcoming European trip, after which I will edit and prepare a DVD. Apparently, HD can be burned to single or dual-density discs (I believe 20 to 40 minutes per disc). My next purchase will be a Blu-Ray burner.
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