JVC Everio GZ-MG335 – compact shape with more memory
Thumbs Up:
Compact design, attractive price, holds long videos
Thumbs Down:
Visible video compression artifacts; no audio jacks for external headphone and microphone; missing eye-level viewfinder.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The JVC Everio GZ-MG335 has 60GB hard-drive and has 1/6” CCD optical sensor. It features infrared remote control, 800x digital zoom, Electronic Image Stabilizer, Digital photo shooting mode, and wide-screen video capture. The minimum shutter speed is 1/2 second and maximum is 1/4000 second.
The shooting programs are Twilight mode, Portrait mode, Sports mode, Night mode, Spotlight, and Snow. The GZ-MG335 has three types of white-balance: Automatic, Presets (Halogen, Cloudy, and Fine), and Custom. The exposure modes are Automatic and Program; while the exposure metering is of two types: Matrix, and Spot.
The camcorder has 2.7 inches LCD display, inbuilt stereo microphone, and lens shield. The zoom lens has 2.2-77mm focal length and F/1.8-4 aperture that features 35x optical zoom. The zoom adjustment is motorized drive, and the focus adjustment is Automatic and Manual.
The Everio GZ-MG335 has self-timer delay function of 2 and 10 seconds. The additional features are Dolby Digital 2-channel AC-3, Display brightness control, Digital noise reduction, Backlight compensation, USB 2.0 compatibility, PictBridge support, inbuilt speaker, Direct print, and DPOF support.
The software supplied inside the disc are JVC Digital Photo Navigator, CyberLink Power Producer, CyberLink PowerDirector, drivers & utilities, and CyberLink PowerCinema. The connector set includes 1×USB, 1×Composite video input/output, 1×S-Video input/output, 1×Docking station, and 1×DC power input.
The GZ-MG335 camcorder has JVC BN-VF808U lithium ion battery. The maximum operating temperature is 104°F and minimum is 32°F. Accessories supplied inside the box are battery, drivers & software disc, power adapter, remote control, user manual, USB cable, A/V cable, shoulder strap, and docking station.
Razzle Dazzle:
The JVC Everio GZ-MG335 is 2.7 inches tall, 4.5 inches wide, and 2.2 inches deep and weighs 12.7 ounces.
Inside Dope:
The JVC Everio GZ-MG3xx models offer similar picture quality, performance, and features. They are only differs by their inbuilt memory, colors and docking station. $379.95 priced the JVC Everio GZ-MG365 features 60GB hard disk, Share Station dock for FireWire and S-Video ports, and comes in black only. On the other hand, the MG330 offers 30GB hard-drive and the MG360 comes with 60GB hard drive without any docking station.
JVC offers Laser Touch control bar – touch-sensitive vertical blue-LED strip located at the left side of 2.7 inches display. At the bottom of LCD display, there are five recessed and small buttons. The frequently required options including backlight compensation, scene exposure modes, aspect ratio, gain control, and video quality are located on the top of display. We like this well-arrangement of the menu interface. In manual settings menu, you can access the metering options, shutter speed, manual focus, and exposure modes.
The JVC Everio GZ-MG335 has 1/6-inch CCD sensor of 680,000 pixels resolution and 35x zoom lens. However, there is no viewfinder included. The GZ-MG335 records MPEG2 video in four quality modes with different bit rates: Economy (352×240 at 1.5Mbps), Normal (4.2 Mbps), Fine (5.5 Mbps), and Ultra fine (8.5Mbps). The recording time will increase with decrease in bit rate, but the quality will also degrade. You can record 14 hours in Ultra Fine and 74 hours in Economy mode on 60GB hard-drive. The company also provides CyberLink software to transfer videos from the camcorder to computer.
The LCD display looks washed out in direct sunlight and the camcorder also lacks audio jacks for installing external microphone and headphone. The auto-focus of JVC Everio GZ-MG335 works fine in good light and you can close the focus up to 1-inch. However, it takes long time to lock focus in low light.
The color reproduction is average and accurately exhibits bright color objects and subtle tones. The compression artifacts are visible, especially while comparing moving objects with still background. The background looks blocky, while the movie objects appear good. The artifacts are more noticeable at 32 inches LCD display. The still capture picture has VGA resolution and is good only for small prints and Web use.
Nitty Gritty:
The GZ-MG335, MG365, MG360, and MG330 are useful camcorders for entry level and casual users. They are also cheaper than their counterparts Panasonic SDR-H40, the H60, Sony DCR-SR45, and the SR65.
If you need an affordable camcorder with average picture quality, then purchase – JVC Everio GZ-MG335.
