JVC GZ-MG30 Camcorder Review

The JVC Everio Series is banking on the future of camcorders. Most manufacturers have begun to move towards non-tape recording, but JVC has taken the biggest step into the consumer market. The GZ-MG30 represents one of four models in the G Series. These camcorders are the first of their kind, recording directly to internal hard disks. JVC promotes this new technology mainly as a convenience feature. The hard disks record an immense amount of data - 7 hours in Ultra Fine mode, and 30 hours in Economy mode. Clips are saved in the MPEG2 format, which has yet to rival MiniDV in quality and editing compatibility.

Unlike the more expensive (and frankly, much better) GZ-MC500, the G Series hard disks cannot be removed. This is not the only difference that sets them apart, but it begins to explain the price gap between the GZ-MC500 and the GZ-MG30 ($900 MSRP). In a perplexing move, JVC also offers the GZ-MG40, with a smaller hard disk but a vastly better array of features, at an identical price point. What separates all these models? Come in and find out.

Video Performance(4.75)
Let me start off by saying something positive. The GZ-MG30 did not do quite as bad as the Sony DCR-PC55, our worst performing consumer camcorder this year. Do we have the positive out of the way now? Good.

This is one of the worst performers we’ve seen all year. The picture was entirely devoid of definition. Even the Canon ZR100 produced a sharper image than this, and that model goes for about $600 less than this travesty. Colors were generally washed and blurred together, particularly in the yellows and greens. Noise was prevalent, even at this bright light. The camcorder was never able to achieve a tight focus, either – a problem only exacerbated in the low light testing.

Granted, the competition in its price class tends to have superior imager systems; the JVC GZ-MG30’s price is inflated due to its new HD technology, pushing it into a different price bracket than might otherwise be expected. The Sony DCR-PC1000, vying for the super-compact market, uses traditional MiniDV technology and could stay under a thousand dollars while including three CCDs. But the Panasonic SDR-S100, also working off of a similarly new, tape-less technology, produced vastly better images and was priced only a few hundred dollars more. The JVC GZ-MC500 is significantly more expensive ($1500 MSRP), but offers much sharper images as well. Both of these JVCs, however, tended towards overexposure. The GZ-MG30 includes a 1/6 in. 680K CCD, which is a pretty unimpressive spec, so this, combined with the MPEG2 recording is likely why the video is so bad.

Video Resolution (8.4)
Video footage was taken of a standard resolution chart with the JVC GZ-MG30 in both 4:3 and wide mode, and the stills from that video were exported to Imatest Imaging Software in order to determine the camcorder’s true video resolution. In 4:3 mode, the camcorder gave us approximately 350.1 lines of horizontal resolution, with 240.3 lines of vertical resolution at its best, yielding a true resolution of 84129.03 (0.08 MP). In Wide Mode (16:9 aspect ratio) the GZ-MG30 produced 282.3 lines of horizontal resolution and 152.3 lines of vertical resolution at its best, producing a true video resolution of 42994.29 (0.04 MP).

 The Front (8.0)
The front of the GZ-MG30 is taken up almost entirely by the lens, which boasts a 27mm filter diameter and 25x optical zoom. It appears to be ensconced by a handy focus ring. Could it be? Could it possibly be? No. Like your Christmas wishes, it’s just an illusion. A video light hugs the bottom left corner. Directly underneath the lens is the stereo microphone. The remote sensor is along the right, between the lens and the hard disk housing.

The Right Side (9.0)
The right side of the GZ-MG30 is a solid block of immobile plastic. This face covers the hard disk unit, all 30GB. Unlike the upper-end Everios, this Everio G series model does not have a removable Microdrive. The bulky hard disk unit does, however, make for a comfortable grip. The DC power input sits in the upper rear, and a padded hand strap runs across the entire side.

The Back (6.0)
The rear of the GZ-MG30 is nearly as bare as the right side. On the right of the rear is the Record / Snapshot button. Near the top, in the center, is a rubber flap revealing the A/V and USB ports. Underneath this is the battery.

The Left Side (8.0)
The left side of the GZ-MG30 is the primary interface region. Opening up the 2.5” LCD reveals so many buttons, switches, and the like that you’ll think you’re in Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator. Starting from the top left, you’ll find the Video / Still Mode switch, the S-Video port, the Light button (for the video light), the Battery Info button, a pinhole Reset button (for hard resetting), the Trash button (for disposing of clips), the Menu button, and the four-way navigation button with a Set button in the center. The playback speaker is also located here.

The Top (7.5)
The top of the GZ-MG30 is as simple as most of the body. Towards the rear is the zoom toggle, a thin, rather cheap-feeling nubbin of plastic without the weighting one would expect from a $900 (retail) camcorder. Across from this are tally lamps for power and Access (which lights up to assure you when the camcorder is busy accessing data). Also on the top is the Off / Record / Playback mode switch. A groove in the top provides a comfortable place to rest your fingers while you shoot.

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (5.0)
Your first challenge in engaging the automatic controls is locating the correct button. After inspecting the GZ-MG30 from several angles, I managed to deduce that a pair of nearly invisible hieroglyphs vaguely pointing to the right side of the navigation pad might somehow engage the controls. Pushing the button did nothing. After a few more attempts, I discovered that holding in the button for a few seconds finally brought about the switch between manual and automatic. (This may give you some idea of the handling on the GZ-MG30.) The automatic controls are not much better than the manual ones. Exposure shifts are slow and inaccurate. The white balance renders color with the accuracy of a 64 ct.. box of Crayolas dropped to the ground.

Our shots from the color charts clearly show that the GZ-MG30 has trouble finding the correct focus. This came as a bit of a surprise. Despite numerous other manual control flaws, the focus seemed fine when I took the camcorder out for some field testing. It did exhibit some problems during zoomed in shots, but not much more so than any other camcorder. Also, there were more problems when the ambient light diminished, but this is also an expected error. The official testing footage speaks volumes, however, about the camcorder’s focusing abilities. I guess this means that while the focus isn't as bad as it is with our chart, it isn't great. The reason we use a chart to test all these things, instead relying solely on our results shooting with the camcorder - is because it would be nearly impossible to standardize the setting which we test a camcorder with outside of our lab.

Program Auto Exposure (AE) modes are hybrid automatic / manual control features found on most camcorders today. They allow you to choose from a group of preset manual control settings in order to take advantage of specific shooting environments. They include Twilight, Spotlight, Sports, and Snow. Program AE modes should not be relied upon too heavily, as they are a substitute for more precise manual control you can perform yourself.

Overall Manual Control (4.5)
Maneuvering through the manual control on the GZ-MG30 is like hiking up Mount Everest: it’s tiring as hell, you won’t look graceful doing it, and the pictures don’t come out as well as you’d hoped.

The elusive manual control menu is accessed by pushing down on the micro-sized navigation pad (after you have figured out how to turn on manual control, an arduous process in itself). The menu lists the following controls in this order: exposure, focus, White balance, shutter speed, Program AE, and effects. Navigating through each setting is a tedious process, and all that tiny button pushing has worn my fingernails down to stumps. Most of the controls lack the sort of flexibility you would find on a pro camcorder (like numerical measurements for focus), but the fact that you can adjust each one individually is one of their few saving graces.

Zoom (6.5)
While the zoom toggle is but a wisp of a thing, it does provide a surprising amount of control. This thin piece of plastic is not much to hold onto, and we prefer something both “raised” and large enough to get a good grip on, like the toggles on the dirt cheap Canon ZR series. But any raised toggle still deserves accolades, and this control is much better than the sliding switches employed on camcorders like the Canon Optura 50.

The optical zoom extends to an impressively large 25x and has variable speeds. Its slowest crawl occurs between 1x and 5x. Then it speeds up from 5x to 18x. After 18x, it speeds up again to 25x. Pushing the toggle harder increases the speed in any range.

Focus (4.0)
Manual focus on the GZ-MG30 is poor in two regards. Firstly, the navigation for all manual controls on this camcorder is difficult because of the buttons’ sizes. Secondly, there is no sense of scale when adjusting. The GZ-MG30 has adopted the typical consumer camcorder method of focusing – an arrow pointing towards the icons of a mountain and a person. So now you know. If you see a mountain, push left. If you see a person… well, you understand. No numerical value is given in either direction. In practice, this system makes it too easy to zip right by your focus point, then zip past it in the other direction. As I say several times in this review, a $900 camcorder should have better features than this. While we understand that it's for a unique market, I don't think people with deep pockets inherently say I want to spend $900 on a crippled camcorder with few features.

Exposure (Aperture) (4.5)
Manual exposure offers thirteen settings on a scale of -6 to +6. The GZ-MG30 does not employ F-stop settings like you might expect from a camcorder that’s this expensive, but the numbering system does the job. As it is with every other control, manipulating the navigation pad is tedious work, and a scroll dial would have been preferable.

Shutter Speed (6.5)
Like a rose in the desert, shutter speed control is one of the few bright spots on the GZ-MG30. JVC offers a huge range of speeds: 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, and 1/4000. This many options should suffice for almost any situation. The NightAlive feature drops it down even lower, fixing the shutter speed at 1/2. The downside, of course, is that adjustments must be made via the uncomfortably small navigation pad.

White Balance (7.0)
The manual white balance offers settings for Halogen, Cloud, Fine, Manual White Balance, and Auto. None of them seem to do too accurate a job of adjusting to the desired color temperature - though props to JVC for giving you options. The manual setting is adequate, but far from perfect. Of course, in the automatic control section we talked about how inaccurate the auto white balance is, so you're going to have to heavily depend on the manual white balance for this camcorder.

Gain (1.0)
Somehow, the GZ-MG30 was passed over for one of our favorite JVC features this year: the automatic gain control on and off. In practice, the auto gain is something that you would always want to leave on, in order to compensate for JVC’s traditionally bad low light performance. But having complete control over all aspects of the camcorder is, in our opinion, a very good thing.

The GZ-MG30 has instead adopted a feature called “Gain Up.” We believe that this allows you to choose whether you would like the camcorder to employ additional gain in order to compensate for low light, but we don’t think it implies that you can shut the gain off completely. This is only a deduction based on the assumption that the manufacturer would not call an identical feature by two different names in the same year. Perhaps this is too generous an assumption, but there you are.

We can definitely say that adding the Gain Up to a low light shot greatly increases the noise.

Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no other manual controls on this camcorder.

Ease of Use (3.0)
Ease of use is where JVC may have made their most serious error. This is an abysmally frustrating camcorder to use. Most of the buttons are multi-functional, but their functions are not labeled legibly. The four-way navigation pad alone is a textbook example of poor design engineering. Vague icons point haphazardly towards buttons that are so small and so close together that a user would not even want to take the time to decipher them. Finding out how to activate manual control was not easy, nor was making the adjustments once I had.

Playback is just as confusing, with the zoom button suddenly stepping into the role of a triple-function button. Is any of it labeled? After a good night’s sleep and a cup of coffee, and well after the fact, was I able to determine that the little checkerboard and thing that looks like a “Q” actually refer to functions.

While the general focus in Ease of Use category is the camcorder's control, one of the most important general questions we ask is "How easy is it to get a good picture out of this camcorder?" On some models with great auto features it's a piece of cake. JVC is largely marketing this camcorder to the "rich but technologically-uneducated" audience - those willing to plop down $900 and never think about any button but Record On/Off. While we can't fault any particular audience for their needs, all users will, at some point, have to discover the novel concept of white balance if they want to avoid their children looking like they have a serious skin condition. If you count yourself among this audience, I'm sure you want your lovely Preston the Third and Priscilla the Eighth to look their best.

Save yourself the trouble and buy a lesser-priced Sony or Canon if ease of use is a concern of yours. For those who lack the Buddha’s eternal patience, this camcorder could become the most expensive doorstop you’ve ever owned.

Still Features (5.0)
Still features on the GZ-MG30 are lacking, but JVC has a method to their, well… you can decide whether this reflects their madness or only serves to bring out your own. They have chosen to split different functionalities between this model and the GZ-MG40, an equally priced Everio with less memory but a better imager and still features. The GZ-MG30 has precious little still options to offer: only one resolution (640 x 480) and two qualities (Fine and Standard). Stills can be saved to the HDD or an SD card. No card comes included. A continuous shooting mode allows you take photos at a rate of two frames per second by holding down the button.

The GZ-MG40 has three resolutions, megapixel-quality JPEGs, and a larger max aperture. If you are at all concerned about still options, the GZ-MG40 is unquestionably a better buy. In fact, just about every other camcorder in competition has better options. While camcorders like the GZ-MC500 excel at hybrid capability, even the SDR-S100, a merely decent performer, has multiple manual control options and several resolutions.

Still Resolution (1.1)
Stills were captured of a standard resolution chart and exported to Imatest Imaging Software to calibrate the JVC GZ-MG30’s best possible still resolution. The camcorder is only able to capture stills at a 640 x 480 resolution. At its best, this model generated a still resolution of 113782.6875 (0.1 MP).

Still Performance (3.0)
The quality of the GZ-MG30’s stills was overwhelmed by nearly all the competition. With the ability to shoot at only 640 x 480 pixels of resolution, the GZ-MG30 was at a disadvantage at the start. But that is no excuse for the amount of noise littering the images. The blue snowstorm of flecks flurrying across the upper rightmost (magenta) panel should disqualify it from practicing video recording in this state, and I’m looking into a universal ban. In all seriousness, the colors are dull beyond recompense.

In comparison, the GZ-MC500 has them all beat. The colors simply pop off the screen. The SDR-S100 had equal success with colors, and the images looked just as sharp. To be fair, the colors of the GZ-MG30 were more accurate than the DCR-PC100, the latter of which put a bizarre, mustard-colored hue across the whole left half of the chart. But the PC1000 still managed to fend off noise and retain a great deal of the sharpness. The same cannot be said of the GZ-MG30, unfortunately. There is really nothing good to say about the camcorder in this category.

Low Light Performance(1.5)
I felt it was incumbent of myself to begin the Still Performance section with a compliment, despite the atrocious results. I find myself less inclined to do so here. Low light performance is simply abominable.

At 60 lux, the GZ-MG30 looks about as bad as some of the worst camcorders this year at 15 lux! Noise has overrun the picture with the force of a marauding army. Nearly all the color information has been lost, and the picture is completely unusable for practical viewing. The comparisons are hardly worth mentioning. I would be insulting the SDR-S100, the DCR-PC1000, and GZ-MC500 if I were to expound on their superiority, because beating the GZ-MG30 in this aspect is no contest. In fact, every one of these camcorders was unquestionably brighter and crisper at 15 lux than the GZ-MG30 at 60 lux.

With the gain up, the brightness is certainly raised. Look at the image and you’ll know what an understatement this is. The picture is so overexposed, I thought I was looking at the deceased ghost of our beloved chart. I suppose if I were hard-pressed I would admit that this is a more usable image than the one captured at 60 lux with the gain off. You decide. Slowing the shutter speed down to 1/4 of a second definitely improved the picture, but a moving subject would surely blur into an unrecognizable shape.

15 lux in automatic

I don’t want to talk about 15 lux performance. I’ll just say that at first I thought I had left the lens cap on. Let’s move on to 15 lux performance with the gain up. Gain, and lots of it, is common for most camcorders at this light rating. But the GZ-MG30 lost nearly all the color. You can still make out what the color is supposed to be, but not much more.

Zoom Power/Ratio (25.0)
Although we don't like much about this camcorder, the zoom ratio is pretty good, it's aw some actually. A zoom of 25x is in the upper range of available zooms and there are only a few models by Panasonic that outdo it. The GZ-MG30 is capable of achieving a 25x optical zoom and 800x digital zoom. The speed can vary depending on where you are in the scale between 1x and 25x. The slowest crawl is possible between 1x and 5x; it’s faster from 5x to 18x, and faster still from 18x to 25x. The digital zoom can be capped at 40x or turned off.

Wide Angle (8.8)
The GZ-MG30 was measured at its widest angle in both 4:3 and 16:9 modes. The camcorder had identical wide angle measurements of 44 degrees in both aspect ratios.

4:3 Aspect Ratio on LCD


Widescreen Aspect Ratio on LCD 

VCR Mode (5.0)
The playback controls on the GZ-MG30 are among the worst I have seen this year. In theory, one would suspect that playback on a tape-less HDD camcorder would be a snap. And in the playback mode for video, the layout promises to be a silken road of enchantment. There are all of your clips, thumb-nailed like stills, ready for inspection. But then you attempt to actually watch them.

The deceptively simple thumbnailed clips

The problem is not the clips themselves. The interface is simply too terrible for words. But here are a few, anyway. Nearly all the buttons on the body double-function as VCR controls. All of the buttons are too small. This leaves precious little room for explanation as to what each button does. Take, for instance, the zoom toggle, which acts as the volume control while a clip is in play, the zoom control when pushed to the right while a clip is in pause, and the return-to-thumbnails selector when pushed to the left while the clip is in pause. Oh, and it also brings up something called the Date Index page when you push it to the right while you’re on the thumbnails page. Sounds confusing? Try doing it. The other controls are almost as bad. In the interest of shrinking the camcorder, the buttons have been miniaturized and multi-functioned to the point of futility.

The play list function is actually a decent gimmick. It allows you to select clips and bind them into play lists, with free reign to change their order and create new play lists at any point. The interface is easy to understand, which is more than I can say for anything else in the playback mode.

LCD/Viewfinder (5.0)
The 2.5” LCD is nothing to write home about. Non-widescreen, and with a steep tendency to solarize, JVC certainly could have done better. Also, they have chosen to eschew the viewfinder on the entire Everio series, anticipating a trend where people hate the option of saving their battery life. Seriously, what is this movement about? Yes, people are more likely to use their LCDs, but when you make them this poorly (and JVC is not alone in this) people are bound to have a hard time seeing them in the sun. And if the battery starts to run low, the viewfinder is the first energy saving move users are likely to try. I urge you, the users, to write your local camcorder manufacturer and demand that they reinstate these just and noble devices.

Audio (4.0)
In the interest of making the ultimate self-contained camcorder, JVC has neglected to include what we consider essential features. The first oversight is the lack of an audio input. Not having the freedom to use an external microphone permanently relegates you to inferior audio quality. Even with no motor noise (the GZ-MG30 has virtually no moving parts), on-board mics are not designed for anything but baseline-quality recording. It doesn’t take much effort or marketing savvy to know that people like options. A message to JVC: users dropping nearly a G on your product should be given this simple input. The only additional audio feature is Wind Cut, a JVC standard which cuts down on high-end noise.

We get flack sometimes from all the manufacturers about how much we hit camcorders for no audio input. And mind you, this is an all out attack. We go on TV, in print, and on the radio, blasting them for their lack of microphone inputs. Some would say we're a bit obsessed. Well, we are. Manufacturers often counter that people don't need an external microphone, so they aren't spending the extra few cents to drill a little hole in each model. If users don't need an external microphone, don't put a jack on. But, what about those users that do?

Handling (4.5)
There are definite consequences to buying into new technology. The start-up time for the JVC GZ-MG30 is interminable. First they hit you with an animated graphic, and then you must pause again to receive warning that you still haven’t set the clock (ok, maybe we just hadn’t gotten around to that yet, but don’t punish us for it). The menu is also slow to react to certain choices, freezing the screen until certain messages have displayed for several seconds.

Secondly, like most of the compact JVCs this year, the navigation buttons on the GZ-MG30 are ridiculously small. Who do they think will be using this camcorder? Adjusting any manual controls is an infuriating process, and I don’t think I’m alone in declaiming that I shouldn’t have to use my fingernail to press the correct button. Of all the compact cams, only the SDR-S100 has been designed with a usable navigation interface.

Button issues aside, handling on the GZ-MG30 is not bad. The body fits snugly in your hand. It is very light (40 g) and evenly weighted. The zoom and record buttons are sensibly placed. The LCD has a tendency to solarize, an absurd oversight on a pricey camcorder like this.

There is one feature that we absolutely love: the battery info. Pressing the INFO button in the LCD cavity draws up two menus. The first tells you how much HDD space is left, in the same pie chart style you’ll find in a Windows machine. Next to this is a listing of how much video you could record in each of the four quality settings (Ultra Fine, Fine, Normal, and Economy). Pressing the button again displays information about the battery, right down to how much shooting time you have left before you have to recharge. Both of these features are benefits of HDD, tape-less recording, and certainly useful. But neither makes up for the abysmal navigation.

Battery info screens

Portability (9.5)
The GZ-MG30 is a highly portable camcorder among the horizontal-style bodies. Weighing almost nothing (40 g, or 0.09 lbs), you’ll hardly feel this in your bag. Compare this in your hand with the equally sized GR-X5 (510 g, or 1.2 lbs.) and you’ll suddenly see the value of a light camcorder. And that is the part of the market that JVC is going after with the Everios. On-the-go techies don’t want to be bogged down with accessories. There’s no fear of that; the GZ-MG30 has taken the liberty of not bogging you down with options or good manual control, either. On the plus side, the battery is expandable, a feature not found on the GZ-MC500, the GR-X5, the DCR-PC-1000, or the SDR-S100. A plus-sized battery will likely save you the trouble of having to tote around the power supply for frequent recharges.

Battery Life (6.7)
The GZ-MG30’s BN-VF70 battery (included) recorded continuously for 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 41 seconds (67 minutes). The manufacturer’s manual claimed that the battery would last for 1. It works as it states, but it's a pretty bad battery life. We will give the MG30 props for using an expandable battery. Other models like the SDR-S100 don't give you this option.

Compression (5.5)
The GZ-MG30 captures video and encodes it in the MPEG2 format. Unlike the variable rate compression engine of the Panasonic SDR-S100, the GZ-MG30 records at a constant bit rate of 8.88 Mbps (8.5 Mbps plus 384 kbps). JVC also advertises the Everios as having the world’s smallest MPEG2 codec chip.

Four different recording modes – Ultra Fine, Fine, Normal, and Economy – allow you a great deal of control over how much video you wish to capture and how good that video should be.

Media (4.0)
Video and stills are recorded to a 30GB hard disk. In the highest quality mode (Ultra Fine), the GZ-MG30 is capable of recording for up to 7 hours. At its lowest rate, the camcorder can record up to an incredible 37 hours of video.

The hard disk is protected by a floating suspension system, which uses shock absorbers to protect your data from being rattled around. A Drop Detection system protects it further by immediately shutting off the camcorder if it senses a sudden fall.

The Media section is particularly important on a camcorder like this, and difficult to score. Seven hours of recording time in the highest quality is remarkable, and almost eliminates the need to record in a lower quality setting (an inadvisable choice, anyway). However, I believe non-archivable video formats are too limiting. To archive video with this camcorder (and by archive, I simply mean taking a tape and storing it - not having to erase stuff you avlue) you need to go through the rigmarole of connecting to a computer, downloading, and burning to a DVD. For a model relying on its ease of use, this is not a very easy process. If ease of use is paramount to your camcorder needs, DVD cams might be the best way to go. Perhaps I'm wrong. After all, JVC is betting their entire upper range camcorder line on this market.

Data transference also becomes an issue with hard disk. MiniDV tapes can be traded from camcorder to camcorder, and even played in specialized tape decks. Dud tapes can be replaced, so can worn-out video heads. Flash media, such as the Panasonic SDR-S100's SD card media or the GZ-MC500's Microdrive, can also be removed, traded, and replaced, if necessary. But the G series camcorders' media are fixed; if the hard disk breaks down, chances are you just lost your cam. Granted, by virtue of having no moving parts, the chance for damage diminishes. But only time will tell how long consumers can expect these hard disks to last. Additioanlly, it's impossible to expand the storage capacity of the camcorder. There is no possible way. If you want more space you need to buy a new camcorder.

Finally, these hard disks (and DVD cams, for that matter) record in MPEG2 format, a compression system that loses a significant amount of data compared to the relatively lossless MiniDV format. A few more generations of MPEG-type formats are required before they can hope to match MiniDV quality.

Editing (4.0)
There is certainly no other series of camcorders that can record to such capaciousness. 37 hours of video is, undeniably, a lot of video. However, editing your potential masterpieces is no mean feat. Like DVD cams, HDD was designed for speed and convenience first, not extensive editing. JVC would prefer that you use their software. Like most bundled software, it specializes in getting the footage in, slapping on some cheesy transitions and graphics, and pushing it out the door, preferably onto a DVD.

Each clip is saved as a .MOD file, a file type which most of the popular editing programs have a difficult time importing. You can manually rename the extension to .MPG, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to do this for an entire 37 hours of clips. HDD simply cannot compare to MiniDV for ease of use in the editing process. It seems that a few software programs are being changed to support the format (Ulead VideoStudio 9.0 currently is the only one we know of) and in the next year or two we think that more software will support it.

Widescreen/16:9 Mode (6.5)
Unlike some JVCs from this year, the GZ-MG30 has only one wide mode, labeled (simply enough) Wide. This is a ruse that most consumer camcorders are guilty of, and is not true widescreen. True widescreen actually expands the field of vision on the left and right, thus putting the wide in widescreen. The GZ-MG30’s Wide mode cheats by cutting the frame short on the top and bottom. On a 4:3 monitor, like the LCD screen, the image will appear vertically stretched, because the sides are being squeezed in to make up for the lost info. On a 16:9 screen, however, the sides have room to expand, thus filling the entire screen in the correct aspect ratio. Rather than gaining information, you have actually lost some.

Scan Rates/24P (0.0)
The GZ-MG30 does not include any scan rates aside from its native 60 interlace frames per second.

Ports (4.0)
Sailors, beware. Hardly a port ye’ll find here. At the rear (that’s the stern to you sea folk) you’ll find USB and A/V jacks. The DC input is on the right (starboard) side. An S-Video port is located in the LCD cavity. That about wraps it up. We’re terribly disappointed about the lack of a mic input, and we hope more manufacturers include this option on next year’s models. And no headphone jack? Come on, folks. At least Panasonic had the good sense to make their A/V port double as a headphone out port.

The SD card slot is located on the underside of the body. We generally regard this as a bad place to put things, as you may want to mount the camcorder to a tripod at some point.

Other Features (7.5)
Drop Detection - This neat little function automatically cuts the camcorder’s power when it detects a sudden decrease in elevation – as in, you just dropped it from the balcony onto the lawn one and a half stories below. Shutting it down prevents hard disk damage. It does nothing, however, to protect the body.

DIS - Digital Image Stabilization prevents wobbly footage caused by hand-shake, but is an inferior system to optical stabilization.

Digital Effects - Effects include sepia, monotone, classic film, and strobe.

INFO - The Battery Info feature is one of the most useful features on the GZ-MG30. Pressing the button once draws up a full-color graph of how much memory is left on the HDD, and how much more video you could record in each of the four quality settings. Pressing the button again displays how much battery life is left, in minutes.

NightAlive - This feature, called many things by many manufacturers, is used primarily for shooting in very dark environments. By slowing down the shutter speed to ½ of a second, a great amount of light is allowed in through the lens. This also causes an obscene amount of blurring, and should be used sparingly.

TeleMacro - The TeleMacro feature is described as allowing you to shoot a subject as large as possible at a distance of about two feet. In reality, it does not appear to aid in focusing at all.

Comparison
JVC GZ-MG40
Why, you ask, would JVC offer an Everio G series camcorder at an identical price to the GZ-MG30? “This is what price brackets are for!” you huff. The differences are few, but distinctive. The hard drive is smaller, 20GB down from 30GB, as is the zoom, 15x down from 25x. For what it has lost the GZ-MG40 makes up for the image quality and still performance. It features a 1/4.5” CCD over the MG30’s 1/6”, which boosts it to the megapixel range of 1.33K. The lens also opens to a remarkable f/1.2, which would give you better low light. Still features are better, and JVC also includes their “Megabrid Engine” for optimal video and stills. After looking at a comparison, you might feel pretty foolish to opt for the GZ-MG30. It really depends on what your reason for buying a camcorder is. Quality versus quantity. You may find it a necessity to squeeze out those extra hours with the larger hard drive, but my vote would have to go with the GZ-MG40.

JVC also offers the GZ-MG50, with the same image sensor as the GZ-MG40 but a larger, 30GB hard drive.

JVC GZ-MC500
For about $600 more, you could step up to the premiere class Everio, the GZ-MC500. This is money well spent, if you are dead set on tape-less recording. Not only were video performance and manual controls very good, we consider this to be one of the first true hybrid video / still cameras. With 5 MP capabilities, still performance was simply gorgeous. Like the GZ-MG40, the MC500’s CCD is enlarged to 1/4.5”, and you get three of them on this model. The LCD is immobile and fixed on the rear, but handling is better, thanks to the navigation controls also swung around from the left side onto the rear. The feel of the MC500 is undeniably better, and a focus ring helps you get over the fact that it’s not a MiniDV. The MC500 records to a 4GB Microdrive, which is removable and fits into CF type II slots. Still, it’s an expensive proposition, and we recommend that you wait for the price to come down on this technology.

Panasonic SDR-S100
Panasonic’s tiny offering, and their first foray into consumer tape-less camcorders, the SDR-S100 greatly out-shined the GZ-MG30. While not having nearly the recording capacity, its 2GB SD card is both removable and upgradeable. This means futures costs, but also future options. If the HDD on the GZ-MG30 breaks, the whole camcorder is kaput. The small size of the SDR-S100 means it might take a little while to adjust to the handling, but this model has the best navigation pad we’ve ever seen on a super-compact camcorder. The ports are just as few on the SDR-S100, but the A/V jack doubles as a headphone out, something the GZ-MG30 lacks. The SDR-S100 is much smaller, but the battery cannot be expanded, making the power supply a necessary carry-around. Both models record in the MPEG2 format, but Panasonic promises that their completely redesigned compression engine features the best possible MPEG2 video in the market. A first generation model, the SDR-S100 has a ways to go until the design flaws are worked out, but right now this is still the better camcorder.

Sony DCR-PC1000
The PC1000 ranked as one of our best camcorders this year because of its excellent performance, thanks in large part to its three CMOS chips. Though there was a lot we hate about it from a manual control perspective, we think the "rich-but-camcorder-stupid" audience will like it much more than the GZ-MG30. Like all the super-mini cams, the PC1000 lacks most of the ports we like to see. Portability is hampered by the necessity of a base, which houses all the outputting jacks. The PC1000 is also the only camcorder in this list that does not record to tape-less media. Nope, it’s Plain Jane MiniDV. Stills are recorded to Memory Sticks, and the quality is excellent, ranking just behind JVC’s GZ-MC500. Handling is potentially worse on the PC1000 than the GZ-MG30, due to the Sony’s bulk. A matchbook style model, it is about 2/3 larger than the SDR-S100, which makes getting a good grip a little difficult. Greater ease of use unquestionably goes to the PC1000, an area where Sony typically dominates. Like the GZ-MG30, Sony is aiming at the point-and-shoot crowd with fat wallets, and they succeed where JVC has failed.

Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters (0.0)
It seems that this would be the likely crowd, but due to bad handling we simply cannot recommend it to point-and-shooters. Add to the fact that it's nearly impossible to get good video out of this camcorder in auto use and it's a bad buy.

Budget Consumers (0.0)
No. Plain and simple. A budget consumer’s money would be far better spent on something like the PV-GS19, a dirt cheap camcorder with a wealth of manual control options. It’s not HDD, but HDD will not experience a price drop for a few more years.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid (0.0)
If hybridism is your game, and you’re set on HDD in this price range, you want the twin sister model, the GZ-MG40. You could also step up to the GZ-MC500, which specializes in stills. As for the GZ-MG30, there are virtually no options and still quality was terrible.

Gadget Freaks (0.0)
Save your money and buy the GZ-MC500 if you really feel the need to impress somebody. It looks cooler and it’s easily twice the performer this one is.

Manual Control Freaks (0.0)
Manual controls are limited and awkward to adjust. Look elsewhere.

Pros / Serious Hobbyists (0.0)
This cannot be recommended as even a secondary, tote-along camcorder.

Conclusion
What can I say about a camcorder with so few redeeming features? It doesn’t weigh much. Hey, that’s something! And it records a hell of a lot of video. A lot of really, really bad video.

To be fair, this is a first generation technology, more or less. HDD camcorders are a forward-looking format, and someone had to take the plunge. It might as well have been JVC. The Everio line is a mish-mash of marketing, however. The top-end camcorder, the GZ-MC500, is extremely expensive for a consumer model ($1500). Then lower-end G series offers two identically-priced models: the abominable GZ-MG30 and the GZ-MG40, which, on paper, is better by leaps and bounds. We'd love to get our hand on one. To be honest, the GZ-MG30 does not give me much hope for the immediate future of HDD from JVC. I want to emphasize that it's not the hard drive that's causing the problems on this camcorder. It's the CCD, the digital signal processing, and the MPEG2 encoding. There are hard drives for the professional and high-end consumer camcorders out there that produce stunning video. For some reason, it seems JVC forgot that this is a video camera, and didn't spend much time working on the quality of the video. Panasonic’s SDR-S100 employs a different compression engine and produced vastly better results. Video quality aside, we still could not recommend this camcorder because of its poor handling and navigation. At $900 (MSRP), this is, by far, the worst camcorder in its price range.

The HDD format can only get better from here. But for now, MiniDV offers too many advantages; it's easily archived, easily edited, and easily replaced. The video quality is virtually lossless, whereas MPEG2 compression requires the data to be crunched together - how else do you think they can fit so much video on one hard disk? So I offer my best wishes to the HDD engineers for a better tomorrow, and my warning to the consumers of today. Steer well clear of this model.