JVC intros HD Everio GZ-HM1 video camera
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 6th 2010 12:29PM
posted April 6th 2010 12:29PM
JVC's already rolled out a handful of new Everio camcorders this year, and it's just now refreshed the top of the line with its new HD Everio GZ-HM1 video camera. This one will naturally give you full 1080p video recording (along with 10-megapixel still images), and you'll get some reasonably high-end features all around, including a Konica Minolta lens with a 10x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, 64GB of internal storage, an SDHC card slot for further expansion, a mic input and headphone output, and a full range of manual controls. Head on past the break for a video overview courtesy of JVC, and look for the camera itself to be availability immediately for $1,199.95.
pretty legit. Anything lacking on this thing?
@Bandigolo
low price
@Bandigolo who knows. but 64 gb is a lot of internal storage
@Tine Proli Kalinek true
@Tine Proli Kalinek
It's JVC - I'm sure it'll drop 40% and find its way to WalMart in no time.
@Bandigolo
I will be incredibly surprised if this scores high enough reviews to knock off the Panasonic TM700k. There are so many things that this lacks for a top of the line prosumer camcorder, or at least they don't list anywhere on the spec sheet.
1080p recording mode - a bit rate would be nice, rather any real specs would have been great
EFV
SDXC compatibility
for $200 more with fewer apparent features, I think not.
Wow! They still make video camcorders???
If the 1080p was 720p and the 10x optical zoom was 5x optical zoom, would that make this $500? I'm just really wondering what drives the price up to the point to make this vidcam $1000+...
@Plazmic Flame
Newness. Look for it to be $700 in a year - or buy a year-old one now for $700
It specs nicely compared to otehrs in its class. If the quality holds up then this could be good.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/
P.S. JVC - you are a camcorder company. How about some production values in you videos!
@Bobula Right you are.
@Bobula For real tho, they should have upped that in the best quality
@Bobula +1
Can this save in a format Final Cut Pro can read without importing (converting and loss of quality) or capturing?
They need to cut the price by half, consider in $1100 mark you could get GH1 and T2i with some added on lens.
@techlord I have a T2i, and although the image quality is stunning, you can't quite compare it to the JVC. For example: doing a smooth zoom-in with the T2i is nearly impossible (no motorized zoom). Maximum recording time is limited to 12 minutes maximum (per clip), so forget about shooting a long event in one shot. Continuous auto-focus doesn't really exist. There's no way to set recording levels manually. And so on...
Of course, like I said, the image quality is stunning. But it really isn't a camcorder. It's more like a 16mm film camera. Most of this applies to the GH1, too
The better value is the JVC GZ-HM550BUS. While it does have 32GB flash memory instead of 64GB, it does everything you need that the GZ-HM1 does and as good. I'm looking forward to receiving mine in a few days.
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/497566724/jvc-gzhm550bus
@ehosey2 - Actually, I'd recommend you order the Panasonic TM700.
It has real 1080p60 - meaning 1080 progressive image @ 60 frames per second.
This one on the other hand probably only has 1080p24 or 1080p30 but most undoubtedly has 1080i60 - so your frames are interlaced, not progressive... which sucks!
What's it missing? An optical viewfinder. More than an anemic 10x optical zoom. And for that kind of money? No thanks.
@ nageco
The specifications nowhere say 1080i60.
http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028615&pathId=171&page=14
@ GrokSurf
The specs say up to16x optical zoom when used with optical image stabilization when shooting video.
@ GrokSurf
My bad, I thought you were talking about the GZHM550BUS and not the GZ-HM1. And you are correct about only having 10x optical zoom on it.
ok, buried on the website I found these specs:
records at 1080i at varying bit rates up to 24mbps
the 1080/60p is only an 11 picture burst in still mode based on the website.
it doesn't appear to have progressive recording capabilities, at least not explicitly listed. I can't tell if its the camera or the website that sucks...