JVC GRD200 MiniDV 1.33 Megapixel Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom – Electronics
JVC GRD200 MiniDV 1.33 Megapixel Camcorder w/10x Optical ZoomAfter reading many reviews (good and bad), I decided to spend my hard earned money on this JVC camcorder because of the price and all the features. I bought this camcorder back in February when Amazon had it on sale for 66% off (main reason of purchase). So far, it has probably been the best purchase I have ever made.
The good things I like about this camcorder is that it is light weight compared to my older Panasonic VHS-C camcorder. Also, the high resolution recording’s quality is absolutely gorgeous. There are manual options to set the color schemes (sephia, b&w;, classic) as well as an option to record in widescreen mode and a wide lens mode. This camcorder also has great built in transition effects and a automatic mode for beginners that sets everything according to outside conditions. As for the digital camera features, they are pretty much average. If you wish to store high resolution pictures, it’d be a good idea to invest in a high capacity SD memory card. The camera mode even has a built in flash.
Now for the real stuff, the real reason why I purchased this was to output the video onto DVD. The USB cable included with this camera only made quality for “VHS” or VCD style. VCD is nothing like DVD quality. The USB cable’s limitations in speed only allowed output to VCD. However, this camera also has a Firewire/IEEE1394 input which allows high speed data transfer with the PC. In order to output to DVD you’ll need 5 things: firewire card, firewire cable, dvd authoring/encoding/capturing program, dvd burner, and blank dvd media. None of these listed comes with the camcorder so that’s a minus. However, after purchasing the firewire cable as well as the firewire card I was able to capture, edit, and make menus for my home video onto DVD via Ulead VideoStudio 8 (a great program, btw). The quality was just amazing. Not only did I have a home video in digital format but I also had it in a format that will last me years to come.
Some things that I didn’t like about this camcorder was the “night alive” feature. The “Night Alive” feature slows down the frames per second so much so that it is impossible to record without having the video lag. Battery life isn’t that great either but I remedied that by buying a extra battery just in case. To store pictures you’d have to use a switch to switch it to memory mode to save the pics on the SD card otherwise it’s picture on tape which is even worse quality, an annoyance but livable.
So for a camcorder/camera that allows output to DVD as well as take digital pictures for under $300, you really can’t find a better camcorder with all these features for that low of a budget.
