JVC GZ-MG255 30GB Hard Drive Camcorder

Okay...so I found an issue

Posted Jan 31, 2008 - After penning my stellar review above I found an issue...not a problem with the camera itself, but with file transfers to an iMac. I also figured out something about the wonderful f1.2 lens...it's almost too good at gathering low light! This evening I shot video in the living room with normal evening lighting...SUPERB clarity and color, though a noticable lag in finding focus when pointed at certain things. With normal interior daylight this doesn't happen. I say the camera is almost too good at gathering light because when taking stills, with everything set to auto, they all came out overexposed...with the camera selecting to flash. Then it hit me, I didn't NEED the flash. With a normal camera flash is needed to fill in the dark spots, but with this one, it doesn't seem to be. I tried a test shot without flash and it came out perfect--in a dimly lit room no less! Now to the single major issue I've uncovered...and I'll admit JVC's supplied literature, as well as their website doesn't address this; The camera WILL save video AND stills to either the hard drive, or the SD card...so far so good. So, figuring I should at least USE the SD card I selected for stills to save there. The problem is, my iMac won't recognize the SD card...and that's with both firewire and USB connected. It will appear on the desktop, click on it and it opens, but there isn't any "images" to choose from. Opening iPhoto doesn't yield and "automatic recognition" either...it's like the photos just aren't there. Bummer--almost. Switching to save still images to the hard drive made things work perfectly. With that setting, iPhoto AND my Kodak easyshare software picked up the image, opening automatically to import it. So I CAN shoot stills to the HD and upload them with my standard, Apple supplied software, just not from the SD card it seems. Now to another interesting tidbit that may be confounding other Mac users, and that's the subject of using firewire, or USB to import videos. On my first transfer I had only the supplied USB cable which I used. Camera in dock, iMovie open, screen deployed, I then turned on the power...the screen displayed several options, from which I selected "communicate with device" and instantly my video appeared in the iMovie import window--perfect and seamless. Today I received my firewire cable, and naturally, figuring it would work as well or somehow better...as well as following the video instructions found on the JVC support site, I attached the firewire cable but NOT the USB cable (as instructed). Well, what happened is a "blue window" opened, with an "import" button, as well as instructions to the effect it would "rewind" and play the video when the import button is pressed...which I naturally did...what followed was the video playing on both my camera and in the "blue" window as it imported...basically I sat here for some 20 minutes as 20 minutes worth of video crawled onto my iMac. I did NOT receive the camera screen giving me the option to "communicate with device" as I had using just the USB cable previously. Then I remembered seeing in the iMovie help video that when importing video from a miniDV "tape" camera, this type of screen would appear...basically, connecting by firewire only seemed to make my computer think I had connected a tape device that must upload video in "linear" fashion by playing it through rather than simply placing the entire file. So I went back and connected the USB cable--leaving firewire also connected. This time I got the previously mentioned option screen on the camera to communicate with device and also had the same instant file transfer as the first time using USB only! So it SEEMS (at least on my iMac loaded with iLife 08, that USB is the way to upload video and still files in order for the software to treat it as coming from an HDD device instead of a miniDV camcorder. So for anyone else who followed JVC's instructions to connect to Mac using JUST the firewire cable, and might have found their video transfer slow and tedious, try using the USB cable instead and see if it works as expected. Having said all this, NO 3rd party software is needed to upload video or stills to an iMac using iMovie and iPhoto 08 version. I don't consider this a fault of the camcorder by any means...it's just a software thing, and nothing that should keep anyone from buying a great camcorder at an amazingly low price.

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Go for it!

Posted Oct 5, 2007 - I have had this camcorder for a week now and I am really glad I made the Choise to buy this. I was first looking at the Sony but later realized that the JVC was having more features than the Sony and also costed less than the Sony. The best part is the HDD. No more tapes and no discs. I like the HDD feature and if 30GB is not enough JVC has the same model with 60GB. Overall I am very satisified with the camcorder purchase and would definitely recommed this to any one.

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Outstanding Camcorder

Posted Jan 30, 2008 - Don't be mislead by biased, negative, so-called professional reviews! This camcorder is outstanding, and a great value when purchased from Beach Camera. The f1.2 aspheric lens does a great job shooting indoors. Zoom is smooth and quiet, and when transitions are smooth by the operater autofocus does a good job of keeping things in focus. Video quality is excellent-very crisp and bright even without supplemental lighting. As for many comments about transferring video to a Mac, let me assure you it is NOT a problem! I have an iMac with iMovie 08...connected the dock via USB only, opened iMovie, turned the camcorder on, selected "communicate with device" from the screen and my video popped right up. Moments later I had it transferred to iTunes and synced onto my iPhone. No need at all for 3rd party software. This camcorder is worth a serious look!

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Excellent camcorder while taking great pictures as well

Posted Sep 28, 2007 - After researching many different camcorders, I settled on this. I choose JVC because of my prior experience with their VHS and C-VHS camcorders and being happy with their performance. This camcorder does not disappoint at all! THe 30GB hard drive holds hours of high quality video without having to search for tapes. Battery life is decent, but it's best to keep it charged at all times. Taking video and shooting pictures is seamless, and I am able to take stills at a rapid rate of about 1 picture/sec roughly. Overall, it is versatile camcorder with a lot of features and for the price, it is a great value.

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Great Camcorder

Posted Oct 16, 2007 - Now that I have had this camera for a couple weeks, I can say I am very happy with the purchase so far. This camera is so easy to use and the video quality is better than I expected. The camera has a very small size. It measures about 4"x2.5"x2.5" and weighs less than a pound with its battery. It is easy to carry, although it's too big for most pockets. There is no viewfinder but a very nice 2.7-inch LCD. It records to a hard drive, so you can easily access any part of your footage without having to scan a tape. The camcorder itself has USB 2.0 and AV video jacks, and the dock adds Firewire and S-Video jacks. However I could not get the firewire to be recognized by my MacBook Pro. The included software is for PC's only. (What's up JVC?) For Mac's, JVC recommends software from a company in it's instruction manual, but when looking at their web site, (1) it is expensive and (2) due to the language translation, I was not sure what I was going to get. A search on the web provided an excellent source for converting the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for FREE, (MPEG Streamclip) however you still need an additional MPEG-2 component for Quick-Time (Apple) for $20.00. If you have Imovie08, the transfer to a Mac is supposedly MUCH easier. With its 30GB HD, you can shoot a day and a half of MPEG-2 video (at the lowest quality setting). If you shoot at the higher-quality (Fine or Ultra-fine) modes, you should get 7-10 hours of footage; but you will need extra batteries. The camera also accepts SDHC memory cards, but with all the HD space, why bother. Overall this is well worth the price. The pros far outway the cons on this one. Additionally, the purchase through PriceGrabber.com and Buydig.com was flawless. The price was the cheapest anywhere. I did pay a little extra for the 2-3 day shipping (std, is free), but I received the camera in 4 days from date of purchase. Just as described.

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GZ-MG255 30GB Hard Drive Camcorder (10x Opt, 300x Dig, 2.7" LCD)

Posted Mar 18, 2008 - This is a pretty good elementary DV. 30GB hard drive provides plenty space for recording, and large LCD (2.7") gives more scence. The shortness is there is only 10X optical zoom. For those wanting to use it for watching sports games it is a little bit short.

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