JVC GRDVM76U MiniDV Compact Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD and 8MB SD Card
by JVC

List Price: $999.99
Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details

• MiniDV camcorder
• 10x optical, 200x digital, zoom with image stabilization
• 2.5-inch color LCD, black and white EVF
• Records 1024 x 768 digital stills onto included 8 MB SD card
• Full color low-light shooting mode

• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to B-Male Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
• Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 [OLD VERSION]
• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to Mini-B Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
• AmazonBasics IEEE 1394 4-Pin/6-Pin FireWire Cable (6 Feet/1.8 Meters)
• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (3.3 Feet/1.0 Meter)

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of JVC GRDVM76U MiniDV Compact Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD and 8MB SD Card

Customer Review: The Perfect Beginner's Camcorder
Summary: 5 Stars

1. It's incredibly small. You can palm this camcorder easily.

2. It's light. You can carry it around in your pocket, without it weighing you down.

3. The ease of use is brilliant. You don't even have to look through the user manuals, because it's so simple to use. The buttons are places perfectly, so it's not difficult to press.

4. The "Extra Features/Special Effects" on this camcorder is very nice. You can shoot in widescreen (Which I love), have different type of faders (For instance, fade in black), you can shoot in different lighting that it will adjust automatically for you, you can also edit your footage as well.

5. You can use this camcorder as a digital camera as well. It comes with an 8mb memory card, but the quality of the still photos isn't top notch. They are a good "Email" quality, but nothing worthy of printing out. This is very typical on MiniDV camcorders with the "Still Photo" feature.

6. The video quality is quite good on this camcorder. The 10x optical zoom looks very good, and the sound is good as well. The mic is on top of the camcorder, so it does pick up a lot of noise sometimes, but when you do mean to talk while it's recording...it picks it up very nicely.

7. The "Night Alive" feature isn't that great. It's actually very useless. You're suppose to use it for when you're shooting in very dark enviroments, but when you use it, the shutter speed is so slow, it's very difficult to shoot, and the quality isn't that grand, if you ask me. So, don't bother using this feature and shooting in pitch black.

Overall...I had this MiniDV camcorder for about a week now, and it's great. I love the size and shape of it. It's very simple to use, my dog can even use it. Also, if you have a Mac (Like me), it works very well with iMovie. (You're going to have to buy a firewire cable though).

Description of JVC GRDVM76U MiniDV Compact Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD and 8MB SD Card

Lens and CCD
Really, the two central components of any video camera (or digital still camera), are the lens and CCD (the image sensor). This JVC model builds around a 10x optical zoom, which is paired with image stabilization to cut down on the shakes and jitters common to most amateur video footage. The CCD sports a pixel count of 680,000--great for video--that translates the image into the digital video standard of 520 lines of resolution.

Digital Still Mode
Most digital camcorders these days come with some sort of digital still mode. The resolution is usually fine for posting on the Web, e-mailing to friends and family, and making small, snapshot-sized prints. The 76U is no exception; it snaps stills at the 1,024 x 768 level, and records them onto an included 8 MB MultiMediaCard (also compatible with SD memory cards).

Cables and Connectors
The GR-DVM76U comes with what JVC calls a Jack Box that exists simply to provide the ports most people want to use when connecting their camcorder to various video display devices. This is a nice approach, as it cuts down on the amount of space needed for this type of thing on the camcorder itself. The Jack Box features a USB port, which is used to transfer digital stills; AV ports, which are the traditional RCA-style connectors used by many VCRs and televisions; and an S-video port, which is a video-only port, but transfers video at a higher level of quality than traditional RCA-style connectors. On the camcorder itself is an IEEE 1394 port, which is also known as FireWire or iLink. FireWire enables lossless transfer of footage to a computer for editing purposes.

Included with the 76U is an AC power adapter, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, remote control, 8 MB MultiMediaCard, software (CD ROM), Jack Box, USB cable, and an AV cable.

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