JVC GZ-MG77 Camcorder Review

Compression (5.5)
The GZ-MG77 uses MPEG-2 compression and 2-channel Dolby Digital audio. There are four video quality settings at 720 x 480 resolution: Ultra Fine at 8.5Mbps, equivalent to DVD camcorder bit rate, Fine at 5.5Mbps, and Normal at 4.2Mbps. There is also a much lower quality Economy setting a 352 x 240 size and 1.5Mbps data rate. All of these settings record video at a variable bit rate which the camcorder adjusts on the fly, enabling it to raise or loser the bit rate based on how complex the information in the frame is. MiniDV camcorders have a much higher a fixed data rate of 25 Mbps. 

When you copy video footage to your computer via digital connection, it appears with a .MOD file extension. Simply changing the .MOD file extension to .MPG allows playback on any media player, but may result in a loss of audio. Users of this camcorder who want maximum flexibility would be advised to look into file conversion programs like Quicktime Pro from Apple (available for both PC and Mac). 

Media (4.0)
The GZ-MG77 records video and stills to a 30GB internal HDD (hard disk drive). This capacity accommodates about 430 minutes (7 hours) of video at Ultra Fine, 640 minutes (11 hours) of video at Fine, 850 minutes (14 hours) of video at Normal, and 2250 minutes (37 hours) of video at Economy.

The HDD connects to a PC via the included Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable, and can be mounted as an external hard drive. The HDD is protected from impacts by a floating suspension system and a drop detection system. Drop detection shuts the camcorder down in under a second when has been dropped. This is not a feature we were able to test for obvious reasons, but we would advise users to view it with skepticism since any fall long enough to cause the device to shut down would probably result in irreparable damage.

Editing (4.0)
Editing (4.0) Like its lower end cousins, the GZ-MG77 comes with a bundle of four video and photo applications: Digital Photo Navigator v1.5, PowerDVD 5 NE, PowerDirector Express NE, and PowerProducer 3 NE.

Digital Photo Navigator is a still photo management program, which would be useful for users who plan to make extensive use of the camcorder’s still photo capabilities.

PowerProducer is a DVD authoring program that provides several options for creating DVDs from footage shot with the GZMG77. It’s a useful program, and relatively easy to use. When you begin a project, you first select an output format: DVD, VCD, SVCD, or VR disc, the capacity of the media you are using, and the aspect. PowerProducer then enables capture of footage from the camcorder, but gives you the option of using material from other sources as well. It also offers an option for grabbing footage from an existing DVD. Once your footage it loaded, you can create basic Menus and chapters before finalizing your project and burning to disc.

PowerDirector Express NE is a basic but functional nonlinear editing (NLE) program that is better than most out of the box applications that ship with consumer camcorders. The interface resembles other NLE’s, with a window for clips, a playback monitor, and a timeline for editing. PowerDirector has typical NLE features including transitions and various ways of changing a clip’s duration.

PowerDVD is a DVD and media player that is comparable to Windows Media Player or RealPlayer, but it has a more limited range of functionality.