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Conclusion
2007 has been an exciting - and confounding - year for consumer HD. It is exciting because never before have there been so many HD camcorders from the big four manufacturers, JVC, Panasonic, Sony, and Canon. Not only are there more HD camcorders than ever before, they record to practically every media type available in several HD compression flavors. But it has been a confounding year, as well, For the first time, just making sense of the plethora of HD models and codecs out there is a challenge. What's worse, many models are so close – yet so far – from delivering the whole package. The Canon HV20 is a stellar stripped-down camcorder that delivers great performance at a bargain price, but its construction feels disconcertingly cheap. The Sony HDR-HC7 is loaded with features and feels great in hand, but toggling between manual control options using the Cam Control dial is too slow. The Panasonic HDC-SD1 is very elegantly designed and performs well, but lacks several features that are standard-issue on HD cams from the competition, including an accessory shoe and viewfinder.
The much-anticipated JVC GZ-HD7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1529) is another case of so-close-yet-so-far. It is the only consumer camcorder that feels and handles much like a prosumer model, with dedicated buttons for manual controls, an excellent focus ring, and an excellent Focus Assist. It includes a very nice removable lens hood, feels balanced in-hand, and is generally very good ergonomically. On top of all these great attributes, the HD7 is an HDD-based camcorder, allowing for day-long shoots without having to keep track of media, or laboriously digitize footage. Yet, for a device that looks and feels like a mini-prosumer cam, the absence of a headphone jack audio level adjustments is surprising and disappointing.
JVC has also made some compromises in terms of video performance. On balance we like the look of the HD7's footage, but its very saturated and its resolution is lower than any HD camcorder we've tested this year. HD7 owners are also finding that MPEG-2 Transport Stream video is not as easy to work with as promised. That relegates the HD7 to a kind of post-production purgatory like AVCHD camcorders - easy to shoot with, but a bear to edit.
The JVC GZ-HD7 is great in many ways - and its prosumer-like handling is a real pleasure. However, to really take advantage of all it has to offer, you would need to invest in an external audio mixer to allow audio monitoring and level control, the HD Share Station for convenient video archiving, and perhaps an extended life battery. 2007 is the year consumer HD has really arrived - and the HD7 is a big part of that. It is one of several strong contenders out there, including the Sony HDR-HC7, Canon HV20, and Panasonic HDC-SD1, but there's still no clear winner among them for all-around performance, convenience and speed.
