I've had this camcorder for almost 4 years now and yes it is extremely portable and compact, but the screen on this camcorder has gone black on me twice. The first time it went it displayed a rainbow of colors when opening the display which made it useless and had to send it out to JVC for repair and had no camera for almost 3 weeks. Now it has just gone bad again and this time it's completely black making the eyepiece the only way to record which is nearly impossible on this small camcorder. Overall, the color quality and features are good from this camcorder but I've had too many problems with this item now to give it more than two stars. Any consumer shouldn't have to replace an LCD screen on their camcorder 2 times within a two year time frame. I wouldn't recommend buying this item. While the portability of it is nice, the lack of being able to actually record on it far outweighs any of it's strong points that it does have. With a newborn and 3 year old at home I need a camcorder that actually can record on the fly and shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the screen will turn on.

I just got this camcorder and I got very disappointed. It was impossible for me to use it on an outdoor party at night.

With the price, I thought this camcorder would be better than Sony DCRIP5 which my friend just bought. And the Sony camcorder works just perfect despite the fact that it's even smaller than this JVC camcorder.

Best camera i've seen for the size and for the price. A must buy if your the type that like to capture moments but would not like to carry around a big bulky machine.

I agree with other people talking about DVP3U's bad still image quality. However, camcorders are not supposed to take still images. If you buy any camcorders, you won't be satisfied with its still image. (Sony Mega pixel ones are just ok). The movie quality of this camcorder is great (audio is not as good but you can easily attach zoom mike on top).

To the main point. You can buy great super-quality camcorders like Sony VX-2000 or canon XL-1 (with 3CDD) and take hollyhood quality movies. However, if you don't carry it with you most of the time, you won't be able to make any movie at all. If you don't use it, there is no need for super-quality, mega pixel, etc. For this reason, DVP3U is one of best mini camcorders I've used. It fits in my jean pocket and I carry it with me anywhere I go. The battery life is short but you can buy two extra (2hour battery) .... That will be enough for continous use of this awesome camcorder.

I just get this camcorder, and i take it on vacation and the video and sound performance was great, almost perfect, the still photo has an a bad side, that if you take pictures in dark places this would grow or let see a bigger pixel than if you take the in good light. So the only low that i put in this fabulous camcorder is of taking still photos in the dark.
But is great all the extras it has in such small space like the MP3 capability or the direct conversion for MPG4 videos, if you want a camera so small you have to spect some lows about it but i only find one. Also is great al the comunication devices that come with it, to connect it to the TV or to your PC or MAC.
No other brand give you so much Software in this category.
I hope this review help some one else.