The stereo mic is on top of the lens barrel, where it is unlikely to be bumped or contribute to handling noise. With it so close to the internal hard drive, we were pleasantly surprised not to hear noise from the spinning and read/write operations of the HDD. Audio quality is very good for operator narration and respectable for subjects within three feet or so, but, as with all on-camera mics, audio fidelity drops off rapidly at greater distances.

The 3.5mm mini-jack for using an external mic greatly improves sound quality. But where's the headphone jack? When we asked our contact at JVC about this, he said it was simply to keep costs down, and he added that they have no plans to offer an after-market solution. While we don't recommend them, there have been a few home-brewed workarounds. Of course, if you're determined, you still might want to wait until the warranty period is up before whipping out the soldering iron.

The menu option to select "External Mic Level" is simply a selector. You cannot manually control levels for either the built-in or external mics.

The HD7 is crammed with features meant to appeal to many different types of shooters. There's even a standalone ShareStation unit (sold separately) that allows you to burn and archive your footage to DVD, for those of you who want to enjoy the high-definition video later or don't have or want to use a computer. At first glance, the great manual features and quality construction make it appealing to those aspiring to professional work. The overall video performance, however, is only average, and the lack of serious audio capabilities probably makes it better suited to the hobbyist who needs long recording times.

Recording Format (Video): MPEG-2 TS
Recording Format (Audio): MPEG-1 layer 2
Signal Format: 1080/60i
Recording Modes (Video): FHD, VBR average of 26.6Mbps; SP, VBR, average of 19Mbps; 1440 CBR, 27Mbps
Recording Mode (Audio): 48kHz, 384kbps
Image Pickup Device: Three 1/5" progressive CCDs
Number of Pixels: 570,000 effective pixels
Lens: Fujinon f1.8 to 1.9, f=3.3mm to 33.0mm, 10:1 power zoom
Filter Diameter: 46mm
LCD Monitor: 2.8" diagonally measured
Viewfinder: .57" color LCD
Speaker: Monaural
Focus: Manual, auto
White Balance: Manual, auto, presets (outdoors, cloudy, indoors)
Manual Shutter: Yes
Max Shutter Speed: 1/4000
Minimum Shutter Speed: 1/2
Iris: Manual, auto
AE Modes: 5 (portrait, sports, snow, spotlight, twilight)
Connectors: HDMI, component, iLink, S-video output, USB
Mic Input: Yes
Accessory Shoe: Yes (cold)
Dimensions: 3-5/8" x 3-1/16" x 7-3/8"
Weight: 1.5 lbs (with battery and strap)

• Manual focus ring
• Focus assist
• Long recording times

• No headphone jack
• Slow auto exposure
• Inaccurate color balance

A solidly-built HD camcorder packed with auto and manual features with well-designed controls.

Contributing editor Brian Peterson is a video production consultant, trainer and lecturer.

JVC Company of America
1700 Valley Rd.
Wayne, NJ 07470
www.jvc.com

$1,700