JVC GZ-MG330 Camcorder Review

If you don't like how the automatic controls are handling things, try out one of the MG330's Program AE Modes

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (4.0)
Standard definition camcorders are quickly being relegated to point-and-shoot status, as more experienced and more serious videographers are choosing to spend the extra money to buy high definition. With its 30GB internal hard drive, the JVC GZ-MG330 isn't exactly the cheapest JVC has to offer, but it's a fair bet that MG330 owners will be relying quite a bit on the camcorder's automatic settings. When the whole point is ease of use, it's crucial that a camcorder perform well without user interface.

In practice, we found the GZ-MG330 to be only moderately proficient. The autofocus is good, though you'll need to be careful not to use the powerful 35x zoom on objects that are too close—no camcorder can keep that in focus.

The auto exposure is adequate for most shooting situations. JVC is kind enough to provide us with more control over how the camcorder chooses its automatic exposure: you may select either Whole Screen or Spot metering. As the name implies, the Whole Screen option looks at the entire shot and automatically corrects for exposure as best it can. Spot metering creates a small red target in the center of the screen; whatever appears in the center of the target becomes the point of metering. You can move that target horizontally left or right, but this quickly makes the tool feel more like a manual control and less like an aid for automatic exposure adjustment. (If you're going to go to the trouble of tweaking your metering point, why not just set the brightness manually?)

The real trouble with the automatic settings is the automatic white balance, which is highly inadequate. It looks fine when you're shooting in most outdoor conditions, but indoor shooting is inconsistent and problematic. Our lab testing, which is done in Tungsten lighting, is horrible (see Video Performance). Anything in fluorescent lighting is completely off. None of the white balance presets are very good either.

In addition to the normal automatic settings, you can choose from a list of Program AE modes—usually called "Scene Modes" on most camcorders. These will serve as a slight guide to how the camcorder is making its automatic adjustments. Options include Night, Twilight, Portrait, Sports, Snow, and Spotlight. (See screen shot above.)

The laser touch system works for navigating menus, but the controls aren't responsive enough for fine manual adjustments.

Overall Manual Control (4.25)
The JVC GZ-MG330 is a decent choice for budget-minded consumers that still want some level of control over image quality. There are plenty of options and the camcorder responds well to the adjustments that you make. Our biggest complaint is with the new Laser Touch operation. It's a good system for navigating the menus, but less than desirable for making fine manual adjustments.

It seems as though JVC has made some improvements to the interface—or we've grown more accustomed to it. Using the slider and the OK button feels more intuitive and all of the options are easily accessible. (These days, we're always grateful when a camcorder keeps everything in a single menu.) However, the touch slider on the left still doesn't offer enough fine control to make small adjustments. Sometimes it's easy to overshoot or undershoot the setting you want. And focus doesn't feel as variable as it should.

JVC might be onto something with the system, but we're still waiting for the Laser Touch to be improved so that it matches the responsiveness and versatility of an iPod scroll wheel. In practice, it's probably just as good as Sony touch screens, which can offer the same problems. And we still think it would be a good idea for JVC to allow you to tap the slider in order to confirm a selection. (This would make the slider work more like a laptop's touchpad, which you can use for scrolling and clicking.) Thankfully, the Laser Touch system is kind to people with all sizes of fingers and fingernails. It's easier to use just one slider and a few big buttons than to hone in on a tiny little button on those Sony touch screens. Neither system is as easy to use as a good joystick.


As far as manual controls go, the GZ-MG330 has a decent number of offerings, but implementation of the laser touch is finicky and sometimes frustrating. Since the automatic controls aren't the best we've seen, it would be worth getting to know the manual exposure (called "brightness"), shutter speed, and white balance controls. Manual focus suffers the most from the integration of the Laser Touch; we recommend you just leave that one alone. All told, JVC offers a competitive selection of controls—comparable with Canon and Panasonic, better than Sony and Samsung.

The zoom toggle is flimsy, but functional.

Zoom (6.0)
The JVC GZ-MG330 has a thin, loose zoom toggle in the customary location up top. The toggle lies below most index fingers and it feels cheap, but works well enough. With a powerful 35x zoom, we imagine this little toggle will be getting plenty of action. Despite the distinct, loose jiggle, the toggle is fairly responsive. The zoom is variable with finger pressure, so you can get a nice slow crawl, especially at the lower zoom ratios. When zooming, a scale appears on the top portion of the screen, along with the actual numerical value of the zoom power. This is useful if you need to recreate a shot later.

Zoom Power Ratio (35.0)
The JVC GZ-MG330 has an optical zoom of 35x, which is among the most powerful of the year. That's about average these days, as far as standard definition camcorders are concerned. The standard definition line from Canon, including the Canon FS11, goes up to 37x with the "Advanced Zoom" that brings it up to 48x. The Panasonic SDR-H60 is an astounding 50x optical zoom. The Samsung SC-MX20 is about the same, with 34x, while the Sony DCR-SR85 has only a 25x optical zoom.

The GZ-MG330 also offers a digital zoom, of course. You can set a cap of 35x optical zoom only, or include up to 70x or up to 800x digital zoom. We always recommend you stick to optical, as digital zoom has a negative effect on image quality.

Focus (3.0)
A manual focus option is offered, but it's not easy to use. This is the one manual control that suffers the most from the imprecision of the Laser Touch system. The manual focus option is accessed via Manual Settings in the main menu. When activated, two small icons appear on the LCD: a man and a mountain. To shift the focus, use the Laser Touch slider up and down. The problem is that it doesn't feel like you have access to a precise range of focus options. Instead, you feel as though you're selecting from one of about 40 steps in an incremental scale. Focus is usually the sort of thing you want to fine-tune. What happens when the focus you want lies between steps 13 and 14? We recommend you just let auto focus do its job.

Exposure & Aperture (5.5)
The GZ-MG330 does not offer direct control over the aperture, which might limit its appeal to advanced users. Canon offers Aperture Priority modes on most of its camcorders, and Panasonic offers fully independent aperture and shutter speed. Sony and Samsung are in the same boat as JVC—they offer no aperture control.

What JVC does offer is a tool called "Brightness," which is just another name for exposure compensation. As with all manual controls, the Brightness option is located under Manual Settings in the main menu. When activated, a scale appears on the left side of the LCD. The scale has a range of +6 to -6. Using the Laser Touch strip, going up makes it brighter and going down makes it darker. Changes you make are relative to what the automatic exposure has already selected; -3 in one scene will not be the same as -3 in another. Gratefully, using the Laser Touch slider to select one of 13 exposure increments is easier than using it to select one of 40 focus levels.

The JVC GZ-MG330's "brightness" tool.

Shutter Speed (6.3)
The GZ-MG330 offers shutter speed control, located under Manual Settings, along with the other manual controls. The range is quite good: 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, and 1/4000. Panasonic and Canon offer a slightly narrower range on most of their standard definition models. Samsung offers a 1/10000 shutter speed, but nothing slower than 1/15—even when you switch into the camcorder's C.Nite mode. Sony does not generally offer manual shutter speed on its consumer camcorders. Like the Brightness control, the Laser Touch operation works decently here.

White Balance (4.75)
The GZ-MG330 offers a Manual (evaluative) white balance setting, as well as presets for Fine, Cloud, and Halogen. This really isn't a lot of presets, especially if you shoot indoors often. There are no settings for incandescent or fluorescent, which are the most common indoor lighting conditions—most household light bulbs are incandescent and most offices are fluorescent. Making a manual white balance is a bit unwieldy. You have to work your way through the menus, then select "MWB" by holding the OK button for a couple seconds. This is the only time you'll be called upon to hold town any of the camcorder's laser touch controls. On most camcorders, the white balance icon will blink until it's set. On the MG330, the "MWB" text blinks instead. It's oddly unintuitive, considering how often you'll want to use the feature: the auto white balance just isn't very good.

The JVC GZ-MG330's white balance settings.

Gain (1.0)
There is no manual gain on the JVC GZ-MG330, nor on any JVC consumer camcorder. Panasonic is the only manufacturer to offer manual gain in this price range. Most camcorders automatically adjust gain in order to accommodate low-light scenarios. However, JVC is unique in offering the ability to turn the auto gain control (AGC) on and off. The factory default is to leave the control, and we strongly recommend leaving it that way. Below is our standard DSC Labs Chroma DuMonde chart at 15 lux. On the left is the image with AGC turned on; on the right, AGC is turned off.

The JVC GZ-MG330 at 15 lux, AGC on.	The JVC GZ-MG330 at 15 lux, AGC off.

Other Manual Controls (2.0)
Backlight compensation - This feature compensates for a subject that is too strongly backlit by boosting the overall compensation. It can prove useful in some circumstances, but if you have the option, just tell your subject to kindly take a step to the left.

Tele Macro - Tele Macro is meant to help with focusing on small objects. We saw no particular benefit from this function.

Photometry Area - The automatic exposure feature includes a tools that makes auto exposure feel a bit like a manual control. You may select either Whole Screen or Spot metering, to narrow in on one particular part of the shot to serve as an anchor for exposure. The small red target in the center of the screen can be adjusted horizontally left or right to one of three positions. Unfortunately, the system doesn't serve as a full-fledged metering system—we loved the super informative metering system on the high definition Panasonic HDC-SD100 and HDC-HS100.