A great little camera till disaster struck (JVC GR-D23EK)

Member Name: eiley123

Product:	JVC GR-D23EK
Date:	27/12/06 (2014 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lightweight, good clarity of sound and pictures,small,easy to use,well known make

Disadvantages: Not the cheapest,poor customer care

I purchased this digital video camera for Christmas 2004 for my husband.It came in at £249 . He wanted something easy to use, lightweight and with good quality recording. He had only previously used one of the old, huge , non-digital recorders. It needed to be reasonably priced so that it was not a disaster if damaged beyond repair , and so he could take it on holiday without worrying too much .

There was no carrying case provided so I bought one as an extra present ( £20 ) along with the necessary films etc. Therefore the camera has always been stored well.

Even carrying the case with the camera and all the ncessary bits and bobs it is light and compact , particularly as the camera is relatively small. it measures probably only 6 x 5 x 3 inches .

The accompanying manual was fairly user friendly for the novice.
This instruction booklet is A5 size , only in English and 56 pages long . It refers to model numbers GR-D93 , GR-D73 , GR-D53 and GR-D23 . There are 5 pages of troubleshooting at the back . There is also the web link :- http://www.jvc.co.jp/english/cyber/
and for accesories http://www.jvc.co.jp/english/accessory/

After my husbands delight on opening his present we both had fun experimenting with the camera. As novices we had a laugh trying the zoom in and out, and focusing . My husband took family films during the holidays and film of our two dogs at the time,

It is a very easy camera to operate . If you are right handed you slip your right hand through the carrying handle . You then can open the screen with you left hand . This enables you to use the backlight / night function and view your recordings . There is also a s-video socket in here .

At the top near the viewfinder is a volume knob and a snapshot button . Snapshots taken are excellent quality .There is a zoom in or out button here also .Round the side from this are the main controls - Full auto recording , Manual recording , Off or Play .

The provided battery pack slides on the end of the camera very easily . It only needs charging for an hour or two to get a good length of time for using the camera .

The camera has 16 x Optical zoom lens and 700 x Digital zoom. The lens has a cap to cover it which is attached to the camera.

Underneath there is a open eject button , which when moved ,automatically opens the cassette part , for the cassette to be loaded or unloaded . It does say here made in Malaysia , which I did not realise . Don't know if this is good or bad ?

The picture was exceptionally good and the clarity of sound excellent.. So much so that you had to keep quiet , unless you wanted to be heard , when it was on , as it picked up the tiniest whisper. It was brilliant whether the recording was taken outdoors or inside.

We have played back the recordings back on the TV and by a firewire to the computer. The firewire was purchased separately.

The date and time are recorded but can be turned off when playing back . There is a viewfinder and brightness adjustment. The camera can be mounted on a tripod if necessary but one is not provided.Recordings taken at night are as good as daytime ones , and there are quite a few editing tricks available.

The ease of operation is good but possibly a bit fiddly for anyone who has mobility problems. Having said this my husband is a big guy with large hands and he had no problems. The grip handle makes you feel you have a secure hold .

It is easy to load a cassette , as on operation the camera opens automatically. But the problem I refer to later may mean it is not as easy as it seems.

We have used the camera , but not excessively as it is mainly for holidays and the odd special occasion. On holiday this year 2006 it was working well but unfortunately developed a problem.

On our last day my husband was rushing to change a cassette and it brought up an error message , as if it needed recharging. However on arrival home and further inspection the cassette he was trying to change seems to have got stuck in the camera . Try as we may all we could get was an E01 error message . The manual says remove power supply , wait a while and then reconnect and start using the camera again . It states if the indicator remains contact your nearest JVC dealer . Now here's the rub , we returned to the dealer who was not helpful at all even though it is a specialist camera store. We had purchased from Jessop's , feeling there would be support here if needed .

He did all the things we had tried with the camera to no avail .He said he could return it to JVC but they charged about £250 , as standard for any such returns. Obviously JVC don't want to encourage returns by doing this as it is cheaper to buy a new camera.

I know it is a throwaway world now but feel this is not acceptable. A friend with specialist knowledge has tried to fix it but has had no joy . So we are going to try a local repair shop .

Maybe this is an unusual problem with this camera but I feel it should be a consideration when buying ,as without longevity , there is no value for money , how ever good the performance. We have had a JVC stereo for years so feel happy with the brand but probably would not choose them for a digital video camera again. If there is not adequate back-up when things go wrong it is not worth it . If this was an isolated incident with the cassette , then the camera would get an excellent rating.

However we don't know if this is a common problem and now you know about the aftercare watch out!


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Update 20th December 2006
I have been contacted by a Ciao member who has also experienced a fault with this model . He tells me JVC Customer Care could not have cared less and wanted the same amount of money . I have told him if I can get the problem sorted I will let him know and I will also update this review .

Also posted on Ciao at grafter123 ( copyright eiley )

Thanks for reading.......................eiley

Summary: We had a great time using this camera but not for long .

Reliability:
Ease of use:
Sound quality:
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Picture quality:
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