JVC did not hit a home run with the GZ-MG70U, more like a double.
Introduction
Hard disk drives are taking over the world! At one time, HDDs were safely ensconced in PCs and laptops. Then they moved to outboard drives, satellite and cable boxes, combination DVD/HDD recorders, iPod digital audio players...the list goes on. Now the engineers at JVC have created a series of Everio ultra-small, super lightweight camcorders with built-in 20GB or 30GB drives that record up to seven hours of MPEG2 video. This is many times the capability of wildly popular DVD camcorders like the Sony DCR-DVD203 that record 20 minutes of best-quality video on single-sided 3-inch 1.4GB disks. And in keeping with the trend of combining digital still cameras and camcorders, the new GZ-MG70U has a 2.12MP CCD so it takes 1600 x 1200 pixel stills. It's not the 12-megapixel Canon EOS 5D but it can satisfy your need for a photograph or 10,000.
This is the latest edition of JVC's Everios that cost $699-$1,000 (street prices). The key differences between them are zoom power, hard drive capacity and CCD for digital still quality. Now you might wonder how a hard disk drive handles the rigors of use, especially when shaky hands and quick movements are part and parcel of camcorder use. That intrigued us as well along with the level of overall quality and convenience this potential mini wonder could deliver. Did JVC hit a home run with the GZ-MG70U? The answer follows...
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by Heron on October 19, 2006:
“I can't seem to make the night mode feature work properly. In manual mode you select night mode, but the video images are very slow and lag. Once you take it off....its back to normal. Any ideas???” More...