JVC Everio GZ-MG365 – sibling of MG360 with docking station
Thumbs Up:
The camcorder is able to store hours of video. It offers compact design and attractive price.
Thumbs Down:
Visible compression artifacts and does not include audio jacks for external headphone/mic input, and eye-level viewfinder.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 is a standard definition camcorder that has 1/6” CCD optical sensor. It has 60GB internal hard drive and micro-SD card slot for external storage. The camcorder features Electronic Image Stabilization, Digital photo shooting mode, wide-screen capture and 800x digital zoom. Its shooting programs include Twilight mode, Portrait mode, Sports mode, Night mode, Spotlight and Snow.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has three types of white-balance: Automatic, Presets, and Custom. White balance presets include Halogen, Cloudy and Fine. Exposure modes are Automatic and Program, whereas the Exposure Metering are Matrix and Spot.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has MPEG2 digital video format, NTSC analog video format and JPEG still image format. The image storage resolution option is JPEG 640×480. The camcorder has 2.7 inches LCD display that works as rotating viewfinder of 112,000 pixels resolution. It also has infrared remote control and inbuilt stereo microphone.
Zoom lens is manufactured by Konica Minolta and has focal length of 2.2-77mm with F/1.8-4 aperture that offers 35x optical zoom. JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has inbuilt lens shield and TTL contrast detection auto-focus. The zoom adjustment is motorized drive and focus adjustment is both Automatic and Manual.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has self timer delay function of 2 seconds and 10 seconds. The additional features are Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording, Digital noise reduction, Backlight compensation, USB2.0 compatibility, PictBridge support, inbuilt speaker, Auto-power save, Low-lux/night mode, inbuilt light, Auto power save and DPOF support.
The connector set of JVC Everio GZ-MG365 includes 1×Docking station, 1×DC power input, 1×IEEE 1394 Firewire/i.LINK, 1×S-video Input/Output, 1×composite video/audio input/output, and 1×USB. The camcorder has JVC BN-VF808U lithium ion battery.
Software included inside the disc are JVC digital Photo Navigator, CyberLink PowerProducer, CyberLink PowerDirector, CyberLink PowerCinema, drivers and utilities. Accessories supplied inside the package are USB cable, A/V cable, shoulder strap, drivers & software disc, and docking station.
Razzle Dazzle:
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 is 2.7 inches tall, 4.5 inches wide and 2.2 inches thick and weighs 12 ounces battery. The camcorder is relatively compact and small enough to provide comfortable grip.
Inside Dope:
JVC Everio G series camcorders are hard-disk based standard-definition product. This G series is attracting the consumers due to its compact size and costs from $350 to $450. New Everio GZ-MG3xx camcorders are coming in different specifications but with similar size, picture quality, performance and features. The GZ-MG300 with 30GB drivers comes in red, blue and silver colors; whereas the GZ-MG360 with 60GB comes in black color. The siblings of MG330 and MG360 offer Share Station dock of FireWire and S-video. We had already reviewed JVC Everio GZ-MG360, now we will discuss about its sibling – JVC Everio GZ-MG365 that offers same 60GB inbuilt drive, quite similar performance and features.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has 2.7 inches LCD display. Unlike other competitors, JVC has included touch-sensitive vertical strip – Laser Touch bar with blue LED light at the screen bezel. You can use this vertical bar to navigate through menu and other shooting options. The five recessed and small buttons are located beneath the display. Moreover, the frequently used settings are located on the top level of menus. These settings include backlight compensation, scene exposure modes, aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9), gain control for shooting in low light, and video quality. Manual Settings menu shows options for metering, shutter speed, white balance, manual focus, and exposure compensation.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 has a CCD (charge-coupled device) optical sensor and 35x zoom lens, but do not have a viewfinder. We like that the camcorder can record videos in four bit rates with different quality: Economy 352×240 pixels at 1.5Mbps, Normal at 4.2Mbps, Fine at 5.5Mbps and Ultra Fine at 8.5Mbps. The recording time will increase as you degrade the quality. The MG365 and MG360 with 60GB drives can store 74 hours in Economy mode and 14 hours in Ultra Fine mode. On the other hand, the 30GB can record 7 hours in Ultra Fine and 37-hour in Economy. In addition, you can record videos at micro-SD card. JVC is supplying CyberLink software for transferring image and video files to the computer. You can also connect the camcorder to the Windows or Mac computer for drag and drop the files.
We are disappointed that LCD looks washed out in direct sunlight. It makes difficult to take outdoor shots in the morning, especially when no viewfinder is present. JVC Everio GZ-MG365 also does not have audio jack for external headphone and microphone for recording in noisy environments.
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 offers powerful range with its 35x zoom lens. While testing, we found it a bit difficult to maintain smooth and consistent zoom. The auto-focus mechanism had worked in good light and performs close focus up to one inch. However, it was difficult to maintain focus in low light. Digital image stabilization is not as effective as optical one.
The color reproduction is nice and accurately displays bright objects and subtle tones. Compression artifacts are still visible in the video, especially for moving subjects to their relative still background. The moving objects exhibits good quality, but their respective background look low resolution and blocky. These compression artifacts are less visible on small size TV, but clearly noticeable at 42 inches or large television. The still photographs of VGA resolution are only good for small size to be used on email and Internet.
Nitty Gritty:
JVC Everio GZ-MG365 is a basic entry-level standard-definition camcorder for casual users. If you need a basic camcorder with FireWire and S-video ports, then you can go for the MG365. However, we will recommend you to check Sony DCR-SR45 and SR65 as well that offers comparative features in low price range.
