Please go into this purchase knowing that you aren't going to get the quality of a $1,000 camera for $350 and I think you will be pleased.
yes, some things are annoying like the LED lights being spotlight focused on a small area and the "night mode" slowing down the shutter so it is choppy.
BUT compared to the previous Canon I owned, it is great.
Low light shooting is much better even with out the light, and the colors are much more vibrant and distinct.
I burn my movies to DVD and the difference between this JVC and my Canon are substantial.
There is VERY little to no pixelation or rough dithering in low light with the JVC.It is somewhat grainy but ALL cams are at low light.
As for the drivers not working, as mentioned in some reviews, XP Pro AND XP Home both recognized cam as soon as I plugged it in and driver disk wasn't even needed.
I work for a company that sells consumer electronics and 70% of the returns we get are NOT because the product is defective, but because the user can't figure it out.
Go with a retailer who has at least a 14 day return policy and try it out. if you don't like it, return it and try something else.
Just don't expect Corvette performance at a Chevette price and you'll be happy with this.

From what I've read from some of the reviewers I might not have bought a JVC. Now I'm glad I did. Taking the time to learn the pros and cons of the various menu settings has allowed me to avoid all of the pitfalls they encountered, especially for low light shooting. If you shoot in electrically lit areas, do NOT use NightShot or Auto-A menu settings if the camera or a subject might move. Use the AGC setting. AutoFocus and Image Stabilization only work well in dim lighting using Auto mode, not Manual.
The color balance of the videos outdoors is slightly toward the "cool" end of the spectrum, but can be made perfect by doing a manual white balance (carry a pure white card to set it).
I have not encountered any unsurmountable problem yet. The only negatives so far (7 months of use) in addition to what I said above are: if you power on the camera and it is at a high zoom setting from last time, the autofocus has problems until you zoom out; the front LED light is of little use, it creates a keychain flashlight type of illumination, bright in the center and dim around the edges; the Wide Squeeze mode for 16:9 is ONLY good if you NEVER want to make a copy for a 4:3 TV.
Best points: Excellent color quality outdoors and acceptable indoors with reasonable illumination and manual white balance, small and easy to carry, battery charges quickly and it's life is ok as I don't use LCD much or leave camera ON between scenes; good optical zoom range but you might need a wide angle converter in cramped spaces; sound quality is adequate unless you're recording musical instruments and want precise accuracy.
Suggestions: Buy a 30.5-37mm step-up ring, a UV filter and a proper lens hood. It fits snugly in a Roots N5 bag (belt, hand, and shoulder straps), available at photo stores, leaving room for an extra tape (or two or extra small battery), the A/C adapter and a white balance card.

I got this camcorder and took it back within a day. My first few videos were okay, but they were just me shooting things around my house. That night I took it to a party, and the video turned out awful.

The problem was the autofocus. The picture would go in and out of focus even when the camera and the subject were not moving. Also, any change in lighting made it go out of focus. At one part, I filmed one of my friends talking on the couch. We were both sitting down and not moving, but the focus would get blurry periodically, sometimes for 30 seconds or more. The video was unwatchable; I was embarrassed I had spent so much money on it!

Also, the camera does not fair well when your subject is moving, even if in focus. It looks really choppy, more akin to the video I take with my digital *still* camera than with a real video camera. I have video of people walking in and out of the door and you can harldy see them, it looks horrible.

The video is fine when it is in focus and filming inanimate objects, so I gave it two stars, but when out of focus you can hardly tell what you're filming!

I used Amazon's service where you pay online and pick it up at Circuit City, and my exchange was very smooth; I got excellent customer service. I bought the Sony DCR-HC20 instead. The associate told me the autofocus problem was common in all JVC models. The Sony was highly recommended by him and my brother (who has taught film classes where all students were required to have a digital camcorder).

So far, so good. I will write a review of the Sony after I've had for a little longer, but the focus is much better than on the JVC. It has a much nicer feel than the JVC, when I first got it out of the box, the JVC looked very cheep in comparison. So far, all the video I've taken in low light has exceeded my expectations.

I've also heard that Canon is a good brand, although I don't have any personal experience with them. But I will never buy anything from JVC again.

One additional comment: The JVC uses a regular light attatched to the front instead of an infrared light for low-light filming. I thought the regular light would be better since the color is truer, but my friends told me it was uncomfortably bright, "brutal" was the exact word. With the infrared light on my other camera, I can take video in low light without blinding them. A video camera isn't any good if people don't want to be filmed!

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Edit: I just took my Sony out for the night. My boyfriend and I watched the video from last night (taken by the JVC) and the video from tonight (taken by the Sony), and the difference in quality is staggering! We can't beleive the JVC is still on the market. The JVC looks *almost* as good as the Sony when filming still objects under very bright lighting, but otherwise it is unwatchable compared to the Sony video.

Don't get this camera if you have friends or go out at night. Because of the lag in autofocus and slow frame rate, we described it as video that "looks like it's drunk." Unless you want the videos from your summer vacation or baby's first steps to look like they've had a few cocktails, don't buy this!

I have had the JVC GR-D72US for 1 week now, and am very happy with the video quality in all lighting situations. Even in near-zero lighting situations where only light source was a window, quality was very good using the AGC Gain turned on. The camera adjusts fairly quickly in auto mode once powered up. If you are taping indoors, and move outdoors during a single shoot, the white balance may not catch up to current conditions.

I have found the camera to feel a little flimsy in your hand. The strap doesn't hold the camera in your palm very securely, even after adjusting the strap to circulation-stopping levels. The body of the camera is solid, with the exception of the tape load door found in the bottom, which wobbles slightly when fully closed.

The analog passthrough function works great. Produces excellent quality captures with very little quality loss from the original. Remember to remove the tape before you begin the capture, or your software will assume that it will need to play the contents of your tape, rather than true passthrough from the analog source.

Digital Still quality is marginal. I still have some work fiddling around with quality settings. But so far, the images where not acceptable. Great to have a separate SD card slot. Wish the camera had a SD-Only mode. Stills are captured to tape AND SD, or to tape.

Front LED is spot-light focused, and only lights up what is directly in front of the lens.

Like all camcorders, the digital image stabilization stops working after about 10x zoom, so have a tripod or mono-pod handy for long zooms. 16x zoom is great to have. Panasonic GV15 has a better 22x zoom capability. Focus seems to wander slightly in low-light situations at 16x zoom. Tip: Manual focus if you are going to sit at 16x zoom to stop "wandering". Image quality is excellent at 16x.

Buy yourself an extended life battery. I found one at keybattery.com for $17. Lasts for 2.5 hours.

Overall I found this camera to be a good solid purchase. It does everything I need. The small size of the camera allows me to carry both my Nikon 5700 and JVC in the same bag during trips.

Like some of the other reviewers, I spent alot of time researching before I settled on this model. I based my purchase on what features it offered - I wanted my camcorder to be small, easy to use, digital, have firewire and USB capability, have a memory cart slot, and be able to take stills. The JVC fit the bill. I got a great deal and they even threw in a memory card and a tape.
The camera does have some very minor motor noise, but I don't think there is a camera out there that doesn't. Pretty much in every review I have read on various models someone complains about motor noise. The mike is fixed to the camera case and is very sensitive so noise happens.
The video quality is very good. I originally thought I would have to a DVD camcorder but this has more lines of resolution. With the light on the video drops in quality but this is explained in the manual and is expected.
I wish I could record video directly to the card. It would be nice to throw a 1G card in and be able to transfer it to my computer quickly. I think this was an oversight by JVC. The largest card it will take is 64mb which is plenty for the size of still it is capable of. The camera will accept cards larger than 64mb, but may not display the pictures properly if you want to view them.
The still picture quality isn't bad. It's actually pretty good compared to some stills I have seen from camcorders. Just keep the resolution and image size set to their highest settings. Why take pictures at low quality when you can fit hundreds at high quality on your card?
The optical zoom may not be as high as others, but it is plenty. I have not used the digital zoom so I cannot comment on it. I have been pleased with the amount of zoom I get without the digital zoom so I haven't needed it.
The camera is small, lightwieght and easy to hold. If you do buy one, I would reccomend a good sized case. Extra tapes, cables and adaptors quickly take up more space than the camera.

3/11/05 Update: Camera still works as good as new, despite getting drenched at Niagra Falls. Has proven to durable to, and has survived a few drops.
It has the ability to convert analog sources to digital which great if you want to use it to convert old VHS tapes to DVD.

I dunno why ppl would have anything bad to say about this camera period.. For the price you are getting Luxury for a wal-mart price LoL

It's not a super expensive camcorder so you get what you pay for. In good light situations, the camcorder is great. In lower light it does go out of focus. The still shots are just OK, but I wasn't really expecting to have great quality. It would be nice if JVC supplied the needed memory card for still pictures. Overall, I'm satisfied with this product.

I purchased Studio One movie making software that works great with this camcorder converting my footage to dvd. Highly recommend looking into that.

For those of you that have experienced (or will experience) the Lens Cap error often mentioned in user reviews of JVC camcorders. Here is a link to a JVC "special repair program" that I found while researching this issue online:

[...]

Note: I am not affiliated with JVC and am simply posting this to help anyone that is experiencing this problem.

A bit more info on the program. It does exist. It is free. You send in your camera or, if in a big city, take it in to a repair center for the free replacement. It does not matter if your camera is out of warranty. The replacement program exists in other countries as well (at least the UK and Canada). JVC is standing behind their product and you really have to respect them for that. (This problem of the bad CCD occurs in a dozen or more models manufacturred during 2002 and 2003.)

The number to call for more info in the USA is (800) 858-6442.
In Canada it's (800) 964-2650.

Oh, btw: the camera, aside from breaking, has been excellent. Low light shooting is so important during family events, I can't see why other manufacturers don't follow JVC's lead and improve notoriously bad performance. Image stabilization does work well for landscape sorts of shots, not so well for moving targets like your two year old. Sound could be better, but this is an excellent product at the price point.

Good luck,

Franz

This is a cute little perfect camera. Other than the fact that the CCD Base Assembly needed replacement after a few months (generating a LENS CAP ON error even though it's not in place), it has always been an excellent camera. As far as the CCD, just call the 800 number mentioned above, give them your serial number and other pertinent info and you're set. I live near the factory in Cypress and I had camera back in one week! That's service! And it was free!

I thought my JVC Digital Camera was handy, easy to use and worked pretty well for what it was... then one day at my daughter's ballet show, I turned it on (I made sure I charged it all night) and it wouldn't record. It kept saying that the lens cap was on. I am so frustrated and sad. I spent a good chunk of money on this item and don't know what happened... still don't have a way of recording my daughter's milestones....

Don't buy it, if you have other options.

Junk. You will get a lens cap error in about a year or so, where it will tell you lens cap is on and you will not be able to record anymore.

camcorder works as expected, nothing too wonderful but is what I wanted. the still pics are a little fuzzy, but it the rest of the features are easy to use. I use it for track and field filming. I have many different kids use it with little trouble.

JVCs are great if you don't need any accessories or never need customer service. if you do you are in trouble. I bought a JVC video recorder last year and despite it being new it came without most of the accessories offered with it--things you'll probably need such as the cable to connect it to the TV and the one to connect it to the computer. I had to buy each of these for $40 each--they would not ship them, and also had to buy the software that was supposed to come with the camera. after all that, the leads broke and the camera started eating tape. the customer service was useless and I finally just threw it out. I had owned this JVC product for less than a year and will never buy another one.