Quick Review Camcorders : JVC GR-D230

It has the look of a DVD camcorder, but don’t let that fool you. The JVC GR-D230 is really a MiniDV camcorder made to fit comfortably in one hand. At a retail price of $799.95, the GR-D230 delivers an aesthetically appealing design, decent image quality, and a fully automatic mode for casual hobbyists and consumers looking to record birthday parties and family reunions.

The JVC GR-D230 is equipped with a 10x optical zoom, a 500x digital zoom, and a ¼-inch CCD to bring the action close and record it with decent quality. This is the biggest CCD at its price point; while gross pixel count is shared on many smaller CCDs, the JVC GR-D230 does do relatively well in a low light environment. In well-lit situations, the GR-D230 loses vibrant colors, turns reds mauve and transforms blacks into dark grays. Overall, it has decent image quality, but the colors were a little off. While JVC is known for its dominance in the low-light performance market, this camcorder doesn’t fare as well as other JVC models. The dimmer 60 lux test showed some noise and the reds and blues bleeding together, but this is fairly normal for camcorders in low-light settings. At a darker 15 lux, the warmer colors maintain their saturation from the previous test, but the blues and greens blur together worse than at 60 lux. The JVC GR-D230 will record great footage in most lighting situations with its LED lights and Night Alive feature. But, as with most consumer camcorders, it is recommended that you don’t try to record full-length feature films in a room with one 60-watt bulb in the corner.

The JVC GR-D230 does have some visual appeal to it. It looks different from most camcorders, with its circular design and sharp blue and silver colors. If you are into serious shooting and you require a tripod, this may not be the camcorder for you. The JVC GR-D230 loads MiniDV tapes into the bottom, making it difficult to change tapes while on a tripod. Another serious flaw with the design is the feeble port covers, which are poorly constructed and oddly shaped. There are ports for USB, A/V, DC, DV, a microphone input, and a memory card. With these, converting analog tapes to digital tapes is possible. Unfortunatly, there is no accessory shoe.

Automatic mode is the big draw for the JVC GR-D230. The user turns the camcorder on, and the GR-D230 does the rest of the work. Easy. Automatic settings are available in both automatic and manual modes, but the on-screen menu options are only available in the manual mode. Some of these options include gain control, shutter speeds from 1/60 to 1/4000, four white balance settings, image stabilization, a widescreen mode, and a windscreen audio option. Still photos are recorded to Multimedia/SD card at a resolution of 1600 x 1200.

JVC GR-D230 Compared to the...