JVC GRDX97 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom

I have this cam almost 2 years. Before i will buy it.I have to read any review and check at the store.I have many choice to buy another brand cam like sony, canon, pana, etc. When i think again and again . I think this is the great one.And for the problem that someone got it.I know how to fix it by yourself.
If Zoom function is wrong like when you zoom in and it automatic
zoom out . the solve is you have to close LCD and viewfinder,the
open viewfinder and close it and open LCD again. I am not sure you will understand me or not but this the way to solve this problem.

I bought the grdx97 camera new, back in march 2005. This past month or so, the camera has begun malfunctioning. When turned on, within a few seconds of recording, the zoom automatically starts, resulting in a blur. I tried changing the zoom feature to limit the max zoom at 12x, but still, it zooms to the max of 12x, thus limiting my ability to film anything at home.

The warranty is labor 3monts, parts 1 year. There is no customer service I can talk to at the toll free JVC number. Therefore, I have to drive to the nearest service center which is apparently an independent business. All of the service centers are > 30 minutes away.

I never thought I would be having problems 5 months after purchase!

I just received this camera. I bought it to replace a 5yr old JVC GR-DVM90 which was about the same size. That one died and had the dreaded E04 error.

This camera is nice and compact and, based on two days of filming and editing on my PC seems to produce good video. The one niggling issue I see is a persistent background whine from the tape drive. Not enough of an issue to return it, but a little bothersome. You can attach a remote microphone if you want to avoid that noise, but I think that defeats the purpose of buying one of these mini sized cameras, having things hanging all over it and around it.

I think they are making these cameras "cheaper". It doesn't quite seem as robust as my older camera. The black finish on the top portions looks like it was spray painted a little. Lack of an off-camera battery charger was another thing I thought was a little cheap. Plus they don't give you a firewire cable. I got all that with the older camera (I reused its firewire cable for this one). Having said that I think that most of the newer DV cameras look more "plasticky".

Its a little fatter than my older camera making it a little tricky to reach the zoom buttons on top. However (and they don't tell you this in the advertising) it actually has 2 sets of zoom buttons, which is great! The second set faces you just below the viewfinder and are easy to use.

On the good side I find low light video drastically better than my old camera. The digital image stabiliser works well when panning to (for example) follow horse riders in a ring.

I still have some old 8mm film that I'm hoping to be able to convert to digital with this camera. I think it has an analog-to-digital pass through feature. Haven't tried it yet.

If you are looking for a good, portable DV camera for home movies, I would recommend it. Its inexpensive and should hold you over until the HD cameras come down to reasonable prices!

Russian Texan's 1 star rating needs to be corrected. Just because the USER doesn't know how transfer video to pc via USB... doesn't make the GRDX-97 a 1 star camcorder. If Russian Texan's is using XP, there is no need to install driver. Plug in USB cable to camcorder, plug USB into pc, turn on camcorder, USB Mass Storage Device Manager will recognize new hardware. No need to purchase firewire cable.

1) The provided with the camera Streaming USB Video Driver will not install on Windows XP. Read the p.8 of the manual. It will warn you that XP Hardware Wizard will fail, but promise that after four attempts, you will succeed. Guess what, you won't! XP will tell you that it cannot install this hardware since "The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information".
2) If you give up and decide to go with Firewire connection, you are up for another surprise - JVC Firewire cable is not included and you might not be able to use another manufacturer cable (e.g., the one that comes with STARTEC kit sold by Amazon). It will simply not fit into the camera socket. According to JVC website - "JVC doesn't guarantee that computer, firewire card and JVC camcorder will interface flawlessly in everybody case." If you want to buy JVC recommended cable (VCVDV206U), it will cost you extra $$$.