-
"Using JVC Everio with Mac and iMovie" on by Zac Staples
Pros: Hard disk storage is the wave of the future
Cons: USB is unsat and MPEG-2 format is virtually useless
Summary: The JVC Everio is a great camera with two significant problems. First the data transfer system is USB. This is slow and not the standard for high speed video transfer. A top of the line camcorder should have firewire support, and there is no workaround for this. Second, the camera saves the data in a .MOD file which is an MPEG-2 codec. This is fine for direct transfer to DVD, but most editing software (like iMovie) does not support MPEG-2. Of course the sales girl at Best Buy didn't tell me any of this, and only after I filmed my son's birthday party and sat down at my Mac to post a little movie did the shortcomings of this camera begin to surface. So like all us geeks I stayed up all night looking for a way to prove I am actually smarter than the guys at JVC who know a lot about building cameras, but not so much about what it takes for the average consumer to turn boring home video into an interesting memory (I like to think of it as video scrapbooking).
About 4AM I arrived at the workaround described below and then tested it again after I woke up this morning to make sure it wasn't a caffeine dream. With this workflow you can successfully use the JVC Everio with iMovie.
BACKGROUND: JVC Everio camcorders use hard disk media to record video files which is great for navigating directly to the video you want to edit. The camera stores the video in a .MOD file in an MPEG-2 format. JVC provides software called Capty MPEG Edit EX for Evario, but it is not quality editing software and not worth the time to learn.
PROBLEM: iMovie can’t access the camera directly to import the video and Quicktime Pro doesn’t even understand the MPEG-2 format.
REQUIREMENTS:
a. dowload and install DropDV. This converts the .MOD MPEG-2 formatted video into standard Digital Video (DV) for iMovie. (see www.dropdv.com)
b. Optional - dowload and install Quicktime MPEG-2 player so you can preview clips before you burn disk space and time converting them to DV and importing to iMovie. (see www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2)
WORKFLOW SOLUTION:
a. Create a folder on the desktop and download the entire SD-VIDEO folder the camera hard disk to your new work folder
b. open the new folder in Finder and using the search function find all the .MOI files. Then highlight all the .MOI files and drag them to the trash. These are files that contain junk the camera faluted on and not real video data.
c. Next use Quicktime to preview the imported clips to verify which ones you want to convert. Delete any files that you don’t want in your movie. NOTE: You may need to change the name of the file from .MOD to .mpeg. Also, you won’t have audio because of a long technical discussion dealing with the codec for MPEG-2 and demux’ing it etc.
d. Now highlight all the files the folder, which after deleting the .MOI’s and reviewing in Quicktime will only contain the desired files for the movie. Drag all these files in one group onto the DropDV icon and it will convert to DV and create a folder on the desktop.
e. Open the desktop folder and click on the “imovie project” folder. This will launch iMovie and all your desired clips will be there including the audio you couldn’t hear in Quicktime.
Hope this saves someone the sleep I lost staying up all night to figure it out,
Zac -
"This camera is getting a bad rap....It's a good camera" on
Pros: Storage space, wide screen, doesn't need a viewfinder.
Cons: The small battery doesn't last long enough.
Summary: I bought the big battery so recording time isn't a issue. The 10x opitical is plenty. I shoot kids sporting events in wide screen on the highest resolution and they are great on my big tv. The DIVX player will display the raw video and Pinacle Studio is great for making DVD's. The draw back is you need a GOOD computer to render the video. But I'm tired of people bad mouthing this camera. I've made many DVD's with it. I used a mini DV camera prior to this and the Everio kicks it's butt. I don't like waiting an hour and a half to put an hour and a half movie on my computer. I copy them in minutes with the Everio...I love it!
-
"Comfy and disapointing" on by terrys chocolate orange
Pros: Fits right in your hand, no discs or tapes
Cons: Terrible video quality, short battery life
Summary: When I got the everio i was really happy with it because it was so small and i wasn't going to have to buy anymore tapes or discs. When i actally started using it i was quite diapointed with the quialty when i got it on to my computer. It couldn't catch any fast movement without trails or blurryness and it was grainy in low light and glichy in high light. Also the battery that it came with was only about 45 mins, and after laying down over 1000 bucks for the camera i didn't have enough for a $150 JVC battery so i had to deal with the the one it came with. I didn;t want to return it because it was over a month since i got it but then the battery just completely stopped charging! I got quite angry and exchanged it for a DVD camcorder. I do not recomend this camcorder to people who want good quality video.
-
"Great camera, small, light, and takes good video." on by sgtdisney
Pros: Small, lightweight, nice menu system. 2MP camera comes in handy.
Cons: Included editing software not that easy to use, wish it had more zoom.
Summary: I have this camera and really like it. It is so lightweight and easy to use. The video quality, in my opinion, is good. I have taken movies on some vacations and burned them to DVD and they came out great. The software that comes with the camera is not all that easy to learn, but it works. The 2MP camera works well. I agree with others, it won't replace your regular digital camera, but it is handy to have in a pinch. Much better than the lower end Everios which take VGA pictures. I have had this camera for a year and a 1/2 and I am still extremely pleased with it.
-
"How to use imovie with your everio" on by Paul Garnier
Pros: Good Quality
Cons: format that has to be transfer to Mpeg2
Summary: Go to the following address and you will be able to see a tutorial that explains what to do in order to use your everio material with imovie.
http://www.simplesurvivalmoves.com/JVCEverioInstructions.mp4
Paul
JVC Everio GZ-MG77 user reviews
Where to Buy
Pricing not available
