This would be an excellent camcorder if JVC delivered what they advertised. The quality of the photo's is comparable to a 3MP camera, and definitely not up to 5MP standards.

Negatives:
There are also problems with the Anamorphic 16:9 format this camera produces. It appears that the 16:9 format of this camera is not properly encoded, and I have not yet found an MPEG editer that recognizes the files as 16:9. The clips are recorded 16:9, but when they played back on a television or copied into an MPEG editer the clips are squeezed into a 4:3 format. I have had to use an free program found on the web that will add the needed flag to fix the files. The Cyberlink software included with this camera does not support 16:9, so you will need to purchase a more sophisticated MPEG editor.

Only if you are willing to fix the output files from the camera and purchase a different MPEG-2 editor, can you get great 16:9 movies from this camera.

Support from JVC is non-existent. I have tried for a month to get support via email and have not once received a reply. I did reach them several weeks ago via the phone, but was told they couldn't fix the problem.

Positives:
The camera is small and cool looking.
Files can easily be copied to the computer, and it only takes a few minutes to generate a DVD.
With much research and effort, one can generate excellent anamorphic widescreen dvd's.
Takes good 3MP photos.

The color and image qualities are much better than those of the older GZ-MC100/200 models, due to the addition of the new 3CCD.
Jagged lines are still a problem, if you move the camera too quickly, or, shoot out your car's window (The Jagged lines are the equivalent of the blur that film and tape get when film/tape cameras are jarred or moved to quickly). The sound is very good (there is no tape transport gear noise due to the hard disk/memory card capture). In fairness to JVC, this is a new tapeless direction for video. So, if you are aware of the limitations of this early model, this is an excellent camera for convenience and fun. Within the year, JVC has promised larger memory disks (6GB-20GB ). However, although the cards will fit into the MC-500, the camcorder's battery charge is still only good for an hour and enough for the supplied 4GB memory card.
(These promised cards will be important for future models, both in the Everio GZ-MC handheld configuration, as well as future larger HD models).
As far as stills, check out Sony's 5.1 MP "T 7." It takes amazing images and fits nicely into a pocket. It's the size of a credit card!
The MC500 is a great "evolutionary" camcorder for innovative thinking people who want subtle, quick in-camera field editing options, and are willing to balance the strengths and limitations of what they are buying and be happy with the results.

1-Not the greatest in low light.
2-Terrible Still camera (grainy / bad quality... a sub $200 camera can do much better)
4-Not the best software (can't do wide format)
5-No Firewire
6-No Remote
7-A MiniDV camera can do better

Pro:
1-Small (tiny)
2-Cool toy
3-Easy to use

Had this digicam for about 24 hours and here are my first impressions:
I own a Panasonic SV AV100 which saves mpeg2 video and mpg4 to a SD card. It did it well and I was pleased with it, but the low resolution digital camera function was surpassed by some wireless phones. I wanted a device that took high resolution photos and digital mpeg2 video saved to a memory card that could be immediately loaded to PC and burnt to DVD. The JVC GZ-MC100 and MC200 took 2mp pictures and saved mpeg2 video to a 4 gb microdrive or SD card, but had poor low light performance - worse than my little Panasonic. So, it was with some anxiety that I shelled out $1595 for the GZ-MC500.

I bought it hoping that the new 3CCD video chip would not only give better color video and good 5mp jpeg pictures, but that JVC would have taken the time to improve low light performance... and they did.

In bright light the automatic videocam performance of the camera is really good. Indoors without any light on and bright sunlight coming in the window, the video remained sharp with pretty good color saturation and no graininess to my eye when played back on TV directly from camera. The MC500 seems to really be working much, much better in low light conditions than the MC100/200s before it. At night with room lights on, I took more videos and although there was some dimming of the picture, the video was still bright and not grainy. Color still looked good though there was some loss of color saturation in those conditions. In a completely dark room, forget about it since there is no infrared function. But I did not care about that. Much better in low light than my Panasonic SV-AV100 overall. Microphone picked up voices/sounds in stereo very well.

The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate for me.

The camera bottom heats up while recording to microdrive and I never recorded more than 5 minutes of video but the heat build up was quite noticeable. Unlike my Panasonic, there is no remote control which is quite disappointing in a $1600 digicam that is begging for immediate video playback to TV directly from camera.

In summary, I am both relieved at the camera's good low light performance and very happy with the camera's mpeg2 video quality and very happy with the 5mp jpeg picture performance. I would give this camera 4.5 stars out of five taking off 1/2 point for lack of remote control.

Go to this site and use translate option on google toolbar to read text or just download the duck video and jpegs to see this camera's quality. Rename video .mod extension to .mpg to view in WMP. Remember this is 720 x 480 mpg2

(...)

First I would like to say that Amazon turned out to be a great vendor to buy from. I was snookered by the "low price" internet vendors - their shipping and handling fees bring the price up higher than Amazon's and they didn't have the camera in stock to boot!

The camera is tiny! - a feature I was looking for. The swivel body is unique and very ergonomic once you get used to it - it takes some practice. It takes great photos in auto mode - this was expected but still was pleasant to see. Low light sensitivity is a bit disapointing. The flash unit doesn't seem to work well, I haven't explored the non-auto modes yet - there are several manual modes.... The video quality is good - not great - some say the Sony's are better. I found the color reproduction is excellent, the three CCD's make a significant difference. The images suffer from a bit of jitter when the camera is panning, this seems to be the case even with the image stabilizer off. This is minor in my opinion given how small the camera is and how easy it is to use. The sound quality is excellent. The only moving parts are the hard drive and the zoom - both are virtually silent so the audio has a very low noise background. The Dolby noise reduction is another plus to create a very good audio system. Don't let your fingers wander over the microphones - you'll create bad interference - you can use headphones while recording to train yourself to avoid this. The placement of the microphones on the top of the camera makes them very sensitive to wind noise.

The battery life is about an hour - pretty good. The camera has a built-in charger and takes about 1 1/2 hours to charge up a battery.

The camera looks like a pair of removable drives to the PC through the USB connection. I haven't used the supplied software yet - I have Pinnacle Studio 9 which works fine with the movies from the camera. The movie file extensions are .MOD - you rename them to .MPG and you can watch and/or edit them on the PC - (you'll need a Dolby CODEC to hear audio, Pinnacle has one - so do lots of other editors)

Overall, the camera is great - tiny and great quality - I bought it for an upcoming river raft trip in the Grand Canyon. I just hope I don't lose it in one of the big rapids!

I have this camcorder for nearly 1 month now. I bought it thinking on a camera that I can carry easily to the places I go and register and edit family events, trips, and my hobbies (endurance riding, ski, etc). One thing before you read my review, I am not native in English so please accept my apologies for grammatical errors...

Pros:
- Size and design. This camcorder is beautiful, stylish and small but not too much to interfere with the recording. You can carry it in your jacket pocket; in fact I carried it in my trousers pocket while I was skiing last week.
- Colors quality. I can see now why the 3CCD is so important, colors are great.
- 4GB microdrive. Is great to record direct to hard drive, you can forget buying tapes and is very easy to find and play the clips or scenes that you want to see (using the screen of the camera or connected to a TV). Like a DVD you just surf within your clips and play them with one click.
- Audio quality. VERY good, when played in a TV you can hear sound that you usually don't hear with regular camcorders, very high quality.
- Charging battery time. Battery charges in 1 hour (sometimes less than that) and runs for 1 hour recording.

Cons:
- Time to focus. Very disappointing, sometimes the camera last several second to focus an image and easily loose focus when you begin moving or a person pass in front of the image.
- Focus in photo mode. 1/3 of the pictures I took were out of focus, even when some of them were taken using a tripod.
- Files extension. The clips are saved in MPEG2 format but using a file extension call "MOD". The software included is not good, very basic, so I was trying to import this files in other video editing programs as Adobe Premiere or Sony Vega, but they don't recognize the file extension and when I was able to import them (using the "view all files" option) in Vega, the program didn't decoded or read the file correctly, it was unable to import the audio from the files.
- Zoom button. The camera have 3 zoom speeds but the zoom button is so small that is nearly impossible to find the speed that you want at the first time, usually you end with fastest speed.
- Video quality in dark places. Very bad quality when recording without good light. It seems this camera was created to record only in sunny days or in places with professional lighting conditions, not for daily use...
- Video quality in general. Beside the colors quality that is great, sometimes the camera take a while to determine what lighting filter to use, so you can begin recording and scene with a blue filter and during the recording suddenly the camera change to a red filter without any changes on the object
- Photo quality. I read a review of someone some time ago that was saying that the picture quality were more than superior. I don't think so. For example, the other day I went on a ski trip and the majority of the pictures had focus and lighting problems.

My conclusions up to now is that although I have a lot of cons, I feel this is a good camera for me, the size is great and I am getting use to it, is the kind of device that is really necessary to learn how to use it to obtain good results.

Although the concept is good, the form factor is a problem. Snaping photos is not easy.

Transfering video to a mac is painful and mind boggling that there is no support for this.

Swivel broke down in less than a month and JVC should have simply replaced the camera but they have the machine for almost month with no eta on fixing it. The customer service center is horrendous.

For the price you expect better all around perfomance as well as customer service.

Why aren't negative ratings available? All I have to hear is that the file extensions and audio/video formats are not compatible with most video editing software and I balk. I've been waiting for years for these companies to come up with something like this and they continue to make it complicated for the end users. You guys (Sony, JVC, etc. ...and YES Microsoft!!!) need to agree on a standard or else people like me are going to continue to refuse to buy your "stuff" (and that's putting it nicely). It's rediculous!!! I had to find out the hard way about the difficulties of editing with the different formats after spending thousands on equipment. NOT ANYMORE! Fair warning to the "nubes" out there who want to get into it. And by-the-way, are the other reviewers in these places real people? or are they paid to give "fair" reviews of these things. They sound suspiciously like they know too much about what they're reviewing on, so we're supposed to take their advice seriously. I am a real person who won't put up with products that are "milking the patents". Give us what we want and stop spoon feeding the technology to us!
(I'll be truly surprised if my review makes a public appearance. If it doesn't, then my suspicions will be justified.)

I was looking for a camcorder to replace my old Panasonic PV-L757 (VHS-C) camcorder but was overwhelmed by the number of available choices. Also, the Olympus D450Z still camera that I bought in 1999 is more than a little dated so upgrading to a better camera was important.

When I spotted a small writeup of the GZMC500 in "Wired" magazine I thought "This is the new camera I've been looking for." "I can kill two birds with one stone." A new baby just weeks away prompted me to get on Amazon's waiting list and wait for the camera to be released. The camera arrived in mid-July.

I have not been impressed.

The camera *is* quite small and easy to handle. Amazingly small, in fact. Unfortunately the camera does not have a built-in light so low light video is poor. To make matters worse the still pictures are also poor. I'm probably more disappointed with the still picture quality than the video quality. I've pretty much given up using the 500 as a still camera since the D450Z does a better, more predictable job.

I sprang for the accessory hard case with an extra battery but that probably wasn't a good choice. You can only charge the battery while it is installed in the camera so you end up opening and closing the camera to swap batteries for charging. With the experience I've had so far there's just no way I'll spend another $150 for the JVC dual battery charger. $150 for a battery charger!?! I don't think so...

This is not the camera I thought it would be.

I have anticipated this camcored for a long time, so when the price dropped, I dropped $1,250 plus tax for one immediately. Now I have had this camcorder for 24 hours and need to make a U-Turn to RE-turn it.

The size is fantastic, handling is lovely. People think it's a digital still camera, not a camcorder, so you can record them...I mean things to video discreetly--love that. HOWEVER, the quality is ugh. I have tried various settings in various lighting conditions and in all situations, the videos were not sharp, not at all.

I work in television and got some opinions from video editors and shooters. The reviews were mixed. Two people liked the quality. Two expected more for the price, and one was on the fence.

My opinion aside, microdrive camcorders produce inferior quality to tape, period. And your videos are compressed, unlike tape. You will lose quality. I knew that, but I didn't expect it to be so drastic. Second, as someone already noted, the filters change while recording. That is crazy!

I demanded to speak to a specialist because JVC's regulars don't know anything about this camera. One lady at JVC told me to change the tape....yes, the TAPE on a tapeless camcorder *sigh*

I will wait for a specialist to tell me which magic button to push to make this worth $1,250. If they don't, this "toy" is going back to the store.

I'm disappointed in the QUALITY. However, once I realized that the quality is great at 320x240 (vids/pics), I decided to keep it.

PROS:

1. Re-sizing = improved quality. Great for web/multimedia.

2. The camcorder size and design can't be beat...yet.

3. The discreet factor. There are MUCH better quality camcorders, but they LOOK like camcorders whereas this looks like a digital still.

4. The COOL factor. My cool points fell after the video iPod came out and I was stuck with a Nano. With the JVC, I'm the cool one in the office again....LOL!

CONS

1. 3CCD? 3 Crazy Crappy D grades is more like it. Vids and pics at full size look grainy, noisy, dark, unsharp and interlaced despite varied lighting conditions.

2. Those darned .MOD files. What is VID001.MOD?? Is that the Macy's parade footage or a night at the Hilton? Okay, I don't actually own any Hilton footage, but you must note what .MOD file is what from the info provided on the camera before hooking it up to the PC because you will not see visual thumbs on the PC UNTIL they are converted unless you use Cyberlink.

I want to see thumbs right within the Explorer window before copying files to my hard drive to decide what to copy over since the copying process is time-consuming. And if you thought that explanation was long, think about that process of conversion/file ID'ing for hours of video!

BOTTOM LINE

This camcorder works for me simply because the price dropped, it's tiny, I will only use it for multimedia and I cannot afford the new Sony HD which happens to be too big anyway.

Ironically, I would NOT reccomend this camcorder. JVC released it prematurely in my opinion. And I cringe at the thought that the price dropped drastically, not simply due to the holiday season, but because they are about to release an improved one while I'm still paying off this one! Arrgh!

I must say that amount of excitement and thrill I had with extremely high degree of anticipated satisfaction while I was getting this item packed, it didn't make it to my satisfaction in reality owing to vedio quality I'm getting for such a high price.

Good things:
1. Very compact, easy to carry
2. If someone is not too much fuss about quality, both video and still picture in one device which is great
3. Digital to digital transfer, saves heaps of time and pain for transfer from camera to PC. I have bought a portable hard disk of 40 GB capacity so that on trip I can transfer from camera to it without needing to carry my laptop everywhere
4. One of the very nice things I liked is ability to record just voice. Especially voice quality is pretty good so it is much appreciated feature.

Bad:
1. Video quality is good but not so good as one would expect with 3 CCD, digital storage and so much price. Final picture looks like as if a high quality recording with a dirty lense.
2. There is no manual view finder. so if sun is on on your back, you can't see a thing in digital view finder
3. Operation of record and stop button is not very ergonomic. I get strain my hand
4. Gets heated up very quickly.
5. Button to switch between still and video is pathetic. I never able to get it in right position
6. I'm surprised that JVC forced to adopt to Cyberlink editing software by creating .mod files. I hate it to bottom of my heart. I have to first open files in cyberlink software, create an AVI file which I then import into another video editing software like movie maker or Sony Vegas. This is extremely painful since it is time consuming and I suspect I'm loosing quality also.
7. Even though still picture resolution is 5 mega pixel, I don't get is quite as good I use to get in Sony 5 mega pixel even after using tripod.
8. Battery life is not very good.

This small thing is so unique that your satisfaction level will only depend on what you need from a camcorder.

Firstly, everyone says this bug is not "that good" with low light. I can not agree with this, there are a few settings in the menu, and you can get really good results under low light. If you leave it at "auto" mode though, they're right. It sometimes sucks!

It also has issues with the other meaning of "light"... Weight is so low. Combined with its narrow-angled default lens, that lightness causes too much shake in the picture. But that can be solved by installing a wider lens. I don't like to turn on its digital image stabilizer, since it gives the picture an artificial effect, but it can work for you.

Another problem I experienced is: Your computer will see the camera as a hard disk. So when it's plugged, your computer will not recognize your other external hard disks. I had a huge external USB hard disk to store videos, but I can not transfer video files from camera to that disk directly, coz the computer does not allow both of them at the same time. First you must transfer from camera to your main internal disk, than you must plug the big external disk and move files to that one.

Still image quality is really bad for 5 megapixels. That's so clear.

But still I do not regret I bought this camcorder. The pain of capturing videos, splitting them, etc. are gone forever. You just drag & drop the files. And they already come splitted, because Everio takes every shot as another file. In other words, everytime you press the record/stop button, you create another video file. That's sooo useful.

I tried the included software. That video editing software is really primary, it will bore you after learning the basics. But you can get real stuff from Adobe instead. They offer trial versions of Premiere on the site.

Finally, buy this camcorder if you care about:
1) Easier editing
2) Size and Weight
3) 3 CCD (Not a big difference though)

And do not buy if you care about:
1) Need long battery life
2) Will make 1-piece long shootings, like sport matches, conferences, etc.
3) Have Parkinson disease ;)
4) Will use more for still pix, than video

Since editing is my priority, I rate it with four stars, but your rating will only depend on your purpose.

Several days of recording sporting activities has left me with a very positive reaction to this camcorder.

Clip quality is very good. Clarity, color, anti-shake seem to be excellent.

Operating controls are a little cramped and the multifunctions based on context for buttons required some learning. (It also results in fewer buttons!)

After familiarization, they seemed second nature!

I love the ability to throw it in my jacket pocket. And the ability to pop out the microdrive or chip and load to my PC through an inexpensive 2.0 USB card reader!

For my purposes (filming dog agility trials) - it works very well! (Many short clips with zooms from 1 to 10.) Many clips will never be saved.

One minor issue seems to be difficulties in the speed of autofocus under some conditions.

The time from power switch on to record also takes several seconds.

The software is not quite as forgiving but seems learnable. For instance - Menu set ups for DVDs was hard to find.

File formats and compatability are confusing but this is not a problem related to just this camcorder or software!

Buy one you'll like it!

All in all - a great camcorder!

I have since figured out how to convert the files to mpg. through the supplied program. however this is a tedious task. to convert the files into a more useable format before using them in another program. I am very aggravated by this. Why wouldn't you (jvc) make a product that can be universally used easily. As someone who is a professional photojournalist, this problem makes implementing this piece of equiptment into my arsenal a pain in the ass and a waste. Your stills with this product go straight to the industry standard, so should your video too. As it is advertised!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your email in return is also unhelpful as were my phone calls. and that truly is unacceptable. It is one thing to design a good product with annoying features, and another when you can't provide good support to make it more useable by the public.

"Garza, FranK" wrote: Dear Sean Bernard,

Thank you for your e-mail inquiry,

I'm sorry but we can not assist you with changing the formats from MOD
to another source; however it can be done. Please note that any other
format will come out "choppy". I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Customer Care

Frank G.

-----Original Message-----
From: @yahoo.com [mailto:@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 8:34 PM
To: customerrelation
Subject: Other

Name: s. bernard
E-mail: .com
State: NJ
Model Number: gz-mc5000u
Serial Number: 11020536
Date of Purchase: 9/01/05
Product Category: Other
Inquery Category: Other
Message:
My camera records movies into MOD files. other than the provided
software what other programs will run these files. It is advertised
that it records in MPEG. so then many programs should play and be able
to edit the files but windows media player does not. Please give me a
list of programs that do since the provided software is not useful to
me, and or how can I change the MOD files into a format which I can use
in Avid.

This camcorder is definitely for hard core gadget geeks. I've had it for two days and I'm completely satisfied. I did extensive research before purchasing, so I knew what to expect.

If you are used to editing with a miniDV camcorder, and expect this to work exactly the same, you will have problems. This is nether a miniDV camcorder nor a Firewire device. Trying to use video editing programs built around the miniDV framework will only lead to needless heartache.

If the supplied software is too basic for your needs, then you need to buy a proper MPG video editor. Once you let go of the miniDV mindset, all problems simply fade away.

The video is very good and the audio is excellent. Video transfer to computer is simple and fast. The camcorder shows up as a USB drive so you just copy the files over.

The reason I say this is for "hard core gadget geeks" is because there are too many advanced manual features for those that just want point-and-shoot video. Just as an SLR still camera isn't right for those that want to take snapshots without reading a manual.

For those willing to learn a new workflow and dig deep into all it has to offer, this is by far the best camcorder on the market at this price range.

I bought this camera solely on its high specifications and the novelty of using files instead of tapes. I was on a three month trek round Asia and the thought of a dual purpose camcorder and still camera was very attractive. I also always take my PowerBook with me for work and the combination was ideal.

In offering mpeg2, 3CCD, 5 megapixels stills and other advanced features this camcorder would attract the high end amateur and even pro user, but in practice this is just a low end, over priced consumer product in terms of final quality. Why? Well I'll get to the gripes later. First the positive side.

The camera is about the size of a fist, a good compact size, relatively easy to handle thogh not pocket sized. The JVC designers have used nearly every part of the camera's external surface to place controls, button , plugs and slots, The camera pivots vertically only at 90 degrees but it would have better for the tiny LCD screen to move rather than the body.The hard plastic though was just weird, a portent of the design deficiencies of JVC engineers. I have no qualms with the quality of the movie files - high res, natural colour, ok exposure. I soon got used to downloading my files each night onto my Mac in my hotel room and making a rough edit with Final Cut Pro. This was a doddle with an amazing free app called MPEG Streamclip. It is interesting how small mpeg2 files are compared to DV but it still took an age to transfer them to my Mac due to the slower USB2 interface. Why didn't JVC plump for fast Firewire, (a standard with most camcorders costing a fraction of the price) is beyond me. I liked the inclusion of an audio recording only mode through the small microphone on the top.

So here's where the product lets itself down. My experience of using it in the' field' was one of desperation, aggrevation and often disgust. I don't know where to begin.The more one uses it, the more one is convinced that the still camera was obviously tagged on as an afterthought and totally lets the camera down. Firstly the 5 mega pixel tag is a virtually criminal claim. My 2mb Fuji took far sharper pictures than this. Also because the sluggish autofocus rarely pinpointed anything, I found just a handful of the hundreds of still pictures I took to actually be in focus. The manual focus never indicated the optimum sharpness and one could only rely upon the tiny inadequate and low resolution LCD. There is no viewfinder in this camera and in most daylight operations the LCD was difficult to see. The time it took for the autofocus to find the subject and make an attempt was around seven seconds.. a disaster for that once in a lifetime action shot. Time and time again I would miss such shots not only due to the sluggish autofocus but also the snail-like startup time of the camera itself. It took eight seconds each time the camera was turned on. Why I had to watch a JVC logo swirl around the screen when I could have been taking pictures was beyond me.

All the controls were well designed and close to hand except the on/off button which was a three way slider - off - record -playback. In practice these were too small and meant constantly sliding to the incorrect mode. It was infuriating, especially when the fingers were slightly damp or greasy. Perhaps the off button should have been in the middle, so that you only had to slide left or right. Otherwise all the other controls were great. A small joystick and onscreen menus were excellent but the main recording/shutter button needed a firm press giving the camera a small jolt and hence more blurred pictures. The still camera performed very badly in low light and the pathetically small pop up flash threw light not much further than about two metres. The auto exposure failed to compensate adequately for near subjects with the flash and most shots were bleached out. There was no hot shoe, so a third party flash was out of the question. The macro close up was quite good.

Battery life was disastrous. While everyone else on my holiday were still snapping away with their cheap digital cameras, mine had long exhausted it's power. Due to the small size of Mpeg2 files, the microdrive capacity was more than adequate and I never filled the disk. Although I bought two 1mb SD disks for the stills they also never filled up. Sound recording is totally reliable on the tiny stereo mics on the top which were a disgrace. Sometimes my fingers strayed to this area and slightly covered them by mistake resulting in weird alien noises on playback. There is no provision for any external microphone. This is really unbelievable.

There were many good features in the menu - manual exposure was well catered for, disk management and others but would I recommend this camera? Not for any serious photgrapher. This is very much for the low to middle end consumer, and its shortcomings should put it into a £4-500 price bracket, not £800. SInce there is currently little competition I shall continue to use it as a holiday camcorder since the mpeg2 quality was very good but as a still camera it is appalling.

The .mod files produced by this camera can be viewed unmodified using a regular mpeg2 player such as mplayer. The wide mode does show up squeezed into a 4:3 aspect ratio, I haven't worked on that issue yet. Very pleased.

THIS is an amazing camera- BUT- It does not work with a mac.. you can get the files to the desktop, but the sound is separate.. trying to splice the sound back to the video is next to impossible. (and I'm a mac geek..) I bought some software from some Japanese site, claiming to translate the MPEG2 format but it was basically a joke.. Apple has a $39.00 MPEG2 plugin for QT that should work, but it did not.. Basically DO NOT GET THIS IF YOU ARE ON A MAC..

I have a Mac and this product doesn't work at all with it. The customer support explained to me first that the software for the Mac was on the disk. After I called again they told me that I had to buy a product called Capty that you cannot test like any other usual product of this kind. I spoke to a supervisor and the the answer I got was "OK... OK..". They cannot certify that Capty works. On top of that, compared to Canon which produces great equipement, the photo I got with this camera are mediocre and the autofocus is poor. Never again I will buy a JVC product.

All one-star reviews on this camera come from Mac users. It's risible how they make a big stink out of nothing, for instance:

1. -"Why has JVC used USB 2.0 instead of Firewire, oh why?". Well, gee, USB 2.0 is more common than Firewire, specially if you live -like the rest of most people- outside the "Mac bubble". USB 2.0 is actually 480Mbps speed, and Firewire is 400Mbps!. So the choice was clear, and JVC rightly went with the more common interface: USB 2.0

2. -"Howdy, my MacOS-X can't play the video files generated by this camera, oh the horror". Answer: perhaps you should write to your spiritual cult leader Steve Jobs and tell him to fix the damned Quicktime buggy player!. Like some other reviewers have proved: the generated files can be played back both in Windows and in Linux using the open source Mplayer media player!.

Perhaps if Mac users had a clue, they would dump Quicktime and use Videolan player -also available for Mac OS-X- www dot videolan dot org which has no problem playing ANY file on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

3. "I can't edit the video files on my Mac, oh the horror". Answer: someone else who uses a mac also said he succesfully used Final Cut Pro on his Mac to edit files generated by this camera. Get a clue.

4. "Why has JVC chosen MPEG2 instead of DV"?. Answer: sheesh, read the specs before buying!. Nowhere is JVC advertising this as a "DV camera". It's an MPEG2 camera and that's what makes it a beauty!. MPEG2 is the format used on DVDs and you can hence create a DVD disc out of your eVerio camcorder files with drag-and-drop simplicity into any DVD authoring application without the need for transcoding!.

I give this camera five stars, does what it promises. (If you are a Mac cult member, only buy white cheesy hardware from the Church in Cupertino).

I agree with the many other users who have experienced the "Condensation, Operation Paused" defect on their JVC GR-xxxx. Despite numerous others reporting this problem, JVC says its not a recognized problem. I would disagree - it is a recognized problem, but its your problem, not theirs.

I make a living producing videos with Mac's. I own this camera and I love it but there is one truth: the camera is not supported by JVC for Mac's... but that does not matter since you can still have a great experience. It is actually simpler to use with a Mac than with a PC! No need to install drivers and softwares.

To summarize it:
1- I did not install anything... there is no Mac software. You do not need it. Plug it in. It mounts the MicroDrive and you copy the files to your HD or burn a DVD from it. Without the need to copy files first (but recommended since microdrives are slow).
2- You can import your photos from the SD with iPhoto. You are set. That's it.

So what can you do with the video?
1-Burn a copy of the MicroDrive content in about 10 mins! It cannot be simpler. Just drag the video folder to Roxio's Toast. It imports. Click burn. That's it! You have a DVD in about 10-15 minutes of the entire content. No conversions. No delays. Toast 7 will let you customize the DVD a bit and it makes a great backup of your digital memories. It cannot be simpler.
2-Need to edit the video? Download the free application MPEG Streamclip. Convert your video to editable formats. Plenty of options. Free. Very high quality conversions. Solid. Another option would be to import the saved-to-DVD files using DVDxDV and create your editable movies.

In my work I use professional cameras such as the HD Panasonic's AG-HVX200 and even when your are used to HD video, the quality of the video from this unit is very respectable, especially when you consider its size.

I love its size, wieght, media portability, etc. I do not know if this the right video recorder for you but for me, it was exactly what I was looking for. It fits my video workflow, style and usage.

I recommend HDD video recorders even for the casual home video producer.... shoot your video, trim it and burn it. That easy. By the way, make two DVDs, one for usage and the second for storing your memories (backup).

Summarizing, if you have a Mac and Toast, it is so simple that it silences the ignorant PCr2 user who "reviewed" it here.... the only thing he did was to critize what he does not understand (or do not want to understand). He probably does not want to use other operating systems because he might be too old to learn new and better things in life such as a reliable operating system.

If you are a Mac user, I recommend you to visit forums such as camcorderinfo.com to get the usefull information. As with anything, beware of biased opinings that do not help you solve your needs.

Technical note: Roxio's Toast will import all MOD video files directly into it. Since the video is not converted in any way, it preserves the original video and audio quality.

There are various things that can be better in this camera but you need to know what these are before you buy it. There are size, format, capacity and design limitations. Know them before you buy it and if it still meets your criteria, you'll agree that it is an amazing camera.

I gave it 4 out of 5 for minor things that I actually can live with such as a slow startup, the monitor does not flip out, no mic input, cannot turn information off while recording (just while playing) and nithing else. I knew these limitations before I bought it so it met my expectations.

Hope this helps.

I first purchased a their GZ-MC200 unit. A very similar unit but without the improvements found on the MC500. Once I was satisfied that I wasn't buying a misteak (these models are discontinued) I went ahead and purchased the 500, their top of the line version.
The GZ-Mc500:
Video quality is great when their is enough light, and the auto focus system can work. The actual video capability is around 2mp in video mode. At this level it is equal to and better than most camcorders on the market today, save HD camcorders.
In still mode the pictures are dissapointing, especially if you are use to a typical 4, 5 or 6 mp still camera. If you are not to discerning, the pics are acceptable. Be warned the flash will only cover 6 feet - not much.

The real plus's for this camcorder are 1) size, and 2) the 3 CCD pickups which render beautiful color in most lighting situations. In low light, such as you might have at a school play, you are better off switching to manual mode in order to control the focusing of the lens.
In terms of the cameras size and footprint - this is in my opinion is the real plus of the camera. It literally will fit in your pocket. It's realtively easy to operate, - editing is as simple as it could be, and very fast compared to using DV tapes.
The negatives are 1) a short battery life, about 45 minutes in actual use ( I use 3 as spares - they are very small); and 2)what may be the biggie for some, the hard drive is a compact flash microdrive. In it's best quality mode, it will record 1 hour of video. Longer times can be achieved with decrease in qualtiy, as recording time is increased. There have been many pros and cons written about the microdrives, even the best, the Hitachi, used by JVC. All in all keep in mind that these are the drives that Apple has used in their 4 gig ipods. Thus they they are proven, and Hatachi continues to improve their qualtiy. I purchased 3 at varying prices, from $65 to $135 dollars.
On any trip I ever taken I've never used more than 2.5 hours of video - thus 3 drives will cover most situations that I can think of. And you can always stretch by going from their ulta fine mode to fine, which will add 30 minutes to each drive. When you return home from your trip, you simply download the movie files to your computer and then delete the files from the microdrive, and you are ready to record again.
3) if you are used to viewfinder, you will miss it with this camcorder. It uses a small 1.8" screen on the back for all viewing and menus. It took some getting use to.
I mentioned that editing was a breeze. JVC packs their kit a with short version of Cbyerlinks video editing software. It works fine and you will be able to edit and render a DVD in about 30 minutes. The final quality is really great - I didn't notice any loss moving from the microdrive to the final DVD. All in all, if you are looking for a really small camcorder for travel etc, this is it. When JVC introduced it, 2004, it was priced at $1700. Today it can be purchased new, primarily on line for anywhere between $700 and $1200. At the lower end it's quite a good buy. Be aware that it is discontined by JVC.

Video interlacing is dead. Hard to believe Japan is still churning out interlaced recording devices when all displays are now progressive.