I bought a new Camcorder June 8th 2007. The one I bought last year (a GR-D290u with 25X optical) has a small camera defect shown on the videos. The JVC Model: GR-D770 with a 34X Optical Zoom or 800 digital zoom. (optical zoom is best of course) JVC Videos record in 520 Lines of Horizontal Resolution.
The JVC Cams work great with my computer via DV and can work wonders as a web cam via the firewire or even the USB connection.
I tested the 770 by taping various birds in my yard, a plane, a Helicopter and the Radio Towers (that part done without a tripod) seen on top of Mt Scott.
The trees nearby seen in this video - one is a Douglas Fir tree that is around 120 to 150 feet. The tree in front of it is a Lotus tree and it is about 100 feet high.
The bit of noise you hear at times in the background is my cooling fan and my computer. It's not from the Camcorder.
This video looks better in raw AVI format. I used DVIO to capture the DV video onto my computer - DVIO is a fantastic FREE small program found here: http://www.carr-engineering.com/dvio.htm
To make the file small enough to upload on DailyMotion, I had to convert this to WMV format. I used Kates Video Converter - another excellent free program.
From this page scroll down and find 3 FREE Kate's programs:
http://www.fakewebcam.com/products.asp
Another excellent FREE program to work extracting and working with video is called
Video DVD Maker FREE
http://protectedsoft.com/download.php
I do like the extra little features this 770 model has over the 290 model- just have to get used to the FOCUS control now on the LCD screen.
As with the older JVC model, the newer model also DOES NOT come with any sort of software or DV cable wire to allow you to "capture the video" on to your PC which is done via firewire. You are on your own there. The above programs I mentioned are FREE and actually work better than other programs that I have bought!
