I have this camcorder I know it's old by today's standards but I've been wanting one for the longest time.. my last camcorder I had (SD) was a Sony TRV-310 but it has issues.. but nevertheless I really wanted this camcorder because of the hotshoe mount in this price range and it seems very little offer this without getting into the pro models.

I do have a question if it's possible to upgrade the hard drive from 80Gb to 120GB.. and does anyone know how large of a microSD card I can use on it?

Michael, welcome aboard.

I'll give you a reply but first off I want to say that I know nothing about how to upgrade the hard drive on the camera. Given the "consider the source", what I would recommend as an alternative is using something like a Passport drive to store the video clips.

The 80 GB drive on your camera will hold quite a bit of video in its own right and with a 500 Gb or 1 Tb Passport drive (or something similar) there will be plenty of room for your video files. Not only that, but since it seems that cost is a factor, in terms of $/byte, I'm sure it would be a less expensive solution AND it won't take any work.

Some Passport drives are formatted for PC and some for Mac, or maybe both, I don't know, so if you go that route make sure the one you get will work with your operating system.

I only use "Passport" drive as an example but there are other brands out there.

Speaking of computer, after writing all this I just realized you didn't mention anything about a computer, like if you even have one. Your post had to be written on a computer but is it your own or someone else's? A computer will be required to move files from the camera to either the computer or to a portable drive.

As for the SD card, I'll leave that to the Owners Manual. JVC has them on-line and it can be downloaded. The SD card MAY limit the resolution, however. I know on the earlier model JVCs it did so if that is important the Manual would say if it limits the resolution or not.

Thanks John, well what I have here is a hyper drive but it's only for moving things from CF,SD XD, or MS cards.. my only concern is not having enough space left if away from the PC.. My pc is pretty recent that I built so I'm not too worried about if it would handle it if that's what you were asking about the PC.

So my camcorder I had to pick up from the post office, anyways it came with way more stuff then the ebay listing showed.. I was not expecting a charger and battery so I guess I will have a spare charger which I guess is a good thing.

I put in a AVCHD clip in vegas 12 and I had no issues, I will get around to doing longer clips when I have a bit more to film.

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Since the ad didn't mention battery or charger it is a very good thing that they came with the camera because buying new OEM ones are expensive. Even aftermarket costs and there is no telling what the quality is like.

In case you didn't get a manual with it here is the User Manual that can be downloaded from the JVC web site: http://resources.jvc.com/Resources/00/01/13/LYT1919-003B.pdf

I did a quick scan through it but didn't find any comment about the video quality on the SD card being less than on the hard drive so hopefully it isn't less.

Yep I downloaded the manual already and I haven't heard anything about the SD card thing.. do other brands do that? Seems a bit odd.

going to have to get a external mic for sure.. it picks up almost every sound of the camcorder body.

With regard to the SD card, it is probable that the newer cards like what the GZ-HD30 is using are faster and can therefore save in full HD mode, so that is a plus.

As for a camera mounted mic, I'm using a Rode Stereo Video Mic with what Rode calls, ahem, …. a "dead cat" (fuzzy).. This works very well, runs on a 9V battery, and the battery lasts a long time. The only downside is some of the hairs on the fuzzy are a tad long and if I'm not careful you can see one or two stray ones in the clip.

Yeah I want to get that Rode mic, I was out and about with the camcorder today and the built in mic does good but too much hand noise being picked up from handling.

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Hey John so how good is the Rode mic and the dead cat in say 10-20 mph wind? I picked a bad time to shoot on the beach today but I was wondering how much cut on wind noise it would do?

For any wind speed a fuzzy or Windjammer would help but the 10 to 20 mph is going to create audible noise with the Rode SVM (Stereo Video Mic). For a windy beach video it may be desirable to have some ambient noise though.

Here is a link to one video made with the Rode SVM that had a Windjammer (Rycote's name for a fuzzy). The wind speed was generally 'light', probably 5 mph or a tad over. Note that a few hairs dropped down into the viewing zone but I didn't discover that until afterward. RVYC Jr Sailing Program (Beta) on Vimeo

For more serious stuff, higher wind speeds, a Windshield (Rycote's name) or Zeppelin, (Sennheisers name), will be needed. Here is a picture of my setup: The Digital Video Information Network (http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/members/john-nantz-albums-video-camera-rycote-windshield.html) (Caution: If you don't like a mic on a camera please don't view this).

The Windshield setup is for a Sennheiser ME-66 monaural mic. Rycote makes mounts for different mics but the Rode SVM will not work with this system. For nomenclature, the Windshield is the plastic cylinder and the Windjammer is the "furry" cover that goes over it.

The rig in the pictures was put together for use on a sailboat where I sail shorthanded, that is, there is no crew. Hence, it must be camera mounted.

Depending on what you want to video, say, a person talking, there are other options. One is to have a boom pole with a mic and wind protection so it can be closer to your talent, and secondly, use a lavalier on the talent.

If there is no vocal and ambient noise isn't need, still another option is to turn the volume down while making the video but this is probably not a viable option. Just thinking outside the box.