It usually happens like this:
The golden moment arrives — the baby says some silly word for the first time. Or he starts dancing to a pop song on the radio. Or perhaps the sun sets in a uniquely spectacular way. I grab my DVD camcorder, turn it on, press Record, and …
… the disc is full.
By the time I load a new disc, the moment is over. Now I either have to lamely attempt to recreate it — which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't — or I have to film anyway and hope that "golden moment" happens again. Too often, it never does.
If you have a video camera, whether tape-based or disc-based, I'm sure this has happened to you. And I'm wondering if JVC had this problem in mind when they equipped each of their 2006 Everio camcorders with a built-in hard drive — the same high-capacity memory medium that lives inside your computer, your iPod®, or your TiVo®.
The new GZ-MG37, for instance, boasts a 30GB hard drive that can hold up to 7 hours of video at the highest quality setting, with no tapes or discs to replace. Compare that to the roughly 20 minutes of highest-quality video per disc that I can record with my DVD camcorder, and you'll see the appeal of the hard drive for memory storage.
About a year and a half ago, I reviewed a first-generation JVC Everio. That camcorder stored video and photos on a removable 4GB MicroDrive® — higher-capacity than tapes or discs, but lower than the new Everios' hard drives.
I was pleased with the first Everios' small yet easy-to-handle body design and clear video and photos. Now that JVC has updated the line, I wondered: how would the new Everios stack up?
First things first: Video quality
As I mentioned, the 'MG37's built-in 30GB hard drive can hold up to 7 hours of video at the highest quality setting. This compares favorably to the capacity of the earlier Everio's 4GB MicroDrive, which held an hour's worth of video.
Speaking of video, it's worth mentioning that like its predecessors, the GZ-MG37 records in MPEG2 format, the same format used by DVDs. But because not all MPEG2 video is created equal — due to each camcorder's lens and CCD size, just to name a couple of factors — I compared the 'MG37's video quality to that of my DVD camcorder.
In my judgment, the 'MG37's video is comparable to the great video I shoot with my own DVD camcorder. Initially, I wasn't sure — when I viewed movies on my computer, I noticed some "blooming" (bright colors bleeding onto less bright areas) and "stair-stepping" (pixelation evident when diagonal lines are filmed). But when I watched the video on my television, the artifacts disappeared! Whether the culprit is my computer's LCD screen, its processor, or the software JVC includes for viewing video on the Mac, is anyone's guess. But it doesn't seem to be the 'MG37. Overall, whether indoor or outdoor, slow- or fast-moving, the subjects came out looking vivid and lifelike.
Video shot with the GZ-MG37, including this video of an Easter egg hunt, came out looking just about as good as movies shot with my DVD camcorder.
Photo Quality
The 'MG37 can shoot photos, too. Because of the CCD size, there's just one resolution setting available on this model: 640 x 480. That resolution works well for pictures you email or post online, but not as well for prints. So, the 'MG37 is good for snapping shots in a pinch, but you'll want to use a digital camera as your go-to picture-taking device. (Alternatively, take a look at the 'MG37's big brother, the GZ-MG77, whose sharper 2.2-megapixel CCD can snap shots up to 1632 x 1224.)
Also, keep in mind that the GZ-MG37 doesn't have a built-in flash, like its predecessors did; for shooting video and photos in low-light settings, the camcorder is equipped with an LED light.
Interestingly, the LED might not be your best choice in every setting. I took two pictures indoors, the first with the LED on, and the second with it off. For both shots, the camcorder was in full auto mode. The first shot, as you can see, is actually slightly darker than the second. I presume that the second shot is brighter due to the camera slowing down the shutter speed to let the right amount of light in. There's a drawback to a slower shutter speed, however: increased blurriness.
Above: This picture was taken indoors, with the camcorder's LED light on.
Below: This picture was taken moments later, with the LED light off.
