JVC HD enverio good or bad

[djsound]

I am getting a new camera to use with Final Cut pro. I am thinking of getting the JVC HD Enverio..GZ-HD6. Can anyone tell me if they have used them before....would you say its a good decision or bad?? thanks!!

http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp...000&pathId=141

[MisterMe]

Originally Posted by djsound

I am getting a new camera to use with Final Cut pro. I am thinking of getting the JVC HD Enverio..GZ-HD6. Can anyone tell me if they have used them before....would you say its a good decision or bad?? thanks!!

http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp...000&pathId=141

As a general proposition, you should buy a tape-based camcorder if you intend to edit your video. Apple's video editors support FireWire-enabled modern digital tape-based camcorders out-of-the-box. JVC requires that you install a proprietary QuickTime codec to use the JVC Enverio with iMovie. I would think that this same codec would work with Final Cut Pro, but JVC does not confirm this.

[djsound]

hmm looks like I have a lot to learn hehe...

[ShatterdRose]

Originally Posted by djsound

I am getting a new camera to use with Final Cut pro. I am thinking of getting the JVC HD Enverio..GZ-HD6. Can anyone tell me if they have used them before....would you say its a good decision or bad?? thanks!!

http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp...000&pathId=141

Well, I have the HD7 and let me just say I almost sold it. Why? First off, JVC doesn't support the newest Quicktime and the have essentially refused to update their software to be compatible claiming it's Apple's problem, and Apple, I really can't say it's their problem but they haven't offered any solution either. In the meantime, I had to downgrade QT to an older version that worked, which is fine, but you lose some iTunes functionality.

The other problem, is that even if you do that, you can't use iMovie '08. You can of course convert the files, but that can take a while and I haven't really mastered that yet as I don't need FCP but I do use some of the same clips a lot so the space savings would be awesome.

In other words, make sure everything is compatible. Mine isn't.

[djsound]

hmm..ya I dont think I want to downgrade and deal with all that mess. Can you recommend another similar camera that would work well with that setup?

[bclayton88]

save yourself about $500 and pick up a canon hv30(shoots in 1080i)...it's tape based and the support community for it is about the best out there.

[ShatterdRose]

Originally Posted by djsound

hmm..ya I dont think I want to downgrade and deal with all that mess. Can you recommend another similar camera that would work well with that setup?

I wish I could, but I'm actually in the process of researching cameras as well. I prefer the HDD based camcorders because of the amount of video I shoot, and it's just easier since all my footage goes straight online with little to no editing (hence why I prefer iMovie) but I would really like to have the referencing capability of iMovie '08 and the ability to overlay images such as watermarks. And I really don't want to spend more than I did on the JVC . . . So if anyone has a recommendation for me.

[disconap]

Originally Posted by bclayton88

save yourself about $500 and pick up a canon hv30(shoots in 1080i)...it's tape based and the support community for it is about the best out there.

What's the overall quality like? Would this be a good camera for shooting footage that might eventually end up on dvd or hd-dvd? We're shooting something right now that we want to shoot a "behind the scenes" type thing, and are looking for a good budget camera for those purposes (since the film crew own their cameras, so we can't use those)...

[djsound]

thanks i will look into that canon one...but its not digital? the main reason i wanted the JVC is because it is digital and I can easily upload all the stuff I shoot onto a macbook pro while I am shooting. That way I can library the footage...Also the JVC is HD....The canon can not be HD since it is analog? Or am I wrong?..

[disconap]

From the item description it is both High Def and digital. It just uses tape instead of a hard drive. You can still send digitally to your laptop using a Firewire cable and any capture application (Quicktime, Final Cut, iMovie, etc.).

[CmonRichard]

Firstly, when I initially bought my GZHD7 I was very disappointed (for months). I then bought a book by Steve Mullen (user guide for JVCHD7). Then I found a forum that had heaps of info about the JVC Everio www.dvinfo.net. What I found on this site sent me back to Steve's book & I discovered the simple process of being able to import almost directly into iMovie 08. There are tips on the site for using FCP as well.

JVC have also relesed an update to the Quicktime component to work with latest Quicktime versions. http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/up...c3e_update.htm

It well worthwhile checking all this out. The HD7 is a great camera. I love it (now). Hope it helps.

[bclayton88]

the things users do to their hv30s are insane...many have made their canon into semi-pro cameras and the footage shot with these things is absolutely unreal-real for a sub $1000 camera...just go to hv20.com and check out the "footage" section of the forums for some examples...and to answer the above question about it being digital- it is digital it is just being capture to tape. the tapes are dv tapes. all you will need is a firewire cord(under $5 on ebay) to capture the footage.

[djsound]

Cmonrichard that site is Japanese or something =)

[LipmonLM]

I would to add that there are longer recording tapes for Panasonic or other Mini DV camcorders. Panasonic makes a professional 83 minutes SP recordable Mini DV tape. I have used a tape based Panasonic system (DVX100) for my part-time event and wedding video business with iMovie and FCP.

[ShatterdRose]

Originally Posted by CmonRichard

Firstly, when I initially bought my GZHD7 I was very disappointed (for months). I then bought a book by Steve Mullen (user guide for JVCHD7). Then I found a forum that had heaps of info about the JVC Everio www.dvinfo.net. What I found on this site sent me back to Steve's book & I discovered the simple process of being able to import almost directly into iMovie 08. There are tips on the site for using FCP as well.

JVC have also relesed an update to the Quicktime component to work with latest Quicktime versions. http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/up...c3e_update.htm

It well worthwhile checking all this out. The HD7 is a great camera. I love it (now). Hope it helps.

http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/up...c3e_update.htm

It comes through as English. :-p

[kkat69]

Originally Posted by MisterMe

As a general proposition, you should buy a tape-based camcorder if you intend to edit your video. Apple's video editors support FireWire-enabled modern digital tape-based camcorders out-of-the-box. JVC requires that you install a proprietary QuickTime codec to use the JVC Enverio with iMovie. I would think that this same codec would work with Final Cut Pro, but JVC does not confirm this.

WHOA Let's back this up a bit.

I'm not going to sit here and say that the JVC Enverio is the best cam corder but it does NOT need a 3rd party codec. It only needs the QUICKTIME codec that's available from the Apple website for like 19 bucks I think. Once I had that it worked with iMovie '08 AND Final Cut pro.

No JVC software has or ever will be installed on my iMac. I just use iMovie and Final Cut (only when necessary) and I also use iMovie HD '06 as well. All I need is the Quicktime mPeg plug in which I bought from Apple.

Importing from Camera to iMac into iMovie is very easy to do. Same with Final Cut. Well, let me put it this way, for my model Enverio it's easy. Again, no visit to JVC or JVC software. Just quicktime.

Just wanted to educate rather than speculate.

/changechannel

[djsound]

So I guess the JVC is good to go with that update?? I do not want to do a bunch of converting and that...

Im really excited to get a camera now...just waiting on which one hehe

kkat69 do you have a link to that codec on apples site?? thanks

[MisterMe]

Originally Posted by kkat69

... It only needs the QUICKTIME codec that's available from the Apple website for like 19 bucks I think. Once I had that it worked with iMovie '08 AND Final Cut pro.

...

Oh sorry. I was under the impression that it required the installation of a proprietary codec that shipped with the camcorder. It is a relief that it only requires the additional expense of $19 downloadable codec. Thanks for clearing that up.

[kkat69]

Originally Posted by djsound

So I guess the JVC is good to go with that update?? I do not want to do a bunch of converting and that...

Im really excited to get a camera now...just waiting on which one hehe

kkat69 do you have a link to that codec on apples site?? thanks

I actually unsubcribed to this thread, kinda glad I came back to check on it.

The codec is the Quicktime 6 mpeg 2 for 19.99 on the Apple site here. May be different for your area but just goto Apple.com click on Store and goto Apple Software and you'll see it.

I actually own both the plug in and qt pro. I honestly don't think you need both. They're both nice to have but you should only need the codec to import.

Here's what I do WITH the camera (files saved on the HD are a different story but aren't that hard to re-import).

Install the plug in. (obviously)
Then, plug in your camera and put it in playback mode (middle switch I believe) and (on mine at least) I see the blue light flickering and iMovie starts up and viola.

If iMovie didn't start up I go ahead and start it up. Wait a bit (on mine I see the blue flickering) and the import window comes up.

The following video is my mothers day gift to my wife and 60% of the video was imported from my JVC Enverio and the other was file imported MOD (some with and some without the MOI files) files I had stored on a HD (process to do that wasn't as bad as I thought).

Importing like a 59min video file from the camera to iMovie was actually really quick since it's semi compressed/processed already. Real easy to use.

[ShatterdRose]

Originally Posted by MisterMe

Oh sorry. I was under the impression that it required the installation of a proprietary codec that shipped with the camcorder. It is a relief that it only requires the additional expense of $19 downloadable codec. Thanks for clearing that up.

You don't need to spend the 19 bucks. I'm not sure what the guy who's not "speculating" is really talking about, but I own a JVC and have a MBP with the latest quicktime installed now.

The easiest, and cheapest way to get it to work is to install the latest JVC update from http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/up...c3e_update.htm and Quicktime will open and play all .TOD files. The only thing that doesn't work, as stated on Apple's website, is iMovie '08. '06 is a free download, but if there's some way to get '08 to open a .TOD file, I'm more than willing to give it a try.

[CmonRichard]

I can't give you the exact process as I would be breaching copyright but if you purchase Steve Mullen's guide either GZHD7 guide or iMovie 08 guide (I bought the JVC guide so I know the correct info is in there.) I can only assume it's in the iMovie08 guide. http://www.mindspring.com/~d-v-c/

Here's the link. Please believe me that this is the BEST solution. Take your time to work through Steve's guide. Step by step & you'll be pleased you did.

[kkat69]

Originally Posted by ShatterdRose

You don't need to spend the 19 bucks. I'm not sure what the guy who's not "speculating" is really talking about, but I own a JVC and have a MBP with the latest quicktime installed now.

I'm not speculating, I am stating (responding to the posters comments) that you do NOT need some cheesy 3rd party codec (at that time we had NOTHING from JVC) and that the quicktime addon was more than enough to get this working. Learn to read and comprehend before making a poor attempt to fail me.

Originally Posted by ShatterdRose

The easiest, and cheapest way to get it to work is to install the latest JVC update from http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/up...c3e_update.htm and Quicktime will open and play all .TOD files. The only thing that doesn't work, as stated on Apple's website, is iMovie '08. '06 is a free download, but if there's some way to get '08 to open a .TOD file, I'm more than willing to give it a try.

Depending on your machine, you may or may NOT have .TOD files. My Enverio (and I believe I stated this works for MY MODEL) has NO .TOD FILES. I have a .MOD and .MOI file.

Thing is, I was only pointing out that if no solution presented itself AND not to sway the OP towards one brand or another, that the JVC HD cameras DO WORK and work well.

No need for waiting for JVC to update anything, no VLC player, no funky slipstream software, just plug it in and go. I've done this with 3 different model JVC Enverio's and they all worked with iMovie 08 and Final Cut pro.

Sorry for sharing my experiences. Next time I'll just pass up the opportunity to assist.

Good luck OP.

[CmonRichard]

The new HD Everio's package the .mp2 file in a .tod extension (.mod extension for non HD models). There has been much speculation on getting these files to work off the Hard Disk (as opposed to capturing via firewire). A number of the non HD models are supported to allow direct import in iMovie08 but the HD models aren't. To view the .tod files via Quicktime you need the JVC Quicktime Plugin. I purchased the Apple mpeg plugin to no avail. I had to install the plugin from JVC. Then when Apple upgraded Quicktime to verson 7.4 the JVC plugin no longer worked. (It took JVC ages to release an updated plugin). Steve Mullen's guide will explain how to speed the import process up (without having to transcode files via MPEGStreamclip or Quicktime Pro) but it'll cost you about $60 USD to get there. I think it was worth the price. Especially after sinking so much $$ into my HD7. I'm now extremely happy with my purchase. I've had the camera since August last year & got some great Full Hi-def footage of waterskiing during our family holiday this year.

kkt69 - you are correct in your statements (obviously the cameras you purchased are supported by Apple) but the OP was looking at the GZHD6 (HiDEF) so will require the JVC Plugin.

Shattered Rose - Steve's guide will show you how to import directly into iMovie08 & then you can use all the cool new features. Once imported into iMovie 08 you can then open those files in FCP. Haven't done it myself but the process is there to enable it to happen.

I hope this helps in someway without upsetting anyone.

Cheers

[ShatterdRose]

Originally Posted by CmonRichard

Shattered Rose - Steve's guide will show you how to import directly into iMovie08 & then you can use all the cool new features. Once imported into iMovie 08 you can then open those files in FCP. Haven't done it myself but the process is there to enable it to happen.

I hope this helps in someway without upsetting anyone.

Cheers

I will have to look into that guide then, because when I got iMovie '08 I was really disappointed the HD7 didn't work. Guess I should have read Apple's list of supported cameras. :-p I think the $60 (I believe) is worth it. Thanks for the info, now time to make Amazon richer yet again. lol

[CmonRichard]

I can tell you one thing about the guide. You need to buy o program called Visual Hub which converts all sorts of video formats. ($19). Steve's book is $39. Let me know what you think.