JVC GZ-HM400

Compression (7.00)

As with most new HD camcorders, the GZ-HM400 records high definition video using the AVCHD codec. This is the same codec used by Panasonic, Sony, and Canon—only Sanyo and Samsung continue to hold using a different variation on the MPEG-4 codec. While AVCHD has become a popular choice for manufacturers, it still has its quirks and issues. For one, AVCHD files are difficult to work with on a slow or old computer since the files are large and full of information. Editing the footage can slow down your computer or cause it to crash, and importing the files can take an incredibly long time (especially if you have a lot of clips). If you plan on doing extensive editing of your AVCHD footage, make sure you have a strong computer that is up to the task.

The GZ-HM400 doesn’t have any alternate frame rate options that can record Full HD video, but it does have three high-speed settings that can be used to capture low-quality slow-motion video. The first setting records at 120fps, which stretches out your footage to half speed. The second setting does 300fps (5x slower) and the third setting does 600fps (10x slower). Each slow motion option has strict record time limits. The 120fps and 300fps modes can capture 4 seconds of video, while the 600fps mode is limited to 2.4 seconds (these clips are then lengthened during playback due to the slow motion). Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various high definition compression types.

Media (8.52)

In addition to having an SD/SDHC card slot for recording to a memory card, the JVC GZ-HM400 includes 32GB of internal flash memory. This internal memory is good to have because it allows you to record close to three hours of video at the highest quality setting. So, if you’re on vacation and you use up all the space on your memory cards, you’ll have something to fall back on.

The SD/SDHC card slot is located inside the camcorder’s LCD cavity, behind a flip-down door. This placement isn’t bad, although it means you must have the LCD panel open to insert and eject memory cards. It does provide excellent protection to your memory card slot, however.

The camcorder appears to have a clip length limit around 23 minutes. When you record for about 23 minutes continuously, the camcorder automatically generates a new clip where the old one left off—with no gaps or loss of data. This table below lists the approximate record times you can get with the GZ-HM400: Read more about the advantages and disadvantages of various media types.

Still Features (13.86)

Like the JVC GZ-X900 before it, the GZ-HM400 has plenty of still features to play around with. The main feature of note is the camcorder’s 9-megapixel still image capability, which means the HM400 can take photos at a native resolution of 3456 × 2592.

The camcorder can, of course, take photos in a number of additional sizes as well (10 in all), and it offers two photo quality settings (Fine and Standard). While the camcorder does let you capture still photos in video mode (even during recording), you cannot set the size of these photos—all still images taken in video mode are 3072 × 1728 (5.3 megapixels).

The GZ-HM400 has a variety of continuous shooting modes that are confusing to use and are not well explained in JVC’s instruction manual. You engage continuous shooting by switching the shutter mode to continuous in the camcorder’s menu. To switch the speed of the successive shots, however, you must go into the Basic Settings menu and choose from High, Medium, or Low. The spreading out of these options is very strange and the inclusion of the shooting speeds in the Basic Settings menu makes no sense at all. The continuous shooting mode also acts differently whether you are in still mode or video mode.

The 9-megapixel continuous stills can only be captured in still mode, although you can also capture continuous stills at other resolutions in still mode. In video mode, all continuous stills are taken as 5-megapixel images. We do like these continuous shooting modes quite a bit, but we wish JVC had made them simpler to use. Without extensive trial-and-error research, it is difficult to figure out what the limitations are for each mode.

In addition to the continuous shooting modes, there is also an auto exposure bracketing option on the HM400. With this feature turned on, the camcorder will take 5 successive shots, each with a different exposure level. This is good if you are shooting in low light or in situations where you are unsure of how to set your exposure levels. The camcorder also has a built-in flash that can be set to Auto, Red-Eye reduction, and Slow-Synchro (for using the flash with slow shutter speeds).

The GZ-HM400 offers ISO control in still image mode, which is something that isn’t commonly found on consumer camcorders. The ISO range goes from 100 to 3200 and can also be set to Auto. Other than ISO, the manual control options in still mode are mostly the same as video mode—except you cannot set Zebra patterns or adjust sharpness in still mode. Still mode has a self-timer option that can be set to 2 seconds, 10 seconds, or face detection (the shutter will go off when it detects a new face in the frame).

During playback you can digitally zoom into photos or paused video, but this action can only be performed using the provided remote control. We would have liked to see JVC include a basic playback zoom that can be performed with the camcorder’s zoom rocker as well. If you press down the shutter button while video playback is paused the camcorder will capture a still image from the video (at a resolution of 1920 × 1080).

With its impressive still feature resume, we assumed the GZ-HM400 would do very well in our still image testing. It met our expectations for the most part, although the camcorder measured higher noise levels than we would have liked. As far as color accuracy is concerned, the camcorder did very well. It recorded a color error of 3.08 and a saturation level of 106.8%. These are better numbers than the HM400 managed in our bright light video testing.

The GZ-HM400 captured very vivid colors in its still photos. Its saturation level was nearly identical to that of the GZ-X900, although the HM400 had slightly more accurate colors. All the camcorders captured very good colors in their still images, although the Canon had lower saturation levels than the rest. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 had the most accurate colors in this set.

The GZ-HM400 averaged 1.14% noise in our still image testing, which is rather high. This is more noise than the camcorder measured in our bright light noise testing (almost double, actually). Both the Canon HF S11 and JVC GZ-X900 had similar noise levels, however, so this isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a high-end camcorder. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 managed much lower noise levels, registering around 0.79%.

Still sharpness is probably the most important still image test we run because it gives you an idea of how much detail the camcorder can capture in its photos. The GZ-HM400 did quite well with still sharpness, managing a horizontal sharpness of 2329 lw/ph with 24% oversharpening and a vertical sharpness of 1800 lw/ph with 6.7% oversharpening. These are much better numbers than the JVC GZ-X900 put up, which is likely due to the different lens featured on the HM400. This is also far better than the Panasonic HDC-TM300 was capable of. The GZ-HM400 couldn’t hang with the best still image camcorders, however. The Canon HF S11 had better still sharpness, as did the Sanyo VPC-CG10 and Sanyo VPC-HD2000.