Camcorder Review:
JVC Everio GZ-MG70 Hard Disk Camcorder

Mark Montgomery
February 2006

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Remember the days when the term "hard disk drive" was simply associated with personal computers? As the list of solid-state memory camcorders that have gigabyte capacity continues to grow, the JVC Everio GZ-MG70 is definitely a notable player in the market with its 30GB hard disk drive.

The JVC Everio GZ-MG70 is ideal for shooters looking for an easy to use, compact and lightweight hard disk camcorder. It's one of the simplest camcorders to operate, yet it still offers some manual controls to entertain beginning videographers.

The GZ-MG70 has a nice balance between a small size and a comfortable design. It's not much bigger, nor heavier than a coffee mug. The absence of a tape transport helps keep this camera very compact, as the JVC Everio hard disk camcorder line only records to either its hard disk and/or memory cards.

The GZ-MG70 is equipped with a 30GB drive, which is capable of storing MPEG-2 video for a little over 7 hours at the Ultra Fine quality (8.5Mbps CBR), 10.6 hours at Fine quality (5.5Mbps CBR), a little over 14 hours at Normal quality (4.2Mbps VBR) and about 37.5 hours at Economy quality (1.5Mbps VBR). So, should you need to literally shoot "A Day in the Life of" in one long take, here's a solution for you. In the still photo mode, you can take a maximum of 9,999 photos at any of the supported resolutions, the best being 1600x1200. If that's not enough for you, the GZ-MG70 supports SD cards, too.

Gripping the hard disk camcorder and accessing the buttons is simple. The zoom rocker is tiny, but it's easy to control the variable speeds. The GZ-MG70 has a 10x optical zoom, plus, up to 200x in digital zoom. At the long end of the 10x zoom lens, the electronic image stabilization performs well.

On the backside of the hard disk camcorder are the battery and the AV and USB 1.1/2.0 connectors. The supplied battery (model BN-VF707U) is surprisingly small. In our test shoots, we were also surprised how quickly it would need to be recharged. The maximum continuous recording time for the BN-VF707U is 50 minutes. Fortunately, longer lasting batteries are available.

On the left hand side of the hard disk camcorder, underneath the 2.5" LCD, is where most of the buttons live. In total, there are 10 different buttons and switches on the camcorder. This simplified design makes it convenient to operate, especially for someone who doesn't want a cluttered and confusing camcorder. The disadvantage, however, is that accessing the program modes and manual features require a couple extra clicks. But, once you become familiar with the menu system and the directional pad, accessing the manual features and system settings is not difficult at all. And for most point-and-shoot users it will be just enough to give you the control you need in tight situations.

The one area in this camcorder's design that needs improvement is the unfortunate location of the SD card slot: beneath the camcorder. Mounting this hard disk camcorder on a tripod will inhibit access to the slot altogether. Should you need to swap a memory card out or remember to put one in, you'll have to dismount the camcorder from the tripod.

The JVC Everio DZ-MG70 hard disk camcorder has some clear advantages being a hard drive disk based camcorder. Besides being able to capture many hours of video and thousands of still photos to the camcorder itself, transferring these files to a computer is as easy as connecting it and copying the files to your computer's drive. In our test that's exactly what we did, connecting the DZ-MG70 to our test bench's HP xw9300 workstation, running Windows XP Professional. It immediately recognized the camcorder as an additional volume, allowing you to navigate and copy the files directly from the camcorder's hard drive disk. We recommend if you're not too savvy with computer operation to be cautious with what you do to this camcorder while it's connected. Navigating the hard disk camcorder in this way is not straightforward for beginners. For most people, using the supplied software (Digital Photo Navigator Ver. 1.5, Power DVD 5 NE, Power Director Express NE, Power Producer 2 Gold NE and Capty MPEG Edit EX for Macintosh) will help make this a more user friendly experience and also enable you to create multimedia experiences and burn them to a DVD or CD.

Another great advantage to recording to a hard disk drive is having immediate access to your scenes or photos for playback. In the camcorder's playback mode, you can navigate quickly between scenes which are individually indexed from their Record Start and Stop points. In other words, whenever you press the record button, the hard disk camcorder indexes a new scene. This makes finding a certain clip much easier. Additionally, organizing your favorite scenes together can be done by making a playlist, so that only the scenes you select play back. Also keep in mind if you don't like a photo you shot or left your camcorder recording video unbeknown, you can delete that photo or scene almost instantaneously. No more wasted footage is a good thing.

The onboard microphone is located in front of the hard disk camcorder just below the lens. This is an ideal spot for the onboard microphone, limiting the amount of operator noise and increasing its ability to pick up the sound in front of the camcorder. In our test the mic performs as expected, picking up sound fairly well from moderate distances (25 feet). The sound is rich and full, as well, in all recording modes, except for the Economy quality. The Dolby Digital (Stereo) audio encoding at Economy quality is set at 128kbps, which is still fairly high, but is noticeably more compressed than the other settings.

Unfortunately, the DZ-MG70 hard disk camcorder has no mic input, nor headphone jack, nor accessory shoe. So, if you're looking to add more audio options, you won't find it here. For the casual, point-and-shoot operator, the onboard mic quality will be well suited for your needs.

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