If there is one knock against it, its the fact that the software package doesnt allow you to make mpeg movies straight from camera to PC. I believe there are 3rd party software titles that you can buy ... and get this accomplished.

All in all: great video and great sound. I tape my schools basketball games on this camera, and I have wowed the coaching staff on more than one occasion with the clarity of the pictures. And, trust me - when you are trying to stat a game, clarity is priority one. You will love it!

The JVC website recommends a $99 software package from Pinnacle systems to download video clips. I ordered this software, but discovered that in order for it to work, you need to add a different PCI chip to your computer. This was dismaying since I was forced to take the back off of my computer to add the chip and because the chip was a downgrade from the new PCI chip that came with my computer. After much work, I still have not been able to capture and edit videos on my computer - Kind of a bummer for a product taht calls itself a "cybercam."

What I like: 1) The 3" display window is crystal clear for seeing what you are recording while at the same time looking at the broader picture to see what else you need to film. 2) The zoom feature is outstanding. I can focus on the door lock of the house across the street and see who it is made by, but it also shows how shaky a person really is when it looks like they arent moving a muscle. 3) The ease of transfering images to the computer and getting the exact frame you want. 4) The light for dark recording is as good as most flashlights I have owned (drains battery quicker). 5) Audio recording during video recording is outstanding (but keep in mind what other people are saying in the background as it will pick that up to). 6) Digital displays ability to invert itself when rotated 180 degrees, allowing you to record yourself while veiwing yourself upright. 7) The remote comes in handy once in a while as long as you are facing the camera.

What I dont like: 1) The software dont do all I would have of liked it to do as far video excerpts. 2) The fact that our camera is for business, I cant carry it with me at all times, (this comment should have nothing to do with your decision other than that it is a great camera for capturing what you want on video with the capabilities of digital).

What you should consider when ordering: 1) The battery that ships with the camera will not last much more than hour. Additional batteries can be purchased that last up to 8 hours. 2) No video tapes come with the camera which makes it useless until you have tapes for it. (JVC part #: DVM-30 or DVM-60). 3) In order to record video to a VCR, you will need to also purchase audio/video dubbing cables. 4) You will probably want to purchase a bag to carry all the cables, extra tapes, charger, etc. in.

Overall experience with the camera: I have enjoyed using this camera and have not found it to be more than adequate for anything I have tried to use it for. I give this unit 5 stars for its ease of use, image quality, size/weight, and all around use.

What I like: 1) The 3" display window is crystal clear for seeing what you are recording while at the same time looking at the broader picture to see what else you need to film. 2) The zoom feature is outstanding. I can focus on the door lock of the house across the street and see who it is made by, but it also shows how shaky a person really is when it looks like they arent moving a muscle. 3) The ease of transfering images to the computer and getting the exact frame you want. 4) The light for dark recording is as good as most flashlights I have owned (drains battery quicker). 5) Audio recording during video recording is outstanding (but keep in mind what other people are saying in the background as it will pick that up to). 6) Digital displays ability to invert itself when rotated 180 degrees, allowing you to record yourself while veiwing yourself upright. 7) The remote comes in handy once in a while as long as you are facing the camera.

What I dont like: 1) The software dont do all I would have of liked it to do as far video excerpts. 2) The fact that our camera is for business, I cant carry it with me at all times, (this comment should have nothing to do with your decision other than that it is a great camera for capturing what you want on video with the capabilities of digital).

What you should consider when ordering: 1) The battery that ships with the camera will not last much more than hour. Additional batteries can be purchased that last up to 8 hours. 2) No video tapes come with the camera which makes it useless until you have tapes for it. (JVC part #: DVM-30 or DVM-60). 3) In order to record video to a VCR, you will need to also purchase audio/video dubbing cables. 4) You will probably want to purchase a bag to carry all the cables, extra tapes, charger, etc. in.

Overall experience with the camera: I have enjoyed using this camera and have not found it to be more than adequate for anything I have tried to use it for. I give this unit 5 stars for its ease of use, image quality, size/weight, and all around use.

They included the editing cable to capture your video on computer, however, it connects to COM1 port, which might be already in use (by your mouse). Besides this, the COM ports are the slowest ports on computer systems, so the quality of editing process is questionable.

If you hope to do a lot of editing, purchase a video capture card with all cables supplied (Pyro ProDV will do fine, Pinnacle DV200, 500 are also cool, but much more expensive).

Unfortunately, JVC doesnt supply any tapes with this GRDVF-31 unit, which means you should purchase them yourself, especially if you wish to test your camcorder immidiately after shooting.

The technical manuals are not very good (and surely the worst Ive ever seen). All text is printed, using almost the same typefaces and sizes, so its very hard to extract information you need quickly and switch between general instructions and technical details. Its also very poorly organized (description of all dials and buttons on your camera is at the end of the book!)

The reason I gave this camera five stars is that all problems stated above are easy to solve. Just purchase additional batteries, tapes and capture card, and you have pro-style video studio right at your apartment for the lowest and most reasonable price ever.

Capturing pictures is easy and fairly quick. (If you would like to see some sample pictures, go to www.pipeline.com/~vtfcu/car.htm). The tape does not start in the same spot after a frame capture, I find this annoying.

The playback controls on the camera do not allow slow motion play. The remote does, but it is at their preset speed. If you have your computer connected, you can also advance one frame at a time. This is necessary to get the exact frame you want to capture on the PC. The camcorder will only play back in slow mode for 2 minutes (I assume to protect the tape).

The camcorder has to be turned off when going from play to record. I find this makes it difficult to queue the tape to the exact spot for recording.

It seems the tape does not disengage when in one of the record modes. In other words, the tape is engaged when monitoring or leaving the camera on and ready to record. I dont know why this would be if you can only watch in slow mode for a short period of time. But it also seems to stay in pause mode for a long time, so maybe the head is not wearing away the tape when in pause during playback or record.

The snapshot mode is not what I expected. When the snapshot button is pressed, the tape continues to run and record the same picture for about 5 seconds then taping continues as normal. I was very impressed with the ability to focus up close. It even focused on the lint on the UV filter attached to the camera.

Im not too sure about the sound volume yet. The quality seems quite good.

Like many videophiles I prefer to manually adjust the focus, white balance and exposure, all of which are possible with this camera and perform admirably. I am equally impressed with the automatic setting which does these things for you. I used this setting for the Rose Parade, which was a partly cloudy day, and the camcorder performed beautifully. Focus is so quick, it even kept up with my pans. Color detail was reproduced very acurately, even when the clouds blocked out the sun. Variable zoom speed is a bonus. Digital Image Stabilization was only noteworthy when I moved the camera around slowly, otherwise not much difference. Digital Zoom is good up to 64x and allowed me to see a license plate off a car that I couldnt see with the naked eye; past that is pretty useless. Speaker was a nice bonus, since I only had a S-Video cable and needed it to hear the audio. I havent been able to judge the sound quality accurately, but the marching bands sounded pretty good through the little speaker. Definitely recommend 2 hour battery. As a test, I would turn the unit off when nothing interesting was happening, then see how fast it took to power on, flip out the nice and big 3" LCD screen and start taping. It passed with flying colors. Very fast. Lightweight design meant I could hold it above the crowds, aim the LCD screen down at me and tape the action without any shakiness. Well, until my arm got tired, anyway. The controls for zooming and the dial to access the menu could all be done with one hand, provided the hand strap was secured tightly enough.

The quality of still pictures is fairly questionable. The few stills I took were not under good lighting conditions, but details still came out fairly well. Hooking to the computer required I pull out a device I had already linked to COM1 (a pocket organizer cable), since my computer (PC) couldnt find it on COM2. Have not done video downloading yet, but prospects are favorable, considering the time it took to download and check out the stills.

I have one caveat: the lens cap has a hook on it for hanging onto the handstrap while in use, but sticks out just a little too closely to the lens when putting it on. So be careful. Repeated use could eventually scratch the lens.

For ease of use, the terrific automatic settings and the price I would recommend this camcorder. I also looked at the Canon Elura, but found the viewfinder to be next to impossible to see through and manipulate controls at the same time. Also much more expensive (as of this writing).

Like many videophiles I prefer to manually adjust the focus, white balance and exposure, all of which are possible with this camera and perform admirably. I am equally impressed with the automatic setting which does these things for you. I used this setting for the Rose Parade, which was a partly cloudy day, and the camcorder performed beautifully. Focus is so quick, it even kept up with my pans. Color detail was reproduced very acurately, even when the clouds blocked out the sun. Variable zoom speed is a bonus. Digital Image Stabilization was only noteworthy when I moved the camera around slowly, otherwise not much difference. Digital Zoom is good up to 64x and allowed me to see a license plate off a car that I couldnt see with the naked eye; past that is pretty useless. Speaker was a nice bonus, since I only had a S-Video cable and needed it to hear the audio. I havent been able to judge the sound quality accurately, but the marching bands sounded pretty good through the little speaker. Definitely recommend 2 hour battery. As a test, I would turn the unit off when nothing interesting was happening, then see how fast it took to power on, flip out the nice and big 3" LCD screen and start taping. It passed with flying colors. Very fast. Lightweight design meant I could hold it above the crowds, aim the LCD screen down at me and tape the action without any shakiness. Well, until my arm got tired, anyway. The controls for zooming and the dial to access the menu could all be done with one hand, provided the hand strap was secured tightly enough.

The quality of still pictures is fairly questionable. The few stills I took were not under good lighting conditions, but details still came out fairly well. Hooking to the computer required I pull out a device I had already linked to COM1 (a pocket organizer cable), since my computer (PC) couldnt find it on COM2. Have not done video downloading yet, but prospects are favorable, considering the time it took to download and check out the stills.

I have one caveat: the lens cap has a hook on it for hanging onto the handstrap while in use, but sticks out just a little too closely to the lens when putting it on. So be careful. Repeated use could eventually scratch the lens.

For ease of use, the terrific automatic settings and the price I would recommend this camcorder. I also looked at the Canon Elura, but found the viewfinder to be next to impossible to see through and manipulate controls at the same time. Also much more expensive (as of this writing).