JVC Everio HM200 Camcorder Review
I wanted an HD camcorder because our standard definition one died, that is to say, it quit recording pictures and only did sound. We needed one that did good indoor video because that’s where 90% of our videos would be taken. Since we have a huge HD television and another one on the way, plus a great computer for editing video (imac with imovie 09) I figured it was time for a true HD camcorder.
I spent an incredible amount of time researching my best options. Since I live in the middle of nowhere I had no way to test in a store which options were best for me. I narrowed it down to two choices and bought the cheapest one hoping it would be good enough.
The JVC HM200 is a great little HD camcorder, especially if you want to record outdoor video. It has a 20x zoom, digital image stabilization and holds two SDHC cards. It’s very small, comfortable, has a genius design for a wrist/hand strap and wraps up into a neat little package. It doesn’t come with an HDMI cable so you’ll need to buy that separately if you want to hook it to an HD TV. Sadly enough, the indoor video was not up to standards. It was sort of ok if you were watching it on a computer screen, but the minute you watched the video on an HDTV you could see tremendous noise and grainy images that were awful, digitizing almost and basically so bad you have to apologize to everyone in the room for the bad picture. This was not the quality I was looking for.
However, there are people who don’t care about indoor video. To them I say, buy this great little number, it’s got a lot of great features, has a very intuitive menu and I really enjoyed having it.
I recommend watching some sample videos on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com if you are unable to find a store that sells one in your area.
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The author enjoys writing about a variety of subjects including rolling travel bags and popeil pasta maker.
