JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5 - large capacity camcorders

The JVC GZ-HD6 is another HD digital video camera with immense built-in-120GB hard drive. JVC released GZ-HD6 and a very similar camcorder named GZ-HD5 at the same time, the only difference between them being the Hard Disc capacity – 120 GB and 60 GB respectively.


All the other specifications are the same (apart from the storage capacity of course) so practically both models are described here. The GZ-HD5 might be a better option for people who do not intend to record 10-hour-long movies, or simply for those less affluent.

The JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5’s colour fidelity is high and in natural sunlight the image is very realistic and not oversaturated. It performs slightly worse in dark places with black areas occasionally showing blue shades but the general impression is quite good nonetheless. Thanks to the large drive you can record up to 10 hours of video in the highest – FHD, 1920×1080 resolution. That is of course if you do not forget to recharge the battery from time to time. The storage capacity is even more impressive for other resolutions reaching 24 hours in 1440×1080, 11Mbps (for GZ-HD6). Therefore, it is quite surprising that there is no software available for editing raw files and that it will not be released until late spring. On the other hand, thanks to the software included in the box editing on a PC or a Mac should not be too difficult.

The JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5’s zoom is not very fast and for sure slower than in Panasonic HDC-SD9. Fortunately, when zooming, the camcorder provides both a scale and a numerical value of the zoom power in the upper portion of the screen.


Additionally, the focus assist tool is very good in the camcorders by JVC, and the GZ-HD6 is good at correcting exposure at low speeds. Yet, the white balance options are disappointing and even the manual adjustment does not help very much. Considering the wide array of available options the menus are quite clear, although not as simple as in the Panasonic HDC-SD9. The following options can be found in the menu: Shutter Speed, WB, Effect, Tele Macro, Aperture Priority, Zebra, Adjust Brightness and Custom Setting.

Despite its large disc capacity the JVC GZ-HD6 is not heavy – only 590g. And though it is not really big: 79mm x 73mm x 138mm it still might be too big to be truly ‘pocket size’. The latest JVC camcorders have an array of easily accessible ports placed to the right of battery. The battery itself performs rather poorly and works for slightly more than 75 minutes. All in all, the camcorder might not be a very good option for beginners, besides there are so many camcorders for $1.399 to chose from.. Anyway, the list of full specifications for both the JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5 is as follows:

Source: JVC.