Summary: camera

Comment: it does a lot of amazing things, you wont need any special cables just the only cable to transfer everything to your computer, it is a camera and a cam-corder, it has great pictures and i've made a lot of good quality short films with it. Good editing system.

Summary: Nice camera, but TERRIBLE video format - not recommended

Comment: The camera itself is simple to use right out of the box and takes very nice still pictures. The video, however, leaves a lot to be desired. For whatever reason, JVC has decided to use a proprietary "MOD" format and no programs (3rd party or stock) on my media rich macintosh can play these files. Go figure, but my little Palm Treo can create video files that are easily uploaded and viewable, so why can't JVC? Very poor showing from JVC in my opinion.

To rectify the situation (every time I upload videos - arrggggg), I have to upload the video directory off the hard drive of the camera, remove some .MOI files, run this 3rd party program so I can export the videos into the Mac's standard video editing tool, then export of this tool to viewable video for Macs & PCs. This is ridiculous - it takes over an hour start to finish and makes this video camera - or ANY of JVCs' similar units a DO NOT BUY.

JVC - go back to drawing board please and write standard file formats, ok? You guys are not in the software business so please do what you do best and simply build good video cameras, leave the software formats to the professionals.

Summary: Not the best.not the worst

Comment: I brought this cam at an extremely low price ($80.shhhhhhh). I had already seen the camera at stores and was already interested in the no need to buy recording media feature. I must admit that and the fact tht it transfer to the pc was a strong selling point. However once I got the camera and began using it I saw the problems I was having with it. I was having problems with finding software to burn it to disc. The Power Producer did NOT do the trick. It froze several times and so did Power Dirctor. I was having nooooo luck with Adobe Premiere 2.0. I even tried doing a capture first then seeing if i could saveit as a MPEG and use a different program. No such luck. It would not read the camera. However becasue I'm a stubborn S.O.B. I kept messing arond with it and found out that Nero Premium 7 (which I already had on my pc)did the trick. the only error I found with the program was my fault and I learned from it. That mistake was to NOT compress the files. Try to burn the files at their actual file size (even if you have to make it a 2disc burn). The difference is extremely noticeable. Also record at the Ultra settings.

As for the poor indoor light quality issue, That IS a problem. Even after playing arund with the different light settings on the camera I found it "ok" at best. One setting made it too cool (a blueish "washed" tone) another setting made it too warm (orange tone). One trick that might help is to try and make sure you and the subject are between to unshaded lights. That has worked the best but still set your light settings first. Also you can purchase an external light and attach it to the camera (not sure how to do it.but it will compromise the lightweight feature.)

As for the digital camera settings...just stick to a true digital camera WITH A FLASH.The camera pics are about as good as a cellphone.

Overall this is a good camera for the price (mine and retail). I know some people are thinking to wait til the bugs are worked out to buy it.... but I got a feeling the light issue will be resolved with an external light that can be purchased (more money for JVC) as opposed to a standard upgrade to newer models.

The main thing I would wait to see is if the .mod files become more common and therefore readable in more programs.Hopefully this will happen

Summary: A l'il sumpthin' to generally consider...

Comment: Frankly, I like my MG30. The only thing that gives me pause is its propensity to physically generate heat to the point of becoming uncomfortable to hold. This is a well known problem within the JVC line itself. (Much like Honda cars and bikes having BAD RINGS. They've known forever - but they just never correct it...)

For all the reviews that we read and write, nothing is ever gonna replace actually holding the equipment and shooting with it. You can have the best camera on the planet and if it's uncomfortable to you, then you're simply not going to get the most out of it.

Me? I'm a workin' newsmedia junkie and actually have nearly 20 separate video cameras - and nearly as many digital still cameras. Why? Cause no company is ever gonna MAKE the "perfect" camera. In fact, they go to great lengths not to. So it's up to me to know which voodoo combination of cameras I'll need to coax the best work out under whatever the conditions. In fact, the old "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" thing is fully in play here. Some folks actually LIKE the block/blended foilage look - or a special off green SAW II tint...

To that end, the Everio is a FUN TOY/EASY CARRY, but in low light, it can look like connect the dots - even with much personal tweakin' of the settings.

Summary: What Were They Thinking

Comment: Other people have covered the good aspects of this camcorder - light weight, no tapes/discs to mess with, pretty good menu. However, these are easily outweighed by the lack of thought by JVC's engineers; and to add insult to injury, the downfall of this camcorder hinges on the very feature that is supposed to be it's selling point - storing video files on a hard drive (and not other media).

You would think that if this was to be the camcorder's selling point, that these knuckleheads would have come up with an easier system for transferring the video files from the camcorder's hard drive to your computer's. The complete lack of thought is amazing. To come up with the goofy .mod naming convention is outside my comprehension. Why not give customers a naming convention with which they are generally familiar? (Besides the .mod files, I've also got .moi files- what the heck is that about? Are they important? Do I need to keep them associated with the .od files? And the uselessness of the Capty software (even its name is goofy) is astounding.

Finally, I don't mind having to actually read the users' manual. However, in this case it's useless. It doesn't explain anything about file transfers, the naming conventions, etc.

Obviously, the customer wasn't first in JVC's thinking. I would recommend staying away from this camcorder...What good is the convenience of recording on a hard drive is the files then become a mystery to access and edit. Stick with the "inconvenience" of tapes & discs...I wish I had!