Camcorder Reviews

I bought this Jukebox with the idea of replace my other Jukebox 6000, my digital camera and my camcorder and to have everything in one unit. The MP3 is excelent, Video files converted to the required format are acceptable, but the quality of photos taken and recorded video is very, very poor.
Then if you are thinking to buy this Jukebox like a video, photo and MP3 solution, don't sale your old digital camera and your camcorder, because you will need it!!!

This is probably the coolest gadget that I own. Let me get my complaints out of the way before I extol the virtues of this fine piece of hardware. 1. FAT32. Why not NTFS? 2. The camera is typical of any camera that attaches to a handheld device. Without proper lighting, your pictures will be awful. Best if used in sunlight. Not for use indoors.
Now on to the good stuff.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to use this. My wife can do it and she knows virtually nothing about computers. Turn it on, plug it in and copy files over. It is that simple. Converting video is easy with the included software. You just pick the video to convert and type a file name in the destination and hit the start button. It is really not hard at all! This is mildly inconvenient, however, so I do it at night before bedtime. Wake up and Viola! Converted video. Of course the video out to TV is crappy. I don't think that this device was really meant to replace your DVD player. If you want to watch your AVI's on your TV go and buy a Video card with TV out for thirty or so dollars. This device was meant for portability and media on the go. Perfect for those long road trips, your doctor's waiting room, and phonecalls from your mother-in-law. The sound is great provided you have some nicer head phones than the ones that are provided. I must admit that I have used up most of the 20Gig but I have a ton of stuff on there. It's good for HOURS AND HOURS of entertainment. Don't hate it because you have buyers remorse due to price. Besides, IPod is twice the price for just an MP3 player. Love it because at least you have a protable HD, MP3 player, video player, camera, camcorder, and card reader in on small package. Trust me, buying all of this stuff separate can cost a fortune!

I purchased this camera at Sears. Got it home and made a short tape. The video quality is average. The worst thing however is the noise that is picked up by the microphone of the tape mechanism. It is Extremely loud and annoying. This was a deal breaker for me. And I dont consider myself too picky. The software that comes as part of the package is the bare minimum and I probably wouldnt use. I got a screaming deal on this camera and was really disapointed that I had to take it back - but the noise picked up by the mic is very noticeable. Not worth the money at any price.

This JVC digital camcorder is all you need. The stills are good quality and the zoom is amazing. It has many effects that improve the overall quality. Battery life could be improved.

this is a nice job from JVC . the picture quality is good and the sound is clear . the problem i faced so far is with night shots .

but overall a good buy .

My husband got this for me as a Christmas gift and I love it! We can record special events, we are band parents and can now send video of marching band competition to relatives in Maryland. The picture is clear, camera is easy to use, sound is good and the night feature is especially valuable. We highly recommend this camcorder.

I bought this camera thinking since it was VHS it would perform better in low light (as did my older 8mm)than a digital one. WRONG. It also will drain the battery in 15 minutes. Resolution is poor with VHS mode and svhs tapes cost too much. Noisy tape makes me weary. Don't waste your money on this old"last of the mohicans" format. Just get a digital camcorder and buy a light.My $299. digital Sharp blows it away. I can't hardly give it away. Want mine for $150?

At first the camera looked like it was just a odinary one until i tried it. Wow everything was just so great 700X digital zoom could almost take any distant shot with just a click of a button. This Camera is fully loaded with image stabilizes and inbuilt light the rotatable lcd was simply facinating and it was very clear to me that this camera could take evryshot very clearly especially the image stabilizer comes in handy when you are travelling in a RV or a Car toshoot the outside Nature.
WOW THIS CAM IS REALLY WONDERFUL.

This bag is absolutely tiny. It has no room for anything. The description and 1st review lead me to believe that it has ample room. The segmented main compartment makes no sense. If you use it might be able to squeeze a battery charger on one side and a couple of digital tapes on the other. Don't waste your money. All this bag might offer you is a handle for your camera.

I have a Canon Elura 50 camcorder and it fits perfectly in this case/bag - charger too...and spare tape with extra battery! Pros:
*Excellent quality.
*Fits perfectly w/ Canon Elura 50 & stuff.
*Nylon Zippers.
*Ballistic cloth.
*Adjustable main compartment.
Cons:
*None.

A VERY GOOD CAMCORDER EXCEPT THE PICTURE HAD A LITTLE TO MUCH JITTERS IN IT FOR MY TASTE. Most people probaly would not notice it. THE PICTURE WAS AS GOOD AS VHS-C GET. BUT I CHOOSE TO SEND IT BACK TO J&R AND GOT THE SONY CCD-TRV68. THERE ARE NO JITTERS IN THE SONY CCD-TRV68 AND THE PICTURE IS BETTER. OVERALL I LIKE THE PV-L751 BUT THE SONY CCD-TRV-68 IS THE BEST IN THE ANALOG CLASS

All in all I found the Panasonic PV-L751 to be an ideal product.The picture quality is excellent whether its using the camcorder feature or the digital still feature. The 8 MB flashcard allows for plenty of photos on one outing, depending on the settings you choose it can hold up to 87 photos. The unit is relatively lightweight and I don't have a problem with carrying it around for a long time. The negatives to this product are just a few, I didn't like the battery saver feature that shuts the camera off after 5 minutes of non-use, in the manual it states that this feature can be shut off but I didn't have any luck when I tried to do this. The other thing I didn't like was that the manual was too dificult to understand. Basically its a great product and I love it, I only gave it a 4 star rating because of the battery saver feature I didn't like, otherwise I would have given it a 5 star rating.

I REALLY LIKE THE FEATURES THIS CAMCORDED HAS. I LIKE ALL THE SPECIAL
EFFECTS. HOWEVER, UNLIKE THE OLDER MODELS(CC421 AND OTHERS OF THIS
AGE) IT DOES NOT HAVE A SOUND BLOCKER. WE ATTEND PARTIES THAT HAVE
EXTREMELY LOUD MUSIC(WE HAVE A VERY LARGE FAMILY PLUS A NUMBER OF
EXTENDED FAMILY SO WE ATTEND AT LEAST 3 OR 4 PARTIES A MONTH AND WE
ARE THE "OFFICAL" PHOTOGRAPHERS) AND ON THE NEW CAMCORDERS
THE SOUND IS TERRIBLE. IF YOU COULD FIND A WAY TO PUT A FILTER ON THE
SOUND LIKE THE OLDER MODELS HAVE, I WOULD GLADLY BUY THIS NEW
MODEL....MAXINE MORENO

I liked this camcorder, it was very nice and it has great picture too

I actually originally purchased a JVC digital camcorder. I should have listened to the other Amazon reviewers and steered clear of that one, as within an hour of use, it stated that it needed head cleaning, and wouldn't operate.
This Samsung camcorder replaced that one the day after I purchased the JVC, and I am very pleased. The picture and sound quality are great, and it is very easy to download the video to my iMac via firewire. I'm not sure how well (or if) it would work on a PC, so you may want to investigate whether it will work with your system.
About the only thing that keeps this camera from getting 5 stars is I have had difficulty trying to retrieve still photos when the camera is connected to the computer- but then I haven't fully read the manual, so it could be very simple.
Basically this is a great camera, and it's not much more expensive than a high-quality digital still camera. If you enjoy having multiple-use products as much as I do, this is a great bet.

I produced a local cable access TV show and was looking for the lowest priced Mini-DV camcorder possible. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a Canon GL-1 from the TV station but I wanted my own camera. So, I looked and looked and finally found the best quality camera, with the best features at the best price (sub $300) right here on Amazon! It's been a year since I bought it and I STILL haven't fully utilized all it's capabilities. Partially because I can edit tape on my firewire equipped Mac w/iMovie 2 and thus don't need any of the in-camera editing features. The other reason I haven't used all the SCD-67's features is because it's SO CONVENIENT to simply point and shoot and ALWAYS record pretty decent images. My images will get even better once I start using the camera's features! It's not a sophisticated 3 ccd camera, but it's easy to use, you can grow with it, it's very reliable if you don't abuse it, and unlike some much more expensive cameras, the tape eject opens from the top THE WAY IT SHOULD! Oh, and what other camcorder offers a 22X OPTICAL ZOOM??? I drool over the GL-2, XL-1s and the others, but my Samsung SCD-67 is gonna be with me for a long time, I'm happy to say. The MAJOR drawback is the lack of a headphone jack, which means your audio quality will remain a question mark until you get back to the editing bay. One way around that is an add on Beachtech adaptor or the use of an audio mixer which has a headphone jack. Great little cam!

I have to say my Samsung SCD-67 Mini DV camcorder DOES WORK WITH FIREWIRE AND MAC. I've been editing my tapes on Mac from day one and haven't had a problem. "Blue Dalmation" iMac 500mhz/20Gig HD, OS 9.1 & iMovie 2.

We bought this camera in 2002 and now it has started eating and rejecting tapes. At first it would only eat the expensive tapes and worked fine with the cheap ones. Now, it does not work at all. I paid close to 700$ for this and now it is useless.
It is obvious that Canon goofed up big time on this one. They should read these reviews and do something about it instead of hiding.

Just like thousands of others, I too now own this expensive paperweight. I BARELY EVERY used it in the last year, but now it has destroyed several tapes. IT EATS TAPES. DO NOT BUY! DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!DO NOT BUY!

I bought mine to replace a 5 year old Sony Hi-8. I was very impressed with the small size, recording quality, and the amount of bells and whistles that came with it. I was a little displeased with the zoom range of the lens. It dose not wide enough and shooting in tight spaces is difficult. It does however zoom to 200 with pretty good quality. Other complants are:

*The 2" viewing screen in not brigh enough to be seen clearly in daylight.
*The steady shot feature was barely works at all- If you are the type with shaky hands, this camera is not for you.
*The built in humidity sensor alarm is constantly going off. When this happenes you must shut off the camera, eject the tape and reinsert/ restart. This process takes nearly a minute and has caused me to miss several shots.
Besides the complaits I found it to be a very nice camera with dependable battery life- the supplied manufactures battery has never left me stranded, and cameras small compact size makes it easy to record in forbidon places- like rollercoasters.

I bought at the end of 2001, and I too have been getting these "eject the cassette" messages! I just didn't know how common this was until I started looking for a replacement camcorder just today, and happened to see mine (this one) and thought I would just check out the reviews, and was just SHOCKED to see how many others have had this same problem. I probably have used this camcorder a total of about 2 (yes, two) hours in the past 3-1/2 years, and have been getting the "eject the cassette" message for at least a year, I have to use a new tape each time I record, and cannot use the tape again (even to Play it), it tells me to "Eject the Cassette"--won't let me do ANYTHING. Sharp has not been helpful at all, continually referring me to 'my closest athorized servicer'. The closest place that will service it is in California, and I have to pay $55 just for them to 'assess' what the problem is. I have not found anyone in Arizona that can repair them, since they (an authorized Sharp servicer here) said when Sharp came out with these, they did not have a training program for repair shops to learn how to repair them. DO NOT BUY THIS CAMCORDER!!! Again, I am just shocked to read all these other reviews that sound IDENTICAL to the problems I have been experiencing practically since the camcorder was out of warranty, figures.

I was all set to buy the Sony TRV230 Digital8 when the rebate for this model came along and caught my attention. I was upgrading from 8mm. Consumer Reports rates this mini-DV's picture (actually the model 250's) the lowest of all tested mini-DV's, BUT higher than any Hi8/VHSC. My first experience was bad. I bought 4 TDK standard grade tapes from Best Buy. Three of the four tapes had such bad dropout that at many times only half the screen was normal, the rest was unintelligible and the sound was garbled (I didn't try the fourth tape). Even the 'dirty heads' warning came on. Fortunately, I discovered this while playing around and not after some important event. I returned the tapes and tried standard grade Maxell tapes (without cleaning the heads) - The camcorder worked flawlessly. Coming from 8mm, the picture quality is incredible (through s-video to a 27" TV). I've had no trouble with various light conditions (like ambient indoor household lighting day or night, poorly lit street scenes, and in a high school gym). Only complaint: my old camcorder has individual fade, date/time, and manual focus buttons; This one requires menu traversing to do the same things (I think most mini-DV's are like this however). A BIG plus - this camcorder accepts analog input directly from my 8mm camcorder and VHS VCR. No other low-end digital camcorder can do this that I'm aware of (although the Sony TRV230 can). I've copied some of my old 8mm and VHS tapes onto miniDV (and then onto my PC for editing) with ease. The SmartMedia card is another plus since my digital camera already uses them and I have spares. Another plus will be the camera-controlled zoom mike (when it's available) - great for taping distant audio sources (like school shows) while reducing nearby noise.

Update 2/26/02 - still working fine. Using Pinnacle Studio DV for editing. I'm amazed at the number of reviews that indicate playback problems and don't say whether they've tried a different brand of tape.

The other reviews for the Sharp VL-WD255U made me hesitant about ordering, but I decided to try it to see if it fit my needs. I take photos for a local internet news site and I need acceptable resolution and all the zoom I can get. The Sharp gives me both. The 640 X 480 size is not the sharpest but with image enhancing programs it is more than acceptable for internet use. The FREE program DCENHANCER.EXE from MEDIACHANCE.COM is nothing short of fantastic for improving low light (high noise) digital pics. I bought the 64K card for still shots which gives me over 500 pics of storage. The miniDV tape (which does not come with camera) lets me shoot difficult situations (fireworks, dancers, etc) and lets me 'grab' a frame with included software. Serial cable is included which proved to come in handy with my antique (non USB) computer. The eyepiece viewfinder and LCD screen allow me to shoot easily in almost any circumstance. The powerfull 26X optical zoom is an absolute joy to use. It's bigger in size than regular still digital cameras and I love it. I grew up on older large 35mm and the bigger size of the Sharp is a blessing. I'll still use meagpixel cameras when I need 8X10s, but for my internet work I will almost always uses the Sharp. I don't know of any type digital camera with the features and zoom power of the Sharp for a truly great price after rebate. I ordered on a Sunday and received it on Tuesday.