Dave:

Most people are still here and can help.

I think Steven Dempsey was the first pioneer with the HD-1 and really got things going.

Nowdays he is in the Canon XH-A1 forum if you need help.

There are some good tips in Steve Mullens "Tiny JVC Guide" which is really Appendix D to his larger HDV shooting guide.

I still use my GR HD-1 a lot it's a reliable workhorse.

Where did you get yours, and for how much? I paid almost $3,000 back in the day. I have always wondered if the newest models have any improvements. I know the sensor is different, but Im not sure if it is higher sensitivity or not.

Have fun, it's a nice camera.

Hello Jeff, that's good to hear. This was a hard camera to buy as I kept reading assorted reviews painting it in a bad light. However, bypassing the overly critical reviewers (the "Mikey's" that don't seem to like anything) that were making unreasonable comparisons, the comments from people that hadn't touched the camera but had a firm opinions of it anyway, and focusing on the posts from people that actually own and use the HD1 helped.

After I started looking I discovered that a friend, in another city, has a few of them. They shoot industrial and short films, and assorted other things, and added the HD1's as they couldn't believe all the camera you got for the price -- $1500 when they bought theirs. I asked about some of the concerns I had after my reading and my friend had no idea what I was talking about. Seems they've been using theirs, not reading about them. Mixing the footage in with their higher-end gear, all without knowing all the "limitations" of the HD1 -- how dare them. Reminded me that the bumble bee doesn't know it's not supposed to be able to fly. :-)

They came into them kind of the way I work. You learn how the equipment works and use it as opposed to complaining what it doesn't have and what's not located where it is on your other, different brand/price gear.

I got mine at B&H and paid $1,199 for it. One thing I plan to do is add the extended warranty JVC uses, Satisfusion -- not Mack through B&H, since it's only $90 for three years ($125 for four years). I normally don't buy extended warranties but for a HD cam it seems link a good idea.

As for improvements from the initial releases of it, I can't tell you. All I've done so far is play with it inside and out for a bit making sure it would do what I wanted during the return period.

I don't shoot in low light -- what some people call "low light" I call complete darkness. Most everything I do now and will do with video is under controlled conditions. I add the needed light, lock exposure, white balance, and focus, etc. and shoot, so I don't foresee a problem.

Thanks for replying and letting us know we're not alone...the truth is out there.

One question to you guys that recently purchased at B&H.. On your cams does it have "HD CyberCam" on the side? I am simply wondering as I downloaded some literature from JVC that has this on the camera. I simply wish to be sure I am getting the newest revision(I believe my partner and myself have decided on this camera)...

Thanks,

Damon

Yep, mine does. It's the outside of the LCD door, just like in the brochure -- with "Digital" above and centered on the HD CyberCam.

Ok and thanks David. So how has it been for you with it soo far? I am thinking my friend and I should be able to order ours tomorrow I think.

Note: B&H is closed until Thursday 3/24 at 9:30PM EST.

I'm having fun with it. Ran more tests today and burned a few DVDs, everything is going very well. I like this camera.

I stopped off at a friendly computer repair shop to say “Hello.” Took the camera as I wanted to play with it in different lighting extremes; they have lime green walls, the back of the shop is dim, and the front has VOLUMES of light blasting through the large uncovered windows. I wanted to shoot back lit, side lit, front lit, dim lit, and mixed lighting conditions and this was my chance to do it all in the same place. Plus, I want to get used to the camera's controls so changing things can become second nature.

When I walked in the guy behind the counter shouts, “Wow! Now THAT’S a video camera!” Techs in back came up to see what he was talking about. Camera definitely has the visual effect I was looking for. :-)

The tests came out darn well. This is not the way I intend to work but I was just playing around and REAL pleased that the camera performed so well.

Very cool, very cool indeed!

Yes, I know they are not open.. LOL I checked their site and know they will not be open until this evening. We are hoping to probably do some overnight Saturday shipping to recieve them on Saturday. Otherwise it would be Monday.

But that is very good news with what your saying about the cam! I can't wait! Really can't!!!

Thanks! Any other tidbits you have found as a beginner? How easy is it for you adjusting and getting to settings such as shutter speed, etc? And have you experienced the flipping menu's issue that people have reported with the shutter speed and iris supposedly being non independent?

Thanks,

Damon

No real tips yet. The manual isn't very well written -- using the PDF version so I can search for things. Could be just me but it took me a bit to find the Backlit button (BLC on the front body, in front of the Focus lock), the Menu button is on the back, bottom, to the left of the battery. For some reason I didn't see it.

I had the LCD panel open, was looking at the controls the LCD covers, and in the rear (to the right) you see the button names there. The buttons are the Program AE, Shutter Speed/Aperture, White Balance, and Volume. That's it, no "Menu", so I started looking elsewhere. On my 2 or 15th look around I looked at the back buttons again but this time from the back of the camera, the buttons are labeled again there.

This time the Volume control is labeled MMenu (first M is reversed), below the W.B., above the control instead of below like the others. I swear I missed it a bunch of times and scoured the manual looking for a hint. A drawing putting to the locations of the buttons would have been nice. :-)

Setting things is pretty easy. I've been working from the viewfinder and have been able to press whatever button and setting I wanted pretty quickly.

No, not yet, and I may never experience it as a problem due to shooting in more controlled situations.

I'm coming from a different place than the others. My only experience with DV is a couple small cameras. My first was the original 35mm still camera looking Canon Optura (which I didn't use but wish I did) and the Canon Optura 20 which I replaced it with. I kind of like the Optura 20 as I can lock focus, exposure, white balance and get what I want -- original Optura was a much better camera, I just didn't know at the time.

The Optura 20 has no real controls but I can do what I need with it. So, for me, the GR-HD1 was a nice step up and has more controls than I'm used to. Someone that's used to bigger and a full manual control cameras sees the GR-HD1 as a step back control-wise.

By the way, in my DVD tests the GR-HD1 is putting out a nicer cleaner image and with better color even in DV mode than the Optura 20 does, I wasn't expecting much of a difference in straight DV mode, so that was a nice bonus.

Very cool indeed. Thank you for the input. LOL Now my friend and I are simply trying to find a way to get our cams by Saturday (we were hoping for getting them to us tomorrow actually to be honest)they would able to since B&H isn't open until tonight at 930.

Besides B&H what are the more reputable dealers you guys think?

Im also finally ordering mine tomorrow. It takes forever to transfer money to paypal (im in canada)!! And with B&H being closed for the last couple of days I have been going crazy wanting to be able to play with the camera. So Im ordering it as soon as the online store opens which is actually 9:30pm tonight.

Definitely nice to see that there are still people using the cam and still new people looking at buying it for the first time.

Very exciting.

Yes, very true.. We are waiting till the am when the store opens to request saturday delivery for ours, so hopefully we will be playing on sat with our new cams. :-)

it's all been ordered, now i get to play the waiting game...

Hopefully will be here early to mid next week. So exciting

More testing. Went into an industrial area yesterday, shot some people grinding metal, and a very low angle shot of a guy welding under a truck -- almost everything was dark except for the arc of his welder, came out very nice.

I stood outside in the bright sun and shot pans into some large open bay but very dark truck stalls, locking the exposure for the outside and then panning again locking it for the inside. No problems at all, exposures looked like they should have.

As soon as you get yours someone here will teach you the secret handshake and GR-HD1/JY-HD10 walk so we'll know you on the street, even without the camera. :-)

LOL, ours are ordered also. Will be here tomorrow morning/afternoon! Can't wait to be honest. My friend ordered the kit, but I just got the camera and figured Iwould start that way.

Dave: That is great to hear! I really look forward to testing it out tomorrow after the battery charges. I will have to pick up some JVC tapes(I have sony's but if it's anything like the sony I have now, it is picky as far as brand of tape is concerned) and I will be good to go for a few. I think I will pick up a polarizer and maybe a ND next week also after I have had a little time on this cam. I also will try without my varizoom with only the rings. BTW, how are they for you in your testing? I really am excited also and cannot wait! :-)

Damon

Funny, since I got my JVC HD110 I forgot that I even still had a HD10. HA HA HA HA.. But I guess I'll keep it and train an assistant to have some back up shots for live events. Just for cut aways etc.

It will take a bit to charge the battery but I think you can play while it charges using the AC adapter cable to the charger. I lucked out in that the generic charger I bought ages ago for my Canon came with a Sony and JVC adapter. Works fine. Bought an aftermarket V428 battery off ebay for $15 delivered (U.S.).

I've been running my tests with some Fuji tape I have. I have a few boxes of Panasonic as well. Once those are gone...we'll see.

I'm looking for a Tiffen Black Diffusion FX 1/2 right now (only see "film look" 4 filter kits at B&H and all I want is the one filter).

Won't be getting/using a ND or Polarizer for a while (may have some 49-58mm ones in my still camera bag) as I doubt I'll need them just yet. Polarizers can be weird here, I've had 1/2 (or less) of the sky go nice a rich blue and the rest look unaffected and light. The resulting images have looked splotchy and like mistakes so I'm semi-paranoid of using Polarizers for anything other than reflections.

Going to order a Giottos quick release assembly (GIMH652) and add it to the top of the Bogen 3063 floating head's QR plate as the hex plate it has is too big -- you have to remove it to be able to rotate the grip. I LOVE the rotating grip!

Also, will be adding a wide angle adapter, 0.7 or 0.5x and maybe a third battery.

Have fun!

well i ordered mine with a .9 ND filter an extra battery, tripod, dolly wheels, and a Tiffen Steady Stick. I currently have a JVC GY-DV300u camera (which also has a 52mm lens) so I can use my current filters + hopefully the 3 batteries that I have for that camera. Cant see them not using the same style of battery. That camera also came with a dual battery charger so thats nice.

When I bought the 300u people said that I should stick with JVC tapes as well but i never found any difference with what kind of tape I was using. Good to hear that this camera doesnt have any issues as well.

Hi guys!

Dave: Thanks for the tips on everything once again. My friend actually ordered the kit they have for 1499 and to a certain extent I wish I would have also, but its not a biggie as these things I can always add on. But hers came with the wide angle adapter. I was actually thinking about a Century adapter but I have not decided on the wide as of yet. I am sure I will play a bit with hers and see if I like that one, maybe I will just purchase one of those. But I know I need another battery, though on my sony I really only use the stock one since I mostly am a viewfinder shooter. But its always good to have two or three. I also have some Sony tapes here, which probably will work(those excellence tapes), but I am like you with the polarizers, noided about it due to experience. I may try it though, don't know yet to be honest.

And I was telling my friend about the diffusion filter you mentioned. I haven't checked it out, but I am thinking it probably should smooth the rough edges if there are any a bit. I know one thing... LOL I will post some youtube images after I play with it a bit.. He He He Not that those are the best looking, but ahh, I have another source, I just have to remember how to do it..

But my main first accessories are going to be extra battery, camera case(I saw in B&H's Summer 2007 catalog on page 216 top right, Hakuba aluminum cases large for 69.95),wide angle lens and a video light. Not to mention a slew of batteries..

I also am thinking of picking up a Cavision rod system, their microphone holder and holding handles to convert it to a shoulder mount type of setup. But I haven't fully figured that one out as of yet to be honest. I would like one of their matte boxes so I can use the filters instead of screw on's, but at the same time, I have a tiffen setup like this also, so I may just use that, as it is much cheapter. But of course, the look of the rods system and matte box cannot be beat... LOL

D

BTW, have you used yours as a webcam yet? LOL I am just curious how it looks compared to the inexpensive ones from logitech and the like. I would think the picture would be excellent.

Hi,

Really? I looked at the kit and didn't think you got much for the extra $300. I know nothing of the Raynox 0.45x they include ($90 separately), I have a $15 generic BN-V428 battery from ebay that works well and has a warranty, didn't need the bag or the UV filter so I passed on it. I hate how JVC has a 90-day warranty on the GR-HD1 but a 1-year on the JY-HD10, almost bought the JY-HD10 for the added warranty and the other features as that seemed like more bang for the buck than the kit items to me.

I normally pass on extended warranties but read of a few expensive repairs (bad Firewire port -- camera is useless then, dirt inside the lens and another I've forgotten) so I searched for info on the Mack warranty B&H sells. There's mixed reviews, quite a few complaints and one person saying they had his camera for six months. Sounded like they had too much on their plate.

I called Mack Camera & Video (they're a camera store and repair shop) http://www.mackcam.com/ customer service and the person I spoke with was friendly and they seemed like a nice outfit but I still have my reservations from what I've read. JVC and a lot of corporations use Satisfusion for their extended warranties, they get $70 for a 2-year, $90 for 3, $125 for 4, and $150 for 5, I'm thinking of going with them for 3-years. Couldn't find anything negative about them.

Weird thing is that the GR-HD1 doesn't show up in the model numbers on the registration list. Not sure what that means. https://merchant.satisfusion.com/sf/.../ESPLookup.jsp

I just called JVC while typing this, friendly and answering the phone on Saturday, and was told not to worry about it as the extended warranty is available on all of their items. Guy I spoke with said that Satisfusion is a reputable company and most likely would have any needed repairs done by the JVC factory. I like that idea.

You have until the JVC 90-day one expires to sign up for either.

Let us know what you think. I have an Olympus 0.8x that I plan to test to see how it works. Not sure how wide I'll want/need.

My friend likes his. Said the #1 was a bit much due to blooming on lights but was excellent on flesh tones and other objects without taking away the sharpness. Said the 1/2 is perfect. The book I was reading recommended filters (black diffusion, black pro-mist, black frost, white mist, ultra contrast, digicon, et al.) for most pro cameras to smooth/tweak this or that. Reading that and having my friend mention the filter as well solidified my wanting one.

I agree. I was considering a Sony A1U but decided against it due to the bottom load, touch screen (although the touch focus point selector was nice) and the small, $300 camera looking, size. Then I saw Cavision site where they showed one in assorted matte box and other add-on configurations. Whew. I then started referring to it as "the small camera that can dress up like a freight train." :-)

A matte box isn't on my list just yet. Think they look cool but I'll wait until I have a need for the function.

No, webcams aren't quite my style. A friend in Canada talked me into hooking up my other camera that way for video chatting. Found it too distracting and I need a scenic screen behind me to cut down the comments on the lack of tidiness of my setup. :-)

Why are you reading this? Do you have batteries to charge and a manual to go through? :-)

LOL, hey Dave! Well, lets see.. Got my cam, battery has been charging for about an hour, installed the core filters,(my friend and I both broke fingernails, and I don't have any, so fingernubs!) my SD card wasn't in the camera or box so we had to report that to B&H also. I installed my wireless on the handle already, and for the life of me cannot figure out how to attach the varizoom to the editing cable!

I also like the rotating grip feature! It looks great. As for the Raynox, I don't know if either of us like it. It basically is spring loaded and doesn't seem to fit on too well(kinda flimsy), but we said we were going to play around with it to see how it works out in real world tests. It rained here earlier and now the sun is trying to come out, so as soon as we get the batteries charged, our tests will for sure begin. I am trying, really trying to wait for them and to pick up some JVC cassettes, but I am getting antsy with the excellence and other tapes sitting here.

As for the bag with the combo, its really nice. Very sturdy looking, so I believe I am going to order one.

And its like huge compared to the little camera I had. Its built nice and sturdy like a brick almost in its feel. And I have had the manual and brochures for it for a while, so I am sort of familiar with how it works but in practical use, I need experience.

And the Cavision setup is veyr sweet, but at the same time, I am not sure if its truly warranted at the moment. I would/will get the rails at least first. Maybe the mic adapter and then we will see....

We are also going to check out the filters.. This thing has alot of glass compared to my other camcorder also, which is a very, very good thing..

Gotta go and play.. I will report later...

D

Look in the card slot, that's where mine was.

Varizoom?

I'm from the "use what ya got" school -- amazed there wasn't a JVC tape included with the camera to get us started. I think (remember, I'm no expert) that a lot of the discussion on tapes is from the old days. Haven't heard of anyone having a problem with switching brands of tapes, etc. Tape technology has improved.

Cool. I have a bunch of bags and a spare hard case or two for mine.

Have FUN playing!

Dave: That was the first place I checked. There wasn't one in the card slot at all. Also, I then checked both the box of the camera and there wasn't one there either.

Varizoom: Its a Lanc zoom controller that you can find at www.varizoom.com. The one I have allows for remote zoom, focus, data display, and also to review what I just recorded while still in videoing mode. The thing that is wierd is that the edit cable has a male cable but the varizoom also has male. So I think I may need a male to female converter or something to link the two together. But I am going to try and contact B&H.

Actually, I have discovered how to connect the two, but now I need a converter as the lanc jack is smaller than the extension cable that was given with the camera. Adapters, adapters, adapters.... Never ends... LOL

Hmm. I didn't think mine came with one until my friend said to look in the camera. Wouldn't have thought it would come installed. Surprised me. Being an 8mb card makes it pretty much useless. Luckily, SD cards are cheap now. Just saw a 2GB one with reader for $20, shipped free: http://www.supermediastore.com/sandi...dealnews070504

I check here for Windows/general deals http://www.dealnews.com and here for Mac deals http://www.dealmac.com daily.

Okay, I know what those are, just didn't think you could get one to work with the GR-HD1. Let me know.

Hi Dave. Well, it is looking like you can't get it to work. Supposedly from the b&h site, with the editing cable you are supposed to, but the lanc jack is smaller than the cable/editing cord that came with the camcorder. I am not sure now if I simply require an adapter or this is pretty much a washout on the varizoom. I find the zoom control to be pretty nice actually. I will just have to get used to using it, but I could get by with it. So we will certainly see!! But I do want to use the varizoom for sure if possible.....

I am playing with it a bit now. I also had a tape in mine for some reason from the factory. It would have been nice for them to not include the tape and give me my SD card.. LOL I am however using the sony tape for my tests and all has gone well... I have the autogain off, recording to hd and messing with both zoom and focus. I like the focus alot and am getting used to it already... It is working well. I am shooting stationary shots though... Anyhew, I am off for more play...

Damon

im so jealous. My order still says its processing. Its driving me nuts!!

Well, if you get it to work, holler.

Hmm. Interesting. Tape was blank, right? Just curious if it was a returned unit. I, for about a minute, had considered returning mine and getting the HD10 but decided not to. Kind of wanted the XLR grip but decided I'd be better off getting a Beachtek XLR adapter, when XLR is needed, so I can have level controls.

For now, my mike needs will be covered by a shotgun and lavaliere I have. Internal mike works well, too, I talked during a lot of my testing and it picked up my voice quite well. Ambient sounds at the manufacturing company were quite clear, too.

I may get something like a low-end Azden wireless setup later, maybe not since wired mikes are less hassles.

An 8MB SD card vs. a tape...hmm, that's a toss up. Personally, I'd find the tape more useful than the small card so.

Found all the controls already? You're faster than I was.

About time! :-)

Gregg: Sorry dude! I think you will find its well worth the wait. It is a pleasant suprise for me and my friend. Its definately not a palmcorder and one that is deserving of a tripod. We found this out while shooting at the local skate park. I will post some piss poor clips in a bit or maybe tomorrow.

And on the varizoom, to be honest, I don't even know if it's worth the hassle after the last test outside at the skate park. You simply can tilt the tape mechanism forward and have access to the zoom mechanism which is actually pretty smooth. The tripod is what is going to be the test on whether or not I require the varizoom. For handheld, definately not required and probably would not only be in the way, but a bit of a hassle.

The tape is an interesting one. It basically is a test tape with I believe they are called "color plumes" that they measure resolution with. I and my friend believe it was a test tape and my unit was one of the randomly selected to test for quality and resolution. Which to be honest makes me feel more comfortable. I do know because of this that my unit was manufactured or at least tested in August of 2006. LOL But I also believe this is why there wasn't a SD card in the unit. I simply think they forgot to put it back in. But best buy has a 1GB SD for 19 bucks, so it's not a biggie. But I did pay for it, so I would like it..

And the controls are pretty easy to get to, so it is not quite like second nature yet, but I will say if I play with it for the next week for at least an hour a day, I will have it completely down I think.

And the wireless I have is one of the Azden inexpensive units and they work well enough. And it's easy to be honest. Basically just like a shotgun with a single plug and thats about it. There are two channels which are indicated by the color of the light on the reciever, and this will tell you what channel your on. I also have an Azden shotgun which to me is a bit noisy, so I will be looking at another shotgun. Possibly a Rhode unit.

I did think that the dvd was a bit informative as there were things like the ND filters that they recommended that I was wondering after reading some posts on the necessity for them on this unit.

Well, I am off to eat and try to get the video into Premiere(another issue that I found annoying and disturbing with the age of this unit, but this may be an issue with my machine and setup).

But if I can get the Varizoom to work, I will let you know for sure and how I get it to work. I am thinking and just need to investigate and that I simply need an adapter for the sizes. I will call Varizoom next week to find out though, or I may call B&H.

Ok, I am out dudes! I will post links to view tomorrow... Have a great evening..

D

Sorry about that. Their short work week, Paypal validation process (mine took a day or two) and shipping to you will slow things a bit. In the interim you can read the manual (again), surf, and think of all sorts of things you're going to shoot with it when it does arrive.

The time will soon pass...

well im sure that when it all gets here ill be having a blast. Im looking forward to seeing some of your sample clips so that I can see what this cam is caplible of. I watched lots already, but always interested in seeing more.

thought you guys might want to see this, as some of you were talking about some cool accesories for this camera. Here is a site that sells a nice universal matte box.

http://www.imagewest.tv/index.asp?Pa...PROD&ProdID=27

Looks like a great deal.

My friend told me that now I should work on on my holding and panning techniques, and learn to do a "steadycam walk" for smoother hand held work. He made one of the steadycams from the link I posted a few days ago and said it needs a few tweaks but it works pretty well -- he has some commercial ones as well but loves to tinker.

Is the tape dated or something? You compare serials with your friend?

Understood, I have this strange desire to get what I paid for, too. You saw my note with the link for the 2GB card with the reader and free shipping for $20, right?

I'm at the point that I can pretty much do what I want without too much thought now. I juggling regular work, learning the camera, relearning the NLE apps, etc., but I'm getting there. Playing with the camera is the most fun though. Nice that you have a local friend to learn with.

My mikes are Audio-Technica's that I bought a few years ago and were still new-in-box a month ago. They worked well in my tests on the other camera, I'll run some tests on the HD1 soon. For my needs wired mikes should work well, won't be very far from the people I'll be filming so the long run benefits of XLR's won't be needed (yet). Probably won't be using the shotgun much either, like the looks of it on the camera though. Dog and pony show appeal.

Here's my wireless mike story for you. A few years ago, just days after I got the Optura a friend asked me if I'd shoot his last teaching session before he moved to another state. I told him I couldn't as I was totally clueless at that point. He insisted and said he'd set up his Sony DV for me so all I'd have to do is watch it and change tapes. I could shoot long with his, experiment with mine, and edit in anything I liked from mine. Silly me, I agreed to do it.

It was a comedy of errors:

1. He was running late and there was zero setup time. As opposed to the half hour he promised me I got a darn fast 1-2 minute rundown and he took off for the front of the room which was 80-100'+ away from me.

2. The place was dim, VERY dim. Worse, seems he knew less than I did and adjusted the brightness on the LCD (not the gain on the camera) to make it look like it was capturing nicely in the dim light. I was thinking my camera sucked as his LCD was looking nice and mine was barely showing an image.

3. He had a nice expensive wireless setup that was around the corner from where I was in a very hard to get to place (had to move my camera to get to it). We quickly did a sound test while he was in the back with me. I took the headphones off to play with my camera as he ran to the front to start the class. When I stuck the headphones back on and they were dead silent, I could head him faintly in the background.

It took me ten minutes of climbing over people and staring blankly at equipment I'd never seen before with a borrowed a cigarette lighter for light to discover the antenna on the receiver was fully down. I extended it and the meters. Whew, that was the only thing I knew to check.

4. Back at the camera, feeling a bit better, I heard him announce to the SRO audience that thanks to the efforts of his talented buddy, me, there would be tapes of the class available in a week or so. WHAT?!?

It was a two-hour class and the tapes from both cameras were as close to blank as you could get -- can you say "black cat in a coal mine?" That's when I learned to never buy a bottom feed camera again, too. What a pain.

What issue about Premiere is annoying? I was rather pleased that the issues those first adopters had with the NLE's I have and the HD1 were in the past and solved. Being on the bleeding edge isn't always fun.

I must not know how a Varizoom works or where you plug it in on the HD1. I don't see a Lanc connection. Then, I didn't see the Menu or Backlit buttons either. :-)

Dave, wow, that was alot. I am going to try and remember everything. And yes, that is another thing myself and my friend were talking about: That we need to improve on our handheld techniques. But I feel like an old man with unsteady hands... LOL But definately needs work. I got some footage and made a dvd just for my friend to show her husband, but I will do a short capture of my tank(saltwater) for you guys, that stuff was just too shaky. But it certainly looks good.

And yes, the tape is dated August 6, 2006. It is sort of funny to be honest. And nope, I didn't compare serials with my friend. I figured I have the warranty, the camera works well, and I will as you suggested purchase the extended JVC warranty, so I think I am good on that.

And yes, the strange desire to get what you paid for, seems to be one that is on the decline or something as when companies don't do that, or people don't give you that, they think "you" are strange and try to poke holes in what your attempting to do. I haven't heard from B&H yet, but they are usually from my experience excellent with these sort of things. So from them, I to be honest am not too worried. The thought did cross my paranoid mind that they may say, send the whole camera back, which to be honest wouldn't make any sense just for the little SD card, but these days, you never know. And no, I must have missed the link. But I have a reader already, and simply need a card at this point. I checked the Best Buy ad this week, but forgot about the card.. So I will have to do that once again.

And yes, pretty much the same here with the guggling act. It is a neverending task I think we are all faced with..

And on your friends story, all I can say is "I am sorry dude".. LOL But you know, I think we have all faced that sort of scenerio in one way or another to be honest. Mine was a step show I did when I first began editing and videoing. It was a nightmare to say the least! Low light, people constantly in the way, walking past the camera making goofy faces(drunk people are simply retarded so I found out that night... Moreso than I thought) and more. The only saving grace is that one guy brought in a video light, so we could actually video with some light. So I feel your pain. I would also like to get some more wireless mics also maybe for her setup, like from what I saw diversity mics or something of tht nature. And yes, bottom loading tapes suck for sure! That is how my previous camera is/was, and it was a major pain.

And Premiere.. Urrgghhh.. I had to have a drink on this one. I had capture issues and that is all I can say. I am bound by NDA, so I can't really go into it. But I did and it was a major downer. What setting or preset do you use and which revision of Premiere are you using?

And the funny thing with the Varizoom is that there isn't a lanc jack. Supposedly from the instructions and on the B$H site, using the Svid/AV/editing cable, you should be able to connect the Varizoom. B&H sells them as an accessory for it. On the end of that cable, you will notice there is a hole in the plug next to the black, male editing cable. In that hole, I shined a light, and it is from what I saw actually a connector. I plugged in the edit cable extension and it snapped in without a problem, but the issue is that the actual Lanc jack cable from the varizoom is smaller than this editing cable connection. So I am not sure if this is compatable or not. But I guess I will find out one way or another if it is. But I am hoping it is, especially with the rods system and acessories I indicated above. The only reason I am even pressing it is that they do indicate it as an acessory and also with the editing cable, in the description they say it does have the function. I just need to find out how and if it's really possible. But I will let you know for sure the findings.



Greg: Thank you for the link on the Matte box but I will probably go with the two links below to build the system for this cam:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ad_System.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Matte_Box.html

I am not sure as of yet about the rails system for sure, as they have a few available. So I will fully have to see on that one.

Well, I am off to do a water change in the tank, a little algea maintenence and then to video the tank!!!

I'm not using Premier. I'm on a Mac using Final Cut Pro. Thinking of trying Vegas on Windows in the not too distant future. I'm interested in DV Rack/On Location for direct to disk and some of the other features though so I may have a look at Premier CS3 eventually.

This is out of my area, so let us know how it works out.

i too would sure like to know if you get the verizoom working as That would be a great accesory to have. I do a lot of tripod shooting so that would sure help with nice steady zooms.

Keep us informed.

Hi guys. Well, the Varizoom is definately a no go according to B&H and they are going to remove it from their site as an accessory. So that is the skinny on that one.

I got a clip of my tank, but it is too large, and the encoding I am not satisfied with, so I am going to try to reincode. I will try to post a link later though. I am in love with the look for sure!

I will be back later!

sounds good , looking forward to seeing your clip.

I am trying to upload a clip. The problem is that the site that I am able to upload to only allows a 20MB max. At that size, I am loosing all of the resolution pretty much. I have kicked out avi's of the clip, but they are 576MB. This is an area I am green on, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I am currently trying to send out a realmedia clip also, hoping it will look better than the windows media file. Keep your fingers crossed..

Damon

wish i could help but i do all my encoding on a mac with either quicktime pro or compressor.

Hmmnnn... I am trying to figure something out..

Yes JVC's do not work with or use Lanc devices. They use Jlip devices.