JVC GZ-HD7 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on Apr 26, 2007 10:00 AM
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Compression (6.0)
Speculation about JVC’s MPEG-2 Transport Stream has been rampant ever since the HD7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1529) was announced. For the first time, an HDD-based camcorder would make use of the road-tested MPEG-2 codec – the same codec that used in HDV compression. Yet JVC’s flavor of MPEG-2 was newly developed for the HD7, and recorded VBR (variable bit rate) HD video at up to 30Mbps in the highest quality FHD mode, with an average bit rate of of 26.6Mbps. The excitement around MPEG-2 Transport Stream technology stemmed from the limited information available about the new codec – namely that it was a flavor of MPEG-2, a high-quality compression scheme, and that its bit rate peaked above that of HDV. Naturally, this led to hopes that JVC’s MPEG-2 Transport Stream would match or exceed HDV MPEG-2 encoding in terms of video performance and resolution. It was also reasonable to believe that the HD7’s MPEG-2 video would surpass current AVCHD camcorders that record at max bit rates of 12 to 15Mbps in terms of quality given the fact that they have under-performed versus HDV.
Sadly, JVC’s MPEG-2 Transport Stream video was somewhat disappointing in our lab tests, with resolution at the lower-end of the HD camcorders we’ve tested. We suspect this poor showing despite JVC’s use of MPEG-2 compression stems from the imager set rather than the compression. Last year’s GZ-MG505 (Review, Specs, $829.95) Everio was a strong standard definition performer with three higher resolution CCDs, but that camcorder was working with a higher-gross pixel imager set than the one found in the HD7. Further confusing things, the HD7’s CCDs are progressive scan sensors - but they output interlaced video! There are other camcorders that use a progressive scan sensor to output interlaced video, and vice versa, but we do not know how this approach impacts on the HD7's picture. It is tempting to muse on how MPEG-2 Transport Stream technology would work in concert with higher pixel count imagers, but the answer to that question will have to remain unanswered for now.
In addition to FHD, which records 1920 x 1080 video at a 26.6 Mbps average VBR (variable bit rate), the HD7 includes a lower-quality SP mode (1440 x 1080 at average 19 Mbps VBR), and 1440 CBR mode (fixed 27Mbps). In either FHD or 1440 CBR modes, the 60GB HDD can store about five hours of footage. In SP mode, the capacity jumps to about seven hours. Audio is compressed using a MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio compression algorithm.
Media (8.0)
The JVC HD Everio GZ-HD7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1529) is outfitted with a large 60GB HDD (hard disk drive) that is double the size of Sony’s HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99) HDD, but right on par with the newly announced Sony HDR-SR7. The approximate recording time for both FHD and 1440 CBR modes is listed by JVC at 300 minutes or five hours, while SP mode allows for roughly 420 minutes or seven hours. It is also possible to record HD video to SDHC flash memory card, with a 4GB card capable of about 25 minutes of video. Still photos can be captured to either the HDD or to SDHC card.
Needless to say, HDDs are very convenient when you are in the field. Working without having to keep track of tapes entails a different mentality - and we find its like being untethered - at least partially. Invest in a longer life battery, and you'll lengthen the leash even more - but JVC does not yet offer a seven hour battery to match the HD7's FHD recording time
Editing (4.0)
Working with 1440 CBR footage relatively straightforward, and it is compatible wtih many NLEs according to JVC, including Windows Vista Movie Maker HD, Apple iMovie HD and Final Cut Pro 5, Ulead Video Studio (Ver. 10), CANOPUS Edius Pro 4, Cyberlink PowerProducer 3 and PowerDirector 5, Pinnacle Studio (ver. 10), and Nero Vision (Ver. 4).
The HD7 ships with a more substantal editing package than you usually see in the box, Cyberlink's PowerDirector 5 NE Express, Power Producer 3 NE, Power Cinema NE, and Digital Photo Navigator Ver.1.5. (Mac users should skip down to the paragraphs that address Mac compatability - the package discussed here is PC-only.) In order to do any real editing, you have to import clips from the HD7 into PowerDirector, which takes a significant amount of time, particularly on single-processor computers. Through PowerDirector, you can export to .AVI, .MPEG1, .MPEG2, and .DivX files.
Power Director 5 NE Express is a simple NLE that allows you to capture video from an HDV, DV, TV, DTV, Webcam, or microphone source. In the timeline, you can trim clips, add a text and transitions, adjust color, and apply Magic Clean—a modifiable feature that allows you to “clean up” the look of a video image or remove unwanted pops and hisses in an audio track. Power Director is equipped with an Audio Mixing Room, which allows you to adjust the volumes of the video, voice, and music tracks independently, in addition to a Voice-Over room. Finalized videos can be exported as an .AVI, .DivX, MPEG1, or MPEG2 file. In order to burn videos to a DVD or use video effects, you are required to upgrade to Power Director Deluxe. This program is merely for touching up video and exporting it as a recognizable file to be used in a real editing program.
Power Producer 3 NE lets you create DVDs, BDs, and outdated VCDs. You can also record footage directly to disk, edit, erase, copy, defragment, finalize, and export to file. That’s about it. Power Cinema NE allows you to scroll through video clips and stills and back them up to you computer, and it will vex you to the brim. It took approximately 25 minutes to backup roughly 10 minutes of video clips to our hard drive from the HD7 via USB. Imagine what 300 minutes of footage would be like. This is surely the weakest part of the workflow, as your patience grinds to a halt during import to Power Cinema, then again during import to Power Director, then again during conversion to an importable file format for better NLEs. What a headache! If you have any plans for editing, wait for the support to appear before you buy the GZ-HD7.
If you’re going to drop $1500 on an HDD camcorder only to touch up 5 hours of birthday footage and throw it on a DVD that will be used once at the family reunion then spend the rest of its dusty life atop a bookshelf, than you’ll do quite fine with this editing package as your sole software. The HD7’s peculiar .TOD video file extensions do not allow you to simply drag and drop clips into an NLE like Adobe Premiere - to do that, you will need to convert files using the included software bundle.
To their credit, JVC does offer more support than usual for Mac editors, with a straightforward workflow for editing HD7 footage in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Working with FHD footage requires convertion of the native .TOD files to .MOV using Quicktime. For full a full explanation of the Mac editing workflow for HD7 footage, click here.
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