
JVC's first HD Everio - the GZ-HD7 - has caused more than a few camcorder buyers to bide their time in anticipation of its release. Well the wait is finally over and we can confidently say the GZ-HD7 delivers on some but not all of its promises. The focus ring is excellent and the Focus Assist makes dialing in crisp manual focus a breeze. In addition a cluster of image controls on the back of the body that includes shutter speed aperture and exposure compensation are highly accessible and efficient. In fact with its relatively large body plethora of external buttons and focus ring the HD7 feels and handles like a scaled-down prosumer cam. Yet we've known that this Everio would offer a high level of manual controls since we first spent some time with the HD7. The big question has been whether the camcorder would perform up to its billing. The HD7 records video using a new flavor of MPEG-2 compression that wanders as high as 30 Mbps in FHD ("Full HD" 1920 x 1080) mode. That led us to wonder whether that venerable HDV format had finally met its match. As it turns out video performance is not the reason to buy the JVC GZ-HD7 - but it remains one of the year's most intriguing models.
- Built-in 60 GB hard disk drive; SD/SDHC memory card slot
- Fujinon 10x optical zoom lens
- Optical image stabilization; Focal Assist function
- Capture and share home movies in full HD
- Three 1/5-inch CCDs with 1440 x 1080 (square) pixels
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