JVC Everio G Camcorders Review
September 22nd, 2005 1:46 PM | by Christen da Costa | 153 Comments
Forget tapes and discs because JVC’s Everio G camcorder line records right (double entendre) to a hard drive.
There a few different models of the Everio G line, which are reflected in hard drive size (20-30GB), zoom lens distance, and still photo quality (.3-1.3megapixel). This means it holds anywhere from 5-7 hours of high quality video depending on model. This should be more then enough for the family vacation, unless of course you’re one of those idiots that records landscapes and vistas that were clearly destined for still photography. Thumbnails of each shot can be displayed on the 2.5 inch LCD and allows you to select clip by clip for viewing. You can even create a 99 shot play list.
The best part of course is that importing and editing should be a snap. No more batch digitizing, or having one continuous clip of video to segment. Even better is that transfer is 4 times as fast because it no longer has to play in real time, and it connects to USB 2.0. JVC has also included editing software in the box, although I am sure many will opt for iMovie if Apple users.
The camera’s pretty small at just 11 ounces and 2.6 by 4.3 by 2.8 inches, and start at $750.
WE FOUND IT!! AFTER CLASSES OF LOOKING!! HOURS OF TIME!! YOUR SOURCE OF HELP IS HERE!!!!!!
keyword: ffmpegx
this will help you transfer so you can use your everio footage on macs!!!
WOOOO!!! goodluck. sincerly the absolute smartest hardworking geniouses
Hi, I have just bought the NEW JVC Everio Full HD that records in 1080i, i can get into iMovie using The USB 2.0, but when you play it, it stutters (repeats every half a second) i have tried doing it many different ways and it still wont work, it comes with a fire wire port, iMovie will recognse the camera is there but you can import let alone watch it play, CAN ANY ONE HELP???!!!
Thank you everybody for your insights. Here’s what I do:
Hardware:
JVC GZ-MC100 with 4 gigabyte compact flash disk
G5 iMac
compact flash reader
Software:
Squared 5′ “MPEG StreamClip” version 1.8 (2006)
Apple “Final Cut Pro HD” version 4.5 (2004)
Step 1:
MPEG StreamClip
–> File –> open JVC’s “.MOD” file
–> File –> export to DV (use default settings)
The DV file is huge (roughly 4 times in size of MOD file).
On my machine, it takes roughly realtime to convert from MOD to DV (i.e., 1 second of MOD video takes 1 second to convert to DV format).
Step 2:
Final Cut Pro
–> File –> open “.DV” file
This is (for me) the least painful method, and keeps audio and video synced.
There are other ways (such as demuxing .MOD to .M2V and .AIFF files separately) that result in somewhat smaller file sizes (still larger than the original MOD file). These may be good choices if you want to split audio and video.
LOOKIN FOR ADVICE: Young son accidently deleted all stored video. ANy chance we can recover it.
I have the everio jvc camera, and i got it to load onto my comp and i edeited everything well, but i need to know how, to get it back onto the camera, so i can hook it up to my tv, anyone know how?
Also, after i loaded all the video files onto my computer, when i tried playing the stuff back on my camera, the video index display said that, there were NO VIDEO FILES to show. Can anyone help?
Just downloaded QuickTime MPEG-2 and it transcoded all my video into DV stream. The cost is $20
Alright, I’m going crazy. I have been reading all of the threads about using Streamclip, converting .MOD to DV, etc and no matter what I do, I can’t seem to get ANY audio when I import to iMovie. I have an Everio GZ MG-155 and would rather not take it back. I have paid for and downloaded the Quicktime upgrade and none of the converted clips play in Quicktime either. Any suggestions?
use Total Video Converter 3.02 … choose all files and convert to everything… i did this way…
http://native-american-style.blogspot.com/ … this is not that but is something i found and like it…
I use a PowerMac G5 Tower, MacBook, iMac G5 and iBook G4, software iMovie & Final Cut Studio.
I demoed this camera yesterday, and it works perfect on the mac, any machine and all the software? I don’t understand why ANY mac user is having problems!! I used the Capty software that came with it and saved the clips as .DV files. Maybe people should have a look what is in the box!
I have a JVC Everio MG505e. i was a bit shocked when Imovies could not read the .mod files it produces. Apple help in Europe did not have a clue. There is a lot of stuff on the web about this. I dont think there is a complete answer. But if you save the video files onto the mac and then change name file.mod to file.mpg, Imovies will read them but the audio is lost. However Aaron is right. If you save the .mod files as .dv files using the Capty software which comes with the camera (you need to click on the ‘create’ button once you have loaded the file and save them as .dv files) you can then open those files with imovies and the sound is there. The picture seems a bit washed out but you can adjust that in Imovies. I did download the quicktime MPEG-2 view thing as well. That won’t read the camera directly (as I hoped it would) but might help. you could try the above without doing that first. I think it would work. There is no need to buy any video converter programme as far as I can see. (apart from maybe the Apple mpeg.2 viewer).
I have the JVC GZ-MG505aa camera and am using it on a Macbook pro with final cut pro 5 and the extremely basic capty software that came with the camera. The camera was purchased for me, so unfortunately i can’t take it back…but i find it a waste of time because it takes longer than real time to convert the stupid .mod files into .dv files and then takes a whole lot of time to do anything with…frankly this makes me want to use a PC not a mac. On the downside (AGAIN), once you have changed to .dv in capty the videos have a much poorer quality than the files that you can automatically convert to .mpeg (just by using the rename function in windows i.e. changethe file extension from .mod to .mpeg) on PCs.
To get sound in final cut there is no other way for me apart from waiting forever for capty to change the files to .dv which is really crap when you have 6 cameras that need to be edited and synced in final cut….because capty can only do one file at a time.
also, for anyone who wants good quality sound recordings the everio is useless.
Goodluck to all who have this camera, i hope you have lots of hours to change file types if you are using a MAC.
wow, sneakers. you just showed the entire world that u a lonely person who probably only bought that camera for personal pleasures, due to no “better half” to have an intelligent conversation with. well…at least it won’t talk back to you and it can dry up quickly. yikes.
Hi all,
Seems like im the only one that didnt do their homework when trying to buy a camcorder. Bought the GZ-MG155U for a trip and was naively looking forward to a straight connection with my ibook and FCP 4.5, but after reading these comments, im kinda bummed now that its too late to return it (I havent even tried importing/copying yet due to the reviews).
Ill try this weekend and hopefully I can use the information on here to import properly (and I am absolutely not any sort of expert, I dont even know how to use imovie!). If I figure it out or get stuck, ill come back and update!
Let me begin…
I went to best buy a long time ago and was expecting to get a mini DV camcorder but, in what seems to be the worst decision in my life, was sold up to a JVC everio hard drive camcorder. I thought it was pretty cool until i hooked it up to my mac. It said something like files corrupted or not compatable but i found my way around that.
HERE”S WHAT YOU DO FOR A MAC:
There is software that came with it–its called capty mpeg edit ex for everio. Get this software of the disk, you don’t need that other crap. open that up and and click view and scroll down to combine files. it will give you a little window. click ‘add’ browse for you camera, find you movies select them and then hit create, this will put them in the right format for imovie. Once done you open imovie and you can access your movies but you must import them.
CONS-
when you convert a 10 second clip or more it will take about an hour.(with my mac it does)
When you import a 10 second clip or more into imovie it takes 10-20 minutes(once again with my mac)
The quality is that of the viewfinder screen on my 1970’s piece of crap VHS camcorder.
My bro’s casio exilm (camera not camcorder) takes better, clearer movies than this.
****OVERALL- you lose a ton of quality when you do this…i have no other ideas for the mac, this is what ive been doing for a while and i am sick of it! >:(
The camera itself has many great features, yes, but getting it on a computer and editing it is a major pain for many people and i can’t even imagine how hard it would be for someone who doesn’t know much about computers. Any way it has been a waste of time and money in my house- i bought an external hardrive so my computer could actually do some video editing, i bout an external DVD burner so i could actually burn a DVD as a product of this whole shananagin (i have a mac mini….yeah….it stinks :D)
Anyway im currently trying to find out if it will work on a pc…
except for it’s own software here’s what works and doesn’t work.
Adobie Premiere 1.5pro doesn’t accept it…you have to get a converter from offline (if anyone has found a good converter please share it :D)
Vegas won’t take it….once again you need a frick’n converter….
i hope this is usefull to someone… :}
Oh yeah i forgot….to try and improve the quality…or the viewing pleasure of the camcorder i ordered a wide angle lense. I paid for 2day shipping from fedex and that was on 05/23/07 and guess what??? i still don’t have it!!!!! WTF anyway don’t buy anything from them, they will make up stuff like ‘oh sorry its on backorder…for a month!!!!!”
-toast
I have had my camcorder a little over a year. I had a little trouble in the beginning to find compatible software, but after that I have been very pleased with the convenience of it. But just recently I have been videoing with the quality set to normal mode and instead of getting 4-5 hours of video with that setting it is only showing around one hour. Any suggestions on changing that?…
We just purchased a JVC Everio GZ-MG155 and was trying to get it work with iMovie on my mac last night. I spent a lot of time reading blogs etc and found lots of people that said I needed to convert the files etc. I called JVC tech support (which really is quite lacking) and the woman told me that I needed a DV cable and it would work fine. I asked her if that was different than a firewire and she said yes, which is wrong so I wasn’t feeling too confident that this would fix it but it did. I connected the camcorder using the firewire output on the base to the firewire on my mac and opened iMovie, and followed the instructions on the iMovie tutorials. Hopefully this will help some of the other frustrated mac users out there. I don’t understand why JVC doesn’t include and instruction sheet in the box for Mac since it says it is Mac compatible. Best of luck. FYI you need a firewire cable with a small and a large end bcz Mac uses the large one.
I copied my files from the camera to my computer, but they are MOD files. How do I change them to MPG files?
I am having the same problem – when I change to .mpg the ,mod stays on the end so it becomes fild.mpg.mod and I have no access to the .mod part to change it…please help!
wat is the best editing software for this camera
I got it to work with iMovie… Hope this helps you guys out as well. I did download the Mpeg2 from Apple ($19.99).. but not sure if it helped or not…
1. using an Everio MG255US, I docked it in the cradle and used a Firewire cable connected to my intel Mac 24″
2. launched iMovie and in about 10-15 secs, it read my camcorder
3. using the Index on the camera itself, I chose a clip I wished to import then on the Mac, clicked import.
That was it! It imported the clips in 16×9 (widescreen) format complete with sound and perfect video.
No other 3rd party program was used nor did I copy the .mod files from the Everio hard drive to the Mac.
Good luck and happy editing. This is a wonderful camcorder… Now to order a high capacity battery
I have just bought the JVC HDD MG135AA – yes lots of probems with a mac – but they all do!!!
I know with it being a USB connection you cant go straight into IMovie – but what if I bought a USB to firewire adapter, and plugged in supplied cable to that instead of direct to imac???
PS: Changing file names from .mod to .mpg is useless and will not import into I movie – I will look into Quciktime etc and see how i go…
OK guys, no problems any more. The new version of iMovie should support this camera as MPEG2 over USB2 is now supported AT LAST!
Personally i don’t like my everio g Camcorder because the picture seems to lack detail and doesn’t seem to be very sharp but anyway….To put your videos onto your pc it’s very simple, all you do is plug the cam in…set it to play back on pc… go to my computer…Everio HDD…SD video…PRG001…Then copy and paste the video clip you want, Done! If you have no sound or picture etc you probably need to download a codec pack. Hope this helps.
Yup, connect USB, select “playback to PC” and there is your video in iMovie and iTunes. It is truely plug and play, no software to install.
Now that the street price has dropped to $200 or less, is is truely the way to go!
This comment is for Windows users. I found an easy fix after days of going around in circles.
First, go to:
http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
Download their software. This one is REALLY free!
It works great too. Install it on your PC.
Upload JVC files. Go thru all the things they suggest that you do in the instructions. (for example on my computer, the Envirio is stored in my F: drive and are uploaded there. Make a new folder in the envirio file and store both your SD files and your EXT files into this folder) (drag and drop)
Now make a new folder on your desktop specifically for the new file. Call it whatever seems appropriate.
Once the files are uploaded to envirio on your PC, go to ‘my computer’. Find the files. Now find the .mod file(s) that you just uploaded.
Open the prism converter. Drag and drop the file(s)into the prism converter, one at a time. To get the file from .mod to .avi, the prism free video converter will recognize this and have to update itself. (if you’ve got cable, its really quick) The program also wants to know the ‘destiny’ of the convertion. Browse til you find the folder you created on your desktop. Add it. Then click on ‘convert’.
Sit back and wait. Your new .avi files will be created in a short time! This is way cool. It took me hundreds of hours to find a free tool that was actually free and a NO Brainer to use with my JVC. Whew! You can now edit it and work with it in Movie Maker. *You’d have thought they’d have thought of this and done something about it by now for us!!!
Hope this helps someone!
Carolyn
Hmmm… I’ve had my GZ-MG130U for some time. I was able to plug it into the USB connection on my MacBook and transfer the files to my hard disk… and now, it doesn’t work. I do remember I had to fiddle with it for some time (read “hours”) the previous times to get the connection to work.
Perhaps the camera itself is not working properly. I notice from reading through these comments that occasionally someone reports this kind of problem, for which there seems to be very little concrete advice for troubleshooting. I’m afraid my machine is way past its guarantee, and so I’m probably out of pocket several hundreds of dollars. I suppose I could try a PC interface to see if that’s the problem. It is very frustrating.
Also, the sound worked fine before but has also suddenly gone muffled.
It is hard to determine if the problem is software or hardware. Any suggestions?
I lost the USB for my Everio, and I have tons of video on it, including my vacation! Does anyone know if it’s possible to save those videos that are already on there onto an SD card? If so, how!?
Hi, I have Everio Gz-MG20AA. I connected to my laptop with USB and accidentally deleted a folder from my laptop. Is there any software to recover the folder containing .MOD files?
Thanks
I think I like the camera. My problem is this: Whenever I try to burn my video onto a DVD it will go through the authoring phase fine. Then, it pops the disk out and says that an error has occured. I’m sick of wasting DVD’s on this. Does anyone have an answer that can help me?
I have theGZ-MG21U. I have been at this computer for 3 days now and flipping out. I’ve lost half of my precious video because the cam just deletes it for some reason. Not happy with this. I found out the power producer is not compatiable with this jvc model. All the movies had no audio., I’m done with this, please someone help before I take a hammer to this piece of ****!
I AM TRYING TO USE MY VIDEO FILES ON VEGAS PRO 8…NOW THE VIDEO WORKS FINE..BUT THE SOUND DOES NOT.
I HAVE THE FILES ON MY COMPUTER IN MPG FORMAT..WORKS IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER FINE, WORKS ON POWER CINEMA JUNK FINE…BUT I IMPORT INTO VEGAS PRO AND ITS LOOKS TO HAVE WORKED FINE..HOWEVER THE VIDEO PLAYS AND ALAS NO FUCKING SOUND!!
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I purchased 3 JVC GZ-MG57U cameras for work. I liked having the long record time and internal hard drive. I figured I could easily edit the videos after downloading them. Boy was I wrong. The file format is not very common and Adobe Premier will not import it. I was using the included software, Cyber Director, to convert the files to .avi. The last few days though I have been having problems with the program crashing before it finishes converting the video.
Searching for a better way to convert the videos I found this site. Thanks to Carolyn’s post #77, I now have a better way of converting the files. Anyone trying to convert files should seriously consider getting the free Prism software. I downloaded it and had it working in no time. Works great and will do batch file conversions.
Rob
I have a gz-mg155. I have spent yesterday and today trying to figure out how to get my material from the camera into a file I can import from windows movie maker for a class. Now, I had to run and buy a fire wire cable. Success!!!! But guess what? I lost everything on my camera! All the footage! Now that I figured out how to do this I have no material! I have it stored on the everio program but I cannot get it back on my video camera so I can transfer it to my windows movie maker………Help
Good morning,
I am using the GZMG130U camera. I see two files. A dot MOD (.MOD) and a dot MOI (.MOI) file. What is the dot MOI file?
1. First, I moved all files from the camera onto my computer HD. Then I tried the file extension conversion as you stated and it worked. I got my video to run in Windows Media player however, I did not get the sound. Is the sound the MOI file? If so, how do I link the two? This is the same result as the Demo video supplied on the camera.
2. This conversion did not work on my home computer it did work on my work computer. My home computer and my work computer are both running XP service pack-2.
3. My machine, Win-XP SP2, 120 GIG HD external and 40 Gigs internal Drives, Adobe Premiere Pro, 1 Gig of Ram and the camera is wired through USB2 connections.
I will try it in Premiere and Win Movie Maker when I get home. If I can get it in WMM then I can convert to AP Pro.
Like the previous user requested, please give us more information.
Please answer the following what’s.
- What OS are you running
- What editing software you using
- How much RAM, HD space do you have available
- Are you using fire wire or USB-2
Where can I down load another copy of the JVC DVD supplied software?
P.S. Do not mess with the MOI files on the camera! I changed its extension to a WMV and killed it. I strongly suggest that you play with it in and test folder on the computer.
hey all,,,
those who have macs and are having issues with the .mod file type not being recognized i have a solution. if you do what i say you will find that these JVC hard disk cameras are truely great.
1) Download the program ffmpegx (free, just google search for it)
2) Connect camera via USB and select “Connect to Device” on the camera. You should now see a disk icon appear on the desktop.
3) Go to SD_VIDEO folder and copy all wanted .mod files to your computer.
4) Open ffmpegx
5) Drag one file at a time into the program where it says “Drop File Here”
6) Now select a preset setting to encode to. (i usually use .mov or .mp4 because they are pretty standard…but you may choose whatever format you wish)
7) Click encode. The file will be saved in the same location as the original file’s location.
If you have anymore questions u can e-mail me. Only serious questions please.
jmjgordon@msn.com
Downloading the videos is crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice advice from Ohio Terry. Find you files (I DON’T KNOW WHERE) Think I have 16 copies lost in my computer and STILL nothing burned on CD. The thing is full and should be disposable!
I don’t want to download yet another program in order to use this camera. I have PowerDVD which came with it. Windows media player. Some Nero crap. And still can’t find out where the programs god when I hook up the cord. Have some n folders on my computer under My Computer but still can’t get those to video. Is there a toll free number or ANY number for assistance?
Now have 17 copies of files with an extentsion .jxx Give me a break!
apple just gave me this list of Cameras taht work with iMovie without lots of red tape
Tapeless Camcorder Support
iMovie also supports many tapeless camcorders that record to Flash Memory, Hard Drive (HDD), and DVD media. These random access devices use a USB 2.0 cable and include camcorders that support MPEG-2 (standard definition) and AVCHD (high definition) formats.
Note: Some iMovie ’08 compatible random access devices have both a USB and FireWire port. These camcorders must only be connected using the USB port.
Due to the wide range of media types and the different ways manufacturers store video on these media types, not all tapeless camcorders are supported. Apple has tested the products listed on this table. iMovie may not fully support other similar camcorders. Compatible iMovie features include device recognition when the device is connected to a Mac, display of import control for the specific device, and import of the video to iMovie for viewing and editing. Note: AVCHD support requires an Intel-based Mac.
Brand Model Format Media Additional Compatibility
Information
Canon DC20 MPEG-2 DVD KB# 306110
Canon DC50* MPEG-2 DVD
Canon DC220 MPEG-2 DVD
Canon HG10 AVCHD HDD
Canon HR10 AVCHD DVD Requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 or later
JVC GZ-MG20 MPEG-2 HDD
JVC GZ-MG155* MPEG-2 HDD
JVC GZ-MG555U MPEG-2 HDD
JVC GZ-MG505U MPEG-2 HDD
Panasonic HDC-SD1* AVCHD Memory
Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD Memory
Panasonic SDR-H200* MPEG-2 HDD
Panasonic SDR-S10 MPEG-2 Memory
Panasonic SDR-S150 MPEG-2 Memory
Panasonic VDR-D100 MPEG-2 DVD
Panasonic VDR-D200 MPEG-2 DVD
Panasonic VDR-D300 MPEG-2 DVD KB# 306110
Panasonic VDR-D310 MPEG-2 DVD
Panasonic VDR-D320 MPEG-2 DVD
Sony HDR-SR1* AVCHD HDD KB# 305919
Sony HDR-SR7* AVCHD HDD KB# 305919
Sony HDR-SR8* AVCHD HDD KB# 305919
Sony HDR-CX7* AVCHD Memory
Sony HDR-UX1* AVCHD DVD Requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 or later
Sony HDR-UX7 AVCHD DVD Requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 or later
Sony DCR-SR82 MPEG-2 HDD
Sony DCR-SR100* MPEG-2 HDD KB# 305911
Sony DCR-SR300* MPEG-2 HDD
Sony DCR-DVD308* MPEG-2 DVD
Sony DCR-DVD505* MPEG-2 DVD
Sony DCR-DVD508* MPEG-2 DVD
Sony DCR-DVD403 MPEG-2 DVD KB# 306110
Each camcorder has been tested using NTSC models; PAL models that have been tested are indicated with an asterisk (*).
HELP tired of messin with this, i have a Everio burner and used to connect it directly to my HD cam recorder, but now it keeps saying it dose not recconize the disk. using the right right disk, only had this thing a year..
help:)
To Matt who was having issues with Vegas Pro 8. I was having the same issue today.
Renaming from .MOD to .MPG worked fine in Vegas 7, but not in Vegas Pro 8.
You need to rename them to .VOB instead. Don’t ask me why, all I know is it works!
Cheers
Tried_n_Tested
For all HDD cameras, or most, apple added a new program to their final cut express application which is new on the final cut express 4, the new program is called “Log and Transfer” it shoes all the clips on your camcorder and shows them to you and lets you preview them, just connect with the usb 2.0 wire and iMovie 08 can also do it as well, just open iMovie and on my Everio I just select playback on pc and it shows me the clips and I can import them.
I love my new Everio, I’ve burned Cd’s with the JVC softwhere but I’ve got no sound – any solutions?
hey i just got a JVC everio G cam and i made some videos and i want to edit them using windows movie maker but its says there is something wrong with the file or somthing like that can any one tell me how to get the videos to work on windows movie maker???
thanks alot
this camrea rocks ur sock i advise if u have the money get asap
uhhh, to “urmom” first, by default the everio G’s are set to shut down and save battery if left just sitting on record, if it is plugged into the wall it wont do that, and there is setting somewhere in power managment to turn it off.. Next,, Sneakers and KC are right, I did my research in april got the 20 gig’er from best buy for 520$ and knew what it could do and it does it all and more, not an ouce of issues, I have taken it to vegas, jersey, ney york, georgia, and only wish i had it when i went to scotland last year, but i had a tape driven JVC, which was only 2months old but I quuckly upgraded to tapeless……next – “Noz” wanna learn how to use it, read the manual….
and for all u folks using a MAc, well try a real OS, like Linuxor a Windows based pc if u cant figure out a mac..
i am having trouble with the moi file extension its dosn’t read it on my video editing progam and it doesn’t read it on video converters can somone plz help me