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After much thought, I have unfortunately decided to return my GZ-HD7. The OIS was not functioning or at best very poorly performing. This is a dealmaker for me as it renders the camcorder unusable without a tripod. I'm not a pro, but an enthusiast shooting mostly family videos and not having a stabilized image is a problem. I went to BestBuy on Sunday and compared stabilization to Canon HV20, Panasonic HDC-SD1 and SONY HDR-SR1. All of these camcorders were clearly superior in regards to image stabilization.
I'm very disappointed at JVC to release such an expensive camcorder without proper OIS. I called JVC about it and they said it should be working and if I think it's not to send it to a JVC repair shop. I didn't want to do that as I would loose my opportunity to return the camcorder if JVC comes back saying it works within specs. Who knows, this may end up being a product line defect, but I don't have time to wait for a potential recall.
Luckily, I was able to get a full refund and not incur 15% restocking fee at CircuitCity. At first a sales rep tried to convince me that it is working a little bit and that it's not a defect and that I would have to pay 15% fee. I said I don't accept that and that it's clearly a defect and asked for a manager. Store manager tried to convince me that maybe it only works in manual mode. After he switched to manual mode and tried it he realized that it's also not working. He played with it for about 20 minutes while trying to make me exchange it for another unit of the same model. I told him, that I believe this is a product line defect and want my money back. Then he tried to sell me a different model and finally gave me my money. The key was to convince them that this is a defect, or product not working as advertised.
Now I'm back where I started, trying to decide what to purchase next. HDC-SD1 or SD3 is out of question as it has no accessory shoe, limited battery life and potential quality and usability problems with AVCHD. I like HV20, but it's a tape based camcorder. I really wanted HDD camcorder for convenience. I also like the features of HDR-SR1, but it also has AVCHD limitations. Like I said, I'm back where I started.
For everyone that is considering the GZ-HD7, make sure you test the OIS yourself to see if it's acceptable to you. There are probably some of you that don't care about OIS that much and can appreciate other features that this camcorder has. I must say that I was very happy about the camcorder in general.
Good luck.
I'm very disappointed at JVC to release such an expensive camcorder without proper OIS. I called JVC about it and they said it should be working and if I think it's not to send it to a JVC repair shop. I didn't want to do that as I would loose my opportunity to return the camcorder if JVC comes back saying it works within specs. Who knows, this may end up being a product line defect, but I don't have time to wait for a potential recall.
Luckily, I was able to get a full refund and not incur 15% restocking fee at CircuitCity. At first a sales rep tried to convince me that it is working a little bit and that it's not a defect and that I would have to pay 15% fee. I said I don't accept that and that it's clearly a defect and asked for a manager. Store manager tried to convince me that maybe it only works in manual mode. After he switched to manual mode and tried it he realized that it's also not working. He played with it for about 20 minutes while trying to make me exchange it for another unit of the same model. I told him, that I believe this is a product line defect and want my money back. Then he tried to sell me a different model and finally gave me my money. The key was to convince them that this is a defect, or product not working as advertised.
Now I'm back where I started, trying to decide what to purchase next. HDC-SD1 or SD3 is out of question as it has no accessory shoe, limited battery life and potential quality and usability problems with AVCHD. I like HV20, but it's a tape based camcorder. I really wanted HDD camcorder for convenience. I also like the features of HDR-SR1, but it also has AVCHD limitations. Like I said, I'm back where I started.
For everyone that is considering the GZ-HD7, make sure you test the OIS yourself to see if it's acceptable to you. There are probably some of you that don't care about OIS that much and can appreciate other features that this camcorder has. I must say that I was very happy about the camcorder in general.
Good luck.