I bought MiniDV JVC camcorder, only 13 months(Just over the warrantee time), used two tapes, it locked up with msg "LEN CAP" and need to change len. I will never buy JVC products.

I can't believe some of this problems others have had with this camera.

The good: Value, ease of use, battery life, dv format, good video quality.

The bad: Low light video looks grainy. Still pictures are poor.

This is my third JCV. The first one was a vhs-c model, the second was an early dv model.

I have experienced no problems transferring video into my Dell Windows XP PC and have made several DVDs of home movies that look sharp and clear with good color and no camera noise.

Apparently this is a problem with many JVC cameras. It claims that you can upload video to your computer. However, there seem to be some issues with Windows not recognizing the camera. I have done numerous reads now on this through the internet (wish I had researched this area before buying the camera) and it is either a problem with the Win XP Service Pack 2, the IEEE1394 firewire (which JVC doesn't give a cable for this if you do decide to buy a firewire that will work with the JVCs) or the capture card, which does not seem to come with the camera, but they admit on a JVC site that it is needed. Why they haven't worked out these problems yet, I don't know. But if you google "computer won't hook up to JVC camcorder", you will find that it is a big issue with many JVC owners. I bought this camera specifically for the computer upload function, and it has failed. Thumbs down.

Don't be expect about it.
It is not the display that 1.33 mega pixel should show up and seems 3DNR(3D Noise Reduction) never work. you will feel like you are riding on an airplane. It sounds so motor cycle. I was about going to throw this camcorder when I played what I recorded. Bettery is available for only 65min but if you do rewind or playback like that kind of things, I don't know how long it's gonna be. Of course, you better don't think about still photo. -_-;

I just purchased this JVC GRD93 camera elsewhere, and recorded my first short video on a new JVC tape. While the camera itself didn't seem to make a lot of noice, the camera noice recorded on the tape was very annoying during playback. JCV customer service was of no help. I'm sending the camera back.

I bought this for $250, so called "open box" on ebay. I did alot of research. This camera is for a project for my masters degree in psychology. If this camera were sitting in my class, I would give it a B-. One indepentdant website recommends the grd-33 as "the best under $400". This model which is the top of this line, has a larger CCD or Charge Capture Device than the "33". This is not always better, infact it is less powerfull than other CCD's its size, say from canon, etc, but still better in low light and more value for your $$.
CONS:
Minor motor noise picked up by microphone, no mic input. This is only noticable in VERY quiet situations, or when the volume is all the way up to a volume you would NOT listen to on your TV. This camera does a slightly beter than average job in that arena.
P.S.
Buy one brand and line of premium mini dv's,
and DO NOT SWITCH BRANDS!! These tapes use lubricants that are often specific to the companies (i.e. sony, panasonic.)

P.S.S
Buy a Mini Dv HEAD CLEANER (looks like a mini dv), and use it
once a month. Sony and Canon are probably less overall trouble free, but remember, baby your camera and it will baby you.

Bottom Line:
Good deal for money even as of 6/3/2005

Best of Luck!

I purchased this product less than nine months ago and probably only used it about six times. When I went to use it the last (and final time) the playback of the recording was distorted and broken up with lines. I used a cleaning cassette as recommended in the manual but it did not help. The JVC Authorized Service Provider diagnosed a defective main PC board which will run me $150 of labor to repair. The part is still under warranty. I contacted JVC about my problem with the unit but they were unresponsive and appear not to stand by their product. I would never purchase another JVC item again.

I bought a brand new JVC (model GR-D70U) mini DV digital video camera less than 2 years ago. I have used it about 25 times and now it's broken. Every time I turn it on to record it says "Lens Cap" as in remove lens cap. It still plays previously recorded tapes but I can't record anything because the screen is black. This is my first JVC camcorder and my LAST. I am presently looking to buy another camcorder as I am missing my baby's first steps among other things.

My cam was repaired under warranty by JVC and I have had no problems with the cam until this "lens cap" problem. See their web site JVC.com under service and support for customer notifications that they have a warranty repair for certain models affected by bad CCD's. I have found that there are blogs and threads that explain the CCD failures in the JVC cam's and other brands are actually Sony CCD's. There are several digital camera companies and camcorder companies that all purchased these parts for their product manufacturing. Many of these companies are facing these extensive failures and repair issues. Allot of companies customers are angry but don't realize it is a wide spread problem and mostly due to a faulty Sony part. There is word that Sony is taking responsibility and assisting on repair reimbursements to the companies involved. That seems to be the right thing to do under the circumstance but I am not sure what Sony can do to fix the bruised reputations of the companies that are experiencing these failures. Time will tell on that. See links below:

(...)

JVC recognise on their web site they have manufactured defective GR-D30U Digital Video cameras..mine is one of them..I sent it back for repair when my camera kept telling me to "remove the lens cap"..when their repair center received it they called me wanting $250.00 to repair it. I sent a letter to the president of JVC. Still no satisfaction. DONT EVER BUY A JVC PRODUCT.

I purchased a GR-D70 2 years ago. Last week it quit for no reason at all. I've probably used it 10 times. It looks like brand new, well taken care of, never dropped or abused. Since I paid over $400 for it, and it's had such little use, I thought JVC would stand behind their product. WRONG! Their recommendation is to have you ship it to a service center, pay an unreal amount for repair, and hope it lasts another 2 years. I have never paid so much for a new camera and have it totally fail in 2 years. After much research I find quite a number of people with similiar and other failures on a multitude of JVC Digital cameras. My recommendation is to not buy ANY JVC products! Thank you.

If I had read the previous reviews I would not have purchased this camera. That would have been a mistake. I have used this camera for over a year without any problems. I have a professional JVC GY-DV5000 that costs thousands of dollars and this little camera will come close to the same picture quality when shooting outside. Shooting inside and low light conditions is where you realize what you paid for. The 93 will not produce good color if you don't have enough light but I don't think that many consumer models from any other manufacturer will either. Especially at this price point.

I've owned a model GR-D30U for less than two years. Yesterday the camcorder just quit powering on. The DC will not work, the battery will not charge. It simply will not turn on at all. Worse, I have a tape in there that I cannot remove without a hammer. The store I bought it from wants $100 just for "diagnosis." Just another case of expensive disposable electronics. My choice next time will not be JVC, a brand I used to trust.

I bought the JVC GRD93 Dec 21, 2004. After a day of charging the battery, I opened the camera and replaced the tape in it with a new one and headed off to the soccer match. When I got there it would not come on. I returned home, tried another battery, plugged it back into the charger and nothing. No power, tape will not eject. Similar to problem reported elsewhere by others. Pretty pathetic to have a $500 camera not even last two years.

This Mini DV is a great low priced camcorder. I got it refurbished for under $150. The still photo feature has a much higher resolution than even some of the newer camcorders in the same category (1600x1200 instead of 640k). It handles well and the 10x optical zoom, though vastly inferior for todays standards, is more than adequate for our purposes. The battery lasts pretty good, but doesn't give much of a warning before it loses power completely. Other than that, we are very satisfied with it.