JVC GZ-HM200

Handling (4.25)

The JVC GZ-HM200 handles much like its sister model, the GZ-HD300. Both camcorders share a similar compact design and both are roughly the same size and weight. The main difference, however, is that the GZ-HM200 features a different hand strap, and its right side grip is rounder and smoother. The HD300 records to a 60GB internal hard drive, which gives a bit more bulk to its right side.

We’re not crazy about the HM200’s hand strap one bit. It is flimsy, cheap, uncomfortable, and provides nearly no support whatsoever. The strap is made out of a flexible, rubberized material that simply doesn’t feel good against your skin. This thing is a far cry from the soft, padded straps you see on high-end models from other manufacturers. Still, the HM200’s strap isn’t that much worse than the JVC GZ-HD300’s—the only difference is the material that the strap is made out of (the HD300 has a softer, non-rubberized strap).

It appears JVC doesn’t think many HM200 users are going to be using the hand strap in the first place (which is probably why they didn’t put much effort into making a quality strap). On the right side of the camcorder is a groove where the strap can be tucked in—thus making the right side flat and streamlined. This is the reason JVC chose to make the strap out of the rubbery material, as it can fit into the groove much easier than a thicker, softer strap would be capable of.

We actually found the GZ-HM200 to be more comfortable when using the camcorder without its hand strap. The camcorder fit very well into our palm, although the grip wasn’t very strong. The GZ-HM200 isn’t quite light enough to use it for a long day of shooting without some kind of support—and that’s where the necessity of a strap comes in. JVC really just didn’t get this right. You need to either put a comfortable strap on your camcorder, or make the body small and light enough to be able to grip it strongly without the aid of a strap.

Of course, the GZ-HM200 has a couple of other handling issues worth mentioning. Its Laser Touch strip is finicky to use, but you can get accustomed to it with some practice. It is a bit better than using a touchscreen when it comes to adjusting manual controls, but it has some of the same problems. The GZ-HM200 is also cheaply constructed, which we noticed first-hand with the breaking of two port covers during our time with the camcorder.

Portability (9.58)

The JVC GZ-HM200 is lighter and smaller than most mid-range camcorders (including the Panasonic HDC-SD20 and Canon HF20). It has the same smooth, compact body design that is featured on all of JVC’s mid-range 2009 models. In fact, the camcorder is close to being small enough to fit in your pocket—well maybe a tight squeeze into a large pocket. Still, the HM200 is quite compact for a camcorder of its class, and its 310g weight means it is nearly as light as some camcorders that are designed specifically with portability in mind, like the Sony HDR-TG5V, the Sanyo VPC-HD2000, and the JVC GZ-X900.

Adding to the HM200’s portability benefits is the fact that the camcorder offers two SD/SDHC memory card slots. This allows you to pre-load the camcorder with two memory cards, so you don’t have to remember to pack an extra card along with you. It may sound like a minor detail, but the second card slot does make the camcorder more convenient, versatile, and portable.

Battery Life (5.60)

The GZ-HM200 offers a pretty good battery life with its provided BN-VF808U battery pack. The camcorder lasted for 112 minutes in our battery test (1 hour, 52 minutes), which is a bit longer than most mid-range camcorders last. This performance is nothing, however, compared to the 163-minute battery life achieved by the JVC GZ-HM400. More on how we test battery life.

If you want longer battery life with your camcorder, JVC does sell some larger, longer-lasting batteries that are compatible with the GZ-HM200. The camcorder has an open battery compartment design, so you don’t have to worry about the camcorder not being able to accommodate larger batteries.

LCD (7.17)

The GZ-HM200 has a 2.7-inch color LCD with a 123,000-pixel resolution. These are rather lackluster specs, although this is the same LCD you’ll find on the JVC GZ-HD300 as well as all of JVC’s standard definition camcorders. Being such a compact camcorder, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the HM200 does not include a viewfinder.

While the LCD isn’t very big and doesn’t have a high pixel count, it can be rotated up to 270-degrees, which is customary for a consumer camcorder. You can also manually set the brightness of the LCD (with 11 increments of adjustment), and you can adjust the LCD backlight (with settings for brighter, standard, and auto).

On the left side of the LCD is JVC’s Laser Touch operation strip, which is found on all of JVC’s 2009 models. The strip is used to navigate menus and adjust most of the HM200’s manual controls. As we discussed more in the Handling section of this review, the Laser Touch strip can be difficult to get used to and some people may find it a complete annoyance. It does, however, keep your LCD free from greasy fingerprints—something a touchscreen system is not capable of doing.

Feature	JVC GZ-HM200	Panasonic HDC-SD20	Canon Vixia HF20	JVC GZ-HM400
Display Size	2.7 in.	2.7 in.	2.7 in.	2.8 in.
Display Resolution	123000 pixels	230400 pixels	211000 pixels	207000 pixels
Touch Screen	✗	✓	✗	✗
Viewfinder	✗	✗	✗	✗

Stabilization (8.25)

The JVC GZ-HM200 is equipped with a digital image stabilization system (DIS), which is the same system found on all of JVC’s mid-range models (the GZ-X900 and GZ-HM400 feature optical image stabilization). The problem with digital stabilization is that it can result in degraded image quality when used because it uses a digital pixel-shifting process to reduce the shakiness of your video. Nevertheless, we found the system to work quite effectively on the HM200. The camcorder’s DIS reduced 54% of the shake in our low shake testing and 56% in our high shake testing. More on how we test stabilization.

The charts above show the HM200’s stabilization effectiveness quite clearly. The blue lines represent the camcorder’s motion without DIS engaged, while the more condensed orange lines show its movement with stabilization turned on. You can see the camcorder managed roughly a 50% shake reduction in each of our tests. Also notice how little the camcorder shook even with DIS turned off. This means the HM200 is weighted quite evenly and is a rather stable camcorder to begin with. Below is a video of the GZ-HM200’s stabilization system in action:

For those who have a strong dislike of digital stabilization systems, you should check out the Panasonic HDC-SD20. It did slightly better than the JVC GZ-HM200 in this test, but it is equipped with an optical stabilization system (OIS). This means turning the SD20’s stabilization on shouldn’t result in any loss of image quality. The Canon HF20 also has an optical stabilization system, but we didn’t find it to be very effective. The GZ-HM400’s optical system was quite good, although it produced similar results to the HM200’s digital stabilization system.