... JVC in my mind had a reputation of being quite average. After shopping around and talking to the nice people at Dixons and Curry’s I decided to give the JVC GR-D70 a shot.
Design:
The size of this camera was a refreshing breath of fresh air for me, but I guess that is because I got used ... Read review
Advantages: Inexpensive, decent picture, small size Disadvantages: Not as good as Sony cams
...to show for my adventures. JVC in my mind had a reputation of being quite average. After shopping around and talking to the nice people at Dixons and Curry’s I decided to give the JVC GR-D70 a shot.
Design:
The size of this camera was a refreshing breath of fresh air for me, but I guess that is because I got used to lugging around my old monstrosity of a camera. Compared to my artsy friend’s super-cool latest Sony it’s ... ...dish out over a grand for it. It’s weight and size are very manageable and the design is quite practical. All the buttons are easily accessible so you don’t need to take your eyes of the viewfinder trying to find that zoom button. The LCD viewfinder is quite nice and can be seen quite clearly even in bright sunshine (as I was able to check out on my holiday this summer) All the necessary connectors are there, and are covered by rubber stoppers so ... more
I’ve been searching for a decent camcorder for a while, as my old super-8 Sony has seen better days years ago. Sadly most of Sony’s offerings are a bit too pricey for me since I don’t really care that much about camcorders. I just want something decent enough to take along with me on holidays and have something to show for my adventures. JVC in my mind had a reputation of being quite average. After shopping around and talking to the nice people at Dixons and Curry’s I decided to give the JVC GR-D70 a shot.
Design:
The size of this camera was a refreshing breath of fresh air for me, but I guess that is because I got used to lugging around my old monstrosity of a camera. Compared to my artsy friend’s super-cool latest Sony it’s actually quite bulky and heavy but at least I didn’t dish out over a grand for it. It’s weight and size are very manageable and the design is quite practical. All the buttons are easily accessible so you don’t need to take your eyes of the viewfinder trying to find that zoom button. The LCD viewfinder is quite nice and can be seen quite clearly even in bright sunshine (as I was able to check out on my holiday this summer) All the necessary connectors are there, and are covered by rubber stoppers so that you don’t get sand in there. It also helps to keep the design of the camera seamless, without too many things breaking its curvy exterior. The connections you get include a wide array of inputs and outputs such as DV and AV inputs, FireWire, composite video and S-Video in and out. I’m not likely to use most of them but it feels good to know that they are there just in case I decide to do some advanced video editing.
Features
The features on this camera are pretty standard. There's no external microphone or headphone socket which is a shame, and its missing a built in flashlight, which is a bummer since that meant that I couldn’t capture all those night-time beach parties on holiday. The LCD screen includes a slot for an SD card should you choose to use the camcorder as a digital camera. The snaps don’t come out too sharp at the max resolution of 1,024x768 pixels (I’m assuming that 1.3 mega pixels, which is what I have on my phone…) You can transfer the pics thru either Firewire or USB to send them off to your friends via e-mail. On the camcorder side it has a 1/6th inch single 800,000 pixel CCD with a lens whose widest aperture is a f1.6, producing 16:1 optical zoom ratio. In layman’s terms that means you the picture is excellent and you can zoom in quite a bit. There is a full range of manual controls which I never used so I won’t really comment on. All I can say is that my friend with the gadgety Sony camera was quite impressed with the range of features my camera had. There is a cool little feature that lets you shoot movies in 16:9 widescreen format, although it does that thru basically just cropping the 4:3 picture. Nonetheless it looks good if you have a widescreen TV.
Overall:
Most of the features of this camera performed quite well. The picture quality was quite nice and didn’t have too much noise. The LCD screen displayed the picture quite well. The output thru the RCA cable was also very impressive. The zoom is 700:1 magnification which lets you shoot objects at quite a distance, which is handy. Audio recording is decent, yet lacks the richness of stereo sound you get on Sony cameras. Overall I thought that this camera was great. It was quite inexpensive (at 400 pounds) and did all I wanted from a DV camera. However if you really care about a better picture and more features and have a bigger budget, it is definitely worth giving Sony a closer look, since their range of DV cameras is very impressive. For my humble needs however, this camera was just right.
Advantages: Has all the features you would want for a beginners camcorder Disadvantages: When light levels are low the picture can become a little jerky and grainy.
...would any other digital image. JVC also provide software for this in the package as well as a USB cable.
Unfortunately they do not provide you with a firewire cable to transfer the video to your PC, but these are quite cheap to get hold of yourself.
Included with the camcorder there is also an AV cable to connect it to your T.V. or VCR which will allow you to edit video on your VCR or you can use the S-Video connection on the camcorder.
The zoom ... ...gives you amazing close ups with no loss in quality, but then when you switch to 700x digital zoom you can get up close and personal with an object an incredible distance away, but as you zoom in you do begin to lose quality as you get closer to 700x and you will need a tripod or a very steady hand to keep the object in shot.
The remote control that comes with this camcorder has all of the basic functions that you would need for remote filming or ...
Darthmiller 01.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of JVC GR D70
Advantages: very easy to use, small and light Disadvantages: ?
...and 1,024x768 (fine) pixel modes. Jvc has included a feature called DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) which allows the tagging of skills stored on the MMC card for later printing. Also included is Windows-only software called Digital Photo Navigator, designed to facilitate USB transfer of stills editing them in a PC. Image mixer is also included, providing the capability to create VCD movies via USB or FireWire - a feature only now starting to appear ... ...In keeping with market trends, JVC has responded to the need for full digital and analogue connectivity on this model, and this is to be applauded. It's a pity that this has been included at the expense of other useful features like an external microphone input or more importantly, a headphone output, but theres no doubt that for the majority of camcorder users looking for a simple DV camcorder that produces good quality pictures and sounds under ...
posh11uk 07.10.2004 (22.10.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of JVC GR D70
Ease of use
Recording quality
Picture quality
Sound quality
Value for money
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Advantages: Fairly cheap, easy to use, and easy to edit Disadvantages: This may have just been mine but it stopped working after 2 years, complaining of condensation
...
piropete 09.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of JVC GR D70EK
Advantages: 16 times zoom Disadvantages: price tag
Spec: Camcorder - Viewfinder LCD monitor - Flash memory MultiMediaCard - LCD display - 2.5 - GR-D70EK
this camera has a swivel rotae viewing screen so that you can look at it from fifferent angles.
you can place it on a table and record yourself.
there are over 20 buttons making it quite hard to use.but once you get the hang of it you`ll be able to use it without a dougt.
i have this excellent camcorder, it is helpful for when we go on holiday and want to take pictures, you can take pictures with the camera mode.
this item is suited for its job mainly because of its high quality recording. the recording makes it look near profectional as you can connect it to your pc and edit bits and addother bits from other movies you made.
the sound is perefect, even when you are at a concert. 5 star sound.
playback ...
bardeepsinghjhattu 27.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of JVC GR D70EK
Advantages: Making movies the easy way! Disadvantages: Still pictures dissapointing
of course better than GRD-50 in still and video quality but then JVC has GR-D70 as an answer to TRV-22.
The more money you invest the more output you get in electronics but do research before buying.
It has even won an award "What Camcorder magazine - Best Buy!" this is what me buy it!
It comes with all the accessories that you could possibly want!
AC adapter AP-V11E,
battery pack BN-V408U,
audio/video cable,
USB cable,
lens cap,
2 core filters,
cable adapter,
CD-ROM,
lithium battery CR2025 [for remote control], power cord,
remote control, shoulder strap,
1 year manufacturer warranty.
Physical characteristics are:
Dimensions 69 x 94 x 143 mm
Weight 525 grams -Not too heavy to carry around
I paid £350 for mine but now they are a lot cheaper to buy, especially online.
the cheapest I have found it now is ...
redballoon 24.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of JVC GR D50
This newly styled JVC camcorder is designed for those who are searching for a fun and slimline camcorder while maintaining a full feature package within. The GR-D70 boasts a 680,000-Pixel CCD Super High Band Processor for 520 lines of horizontal resolution. The GR-D70 adds a removable memory card slot for both MMC and SD cards. Now, digital still images can be recorded on a memory card at a resolution up to 1024 x 768. The maximum user friendliness is achieved with Power-Linked Operation (always ready to record), Night Alive (for low-light recording), High Resolution 2.5" Amorphous Silicon LCD Color Monitor, 700X Super Digital Zoom with Spline Interpolation, Digital Picture Stabilizer and Long Time Recording Capability.
Simple to use, decent price, quality 
