Digital Trends

JVC Everio GZ-HD6

March 25th, 2008 | by David Elrich

Features Cont'd

The right side has the adjustable strap and is the location of the 120GB HDD. There are a few logos on it that are fairly understated, in keeping with the overall impression of this 2008 camcorder. The left side features the flip-out 2.8-inch LCD screen with its 16:9 shape; it turns 270-degrees making it very flexible. The monitor is rated 207K pixels and works well in most situations but I had trouble with bright sunshine at the beach. Unfortunately there’s no quick access to change the monitor brightness. Flipping open or closing the LCD turns the camcorder on or shuts it off, a nice convenience. On the left side of the monitor are three controls. One lets you check battery life and the amount of space available on the HDD. A small but accurate joystick is available for moving through the menus, making manual adjustments such as focus as well as accessing the limited number of five scene modes. Press it in and it “sets” the change. The Function key walks you through the many adjustments available in manual mode (brightness, shutter speed, aperture priority, white balance, special effects and so on).

With the LCD open, you’ll find several controls on the main body as well as the built-in speaker and vents to dissipate heat build-up. The keys lets you switch between Auto/Manual shooting, Play/Record, gives access to the Menus, another is Focus Assist when you’re in manual mode and a dedicated Direct Backup key for burning discs with the supplied software.

On the rear you’ll find the record key and two compartments with flimsy doors filled with various ports along with the lithium-ion battery. Unfortunately this sticks out a bit, making it look like an afterthought. JVC engineers should look at some competing models that incorporate the battery into the housing more elegantly. Still it’s not a disaster like the Panasonic HDC-SX5. JVC gives you plenty of connection options including the iLink on the front—USB, full-size HDMI (not mini), component video, an A/V connector along with the DC-in for charging the battery, a mic-in and a headphone jack. Definitely enough to keep the tweaks happy.

On the bottom of the HD6 is a slot for a microSD card—another darn memory format to buy!—and a metal tripod mount.

JVC supplies a good bundle with this Everio (other than the card and an HDMI cable) including component video cables. The CD-ROM has Digital Photo Navigator Ver. 1.5 for handling stills and CyberLink PowerCinema NE for Everio, PowerProducer 4 NE and PowerDirector 6 NE (all Windows) for dealing with video. Mac users only get QuickTime. This sophisticated camcorder only has a 44-page (in English) Instruction Manual (French and Spanish are also included). To get into the nitty gritty, you have to read the 66-page Guide Book on the CD-ROM. Canon definitely wins the prize here with its in-depth printed manuals.

Once the battery was charged, a microSD card loaded it was time to start shooting some video.

Image Courtesy of JVC