A reviewof the JVC Everio GZ-MG21 digital camcorder
The Everio range of camcorders that JVC have produced is a real mixed bag and it seems surprising that they have been created by the same manufacturer. Some have great features and others have minimal additions, some have great battery life and others seem to run out as soon as you start filming. Here, we test the JVC Everio GZ-MG21 Memory Card Camcorder to find out if it is one of the better, or worse, of the range. Design |
| The JVC Everio GZ-MG21 is a lightweight camcorder which is very comfortable to hold and fits very nicely into your hand. With the size of the MG21 being so compact with dimensions of 68x69x109mm, your fingers will be able to grip the camcorder on top and there is a hand strap that fits securely around the back of your hand ensuring sturdy filming. The MG21 doesn’t have a cassette other disk to add to the weight of it, but instead it stores the data on the internal memory or memory card, keeping the weight of it to a bear minimum at only 340g. The 2.7” directional LCD screen flips out from the left side of the camcorder and this will switch the power on and off to save on battery life. At the side of the LCD screen are an index/data button and a control stick which allows you to access the menu quickly and effortlessly and change between functions. When the LCD is open, you can access other functions and connectivity ports. The zoom rocker is situated on the top of the JVC Everio GZ-MG21 and does tend to get in the way when holding it as it sits right underneath your forefinger. The memory card slot is at the bottom of the MG21, which a bit awkward to get to and means you have to flip it over to insert it. The battery is located at the back of GZ-MG21. |
| Features |
| One of the main features of the JVC Everio GZ-MG1 is that it doesn’t use a cassette or other disk as such to store the data that you have filmed. Instead, the MG21 will store data on its 20GB hard drive and also on a SD memory card. This keeps the weight of the Camcorder down and also means that you can record for many hours without changing tape. Other advantages of filming straight to the hard disk are that you are able to record straight from the end of the last filmed piece automatically without having to find it yourself and deleting scenes easily as you can access them through thumbnail images on screen. DVD Movie quality video can be recorded using the MPEG-2 data compression format and this will be at an average bit rate of 8.88 Mbps. To allow active camcorder use, JVC have included shock absorbers with the GZ-MG21 and a drop detection system in which the camcorder will detect if it has been dropped and automatically turn off and disengage the writing heads to avoid hard drive damage, although JVC hasten to add that this is not guaranteed in all situations (and who can blame them!). We mentioned earlier that there is an Index/Data Button next to the LCD screen, pressing this button will display the disk capacity and battery life remaining. An incredible 32x optical magnification means that you can zoom right in on the action along with 800x digital zoom. The ability to take still images is a great addition and at 2.2megapixels you will achieve some average results. |
| Performance |
| Unfortunately, when we came to review the performance of the JVC Everio GZ-MG1 we were disappointed in nearly every aspect. The image stabilization that is on-board didn’t work too well at all and showed up every bump and shake that we made, even very slight ones, so filming looked shoddy and wobbly. Poor video quality was to follow and was quite honestly, diabolical. Every few seconds there are vivid movement lines and they ruin every scene, with the colour being poor too, we could not believe our eyes. The video light was not very effective, so indoor filming was washed out and dark, whereas filming outdoors was a bit better with colour reproduction being ok. The MG21 has the ability to store your movies onto its hard drive disk space and onto a Secure Digital card, which we found did work well and we managed to get around 5 hours of footage on it when filming in the Fine (DVD) mode, which was very impressive, especially as there were no cassette changes in between. The battery life was below average and only lasted about 1 hour 30 minutes before flaking out, which was rather poor too, however we would recommend upgrading to a larger battery. Annoyingly, a further program must be downloaded onto your PC before you are able download footage and the software that comes with the MG21 was very difficult to use and didn’t really do much. We were glad when we came to use to the Everio Share Station (not included, but necessary) as it was really simple to operate. In order to burn DVD’s of your Movies, you just need to place the camcorder onto the docking station, use the remote control to access the menu, choose the scene you want to burn or choose all, and click on Execute. The docking station makes a slight whirring sound whilst in action, but after a few minutes the DVD was ejected and there we had our Movie. |
| What's In The Box? |
| AC Adapter, Battery Pack, AV Cable, USB Cable, Remote Control, Software. |
| Overall Opinion |
| With so many great features, we had very high hopes for the JVC Everio GZ-MG1 camcorder, but unfortunately, the performance didn’t live up to its expectations. The video quality was not the best we have seen and the software included was not the easiest to use. |
| By Hayley Malyon |
|
Pros + Great features + Records straight to hard drive disk + Ultra-compact size + Effective Share Station |
Cons - Poor video quality - Below average battery life - Image Stabilization non-functioning |
|
Picture Quality 6/10
|
Battery Life 7/10
|
|
Setup Simplicity 8/10
|
Build Quality 8/10
|
|
Ease of Use 8/10
|
Overall Rating 
|
10/1/2007
at 1:25:34pm
Read Jvc Reviews
