Digital Trends

JVC GZ-MG70U

November 2nd, 2005 | by David Elrich

Conclusion

This camcorder really is a mixed bag. Sometimes the video was spot on, others it didn't make the grade. Digital stills were acceptable for 4x6s. Yet you can record seven hours of MPEG2 video and even step down the quality so you can record over 30 hours without even thinking of finding another blank disk or tape. Unlike DVD camcorders there's no finalization process for playback but eventually you're going to finalize a disk when you burn videos from your PC's hard drive. Battery life was a bit less than stated but with this much capacity several spares are in order. What can I say? I would hope engineers working on camcorder MPEG2 encoders/decoders continue to make progress. JVC did not hit a home run with the GZ-MG70U, more like a double. That said, I'd be hard pressed paying $1,000 for it.  

Pros:

• Incredible capacity
• Incredibly small and lightweight
• Decent video and still quality

Cons:

• Expensive
• No AF Assist lamp for stills
• Only 2MP still quality
• No accessory shoe or FireWire output