Digital Trends

JVC Everio GZ-HD40

September 23rd, 2008 | by David Elrich

Performance and Use

Before I get into performance let me ask—why didn’t JVC put optical image stabilization in a $1,299 USD camcorder? How decisions like this are made when similar Canons and Sonys have OIS is pretty amazing. “Yes, but our camcorder has two types of HD recording” is the most likely rejoinder. It doesn’t cut it. Enough of my ranting.

I set the HD40 to basic auto mode and initially shot XP best quality AVCHD video then recorded similar scenes in the finest MPEG-2 TS FHD footage. Sadly, JVC makes you work hard to do this. You have to hit menu, go to Basic Settings, then choose Stream Format, then pick between the two. This really should be simplified but I guess people aren’t going to frequently switch between them. Then again they might so it should be easier.

Camcorders are one of consumers favorite CE products since all you do is set them to Auto, aim, frame and record, zooming all the while to your heart’s content. It’s so simple they’re a blast to use. Even if you switch to Manual, the HD40 is an easy tool. You have options for manually adjusting the focus, white balance, shutter speed, aperture, sharpness and so on. The camcorder also has basic Program AE settings for typical scenes such as Portrait, landscape and so on.

The first cool breezes of fall had arrived so it was time to record some colorful trees, bright blue skies and a variety of Crayola-like mums to set the scene. I also shot some material indoors to see how the camcorder handled low-light. I took a bunch of still to see how they would come out.

Before getting into quality, let me note that the camcorder handles well, the controls are within easy reach, it zooms and focuses quickly with little “grabbing.” It’s quite responsive.

Once done recording, it was time to play them back on my 50-inch 1080P Panasonic plasma via HDMI. One of the cool things about this camcorder is the fact it upconverts the 1920 x 1080I video to 1080P at 60 frames per second using a Genessa chip found in high-end JVC HDTVs. When I watched the video “1080P” was one of the onscreen displays. Granted it wasn’t as good as a Blu-ray Disc, but I was very pleased with the color accuracy and lack of noise in broad expanses on blue sky. Foliage and flowers were as on target as could be. Where the HD40 fell down was indoors with low light. Colors tended to wash out and noise was definitely on display.

Although I closely examined the screen, there’s wasn’t a night-and-day difference between AVCHD XP and MPEG-2 TS FHD video. That said I could see some compression artifacts in the AVCHD footage, particularly in treetops moving in the breeze. What is night-and-day is still quality. This camcorder—and practically every other one—simply can’t take a decent, well-focused photograph. And, is the case with so many camcorders, the mic made the wind sound like Hurricane Ike—even with the wind cut filter on.

Conclusion

The GZ-HD40 and its smaller sibling, the HD30, are weird ducks. They take quality video but I don’t understand the need for two types of HD recording. I would much rather see JVC use MPEG-2 TS and add optical image stabilization. That would be a much more appealing package. Bottom line? A solid but not outstanding high-def camcorder but you have to love that 120GB HDD.


Pros:

• Massive 120GB storage
• Great color in good light
• Compact and responsive

Cons:

• No optical image stabilization
• Noisy in low light
• Zoom should be more powerful