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JVC Everio HD GZ-HD7
Posted 10/10/2007 at 12:25:59pm | by Helmut Kobler

The Everio HD GZ-HD7 is both innovative and disappointing at the same time.

 

The Everio HD GZ-HD7 is a high-definition camcorder with an unusual (and welcomed) twist. Instead of recording its video to tape or DVD, the camera stores footage on a built-in 60GB hard drive that holds 5 hours of HD video. That means you can shoot almost all day and skip the hassle of popping in a blank tape or DVD every hour, and you won’t have to worry about keeping spare media lying around the house. When the camera gets full, you can just plug it into your Mac’s USB port and transfer the video to your hard drive.

 

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the camera doesn’t come cheap: At $1,700, the GZ-HD7 is expensive, even by consumer HD standards. The hard drive also makes the JVC heavier and bulkier than other HD consumer models, enough to feel a difference if you’re carrying it around all day.

 

Most importantly, the GZ-HD7’s image quality is disappointing. Its 1080i picture didn’t capture good detail in far-off subjects, the colors were oversaturated, and the optical image stabilization left plenty of jitter in our handheld shots.

 

The Everio HD GZ-HD7 does have a jack to connect an external microphone, but there’s no jack to connect headphones, so you can’t listen to what you’re recording. The camera uses a proprietary video format, and JVC provides an iMovie HD 6 plug-in, but the footage doesn’t work in Final Cut or iMovie ’08 without a tedious conversion process.

 

The bottom line. We love the HD7’s roomy hard drive, but the camera’s sky-high price and subpar image quality should make you think twice before buying. If you plan to edit video in anything other than iMovie HD 6, we’d recommend skipping the Everio HD GZ-HD7 altogether.

 

COMPANY: JVC

CONTACT: camcorder.jvc.com

PRICE: $1699.95

REQUIREMENTS: Multicore Intel Mac, Mac OS 10.4.9 or later, 512MB RAM (1GB to 2GB for video playback), 10GB disk space, SuperDrive

Hard drive stores five hours of video. Works with external mics. Nice manual focus ring.

Expensive. Not-so-sharp imagery. Bad image stabilization. No headphone jack. Footage hard to edit in Final Cut. Not fully iMovie ’08 compatible.

 

 

COMMENTS: 16
TAGS: 
COMMENTS
avatarWhat format is the footage

Submitted by Alex (not verified) on Wed, 2007-10-10 12:36

What format is the footage in? Those Hard Drive based cameras are notorious for capturing footage in non-Final Cut/iMovie compatible formats? Is that true with this cam too? It's a pretty big deal breaker if you have to transcode every piece of footage just to edit it.

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avatarHard Drive based camcorder

Submitted by Vas (not verified) on Wed, 2007-10-10 14:19

The JVC uses MPEG2 format. You can also buy the Sharing box for the camcorder which will enable you to burn DVD in one click in high definition according to JVC website, but it's unclear what format this burns at.

With the Sony SR1 5, 7 & 8 camcorders (uses AVCHD and MPEG2 formats)you can transfer videos from HDD to iMovie 08 and edit it. unfortunatley at this stage you can only burn your footage in SD using iDVD. If you use Sony's Picture motion browser software that comes with (only Windows compatible), you can burn AVCHD disc (high def) which you can only playback only on most BluRay players.
Latest Final Cut Pro update should also support this format, I haven't tested it yet.

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avatareverio hd7 / quicktime 7.4

Submitted by spydax (not verified) on Sun, 2008-01-20 01:45

after installing QT 7.4 my .TOD files won't preview and my imovie 6 won't transcode the .TOD files anymore. I am using OSX 10.4.11 WITCH WORKED FINE before but after updating to QT pro 7.4 nothing works . I have installed the QT component that comes with the camera for mac imovie again but no luck ..... D.I.W SOS.......HELP!

spydax

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avatareverio HD7/quicktime 7.4

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2008-01-27 07:24

Same problem. I want help also. It worked fine with the HD camera last week but this video won't import.

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avatarNew updated Quicktime not compatible with TOD

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-02-02 05:58

HD7 owners should persistently ask JVC what they're doing with the situation of this Quicktime update. The included plugin component is no longer compatible as of the new update from Apple. The two companies should have a serious talk about formats and staying on a standard even if its just for TOD containers. Its driving consumers both for Apple and JVC crazy. I have only owned the camera for 6 months and now I cannot even transfer files for editing. If only we can get our money back for something that works of the box!

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avatarIf you download the older

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-02-07 19:54

If you download the older version QT 7.3.1, get Pacifist to help you reinstall it over QT 7.4, it should all work again until Apple or JVC find another solution. As for final cut pro, with the older QT version installed you still need to convert the file for editing on it. I just followed the instructions from JVC to export it as movie to quicktime movie.

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avatarJVC and QuickTime

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2008-02-10 13:41

Happened to me too! I thought what the hell? It was seamless when I first bought the camera. Then I figured ok, I guess QuickTime pro will do it......but it WONT convert the TOD files. What up with that?

thanks for the last writer, I'll download the old version of QT and hope to get back to editing.

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avatarThe review indicates that it

Submitted by khansen on Thu, 2007-10-11 09:36

The review indicates that it uses a proprietary video format.

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avatarMPEG-2 is sort of proprietary

Submitted by Ivar Bigguna (not verified) on Mon, 2007-11-05 18:39

In that it is licensed. But the JVC Everio's all record to MPEG-2 from 2 mbps to 10.5 mbps ranging from about 30_ hours on the HDD to 7.5 hours.

iMovie 08 handles MPEG-2 from Everio as long as you connect the camera to your mac, whereas if you move the files to your hard drive first, it won't.

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avatarNo Jack?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2007-10-30 16:40

A $1700 camera with no headphone jack? What are they thinking?!

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avatarSome Help for Y'all

Submitted by John Bagi (not verified) on Mon, 2008-02-18 08:50

Hey y'all,
I just got off the phone with a JVC tech guy who although was a big help, makes me want to SCREAM! I will start with this: HD camcorders are ahead of their time. Why? Because there is no up-to date software that can manipulate high-def files. Well thats a lie, there are a few. If you purchase a high-def DVD burner it will come with an editing program (some basic piece of S*#T) which can manipulate these HD files. Other wise, whether you use PC or Mac the .tod files will be downgraded to SD (standard def) because all good editing programs wont read the high-def files.

If anyone is having problems with their computer not recognizing the .TOD files here why this could be. When the camcorder was released it was matched up with the proper Quicktime version to read the .TOD files. Now that QT has upgrade from the original working version, 7.3, to the new 7.4, it no longer reads these files. Dude on the phone said to try and downgrade somehow. Or to talk to Mac about it. I don't even own a Mac but here goes: the quicktime on the CD ROM should be the compatable version, try erasing your 7.4 version and reinserting the disk.

Hope I could help. My lovely GZ HD7 will just grow dust until the world catches up.... may be china has.....

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avatarMPEG Streamclip is a useful

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-02-28 00:07

MPEG Streamclip is a useful substitute for Quicktime, and it's freeware.
Having to use it to convert from .TOD to .mov is a bit of a pain but at least it's a solution that allows me to get my files off the fargin camera :)

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

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avatarI downloaded Streamclip but

Submitted by Chris Zheng (not verified) on Sat, 2008-03-29 12:36

I downloaded Streamclip but it still says I need to download the quicktime MPEG-2 playback component in order to play/edit TOD files. Am I missing anything?

Chris

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avatarI downloaded Streamclip but

Submitted by JT (not verified) on Sat, 2008-04-12 21:07

You need the mpeg2 plugin for quicktime which you can purchase from the Apple Store for around $25

Another alternative is to see if the perian codecs work with MPEG Streamclip.
http://perian.org/

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avatarConvert TOD to DVD on Mac

Submitted by MoonRiver on Tue, 2009-07-07 00:10

Convert TOD to DVD on mac

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avatarThis Louis Vuitton handbag

Submitted by jingren on Fri, 2009-09-11 19:06

This Louis Vuitton handbag is so unique, and I never see it’s sold in the LV stores, where did you get this one please?

This louis vuitton handbag is just come out this spring show, it’s a totally new style of luis vuitton fashion, worth to buy.

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